Welcome to AmazonTropics.com!

Mission statement, “Better Buckeye Bred”

We hope that you find our page informative and innovative! We specialize in fish species from Neotropical ecozones. With over 25 years of experience with fish, we are a leading authority on freshwater tropical fish. We not only have fish spawning in our aquaria but we also offer juvenile fish for sale and are available for speaking engagements. We try to be: Environmental, Ecological and Economical!

Once again, welcome! If you have any further questions, please contact us at: jeremybasch@gmail.com.

Thank you for visiting AmazonTropics.com!

Jeremy Basch – Owner

Availability List


Updated March 2023

Shipping:

At this time, we are unable to offer shipping. The best way to purchase our fish is to meet up at a fish event or to arrange for porch pickup.

Local Pickup:

Fish will be available at the upcoming CAFE Swap. It is best to pre purchase as we will not be able to bring all that we have. Porch pickup in the Columbus, OH is an option at this time. Please contact us with any questions you may have at: jeremybasch@gmail.com.

Wood Catfish Species Available Common Name Size Price
Duringlanis altae F-1 *Rare, from Type Locality* Lightning Woodcat 1 1/2″+ Spring, Fry Now
Trachyopterus fisheri Wild Fisher’s Woodcat 4″ 5/$60
Pleco Catfish Species Available Common Name Size Price
Ancistrus sp. “Rio Mecedes” Wild and F-1s Rio Mecedes Bushynose 2-3″ Sold
Ancistrus sp. “Honeycomb” Honeycomb Bushynose 3″+ Sold
Ancistrus sp. “Gold Star” F-1s Org. from Ian Fuller Gold Star Bushynose “Rare” 2-3″ Sold
Hypancistrus zebra F-2 Zebra Pleco, L46 1″+ None At This Time
Hypancistrus sp. “L-136” F-1s Spotted Hypancistrus 3″+ Sold
Hypancistrus sp. L-333 Porto de Moz F-2 Few Yellow King Tiger Pleco 1 1/2″+ $25 each
Panaqolus sp. “L-425” Wild “Rare” L-425 3″+ Sold
Other Catfish Species Available Common Name Size Price
Acanthodoras sp. 2 “Rare” Spiny Catfish 3″+ $40 each
Corydoras granti Wild Grant’s Cory 2″ $40/group of 6
Platydoras armatulus Presale Raphael Catfish 4-5″ $10 each
Livebearers Common Name Size Price
Micropoecilia wingei “Rio Morichal” Venezuelan Endler 3/4″+ $10/pr.
Invertebrates Common Name Size Price
Anentome helena Assassin Snails 3/4″+ 12/$10
Neocaridinia davidi Bloody Mary Shrimp 3/4″+ Sold Out
Neocaridinia davidi Blue Dream Shrimp 3/4″+ Sold Out
Live Foods Common Name Size Price
Panagrellus nepenthicola Banana Worms Starter $5
Tropical Plants Common Name Size Price
Monstera deliciosa Swiss Cheese Plant 6-8″ $5
Philodendron subhastatum Terrarium Plant Philodendron 4-6″ $20
Merchandise Size Price
Aquaclear 70 8″x6″ $20
Plain 5 Gallon Aquarium 16.5″x9″ Sold
Painted and Drilled 5 Gallon Aquarium w/ Glass Top 16.5″x9″ $10

Speaking Engagements

It is with great disappointment that we have had to cancel our speaking engagement to the Catfish Study Group (CSG) Convention this year. Due to unforeseen circumstances beyond out control, we have had to drop out as a speaker for this fantastic event. It is our hope that the event goes on to be a great convention for all attendees. The reason for our cancellation is for health reasons that will require surgery.

Based on this and the fact that my family will be moving sometime in the summer, we are placing all speaking engagements on hold for this year. We hope to be able to resume speaking engagements in 2024. Please bare with us as we go through this transitional period.

Once we are again available for speaking engagements, it will still be on a limited basis. While we love to share our knowledge with others, we have many obligations. We try to make arrangements whenever possible if contacted well enough in advance. We charge a flat $250 fee for each presentation. This cost is necessary due to the costs and time involved with putting a presentation together. This is a nonnegotiable fee.

With over a quarter century of experience, Jeremy Basch has a wealth of knowledge on a vast array of fish species. Jeremy’s first job of twelve years was working for the largest fish store in the Midwest. He now maintains over one hundred aquariums and has traveled to South America five times. Jeremy is considered by many, an authority on South American fish species.

For more information and a list of available talks, contact us at: jeremybasch@gmail.com.

Blog

Delay

We apologize for not updating our website last weekend. We ended up prepping some things for the move and visiting with family. We will work to update the website as soon as possible.

Update Coming Soon

It has been a few months since our last update. We are happy to report that Jeremy has fully recovered from his kidney stone issues. Now we can focus on the big move coming late July, early August. That’s right, Amazon Tropics is moving! And with that, we plan to release a large inventory of fish …

Fish Profiles

Welcome to our Species Profile page. The idea behind this page is to share information on various fish species. This section will be a work in progress and ever evolving. Please be patient and keep checking back for regular updates.


Coming Soon – Family Cichlidae – Discus


Stay tuned as we share our experiences with this iconic group of fish. Our eventual goal is to be able to offer high quality first generation discus. We feel that there is a huge gap in the market in regards to captive raised discus that maintain the natural beauty of the species.


Family Auchenipteridae – The Woodcats


The first group we wish to share are the Auchenipteridae or the woodcatfish. Woodcatfish are now gaining in popularity and rightfully so! We do believe they deserve to even be more popular. That is why we will be sharing more information on them.

Woodcatfish or woodcats for short, have many interesting habits such as feeding and special anatomy that no other catfish to date share. They typically feed throughout the tank especially at the surface. They will cruise around almost like torpedoes! Woodcats are also the only catfish family known to practice internal fertilization. With their many color patterns, these fish have a lot to offer.

Many of the species AmazonTropics carries remain 4″ or less. This means you may keep them in small aquariums of 10-30 gallons. Your source water should not be too hard and soft water used for breeding. Outfit the aquarium with a sponge filter or hang on the back filter. Use a small heater to keep temperatures around 74-78 F. Decorate the tank with a thin layer of sand, river rock and driftwood.  Be sure to provide areas for these fish to hide as they are nocturnal. Lighting only needs to be secondary with subdued light. For their diet, feed woodcats foods like brine shrimp, bloodworms, water fleas, flakes and pellets.


Balroglanis schultzi – Schultz’s Woodcat

Distribution – Rio Xingu and Rio Tocantins, Brazil

Maximum Length – 4 1/2″ TL


Duringlanis altae – Lightning Strike Woodcat

Distribution – Rio Caqueta, Colombia

Maximum Length – 2 1/2″ TL


Duringlanis perugiae – Oil or Honeycomb Woodcat

Distribution – Rio Nanay region, Peru

Maximum Length – 2 1/2″ TL


Duringlanis romani – Speckled  Woodcat

Distribution – Rio Meta, Colombia

Maximum Length – 2″ TL


Tatia gyrina – Tiger Woodcat

Distribution – NE Peru, Amazon Basin

Maximum Length – 2 1/2″ TL


Tatia sp. “Puerto Rico”  – Puerto Rico Woodcat

Distribution – Rio Caqueta, Colombia

Maximum Length – 4″ TL


Tatia reticulata – Reticulated Woodcat

Distribution – NE Peru

Maximum Length – 2 1/2″ TL


Tatia strigata – Pinstripe Woodcat

Distribution – Rio Negro, Brazil

Maximum Length – 2 1/2″ TL


 

Expeditions

Coming Soon! On this page we will share our various trips over the years to South America. We truly have enjoyed our travels and we hope you will enjoy reading about them.


Duringlanis altae collected at the type locality, upper Rio Caqueta basin, Colombia, December 2019.

Terms and Conditions

AmazonTropics.com currently only sells tank raised fish, plants, invertebrates, and live food cultures. As a result, we offer THE healthiest livestock and live food for your aquaria. All livestock is examined prior to shipping for size and health.

AmazonTropics.com has a minimum order of $75. This price does not include shipping charges or PayPal.com fees. We accept payments through PayPal.com only. An additional 4% is required for all PayPal.com transactions. All funds must clear before shipping arrangements can be made. For PayPal.com payments, please send funds to: jeremybasch@gmail.com.

Pick up is available if arranged to be picked up at local fish club events or regional conventions. This gets the fish directly to you without the hassle of dealing with shipping charges and fees. Please consider this option when possible.

We ship all our fish next day air to your door via FedEx. Please email us prior to shipping so we can provide shipping charges. Shipping is available Monday through Wednesday and needs to be arranged ahead of time. We will only ship weather permitting and at our discretion. Cool packs or heat packs are available for $3/box.

Live arrival is guaranteed through shipments sent and delivered priority overnight by 10:30am. You must be present for delivery of your fish at the address provided. All shipping charges are non-refundable. If you have any issues with our fish, please contact us at: jeremybasch@gmail.com.

All fish should not be drip acclimated as the buildup of waste products during shipping will cause an increase in ammonia upon opening the bags. Instead, turn the lights off the aquarium of which the new acquisitions will be entering. You may float the unopened bags for 15-20 minutes to acclimated to temperature. Then open the bags and dump the entire contents through a brine shrimp net discarding the water the fish arrived in. Then place the fish in their new aquarium. Wait to feed your new fish until the next day and offer food sparingly until they are willing to accept food.

About Us

AmazonTropics.com is the culmination of over 25 years in the fish industry. Owner, Jeremy Basch, started keeping fish when he was just 10 years old! He became hooked when his father took him into a local pet shop. While at the pet shop, Jeremy just could not take his eyes off the saltwater aquarium in front of him. From there he saved his money for a big reef tank.

At the age of 16, Jeremy started working for the largest and local fish store in Ohio. While working at this store, he met a few co-workers around his age who suggested that he experiment with freshwater fish first before going all in on saltwater. Jeremy began by setting up one tank, then two and eventually he had a fish tank in 7 different rooms in his parents’ house! To this day, he is still friends with many of his former coworkers.

Jeremy spent 12 years working for the local fish store and assisted with fish husbandry, quarantine and eventually an assistant manager. This exposed Jeremy to almost every type of fish that comes into the hobby. With an average of 30-40 boxes of fish per week, he lived and breathed fish every day!

Jeremy has also been involved with the local fish club, the Columbus Area Fish Enthusiasts (CAFÉ). With Jeremy at the helm and through club’s efforts, the club grew from less than 12 members to over 75! After 10 years as chairman, Jeremy has since passed on his duties but still assists the club with various duties. You can still catch him at regular club meetings and auctions around the Midwest.

Recently, Jeremy has traveled with several fish enthusiasts to South America in particular, the captivating country of Colombia. He has been fortunate to be able to bring home some of the fish has collected and some of these have started to breed in captivity. Some of these species of fish are likely brand new to science!

Today, AmazonTropics.com houses over 100 aquariums ranging in size from a few gallons to well over one hundred gallons! AmazonTropics.com specializes in catfish of the families, Loricariidae and Auchenipteridae from South America. In fact, Jeremy was the first person in the world to have Liosomadoras oncinus spawn! He also maintains species from the families, Callichthyidae and Aspredinidae. Along with catfish, Jeremy also keeps some species of cichlids from the family Cichlidae, the Geophaginae which include Geophagus and Apistogramma.