Little advanced warning. Even after the heavy edit, (took out 10 mins of me drooling over this fish) I couldn’t keep my reef geeking under control.
With that said, the Gramma dejongi has been on my list to see for very long time. This fish has been part of trade embargo and even today, you can’t import it to U.S. For a few years now, my good friend Charles Ah-Ha Ron Steinfeld and I have been trying to bring this stateside without any success and I honestly thought that we would never get to see it unless we traveled outside of the country.
Fast forward a few years, and my friend Jared Goldenberg of Fluid Dynamics International was able to bring a speciman into the U.S. when the trade embargo was lifted. To my knowledge, to this day, he was the only one that was able to bring this species of fish to the stateside legally. Another friend, amazing breeder and former MASNA Aquarist of the year Todd Gardner, was successful in breeding this amazing fish in captivity.
Then…. it went quiet. Nothing more happened and we all sort of forgot about it.
Another few years passed, and I randomly received a call from Jake Phillips ofBiota Aquariums and to my surprise, they have partnered up with Todd to make this this amazing fish commercially available! Can you just imagine my excitement?
Sit back and enjoy my interview with Jake and get ready to get excited with me. 🙂
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