by Barry Brown | Dec 4, 2015 | Aquaculture, Reef, Science
Good morning friends, I know long time right??? Well as I mentioned in my last blog on wednesday we had one crazy week here at Substation, I ended up doing eight dives in three days leaving ZERO time to blog! Friday the waves were so big that we could hardly get the sub in or out of the water and diving was horrible due to poor visibility. Saturday we got the hardest and longest rain of the year, so much in fact that we were unable to take the car anywhere or leave the house, it was fantastic! Because of all the rain I was unable to my weekly mountain bike ride on the trails so my neighbor and I ended up doing a two hour road ride to Vaersenbaai and back. by Lemon T.Y.K | Nov 6, 2015 | Aquaculture, Fish, Industry, Sustainability
In the last couple of years, Bali Aquarich has cemented itself as the front runner in the captive breeding scene. The Indonesian based aquaculture company founded by Wen-Ping Su has won the world over not only with their stunning designer clownfish, but also their... by AquaNerd | Apr 22, 2014 | Aquaculture, Eye Candy, Invertebrates, Sustainability
Thanks to the extremely focused efforts of one individual, the world of Tridacnid clams has been completely changed. We’ve been following the work of one Australian “super aquarist” who goes by the name Acro Al. He has been breeding clams at his home for quite some time now, sharing much of his journey with fellow hobbyists on social media. And because we’re total clam junkies, we’re totally excited about the fact that his babies are getting old enough to hit the market. What makes the news even more exciting is that this is the first time that fully cultured maxima clams have ever been offered in the aquarium trade! To let the market fully dictate the price, this first individual, which is a total looker by the way, was posted in an online auction with a minimum reserve set at $250. The price quickly rose to well over $400 for this 40mm individual, which interestingly is about to turn one year old. The clam is not availalbe to purchase by US hobbyists, as the permitting and paperwork hoopla is far too difficult to overcome at this point, but it’s still groundbreaking news for the hobby. First fully aquacultured Maxima clam IN THE WORLD! Species: Tridacna Maxima (Röding, 1798) Batch No. by AquaNerd | Feb 10, 2014 | Aquaculture, Corals, Fish, Industry
It would seem that the recent musings of Scott Fellman, longtime figurehead in the marine aquarium hobby and co-owner of Unique Corals, on captive bred fish have really struck a nerve. In a recent posting on his company’s Reef2Reef forum page, Scott shared a little of his frustrations about the virtual disappearance of captive-bred mandarin dragonets from Oceans Reefs and Aquariums (ORA). In a nutshell, he was told by an ORA rep that the dragonet breeding program had essentially been shelved due to the lack of support from aquarium hobbyists. This was due to the fact that wild-caught mandarins were far too cheap for the captive-bred variety to compete with. With regards to this news, Scott went on to say “that sucks”, and offered up a thorough virtual “spanking” of the aquarium hobby as a whole…and we completely agree with Scott one billion percent! To clarify, this is not in any way a reflection on ORA or any other organizations or individuals that breed marine ornamental species or support captive breeding efforts. Instead, this is a look at why aquarium keepers still continue to purchase low-quality wild-caught livestock. Scott’s article highlights the big reason why captive-bred fish still see so many hurdles…and it’s purely financial. After all of the initial excitement wore off, hobbyists by and large avoided buying them because they were $40 or more per fish. by AquaNerd | Oct 22, 2013 | Aquaculture, Fish, Industry
October has been a big month for Oceans Reefs & Aquariums, as they’ve officially released two long awaited fish for hobbyists to finally enjoy. Besides the Gold Nugget Maroon Clownfish starting to be circulated, which took more than a year to reach the market, ORA is also making their Randall’s Assessors available to fish retailers around the world. Announced in December 2012, the ORA Randall’s Assessor was first acquired from Blue Harbor in Japan. Given their rarity in the states, ORA immediately placed these fish into their breeding program, experiencing a great deal of success along the way. With the conquest of breeding the Randall’s Assessor, ORA has officially bred all known species of the Assessor genus. That’s quite a success, especially given the Randall Assessor’s limited availability for such a long time. We can’t wait to see how well they fill out the tanks of US hobbyists, and we’re definitely excited by this news. Just don’t expect the price to be as low as other assessors. Chances are this fish will tip the scales well over $100, though we don’t have a firm price as of yet by AquaNerd | Oct 16, 2013 | Aquaculture, Fish, Industry
Clownfish come in a wide variety of shapes, sizes, and colors, but this one is way out there. Recently on their Facebook page, Sustainable Aquatics shared an image of this very unique looking clownfish. The tiny Ocellaris has the typical orange, white, and black coloration, but it also possesses elaborate fins that would look more fitting on a betta fish. According to Sustainable Aquatics, a member of their staff found an odd looking clownfish with unusually long fins that was being harassed by its tankmates. Seeing just how unique the fish was, the staff member relocated the fish so that it could heal from all of its battle wounds. After all, clownfish can be very aggressive toward each other. After some time, the longfin clownfish was eventually paired with a wild-caught female Ocellaris. The hope obviously being that the longfin trait could be passed down to another generation and potentially blended with other clownfish aberrations to created a whole new genre of designer clown. From the wild Ocellaris x longfin clownfish pairing, an estimated total of 25,000 offspring have been hatched
