Monday Archives: The Marbled Coral Beauty is Quite the Unique Aberrant Angelfish

The coral beauty angel (Centropyge bispinosa) is one of the best known members of the dwarf angelfish family, and it has been widely available in the hobby for decades. But that doesn’t keep the popular species from springing a surprise or two on us from time to time. We recently came across this marbled coral beauty from Sustainable Reef Suppliers, and it’s a gorgeous aberrant that gives us a whole new appreciation for the species. The marbled coral beauty was collected out of Vanuatu, and going by the accounts of Sustainable Reef Suppliers, it’s an uncommon variant that isn’t all that hard to find. Apparently, the fish are found at a shallow depth, and while it is far less common than its normal looking counterpart, it’s not totally unheard of in that part of the world. But this is Vanuatu we’re talking about, a place full of beautiful and somewhat odd looking fish. Just perusing the Sustainable Reef Suppliers yields image after image of hybrid and aberrant fish, all collected from the waters surrounding the small island nation.

Check Out the New Longfin Midnight Lightning Clownfish from Sea & Reef

By selective breeding, Sea and Reef has managed to add the longfin gene to their popular Midnight Lightning Clownfish. This is good news for those that are into designer clownfish and it brings the total up to eight longfin strains for the Sea & Reef team. The Midnight Longfin clownfish is a black and white fish with a jagged head stripe and a lightning bolt pattern between the first and the second dorsal fin. The patterns can vary from one fish to another but the majority of the offspring possess the aforementioned color pattern. Early juvenile fish start out more brown than black. As the fish ages and they grow larger, the brownish color darkens to a nice midnight black coloration that contrasts nicely with the “white

It was Inevitable, Meet the Longfin Black Storm Clownfish

Once again Sea & Reef is in the news with a new designer clownfish. A few days ago Sea and Reef let us know about a new designer clownfish they have been working on and now its available as a limited release to aquatic stores across the country. The Longfin Black Storm Clownfish is the eighth Longfin Clownfish that was developed though captive breeding at the Sea & Reef facility in Franklin, Maine and it is probably my favorite. Longfin Clownfish are not new to the hobby, but Sea & Reef’s new Longfin Clownfish have a much different look to them. Their longfin clownfish have long flowing fins with more rounded, translucent margins. This sets them apart from the typical longfin strain that display jagged, stiff fins

The Ice Storm Clownfish is the “Next Gen” Snow Storm

Name Ice Storm Clownfish. Scientific Name Amphiprion ocellaris Sea and Reef continues to be at the forefront of Clownfish breeding in the US and they continually impress us with their beautiful designer clownfish strains and that is no exception with their newly released Ice Storm Clownfish. Sea and Reef is referring to the Ice Storm as their “next gen” Snow Storm Clownfish. The classic Snow Storm Clownfish was created by breeding a Black Storm Clownfish with one of their Phantom Clownfish. The resulting offspring are predominantly white with black eyes with surrounding orange coloration. The fins have orange and black highlights which also distinguish it from the Snow Storm Clownfish. Basically this is another combination of Black Storm and snowflake genetics and the new strain was

The Indigo Hybrid Dottyback from Sea & Reef

Sea & Reef is at it again with another new fish release. Usually we are sharing information about a new designer Clownfish but this time Sea & Reef brings us the beautiful Indigo Dottyback. The new fish hybrid has been named the Indigo Dottyback for indigo like coloration. The Indigo is the result of a cross between the Orchid Dottyback and the Striped Dottyback. The bluish-purple body coloration is very different than the coloration from both parent fish however the black body stripe was passed down from the Striped Dottyback with the stripe being less pronounced. Generally speaking, Pseudochromis are known to be somewhat aggressive towards some aquarium fish but that is not always true. As many experienced aquarists know, fish of the same species can