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 21, 2013 | Equipment, Invertebrates, Tanks
In recent months, I’ve been toiling away at the nano aquarium, following a rigorous water change and maintenance schedule, and stocking it mostly with a few high end Zoanthids. The goal for this aquarium has been simplicity, since my work and personal schedules are both so hectic. Unfortunately, I couldn’t resist adding a rose bubble tip anemone, which isn’t exactly a difficult invertebrate even for a nano aquarium, but coupled with the type of equipment in the tank, housing the RBTA could (and did) lead to disaster. From the anemone’s introduction, I knew that it could wander all over the tank at will. I was also very aware that it could crawl into my VorTech MP10w water pump. Still, I pressed on. As a precaution, I did reduce the speed of the pump to just a fraction of what it normally operates at. I waited a few days, let the anemone settle in, then ramped up the speed of the pump. Of course, I monitored the anemone’s actions, mostly looking for any sort of movement. The anemone stayed in place, not moving an inch…until one random evening by AquaNerd | Oct 18, 2013 | Corals, Eye Candy
How much would you drop on a mushroom coral? Ten bucks? How about $20? Is fifty bucks pushing the limit? What if I told you there was one out there being sold for a four figure price tag? You heard me right, a mushroom coral in the thousands of dollars. At Reef-A-Palooza this past weekend, one vendor had an absolutely jawdropping mushroom coral on display with a reported price tag of somewhere near $5000. The ultra high end mushroom coral, called the Jawbreaker mushroom, is undoubtedly a keystone piece from the wildly colorful and unique collection from Sexy Corals 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 by AquaNerd | Oct 14, 2013 | Aquaculture, Fish
A little more than a year ago, ORA announced the availability of the Goldflake Maroon Clownfish, while at the same time teasing us with their tiny Gold Nugget Maroon Clowns. At the time, ORA wouldn’t give us a release date for the Gold Nuggets, instead only teasing us further by showing the fish off at MACNA 2012 and other trade shows. Well, we’re happy to report that the day has finally come for the clownfish to be commercially available, and the timing is perfect. Since traditional goldstripe maroon clowns take about a year to develop their characteristic gold coloration, their gold nugget offspring were expected to follow the same time frame. The fish start out with a large portion of their body being white, but as they mature, the yellowish gold really starts to set in. And by judging from the images we have seen, that gold coloration is going to be fantastic.
