by AquaNerd | Jun 5, 2014 | Corals, Equipment, Industry, Science
Although we’re pretty caught up in the Interzoo hype, we haven’t forgotten about all of the amazing corals that attract us to this hobby in the first place. To prove my point, we’ll now shift our focus to a really interesting find from our friends at , an East Coast marine aquarium livestock wholesaler based out of North Carolina. They recent received a batch of hammer corals from North Australia, and as you can clearly see in the images and video, they are full of what appears to be eggs. These eggs have accumulated in the tentacle tissues of the coral, with some of them forming large bundles and others freely floating within the tissue like ping pong balls trapped in an aquarium. We don’t see any of these eggs being released into the water, but clearly something out of the ordinary is going on here. Kris Cline, owner and Operations Manager at Carolina Aquatics, says that in his 18 years in the hobby and industry, he’s never seen anything like this. And to be honest, neither have we. I mean, we’ve seen corals spawning in aquariums before, but never have we see this sort of egg accumulation in the tissues and be this visible. Kris went on to explain that the exporter told them that the Euphyllids are spawning on the reefs right now, and did it around this time last year too by AquaNerd | Jun 2, 2014 | Science
We’ve already made mention of the interesting new Riptide Gyre Generator that is on the way from Maxspect, but given its unique design and flow patterns, we figured this video shot at Interzoo would help visualize just how different and potentially better the pump is from other water moving devices. As demoed, the gyre generator mounts to a wall of the aquarium and can be positioned a whole bunch of different ways depending on the aquarium’s needs (for the sake of simple conversation, we’ll discuss it as if it were in the horizontal orientation). It draws in water from below and expels it perpendicularly, effectively creating both horizontal and vertical water movement. As the water circulates, it creates a swirling gyre, which moves large volumes of water but in a very gentle way. The ping pong balls in the display aquarium can be seen in this rotational flow, and it appears that all of the water in the tank is moving, meaning there are few dead spots in the corners and other places where they typically occur. Various surface whirlpools are created on the opposite end of the aquarium as the water starts its downward movement, and there plenty of surface agitation to facilitate gas exchange. The Maxspect Riptide is set to officially launch to the public sometime in August, and all of the product literature indicates there will be at least four models by AquaNerd | May 19, 2014 | Fish, Science
There are several species of angelfish that many in the aquarium trade would label as THE “holy grail” angel. The short list includes the masked angelfish (Genicanthus personatus), peppermint angelfish (Paracentropyge boylei), Abe’s angelfish (Centropyge abei), and a few more. And while each of those species is supremely rare and insanely beautiful in their own right, but they all fall short of the absolute king of the angelfish, the tiger angelfish (Apolemichthys kingi). Named for its tiger-like stripes that only get more elaborate with age, A. kingi is one of those fish that virtually never gets collected in the wild and therefore is almost never seen in the aquarium trade. I think one or two of them have ever made it into captivity, putting its rarity right up there with the most elusive of aquarium fish. Thankfully, De Jong Marinelife has somehow gotten their mitts on a beautiful juvenile tiger, as well as a peppermint angelfish, and they’ve been oh so generous with the news. by AquaNerd | Nov 22, 2013 | Fish, Science
embedded content We absolutely love the videos from “zefrank1″, especially when they focus on marine like, like this latest clip dealing with “True Facts About the Cuttlefish”. Staying true to the format that has made this video series so popular, a Morgan Freeman-like voice narrates all of the interesting facts about the marvelous cuttlefish, never missing the opportunity to squeeze in some of the most hilarious and/or off-the-wall comments imaginable. The video is quite informative, describing the way cuttlefish mate, flee attackers, camouflage themselves, and much more. We highly recommend that you give the video a look, even if you aren’t a fan of this particular style of comedy. by AquaNerd | Sep 13, 2013 | Aquaculture, Cephalopods, MACNA, Photography
embedded content Some of the biggest news of MACNA 2013 was the announcement of the captive bred flamboyant cuttlefish from ReefGen. These gorgeous cephalopods represent the first ever captive bred flamboyant cuttles to be offered for sale to the aquarium community, and we got to see them all kinds of up close. The tree 1″ long cuttlefish were not shy by any means, many times striking at live mysis shrimp with their tentacles. They also performed many rhythmic color changes, which thy are known for, and thankfully we were to capture then on video, though I’ll admit that the quality is somewhat lacking. It was an exciting time for us, as we have a special spot in our hearts for these amazing creatures, and we’re glad to be able to share that with you today.
