by AquaNerd | Dec 18, 2013 | Corals, Fish, Science
Believe it or not, but Oceans Reefs & Aquariums (ORA) has released around half a dozen new captive bred fish onto the aquarium keeping world so far this year, not including corals, and they’re gearing up to add at least one more before 2013 draws to a close. Announced late afternoon yesterday on their blog, the ORA Yellowstriped Cardinalfish (Ostorhinchus cyanosoma) is the latest offering from the Florida-based aquaculture specialists and the second one in less than a week. The fish isn’t new to the trade, and some hobbyists have bred them in captivity in the past, but this is the first time that captive bred individuals will be available on any sort of scale. ORA states in their announcement that only a small batch of these cardinalfish will be available, so if you want to get your hands on some, now is the time to act. As for the yellowstripe cardinal’s behavior and breeding characteristics, it operates a lot like most other cardinalfish. It is a peaceful fish that hails from various locales within the Indo-Pacific region and it does well in just about any community environment, though it might go after some small shrimp from time to time. by AquaNerd | Dec 17, 2013 | Corals, Fish, Science
Here’s a brand new food for coral lovers. Coral Frenzy, the very popular powdered coral food, will soon be available in pellet form. The pellet will have roughly a 1mm length and will be negatively buoyant to sink for to all of your hungry LPS corals and the fish or inverts lucky enough to steal themselves a bite. The food will be available soon (free samples have already been circulating) and it will come in packages of 76 grams. For nutritional information, see below. We first encountered the Coral Frenzy brand many years ago at one of the trade shows. The powdered food was often given away in the bags of the various shows, and we’ve been using it off and on ever since. We always get a good response from the corals and inverts, in particular our hungry hungry starfish. We are quite happy to see the food being offered in a pellet format, as we have grown quite fond of that type of food as well. The official word from Coral Frenzy: PARTICLE SIZE: 1mm Pellet by AquaNerd | Dec 15, 2013 | Corals, Science
Blue Tridacna Maxima Clam I still vividly remember my first Tridacnid clam. It was a very nerve-racking time in my journey through the hobby, as I was just starting to dabble in the realm of corals and, like most hobbyists, I wanted to do things the right way the first time around. As I became a little more comfortable with corals, I was strangely drawn to the “giant” clams, prompting me to research the available species for a significant amount of time. From everything I read, clams appeared to present a unique challenge; animals that had all of the same requirements as SPS corals, but with a whole slew of diseases and parasites that could cause some mysterious and untimely death. Being a new coral keeper at the time, this was very scary for me, as thoughts of dosing and light requirements flooded my thought process. My fascination eventually overcame my fears and concerns, however, leading to my first clam purchase and a complete shattering of the notion that clams are difficult to care for. In fact, my experience was so positive that I filled my growing mixed reef with several species clam, oftentimes with each species being represented multiple times. Over the years, I continued to grow my clam collection, hoping to, at some point, house one of each species readily and even not-so-readily available in the aquarium trade. by AquaNerd | Dec 13, 2013 | Corals, Fish, Science
If you’re as into Tridacnid clams as much as we are, then you might want to pay attention. For the first time in 15 long years, T. maxima clams originating out of the Red Sea are being imported into the US. That’s been far too long in our book. Thankfully, the crew at Golden Coast for Fishing Sea Products, a company associated with RVS Fishworld, obtained all of the CITES permitting required to legally access and export the beautiful clams. They have already shipped 36 boxes of fish and clams to ACI Aquaculture, a Florida-based wholesaler, which we are told landed yesterday. The clams are downright beautiful, to say the least by AquaNerd | Dec 12, 2013 | Corals, Science
At the end of November, EcoTech Marine officially launched their much touted and highly anticipated ReefLink wireless hub to the mass of aquarium keepers who have been yearning for a way to control their Radion LED fixtures via a real-time wireless connection to the EcoSmart Live platform. In conjunction with this release, EcoTech Marine also gave their EcoSmart Live a much needed mobile-friendly app that would allow smartphone and tablet users to be able to access and control their ReefLink from anywhere in the world. Available to download for free from the iTunes, the EcoSmart Live app has multiple menus that allow the light from the Radion fixtures to be finely tuned with a simple swipe of a finger. An Android app is also in the works, and EcoTech Marine has announced that internal beta testing will start this week and that they will be accepting external beta testers for that platform in the weeks ahead. Getting back to the app itself, we first saw it at MACNA 2013 when the ReefLink was initially being debuted. The app was being displayed on an iPad, and it ran quite smoothly and was very easy and intuitive to use. With the app, users can adjust the Kelvin (color temperature) of the Radions that are in use, as well as customize the RGB output or tinker with the intensities of any one of the six individual color channels. Also seen in the app is a “Radiant Color” tab, which is a special lighting schedule designed to hit your tank with some heavy blues in the morning to make the corals pop before ramping up to full spectrum during the middle of the day, then back down to the blues for some easy evening viewing. The ReefLink retails for $199 and is currently availble to purchase at your closes EcoTech Marine authorized retailer. The EcoSmart Live app is free and immediately available to download from iTunes.
