by Reef To Rainforest | Dec 13, 2013 | Fish, Science
Eastern Hulafish, new captive-bred reef fish native to New South Wales, Australia. Image: ORA. Meet the Eastern Hulafish, Trachinops taeniatus, the newest aquacultured fish for the reef aquarium and exclusively available from its breeder, ORA in Ft. Pierce, Florida. This sub-tropical species is from New South Wales off southeastern Australia  and is related to the Assessors and Comets, all in the family Plesiopidae. The fish is not unknown to marine aquarists and divers who study the reef fishes of Australia, but it comes from cooler temperate waters where little commercial collecting takes place. “The Eastern Hulafish is native to the southeast coastline of Australia where the water temperatures average 65 degrees Fahrenheit (18 degrees C),” says Dustin Dorton of ORA.  ”While these fish have fared very well in our Florida greenhouses, they can exhibit distress in water over 78 degrees (25 degrees C). Care should be taken to ensure their aquarium temperature always remains below 78 degrees.” They are very colorful fish with a black stripe running down the middle of their elongate body from the operculum towards the tail. They are red and yellow above the black stripe and their ventral portion is white. Some have iridescent blue scales on the face. As they age, their caudal fin grows into a spade shape, with the males having more exaggerated filaments. These are shoaling fish, and ORA recommends keeping them in groups of 4-5 or more. When kept in groups these fish exhibit a unique swimming behavior,  hovering at an angle which is said to suggest a cluster of hula dancers. Trachinops taeniatus grow to a maximum size of about 4 inches (10 cm) and are micropredators, eating small food items such as copepods, Artemia, Mysis, small pellets and flakes for carnivores. ORA says, “They are peaceful fishes that do not harass other species.  Eastern Hulafish are extremely fast swimmers and are prone to jumping out aquariums so is important that their tank be kept covered.” Available in limited quantities now from ORA. (Announced December 13, 2013.)  Sources Oceans, Reefs & Aquariums - ORA Fishbase: Trachinops taeniatus 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 Heidi dM | Dec 13, 2013 | Photography
If you’re an avid photographer, don’t miss out! Â You’ve got till 1 Feb to get your stunners in for this competition. Â And it’s not just underwater shots that they... by AquaNerd | Dec 11, 2013 | Corals, Fish, Industry, Photography, Science, Tanks
By: Daniel Leija The use of cell phones is nothing new in this hobby, as they’ve been a vital tool with applications that help us calculate how much calcium to dose in our tank and give us the ability to monitor and control our aquariums from afar. While these apps haven’t been around for too long, comparatively, something that has been in use for what seem like an eternity is cell phone cameras, and hobbyists are always improving aquarium photography with their phones. With the constant competition of who is the best and top dog of the smartphone industry, it is the camera in our phones that is always upgraded. For example, the iPhone 5 has an 8 megapixel camera. This year the iPhone 5s was released, and while it stayed with its 8 megapixel camera, it increased its aperture to f/2.4, allowing up to %33 more light into the camera. It also got really neat features like the burst mode allowing you to capture things in action with more success. It also got the slow-mo feature slowing videos down making for really neat shots of fish eating or swimming. While DSLR macro shots are relatively nice, we all know that is another hobby that gets expensive. Nothing is going to beat a nice crisp shot you get with a true macro lens attached to that awesome camera of your choice, but we have found great success snapping close up pictures of our tanks with our phones by AquaNerd | Dec 9, 2013 | Equipment, Fish, Science
After what seems like an eternity since their last new product, Bubble Magus is making their presence felt once again as they dive into the world of DC pump powered gear. Besides a nifty new DC powered protein skimmer line, which we’ll touch on later, the budget friendly aquarium equipment manufacturer is releasing a set of DC Wave Pumps complete with their very own controller. The pumps will come in two models, a mid range W20 that cranks out 6000 liters per hour (around 1578 gph) at 20 watts of juice and a much more powerful W70, with a max flow of 16000 lph (4210 gallons per hour) at 70W. Each pump will be controlled by the new Bubble Magus C1 controller, which has outlets for up to four total pumps spread across two different channels. The pumps themselves are fairly straightforward. They have a typical design that includes a a large propeller sitting behind a plastic shroud. What’s interesting here is that it appears the pumps have two different shrouds, or at the very least an add-on for each pump to allow for a more focused water flow. On a side note, we assume these shrouds are interchangable, as the main portion of the shroud looks different between the same size  pumps…meaning, the two shrouds on the W20 pumps look a little different from each other (besides the tip of course). Either way, the pumps will give plenty of options to aquarists seeking a greater flow variety.
