Col·lec·tor – a person who collects things of a specified type, professionally or as a hobby. In the aquarium hobby, collectoritis is a condition that can be a blessing or a curse, but in most cases both. Some of us want to have every kind of a certain type of zoanthid polyp, or specialize in Micromussa, or just can’t get enough of those fuzzy stick SPS, or whatever.
This 500 gallon reef tank belonging to Ari goes in every direction with a selection of the most collectable rare polyps, exotic corals, and highly unusual fish. A quick watch of this video is like looking like a stack of child’s favorite Pokemon cards, except it’s a grown man’s appreciation and fascination for the best of the best that the reef aquarium hobby has to offer.
This living ‘deck’ of tropical marine life has all the rookie cards, all the ‘specials’ and even a few gold foil super specials. Gorgeous Masudai hogfish, check. All white yellow tang, check. Space Invaders, Pink Lemonade, Pearl Berry, Raonbow Lords, Rasto Zoas, Bounce Shroom, Jawbreakers; Seriously though, talking about this tank in the jargon of our wonderful aquarium hobby is the grown-up equivalent of discussing pogs, garbage patch kids, or Pokemon.
All the fanfare aside, what we love most about this tank is not just seeing all of the hottest fish and corals in one tank, but seeing them all in the prime of health. Hats off to the caretaker of this aquarium because getting all of these vastly different corals to thrive in the same tank is the zenith of reefkeeping, and a really tall order, which is precisely why we personally prefer to keep our corals into specialized aquarium environments. The different kinds of corals are grouped together in awesome clusters with plenty of room to grow and this display is really going to be striking in another year or two when all of Ari’s rarest pieces grow into sizes that are unheard of in the aquarium hobby.
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