For years we’ve wrote about, photographed and filmed some of the rarest tropical reef fish in the world, often by visiting the right marinelife dealers, reefs or private tanks. One of the biggest reasons for the Reef Builders Studio is to get our own experience with some of these fish that most people hardly know about, and rarely get to see.
Well that’s about to change because this week we received a substantial delivery of exotic marine fish from Madagascar, the Red Sea, & the Philippines. The shipment was organized by RVS Fishworld in Manila, and received and reshipped to us from Los Angeles by Coast Tropicals and the precious cargo probably experienced record low transit and handling times getting to Denver Colorado.
We knew specifically of several species that would be in the boxes, but not the full extent to which they would be packed with such rare reef fish treasures. The tiger angelfish and gem tang buddies from Madagascar were expected but the perfect sizes, excellent colors and just sheer high quality of their arrival is still surprising to think about.
Even before I started opening the boxes, I had chills up my spine knowing that I was about to unpack a shipment that I would never forget. There was lots of ‘wows’ with the opening of every bag, the fish acclimated very smoothly and this was just the right number of fish to ‘fill up’ that 200 gallon Mode Aquarium retail system that’s been the home of the Poma Labs conspic angels since last fall.
There will be updates on all the fishes, systems and the studio overall very soon, but in the meantime please enjoy this candid video of me realizing the fishy treasures while I take them all in. I’m happy to report that ALL the fish are doing excellent, the angels are all eating pellets over frozen food, and the tangs are all quickly putting weight back on. The fish fam at the Reef Builders Studio has definitely grown, but we’ve got a lot of tanks to fill!
