For hobbyists inclined to purchase livestock on impulse, a yellow boxfish (Ostracion cubicus) paddling about in a dealer’s tank can prove almost irresistible. Typically sold as juveniles at just a few inches in length, these boxfish are as cute as…
Five External Stressors of Marine Aquarium Fish
Most marine aquarium hobbyists want to provide as naturalistic and stress-free an environment as possible for the fish and other livestock in their care, so they’re careful to maximize water quality, offer nutritious foods, promote compatibility among tankmates, aquascape appropriately,…
How to Reduce the Risk of Flooding with Hang-on-Back Overflows
Marine aquarium hobbyists whose tanks didn’t come with a built-in overflow or can’t be drilled to accommodate one (i.e., those made of tempered glass) sometimes choose to use a siphon-based hang-on-back (HOB) overflow to feed water from the aquarium to…
Chalk Bass: A Caribbean Jewel Custom Made for Marine Aquariums
Anyone who has visited Saltwater Smarts on a regular basis knows that Chris has a bizarre fixation on Caribbean species. No livestock—fish or invertebrate—originating outside the Caribbean/tropical Western Atlantic is allowed in his tank. If he could, he’d probably go…
When New Marine Fish Die, You Need to Find Out Why!
As many marine aquarium hobbyists have discovered, adding “just one more fish” to an already-established community can, on occasion, be surprisingly problematic. In some instances, every new specimen that’s added lives only a short time, either succumbing to some unknown…
How Big is Bite-Sized in Marine Aquarium Fish?
A novice hobbyist once asked me whether there’s a particular “rule of thumb” with respect to the size of fish that can be kept in the same tank with a predatory fish, such as a lionfish or grouper. He’d heard…
Don’t Let the Water Flow Slow in Your Marine Aquarium
We’ve mentioned several times here at Saltwater Smarts how the output of reef aquarium lighting gradually and imperceptibly shifts away from the desired level over time. But did you know a very similar phenomenon can occur with the rate of…
Brownbarred Goby: Sand-Sifting Species Well Suited to Aquariums
Marine aquarists looking for a sand-sifting fish to keep the top layer of their sand bed stirred often run into a dilemma. Many of the species renowned for this behavior, such as the ever-popular and commonly offered yellowheaded sleeper goby…
When is it Okay to Leave a Dead Fish in a Marine Aquarium?
A fellow hobbyist once told that when a fish dies in his tank, he just leaves it there to rot because “that’s what happens in nature.” While he was right about the decomposition of a dead fish being natural, allowing…
6 Ways to Prevent Photoshock in Aquarium Corals
Many of the corals and other sessile invertebrates we keep in reef aquariums are considered “photosynthetic,” meaning much of their nutrition is produced by photosynthetic algae (zooxanthellae) residing in their tissues. Thus, there is a direct link between the type…