Just one week separates us from the Marine Aquarium Conference of North America (MACNA) 2013, and it promises to be the biggest one yet! This year, the conference will take place at The Westin Diplomat Resort & Spa, which sits…
Marine Aquarium Acronyms: LFS Defined (Plus 8 Traits of a Good One)
Among marine aquarium enthusiasts, it’s fairly safe to say that no acronym is bandied about with greater frequency than “LFS.” But what exactly does that mean? London Free School? Libertarian Futurist Society? Laughing, Fraudulent Seals? I kid, of course. In…
Zoanthids: Tough as Nails but Powerfully Potent
They belong to genera with names like Zoanthus, Parazoanthus, and Palythoa. They’re sometimes called sea mats, button polyps, or colonial anemones. Reef hobbyists commonly refer to them as “zoas.” Whatever name you apply to them, the zoanthids (family Zoanthidae) enjoy…
5 Tips for Maintaining Stable Salinity in a Saltwater Tank
While salinity and other water parameters are relatively constant on the natural coral reefs, they’re highly prone to undesirable fluctuation in the closed system of a marine aquarium. As conscientious hobbyists who want to provide the most naturalistic environment possible…
Falco’s Hawkfish: I’ve Got My Eye on You!
Looking back at the various marine aquariums I’ve kept over the years, it occurs to me that one particular species has probably been included in my livestock lineups more often than any other—Falco’s hawkfish (Cirrhitichthys falco), a.k.a. the dwarf hawkfish.…
Marine Aquarium Acronyms: FOWLR Tank Defined
Marine aquarium hobbyists do love their acronyms—SW, SG, SPS, LPS, BB, HO, VHO, DOC, LR, LFS, and RO/DI to list but a few. There are so many of them floating around out there on aquarium forums and in hobby literature…
Score One for Sustainability: Clarion Angelfish Aquacultured
Here at Saltwater Smarts, promoting sustainability in the saltwater-aquarium hobby is a major component of our mission. In keeping with that objective, we encourage hobbyists to choose captive-bred fishes and invertebrates over wild-caught specimens whenever possible. Captive-bred fishes have much…
Why Use Scientific Names for Saltwater Fish and Inverts?
Hobby newcomers often wonder why fish are so frequently identified by two-part scientific names in aquarium literature and online resources like Saltwater Smarts. After all, when you’re shopping at your average local fish store, the various critters in the sales…
Green Mandarinfish: Gorgeous, Good-Natured, and a Very Finicky Feeder
Many coral reef fishes are renowned for their spectacular coloration and patterning, but there’s one particular species, commonly available in the marine aquarium hobby, that arguably surpasses them all in this regard. I’m talking about the green mandarinfish (Synchiropus splendidus).…
5 Techniques for Catching Fish in a Marine Aquarium
At one point or another, every marine aquarium hobbyist is faced with the necessity of capturing and removing a fish from a fully operational system—perhaps because the specimen is bullying tankmates, the victim of another specimen’s bullying, sick or injured,…