Recently I gave a talk at a UK reefing show, where I gave my (British,) take on the American reefing scene. One of the many aspects I admire the most is the legacy corals, their sharing throughout the community, and…
Coral
Reef Builders to Construct a New Multiomics Coral Disease Database
Today, I will begin accepting data to construct a multi-faceted coral disease database. This database aims to draw correlations from multiple data points in relation to coral disease. We would like both quantitative and qualitative data. If you have ever…
Rare Mesophotic Acropora pichoni Surfaces at ACI Aquaculture
Last week, I visited ACI Aquaculture in Plant City, Florida. While there, Chris showed me a variety of specimens that he had recently imported. Among them was something I had never seen before. At first, I thought I was looking…
Does Size Matter in an NPS Coral Reef Tank?
One of the questions I get asked most often from people planning their NPS or azooxanthellate coral reef tank, besides my feeding schedule, is the ideal tank size for such a system. With regular, photosynthetic reef tanks, it’s a common…
Panic! at the Disco(soma) – An Overview of Discosoma spp. Corallimorphs
Many reef hobbyists, myself included, may have had their first foray at coral husbandry courtesy of a corallimorph. These so-called “mushroom-corals” of the taxonomic order Corallimorpharia are not true stony corals phylogenetically, but instead, represent a sort of “missing link”…
Coral Supreme Hits the Master Scoly Jackpot
One of the best parts of working for Reef Builders is when you wake up to private messages containing exciting fish or corals, and today was just one of those days. The animal? Homophyllia australis, aka the Scoly, from Queensland,…
Pagoda Cup Coral: The Duncan Coral That Never Was
The Duncan coral has always been a staple in the reef aquarium hobby. Despite not having really vibrant colors or any funky name, the Duncan coral still manages to find its way into almost every LFS, as well as the…
Eight Coral Treasures from The Hong Kong Aquarium Trade
Aquacultured corals are becoming more and more popular as we progress in the reefing hobby, but many of the wild or maricultured pieces seem to be appearing less frequently. Those huge tables and clusters of coral which were imported from…
Amazing Solomon Island Favites from Vibrant Corals
Remy and I were in Dallas after Aquashella, and we visited Vibrant Corals, a wholesaler that brings in corals from all over the world to distribute to US-based stores. While there, we made some videos, talked, shopped, and looked at…
Your Favia’s Not a Favia – A Cursory Guide to Ex-Favia Merulinid Corals
A quick internet search for “Favia for sale” will return a collection of encrusting large-polyp stony corals collectively grouped as such. However, if one were to take a closer look, they would notice that many of these “Favia” are nothing…