Take one look at your reef tank and you won’t have to look far to find a frag plug. While most of our corals come on ceramic discs or squares, frag plugs come in all shapes and sizes. Frag plugs…
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The Coolest Hawaiian reef fish get visually checklisted in this Kure dive video
Hawaii is renowned for its endemism which extends from the land down to the deep reefs. It’s been a while since we’ve posted a really good dive video featuring some rare fish so you can be certain that this one…
Unseen Corals: Orange Lobactis scutaria sighted at Quality Marine
Orange is one of the most highly sought-after coral colors for the aquarium hobby, we collectively freak out when any type of coral is discovered in orange garb. We’ve featured so many different orange coral ‘firsts’ over the years, including…
Yellow tangs finally captive bred by the Oceanic Institute
The yellow tang is arguably one of the most popular reef and aquarium fish in the world, and now it has finally been bred in captivity. Just last week we updated you on the most recent successes of the Oceanic…
Captive bred yellow tangs inching closer to reality
Captive bred yellow tangs seems to always be just one or two years away, even though the Oceanic Institute has been hard at work to crack the code for about ten years now. Spawning surgeonfish in captivity is relatively simple but…
A visit to the Smithsonian Institution’s vast coral collection
Aquarists spend the majority of their coral-keeping career looking at, staring at, and growing live corals, hopefully. This is the inverse case for coral taxonomists such as Dr. Stephen Cairns who studies the remains of corals as skeletons, and all…
Plectranthias winniensis & P. helenae captive raised by RCT Hawaii
Plectranthias winniensis and P. helenae are two species of this adorable group of basslets that grace the pages of Reef Builders today for very good reason. Reef Culture Technologies Hawaii has been trailblazing the captive rearing of various marine fish…
Annual Coral Mass Spawning in Mozambique
If your first image of Africa isn’t white sand beaches and jaw dropping coral reefs, you’ve probably never been to Mozambique, and the Quirimbas Archipelago is no exception with beaches and reefs as far as the eye can see. The…
Plectranthias sp. Curacao is in the good hands of Blue Harbor
The new species of Plectranthias that was recently collected from Curacao is probably the first of its kind to make it into a home aquarium. We first featured this fish with a post from Joe Oliver at the source, and…
Chevron tang also turns up in the Philippines
The chevron tang, Ctenochaetus hawaiiensis, has long been a popular aquarium tang, and for good reason. Juveniles are brilliantly colored and, like many tangs, does an admiral job of eating nuisance algae. Nearly all chevron tangs make their way to…