Today’s Awesome Fish Spotlight features an opulent member of the wildly popular genus Cirrhilabrus, more affectionally known as the Fairy Wrasses. Cirrhilabrus rubrimarginatus is a common species with a wide distribution across much of the Western Pacific, from Japan through…
Saltwater Fish
Bali Aquarich’s angelfish accolades part 1: Pomacanthus imperator x annularis hybrid
At the risk of sounding cliche and in a manner most routine, it’s difficult not to admit the prowess and remarkable work that Bali Aquarich has accomplished. Founded by Su Wen-Ping, this Bali based aquaculture company has won the world over…
An eye for a Bigeye
The family Priacanthidae, more commonly known as Catalufas and Bigeyes, are strange looking fish that look less out of place with Alice and her wonderland than in the ocean. The family comprises of roughly twenty species, in four genera namely Cookeolus, Heteropriacanthus,…
Threadfin snappers are living it up in Joe Yaiullo’s inland ocean
In the infancy of our marine aquarium experience, the threadfin snapper, Symphorichthys spilurus was one of our first favorite fish. This is when we were a teenager and the fish we “liked” boiled down to basically how cool they look in…
Awesome Fish Spotlight: Pseudojuloides kaleidos, in all its beautiful forms
Of all the labrids that enter the trade, none are quite as refreshing and unorthodox as Pseudojuloides. Wrasses are social butterflies that are found in haremic groups. usually of a single male and multiple females. As such, maintaining a species of…
A Pint-Sized, Potentially Picky Lionfish: Dendrochirus biocellatus
Yearn to keep a lionfish but don’t think you have the tank space to accommodate one? You might want to think again! While having a small to medium-sized tank might preclude keeping some of the popular Pterois species, there are…
Diversity and forms of the Pseudanthias ventralis species flock: How many are there?
In light of our recent trend in picking apart cryptic species within a given complex like we did for Pseudanthias pascalus and Nemateleotris helfrichi, we continue yet again with a rather massive undertaking. This time with Pseudanthias ventralis. This beautiful species is…
Pseudojuloides polackorum is the newest species of pencil wrasse from South Africa
The genus Pseudojuloides constitutes a collection of fusiform torpedo shaped wrasses with chisel like incisiform teeth that are more often found living in lose sandy rubble instead of the usual coral cover. Pseudojuloides was last revised in 1981 where five new…
Nemateleotris helfrichi: A tale of two heads
Immense fish collection in the early 90’s brought new light to a plethora of colourful reef fish, many of which the world had never seen. In 1938, from a smorgasbord of specimens in the Albatross collection, one exquisite little fish…
Centropyge abei and Chaetodon smithi: Black and yellow superstars of Waikiki
If you ever visit Hawaii and don’t stop by the Waikiki aquarium, consider yourself a felon and a convicted criminal for breaking the fish geek code. In a small public aquarium within the Waikiki neighbourhood of Honolulu lives two mega superstars of…