First of all can we get a chest bump peace sign for pencil wrasses? Apart from Cirrhilabrus, Pseudojuloides has got to be one of my all-time favorite genera of labrids. Sleek, svelte, elegant, the pencil wrasses are the perfect package of…
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2.1 Fairy Wrasses: The scottorum group
Moving away from the first major Cirrhilabrus clade, we explore the various species groups that differ by having larger and longer pelvic fins. The scottorum group is a small conglomeration of two confirmed species, one of which is highly polychromatic…
Reefing from Afar, Part 3: The Bare-Bones Basics of Automation
In Part 2 of this series, I discussed some of the possibilities for automating your reef system based on your needs. Now that you have a few ideas of what you can automate, I’d like to offer a simple recipe…
The Water Change Conundrum
We all have a friend in the hobby or know someone who constantly brags about how he or she has never done a water change and their tank is perfect. The corals are growing and colorful, the fish vibrant and active…
Relax! Have Fun! It’s a Hobby!
I realize that many of us take our aquarium keeping very seriously, but we have to put it in context and remember that it is just a hobby. A hobby, by definition, is something that gives us pleasure, not something…
Unsung pioneers in the reef aquarium Hobby
After attending last year’s MACNA in Denver and a couple of the recent Reefapaloozas, I have come to the realization that the majority of the people now in the hobby have been in the hobby for less than ten years. …
1.4 Fairy Wrasses: The bathyphilus group
The bathyphilus group, despite being a very small congregation, is by no means any less interesting or provocative compared to its congeners. In 1997 during the Indo-Pacific Fish Conference held in New Caledonia, five unidentified specimens of Cirrhilabrus were brought…
Tryssogobius Tuesday: A guide to the genus of fairy gobies
Amongst the giddying myriad of nano-sized gobies suited for the home aquarist, few genera exuberates brilliance and mystique quite like Tryssogobius. The genus comprises of delicate dainty gobies, of which seven are scientifically recognized. There are invariably many more waiting…
Monday misnomer: Will the real Pseudoplesiops rosae please swim up?
In another effort to rectify the various misnomers that plague the aquarium industry, we’ll take a look at a small innocuous dottyback that has been masquerading under an inaccurate alias for far too long. The fish above in the tile…
The Reefkeeper’s Skill Set
Like Liam Neeson in the Taken movies, over time reefkeepers develop a unique set of skills. Even though today most of the equipment we want is readily available, unlike in the early days of the hobby when most of us…
