Five External Stressors of Marine Aquarium Fish

Most marine aquarium hobbyists want to provide as naturalistic and stress-free an environment as possible for the fish and other livestock in their care, so they’re careful to maximize water quality, offer nutritious foods, promote compatibility among tankmates, aquascape appropriately,…

When is it Okay to Leave a Dead Fish in a Marine Aquarium?

A fellow hobbyist once told that when a fish dies in his tank, he just leaves it there to rot because “that’s what happens in nature.” While he was right about the decomposition of a dead fish being natural, allowing…

Why would Ecotech Marine and AquaIllumination join forces?

The news that Ecotech Marine and AquaIllumination had completed a formal merger came as quite a shock to the marine aquarium world. The reasons for AI and EM joining forces might come across as a monopolistic move to the shortsighted,…

Why Many Marine Fish Benefit From Mature Tanks

Astute salties out there will likely have observed that in some of our fish species profiles, we emphasize the need to keep the fish in a “mature” aquarium—meaning one that has been set up and established for at least six…

Protect Your Marine Livestock from the Perils of Powerheads

We marine aquarium hobbyists generally strive to create aquatic environments that are as naturalistic as possible for the animals in our care. We use high-quality salt mixes to replicate natural sea water (assuming we don’t collect salt water directly from…

The Challenges of Collecting Natural Sea Water for Your Marine Aquarium

Given the ready availability—and relative affordability—of high-quality synthetic sea salt mixes, it’s not surprising that the vast majority of marine aquarium hobbyists today choose to use artificial sea water rather than collect the natural stuff from the ocean for their…

2013 Marine Breeder’s Year in Review part 2

This is the second part of our annual Marine Breeder’s Year in Review, part 1 can be seen here.  4th Annual Marine Breeding Initiative (MBI) Breeder’s Workshop To say it’s been a busy year is an understatement, so much so…

2013 Marine Breeder’s Year in Review

It’s the 4th annual installment of the Marine Breeder’s Year in Review (see past installments at 2010, 2011a, 2011b, and 2012) and frankly, it’s been an interesting if not arguably “slow” year for a change, and yet I’ll probably write more…

Keep Spares of These Key Marine Aquarium Components

According to Kurtz’s Law, the likelihood of a key aquarium component breaking down and leaving you and your livestock in the lurch varies inversely with your local fish store’s business hours. Okay, so I totally fabricated that law, and I’m…

What to Consider When Keeping Toxic Marine Fish

Toxic marine fishes kept in aquariums present certain husbandry challenges that hobbyists should be aware of if they plan to purchase one. I’m not referring to fishes that possess venomous spines or deliver a venomous bite, such as lionfishes, rabbitfishes,…