Ribbon Eels: Elegantly Exotic but Usually Best Left on the Reef

Why are the most attractive and interesting-looking marine fish always the most difficult to keep alive in aquariums? Okay, maybe this isn’t actually such a truism. After all, there are lots of gorgeous-yet-easy-to-keep fish in the aquarium trade. It just…

DeJong Marinelife’s Interzoo Booth is a rare fish oasis amid exhibition chaos

Wandering the numerous halls of Interzoo 2014 is intense. It requires endurance, comfortable footwear and ton of caffeine to take it all in. But once we found DeJong Marinelife’s booth among the chaos, we found ourselves in fish-geek heaven. Unlike…

Does the Emerald Crab Earn Its Algae-Eating, Reef-Safe Reputation?

Among the various and sundry marine life commonly sold to aquarium hobbyists for utilitarian purposes is the emerald crab (Mithraculus sculptus). Oft touted for its propensity to gobble up bubble algae and other irksome algal forms, M. sculptus has become…

Before Adding That Marine Aquarium Supplement, Ask Yourself These 5 Questions

You’re perusing the shelves of aquarium supplements at your local fish store when you come across a colorful bottle labeled “Dr. Hfuhruhurr’s Magic Reef Elixir.” Intrigued, you read on to discover the product’s intended purpose. The claims on the label…

Green Gramma sp. found deep below the Cuban water surface

As mentioned in my previous post, we decided to take the plunge to see ‘something special’ in the deep waters of La Boca, near Trinidad, Cuba. In relatively shallow waters, say from 10 meters and deeper, the first Gramma loreto…

Dr. Luiz Rocha will be the Keynote speaker for MACNA 2014

MACNA 2014 has revealed their choice of Keynote speaker this year and what a doozy it will be. Dr. Luiz Rocha will be giving the Keynote presentation at the MACNA 2014 banquet in which we expect him to reveal lots…

We can only recommend Red Sea’s Refractometer for measuring aquarium salinity

A couple years ago we were really thrilled when D-D came out with the first ever aquarium refractometer that is calibrated for seawater salinity, a true aquarium salt measurement device that trumped all the salt-water refractometers that we were using…

Diving in Cuba and enjoying a lionfish barbecue with collectors of Gramma dejongi

I like travelling and diving nearly as much as reefing. These hobbies combine often bring me to great places. Although I currently do not keep any Grammas in my reef, I do love them a lot. When I saw Gramma dejongi for…

Leptoseris A Stunning Newcomer to the Reefkeeping Scene

When you have been in the hobby a long time, you tend to see a lot of the same things over and over again. I often become desensitized to some of the most beautiful fish in the world because I’ve…

Self-sustaining ecosystems in a box, how close can we actually get?

Something that I’m continually fascinated with and ponder about; the idea of creating aquarium setups that require minimal human intervention. Growing up in the 90’s, the biosphere experiment held my imagination quite a bit. And then there were those ecospheres…