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…

Acropora tortuosa in Kwajalein has a unique blue tip color

Prior to traveling to Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands, we read a report citing the occurrence of huge tree-like old-growth stands of Acropora tortuosa that were discovered at Rongelap Atoll several hundred miles north of Kwajalein. We didn’t expect…

The Sally Lightfoot Crab: A Real Character of a Crustacean

Sharing the surname of a famous Canadian folk singer, of whom I’ve been an ardent fan for many, many years (once again confirming that my profound nerdiness knows no bounds), the Sally Lightfoot crab, a.k.a. the nimble spray crab, of…

Liopropoma tonstrinum has a range wider than we previously thought

Liopropoma tonstrinum is a basslet with equal parts beauty and rarity. Looking superficially similar to L. multilineatum, the former is most often found and captured in Palau, where the few specimens that enter the trade are offered from. According to…

Three snippets of recent good news about fish and corals

With a the whole news-cycle industry programmed to grab your attention with “if it leads it bleeds” headlines, we’ve got a trio of stories to counter all the downer news out there. Earlier this year, aquarists at the Zoological Society…

ORA announces White Bonnet Clownfish coming in 2014 (with awesome video)

As you may recall, last year we reported a story about a very special pair of White Bonnet clownfish (Amphirpion leucokranos, aka “White Cap”) that made a voyage from Ocean Gallery II to the ORA hatchery in Florida, nearly getting lost…

Unbelievable – RAP Does It Again!

Last year was my very first Reef-A-Palooza (RAP) and I was so excited to be part of such a historic event, as they broke their attendance record.   Well, this year I could not have asked for more excitement – they…

Tales from Thailand: Chingchai’s incredible DSPS tank

Having just returned from an amazing trip in Bangkok, it would almost be considered criminal if we weren’t going to spill and share on the reefing goodies this amazing city has to offer. Like our previous recount of BlueHarbor in…

Differentiating the befuddling trio: Odontanthias chrysostictus, O. katayamai and O. tapui

For a long time, the confusion between Odontanthias chrysostictus, O. katayamai as well as O. tapui has afflicted many. We’ve made the mistake of wrongly identifying these fishes in the past as well. We hope to straighten out the mistakes…

Banggai Rescue Project book goes on sale at MACNA this week

For any of our readers who have been following the Banggai Rescue Project, we have some great news — the long-awaited book from the Banggai Rescue Project is finally launching at MACNA this week in Florida. The new book titled  Banggai…