Stonogobiops is a popular group of aquarium fish collectively known as rayed shrimp gobies. The genus Stonogobiops includes the dracula goby, S. dracula, barber pole goby, S. nematodes, the yellowface goby, S. xanthorhinica, and the ever popular white ray shrimp goby, S.…
Reef-Friendly Resolutions for 2014
Happy New Year to all our salty friends around the world! Chris and I wish you and your loved ones the very best in 2014. We’d also like to express our sincere gratitude for the support you’ve given us since…
A Look at Shane Graber’s 3D-Printed Frag Plugs
Last month Shane Graber, on a whim, threw up a batch of 25 3D-printed frag plugs on eBay. At $9 shipped to my door, I snagged them up immediately just so I could see what they’re all about. Turns out…
Dolphins get high on pufferfish
We knew that dolphins, the hippies of the sea, couldn’t be trusted to be good citizens of the ocean. A recent BBC documentary used specially designed underwater cameras disguised as sea life to spy on pods of dolphins and what…
5 Common Reasons Leather Corals Refuse to Expand
The soft coral species commonly known as leather corals (various and sundry Sarcophyton, Lobophytum, Sinularia, and Alcyonium species among others) are often among the first invertebrates budding reef hobbyists select for their systems—and with good reason. The leather corals, so…
Two days left to jump on $99 full MACNA 2014 conference pass
MACNA 2014 is continuing to set records for ticket and booth sales, as well as hotel bookings. We’ve got over 100,000 sq ft in the Colorado Convention Center, conveniently located in Downtown Denver, Colorado. The show floor is over 90%…
Jake and Mark talk about reefs over beers
Writing short and brief blog posts and occasionally articles about the state of the marine aquarium hobby, is both liberating and limiting. On the one hand we are not hamstrung to recount an entire story about a single topic, just…
Digiman revisits BlueHarbor and closes 2013 with a spectacular bang
We are closing this year with one last travel story and it’s contributed again by rare fish expert Digiman from Singapore. Following up on his Hong Kong trip, Digiman visited Japan as a final pit stop to his year end…
The Great Cleaner Wrasse and Cleaner Goby Throwdown!
Imagine you have your heart set on getting a cleaner fish for your marine aquarium so you can observe this iconic form of symbiosis right in your own home. Now imagine you’re in your local fish store looking at two…
Behold Serranus aliceae, the newly described cardinal basslet from Brazil
The newly described Serranus aliceae is a species of dwarf basslet from relatively deep waters of subtropical Brazilian reefs. First discovered living at 30m (100ft), the specimens collected for the description of this crimson red basslet were also collected at 70m…
