Gorgeous Atavai wrasse from Polynesia arrives as a pair at Pacific East Aquaculture

Polynesia is an alien world of unknown reef fishes in the aquarium world and topping the list of must-haves from the region is Pseudojuloides atavai. The Atavai wrasse is one of those obscure species of slender wrasses whose congeners are poorly…

Four new nano propeller pumps for your consideration

2014 has kicked off with a plethora of new nano propeller pumps to address the needs of smaller marine and reef aquariums. Both Sicce, Eheim, Hydor and Cobalt Aquatics have their thrown their hat in the ring for contending in…

Quarter million crown of thorns starfish eradicated by new injection method

The news about the natural reef environment can be so overly bleak, it’s nice to hear some progress coming out of Australia that bodes well for the future of the Great Barrier Reef. The Crown of Thorns starfish, Acanthaster placi,…

The Reef Octopus automatic waste collector just works

Automatic waste collectors for use with high capacity protein skimmers have been around for some time but like aquarium controllers, they are getting affordable enough to be considered a piece of general aquarium equipment. The Reef Octopus Automatic Waste Collector sits…

How Big is Bite-Sized in Marine Aquarium Fish?

A novice hobbyist once asked me whether there’s a particular “rule of thumb” with respect to the size of fish that can be kept in the same tank with a predatory fish, such as a lionfish or grouper. He’d heard…

Don’t forget to clean your protein skimmer’s air silencer

As long as we’ve been reefing, it has always been well known and widely shared that is important to keep protein skimmer intakes clean. Whether you had a venturi or a needle wheel design protein skimmer, salt creep will accumulate…

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…

A Fishy Biology Lesson From Paul

Though fish are our distant cousins, there are more differences than similarities between us. In today’s post, I’d like to explore the various characteristics that make a fish a fish—or not. Skeletal distinctions Of course, not all fish are the…

Don’t miss the historic first ever East Coast Reefapalooza in Orlando Florida

If you live on the West Coast and anywhere near the southwest, you likely have attended the now-iconic Reefapalooza marine aquarium conference which happens every fall at the Orange County Fairgrounds. Reefapalooza is the largest gathering of marine and reef aquarists…

Two-face masterpiece Scolymia looks both ways

It’s been a little bit since we reported on a Scolymia australis nice enough to be post-worthy but after a long absence, Frag Junky gets the honorable mention for their two-faced masterpiece scolymia. A “Masterpiece Scoly” is among the best of…