Cherry-picking fresh Acros right from the Coral Farm

Cherry picking corals from an ocean based coral farm is very much like picking ripe fruit from a tree. Otherwise known as mariculture, growing corals in the ocean offers the same advantages and disadvantages as growing of food crops. On one…

Bellissima bellus: The biology and hybridization of Genicanthus bellus

The genus Genicanthus boasts of ten medium to large angelfish species that have evolved away from the regular substrate perusing stereotype. All members of this genus are rather streamlined, being longer than they are tall. Their caudal fins are festooned with…

Awesome Fish Spotlight: The scarlet Synchiropus

Synchiropus is an immaculate genus famed for the unorthodox juxtaposition between cute and freaky. With frog like faces, huge bulging eyes and pursed lips, coupled with their undulating fin movements, they make for a highly peculiar animal. In the aquarium context, few species illicit…

Cooper the sterling Siganus is the new Silver Fox in town

Move aside Casper. Cooper’s the new silver fox in town and he’s giving the real Anderson Cooper a run for his money. Off-coloured piebald aberrations are uncommon, but can be seen from time to time especially in certain genera of fish.…

Speciation and hybridisation of the Acanthurus nigricans complex

The family Acanthuridae with its six charismatic genera are some of the most beloved and recognisable fish both in the field and in the trade, serving as iconic reef denizens which play important roles in herbivory. The six genera holds…

Delectable colony of red Leptoseris sitting pretty at Unique Corals

You’ve seen orange Leptoseris, you’ve probably seen green Leptoseris, and there’s no way you’ve missed the green-eyed orange Jack-O-Lantern Leptoseris. However this delectable colony of RED Leptoseris is in a league of its own, with the most graceful colony shape and a perfect arc of light…

An eye for a Bigeye

The family Priacanthidae, more commonly known as Catalufas and Bigeyes, are strange looking fish that look less out of place with Alice and her wonderland than in the ocean. The family comprises of roughly twenty species, in four genera namely Cookeolus, Heteropriacanthus,…

Awesome Fish Spotlight: Pseudojuloides kaleidos, in all its beautiful forms

Of all the labrids that enter the trade, none are quite as refreshing and unorthodox as Pseudojuloides. Wrasses are social butterflies that are found in haremic groups. usually of a single male and multiple females. As such, maintaining a species of…

Awesome possum: The diminutive and taciturn Wetmorella

Unlike Awesome Possum, Wetmorella does not can haz chezburgers, neither does it enjoy being an internet meme. Wetmorella is a small yet very interesting genus comprising of three Indo-Pacific species that lead very cloistered lives in dark caves and ledges.…

“Eclectus” mushroom anemone takes Jawbreaker shrooms to a whole new level

The Jawbreaker mushroom is the strain of ‘Discosoma’ which single handedly showed us that mushroom anemones could be a striking aquarium animal and that Corallimorphs have plenty of strains worth collecting. The new Eclectus mushrooms from Bali aquarium raise the bar once…