Tank Profile: Paul B’s 40+ Year Old Saltwater Aquarium

When it comes to standing the test of time, few aquariums have more history than Paul Baldassano’s 100-gallon glass box. Ask any aquarist who has spent time on internet forums, and they’ve likely encountered Paul (more commonly known as Paul…

Favia camranensis, a new species of moon coral with corallites like shingles

Favia camranensis is a new species of moon brain coral recently described by Yuri Latypov from colonies discovered in Vietnam. Found living in monospecific aggregations of five to twenty colonies at Hon Nai Reef in Cam Ranh Bay, Favia camaranensis differs…

Xmas Tree Worm Rock Porites corals might be due for a comeback

Xmas Tree Worm Rocks of Porites corals are so awesome, it’s a wonder that they ever fell out of the spotlight from the reefing scene where once you had to have at least one cluster in your tank to have…

Leptoseris kalayaanensis grows into a plate of spines and spikes

It wouldn’t be a proper week of reef aquarium blogging here on Reef Builders if we didn’t bring your attention to a new exotic species of Leptoseris, L. kalayaanensis. Described in 2009 from the Philippines and subsequently also observed growing in…

The Maze Angelfish like you’ve never seen it before

The title of this post is a little bit of a misnomer because in all likelihood, you’ve never seen any maze angelfish, let alone any that look like this. Hailing from Taiwan, for some reason the maze angelfish are almost never seen…

Jawbreaker mushroom anemone is the most incredible captive strain of Corallimorph

The Jawbreaker mushroom anemone is a corallimorph that has persisted as a desirable aquarium species in the American reef scene and is still highly sought after by collectors of brightly colored corals. If someone had told us 15 years ago that…

Clam Mania setting up to satisfy your desire for Tridacna

Giant clams are awesome and there’s never been a better time to get into Tridacna. Clams are available from Cocos to cooks, from Vietnam to Tuamotu as well as many farm raised specimens. Every fish store and e-trailer has a…

Drs. Mark Erdmann and Gerry Allen Coauthor Most Definite Species Reference of The East Indies To Date

Conservation International yesterday released what is currently the most comprehensive and definite species reference of the Coral Triangle to date. Reef Fishes of the East Indies is a three volume work coauthored by Drs. Mark Erdmann and Gerry Allen that…

Largest illegal coral seizure in UK history made at Manchester airport

The largest illegal coral seizure ever made in the United Kingdom happened when officials discovered over 750 kilograms of illegal coral and rare clams at the Manchester Airport.  The cargo originated in Vietnam then flew through Singapore on its way to the…

Top 10 new and cool corals of 2011

2011 brought us a ton of new reef fish species and although coral species and new aquairum strains come about at a crawling pace, this year was an exceptionally good one for a broad range of corals of all types.…