It’s not everyday we get to learn about new species of corals, most of the recent description being of newly discovered soft, Octocoral species, but today we celebrate three new inductees to the Scleractinia hard corals. The three new described…
Tubastraea megacorallita: Fat Head ‘Dendro’ gets an Official Description
Tubastraea megacorallita is a fitting name for a coral that has been recognized in the aquarium for its very large polyps and accompanying corallites and has earned a very fitting common name. The ‘Fat Head’ Dendro has long been rumored in the…
Truncatoflabellum veroni Bouquet at Gallery Aquatica
The reef aquarium hobby is overwhelmingly dominated by photosynthetic coral species but azooxanthellate corals are incredibly abundant and diverse, just not so much in the shallow waters where ornamental corals are collected. One of the exceptions is the very interesting…
Taking Target Feeding To The Next Level By ‘Walking’ Azoox Corals
For some time now I’ve had a deep curiosity and interest in all the corals that we don’t regularly see in our home aquariums, namely the non-photosynthetic and azooxanthellate corals. Unlike the photosynthetic corals that can get most of their…
Care Requirements for Non-photosynthetic (NPS) Corals
Non photosynthetic corals (NPS) are some of the most unique corals you will ever see. They have the most odd shapes, textures, and cryptic behaviors. Their other name, azooxanthelle, suggests that their zooxanthelle is absent. However, studies have found that…
The Persian Gulf is hiding a treasure trove of brilliant Azoox corals
In the Ocean, and especially with corals, there’s still plenty left for us to discover, such as these incredibly Azoox corals being collected in the Middle East. When we first received this crop of images from a coral collector in…
Don’t Get Burned by Flame Scallops!
Mention beautiful bivalves for the marine aquarium, and the various tridacnid clams (the so-called giant clams) will probably come to mind. Likely, the flame scallops of the genus Ctenoides will too. However, while the tridacnids have a fairly decent survival…
Boris Bielan’s Azoox system is 800 gallons of non-photosynthetic coral heaven
There are azoox aquariums and then there are massive azoox aquariums. At a little over 13 feet long by 39 inches by 26 inches, Bories Bielan’s azoox system falls into the latter category. Based on scale alone this is perhaps…
Jacob Dixon’s Puget Sound biotope is a cool as it is awesome
Cold Water Reefs are something we really, can’t get, enough of, and Jacob Dixon’s Puget Sound biotope reminds us exactly why. The beauty of this reef might be subtle, with mostly brownish/beige tints dominating the majority of the aquarium, but…
Illustrated key to azooxanthellate Scleractinia is high def identification gold
An illustrated key to the genera and subgenera of the recent Azooxanthellate Scleractinia, is one of the coolest in depth LPS azoox identification keys we’ve come across. Even if you have zero interest in azoox corals, you absolutely have to check…
