Wrasses are not a group of reef fish that don’t deviate from their template too much, but when they do it can be quite spectacular. Case in point is this aberrant cleaner wrasse, Labroides dimidiatus, fished up in the Philippines by…
The Magma Fairy Wrasse, Cirrhilabrus shutmani, Just Described From Northern Philippines
Cirrhilabrus shutmani, the magma wrasse which was first discovered by RVS Fishworld has just been described. This completely novel wrasse species made a big splash when it first appeared as it was unmistakably new to both science and the marine…
Sustainable Collecting Is Bringing An Explosion Of New Filipino Fish
There’s a new hub for very interesting and novel reef fish in the aquarium hobby and it’s the Philippines. This might be somewhat counterintuitive since so many of the fish for saltwater aquarium fish have come from this nation of…
The Best Pictures Yet Of The Rare Greytail Angelfish
The greytail angelfish, Chaetodontoplus poliourus, is one of the newest species of marine angelfish. It’s also pretty special to us because it was the first ‘new species of angelfish’ we ever got to write about here in Reef Builders. First described…
Young Purple Chromis albomaculata Are Deepwater Darlings
When fish collectors venture into new regions and show us fish that we’ve never seen before, it’s easy to get excited at the potential of some of these specimens being new species. Alas, ichthyologists have been hard at work for…
These Four Rare Fish Make For An Incredible Madagascar Biotope Aquarium
The Indian Ocean is one of the least explored ecoregions of the world, and madagascar in particular is nearly a black hole of information when it comes to ornamental aquarium fish. Thankfully in recent years RVS Fishworld‘s sister operation in…
RVS Fishworld Continues To Train Whole Communities Of Net-Caught Aquarium Fisherman
Over the years a lot of ink has been spilled about cyanide-caught fish, and a lot of lip service has been paid to catching ornamental fish using nets. Talk is cheap and real action is expensive, and RVS Fishworld has been…
Paracheilinus hemitaeniatus, the Holy Grail Flasher Wrasse Being Collected in Madagascar
Paracheilinus hemitaeniatus, the half-banded flasher wrasse is a very elusive species that has been all but absent in the aquarium hobby. Hailing only from Madagascar and a few locations in South Africa, this species has turned out to be the…
First Look At The Huge Juveniles of Goldenback Triggerfish
The Goldenback Triggerfish is a beautiful species of marine fish which way too rarely seen. Par tof the reason for this species’ notable scarcity in the aquarium hobby is that this is one of the larger species of Xanthichthys. And when we…
We Finally Get To See An Aberrant Naso Tang
Aberrant tangs have become a mainstay of exotic fish collectors in recent years but so far, the genre has been dominated by Zebrasoma species, with the odd Ctenochaetus or Acanthurus surgeonfish occasionally trying out the look. Besides having a blonde…
