20141030 Species spotlight- Harlequin Tusk Wrasse

The Harlequin Tusk fish (Choerodon fasciatus) is one of the most beautiful fish in the aquarium trade. This is a robust, hardy, and colorful fish with lots of personality. The only catch is- they are "Not Reef Safe". Despite needing a large tank size to house this fish, I would consider this a beginner fish since they are hardy and robust.

Harlequen Tusk Wrasse

The Harlequin Tusk can get pretty big in the wild, but I have not seen any over 8" in private aquariums. They are very greedy eaters and would happily accept mysis, krill, small fish, feeder fish, you name it, they eat it! They are also quite disease tolerant, in the years I worked in the trade I have not seen one die from starving or illness. The only one we lost is- jumping out! Like all wrasses, this fish is a jumper. So you should have a good, heavy lid over the tank for them since they are very powerful.

To keep this fish, just make sure you have reef condition- water temperature no warmer than 82 no cooler than 76. Salinity should be Specific gravity range 1.022-27. They will grow big and need lots of swimming room, so I do not recommend keeping it in tanks smaller than 120G. Do not keep this fish with small, slow fish, any crustacean, or clams as the chance of them becoming food is high. The fish will do fine with coral and other larger, robust fish like tangs, angels, triggers, puffer, eel, etc.

20141029 Reef Tank Update

Real quick update of my reef tank here. I did some change over the weekend- I decided having 2X 150W LED hanging over the 92G corner is a bit too much for the tank. So I removed one of the two light fixtures. moved one to the center and increased the intensity slightly. So far everyone is happy.

20141028 Reef Safe

A Cleaner Shimp

One of the most common terms one hears or asks in the marine aquaria is "Is ____ Reef safe?"

Well, to answer that question, first we must define what is "reef safe"?

Here is an article from Wikipedia defining reef safe.

So in short, I think most people would agree reef sate in the home aquarium means the critter you are referring will NOT hurt invertebrates, including coral. Even though in the broad spectrum, there really is very limited true "reef safe" creatures as most fish, even those who are vegetarian, would need to consume crustacean at some point in there life journey. But for the sake of general reference, it means a fish/invertebrate will not attack or cause long term damage to other commonly available aquarium creatures. 

Even those that are considered reef safe, one can still find an occasional specimens that is a black horse who wants to redefine their diet habit.

To illustrate, here is a small sample of fish that are "reef safe"

Yellow Tang- Primarily vegetarian, very rarely harms invertebrates.

Clown fish- Not an herbivore but will not attack invertebrates.

Seahorse- Very gentle creature, will not attach invertebrates, but will eat pods.

A list of "reef safe" invertebrates

Tridacna clams- will not bother anyone, no feeding necessary with sufficient lighting and adequate water quality

Small Polyp Stony coral- same as above

Cleaner shrimp- will not bother anyone, will help pick on parasites on fish

What about "not reef safe" fish?

Any fish in the following family cannot be trusted:

Angel- most will nip on corals or clam

Butterfly- most will nip coral

Trigger- will eat any crustacean, will also harm smaller fish, but not necessarily corals

Puffer- Same as above

Lion- Same as above

Grouper- Same as above

Some not reef safe invertebrates:

Mantis shrimp- will eat ANYTHING alive

Lobster- will harm fish/clam

larger crabs- will harm fish/other invertebrates

Anemone- this is a tricky one, but they may consume smaller, weaker fish or crustacean. 

20141027 Reef Aquarium Salinity

So I have been doing a lot of research and reading for the last 3 days on reef aquarium salinity.
There are some nice readings here, or here, and here- this one is a must read (you need to be a big enough aquarium geek and some basic understanding to physics and chemistry to fully grasp the power of this topic). Additionally, there are also plenty forums you can submerge yourself in to gather a good round of opinion from other successful reefers.

After my research, I am deciding to raise my tank's salinity. Previously, my practice on tank salinity was heavily influenced by all the aquarium retail works I've done- keep it as the lowest possible safe margin. Well, I don't keep it as low as 1.020 like some, but I do keep it a tad lower than idea- 1.022-23. But then I realized that's probably the reason why I have faced so much challenge in successfully keeping much sps and lps despite adequate light, good filtration, and perfect water chemistry- except for salinity! Over the weekend, I raise the tank to 1.026 specific gravity, or 35 ppt (parts per thousand) salinity- which is the closest to natural coral reef condition. Below is a snap shot of my refractometer's reading after completion of the raise.

Then a shot of the hydrometer- the two instruments are maginally different, but close enough to support relative accuracy.

Next week I will be attending the Aquatic Experience in Schaumburg (outside of Chicago). I plan to use this opportunity to stock with some of the corals that I have previously failed to keep long term and will update everyone on this.

20141024 Conspicuous Angelfish

I like to go around the web and search for cool and unusual specimens. I haven't really seen much that I think is an absolutely "must have" but for the sake of introducing something not so common, I thought I put this guys up I found at Liveaquaria.

Conspicuous Angelfish, as seen on Live Aquaria

In case this fish is still around, you can find him here
Just to prepare you, it might break your bank- it's a $3000 fish! Personally I don't think they are that attractive, at least not compared to some of the other large angels. But it certain is rare as it doesn't surface in local stores as often as most other larger angels.

20141024 Huge Reef Tank Systems

While going through my list of posts I accidentally found an old draft what I was going to post regarding the Waikiki Aquarium, but totally forgot about it!

Waikiki Aquarium South Pacific Display

I think one of the biggest eye openers was the aquarium's main South Pacific system housing various fish that most aquarists would consider "not reef safe" yet none of them are picking on the corals or the giant clams. This is when I realized when it comes to keeping these "non reef safe" fish, the volume and feeding regimen really are the keys to success and having them leave the corals alone. The photos above shows butterfly fish, among others not in this photo that are known to be nipping corals in home aquarium, yet you can clearly see the SPS are growing very well in this tank!

Waikiki Awuarium Anemone Display

This tank, once again, is a very large system and you can see it houses many what we would consider "aggressive towards conspecific" fish together!

20141020 Jecod 14000 Wavemaker light detector in Else Mode

Here is part II of the Jecod 14000 Wavemaker review. I have always disliked websites with unwanted sounds or videos with people's annoying speech, so I am keeping my videos "silent"

This is testing the wave maker controller's light detector. When I attempted to block the sensor, you can see the light goes on for the sensor, and the wave maker will reduce intensity in the "night"

20141019 Jecod 14000 Wavemaker

I have been looking to upgrade my wave makers for my tank. Originally I have wanted to go for the Ecotech Marine's Vortech System. But then at almost $400 a unit, it is quite an investment, despite having great reviews.

Today I stopped by the Local Fish Store Living Art Aquarium and spoke to Paul the owner. He recommended this Jecod Wavemaker for a fraction of the Vortech's cost. It might have as as sophisticated of a controlling system and programming ability as a vortech, but so far I am loving what I see. Below is a video of this operating in the W1 mode, which resembles a constant wave surge.

20141016 Flame angel

Saw this guy at the store over the weekend. I know I already have a flame angel in my 92 corner. But hey, I don't have one in my 75 yet! And this little guy came at a great price. But most importantly- the marking for this guy is truly one of a kind. Just goes to show how remarkable God's creation would be!

Flame Angelfish named "AVID"

20141014 Roberto's impressive 720 Gallon Reef

In case you haven't seen this thread in Reef central
You definitely want to check out his tank, the planning, the build, and the progress.
It is a stunning tank!

Roberto's 720 Reef Tank in Brazil

Desjardini Update

Just an update of my Desjardini Tang. Doing great, getting fat, and kicking everyone else's ass in the tank!

20141012 Neon Goby

So I decided to get some tank mates for my seahorse that are not other seahorses!

I have always wanted to have these tiny cute little gobies. But when I was a store manager at an aquarium store, I noticed sometimes these small fish would fall into the overflow and just vanish after a while. So I have been hesitant to place them in my reef tank. Now that I have an enclosed seahorse tank I think the timing is right! both are ORA captive bred gobies and they are eating frozen and flake food like crazy!

20141008 Freshwater Angelfish

I have been posting almost exclusively saltwater content sometimes it seems like I don't have any freshwater tanks at all! But like most aquarists, I also began my adventure with freshwater.

Here is a photo of my 75 Gallon freshwater setup. I wanted to do a planted tank. But with four plecos in this tank I don't know if that's a good idea. I have four Angelfish, five Denison's barbs (they are beautiful), five Congo tetras (2 male, 3 female), 3 Pearl Gourami, and an assortment of tetras. The four plecos I have are 1 bushy nose, 1 gold nugget, 1 leopard, and 1 snowball. Ironically, the last three are the most expensive fish I have in the tank yet are the least seen!

20141006 Derasa Clam nipped!

For the last two months I have been keeping my Derasa clam separately in a 75G RR that I have set up to allow the two squamosa clams more room to stretch. But two weeks ago I discovered that the Derasa clam have not been opening. So I decided to take it out of the 75 and place it back into my 92.

It turns out- someone has been nipping this clam! See the hole in the middle of the clam mantle (the white circle) My suspicion is the orange or gold spotted rabbitfish. Because not only the clam, the rabbitfish has also nipped on my leather corals.

20141005 Seahorse! Hippocampus Erectus

I have had my 28 gallon cube sitting for a while running with just live rock for about 2-3 months. I have always wanted to get some seahorse in that tank. And the opportunity finally arrived! Last week while browsing Best Fish in Milwaukee, I noticed they had a tank full of captive raised seahorses!

 Initially I saw the label "Kuda" on the tank so I thought I was looking at Kuda seahorse. The store was feeding them live brine and frozen mysis shrimp. These guys gobble up the food very eagerly. So I decided to take a couple of these 3" ponies home!

Although at the time of purchase, one was significantly lighter color than the dark one, they do change color to match the environment. Over the course of a week, they have both shifted color slightly and are not not as far off from each other. I started by feeding them Hikari mysis since they are small in size. But then they were not accepting the mysis very well. After some forum posting on reef central, I decided to try PE mysis on them, with the fear that the big shrimp would not fit through their fused jaws. And to my surprise, they were able to chew up some pretty chunky shrimps!
Also, as I began to research more about seahorse, I realize they do not look like Kuda at all! Instead, I thought they look more like erectus. So I called the store today and confirmed that indeed they are erectus. The store only has females at this time, which is OK with me because I don't think I am ready for the difficult task of breeding seahorse just yet.