Seachem is a pretty popular company among aquarium trade and hobbyists alike. They have a wide range of products crossing the freshwater, planted, and reef spectrums.
Since I use and test out a wide range of brands and products, I am not writing this particular post to promote Seachem or praise their product. In fact, I find most of the products, regardless of brand, to perform in the similar range. What's really important is the hobbyists own husbandry and keeping up with maintenance.
That being said, I am impressed with some of these tools designed and distributed by Seachem. I have always wanted to have a more complete snipping and trimming tool for planted tanks with precision and also to be stainless! Check out these snippers! Most of them retail for range of $7 to $20ish.
Seachem also provide a wide range of readily prepared food for your fish and coral. I have rarely used these products since I produce my own fish food for the most part.
If you are interested in a ceramic project- here is an interesting one- Pleco homes!
I saw these for sell at the Chicago Aquatic experience. Places are not only nocturnal, they are secretive and very territorial. So if you are a place enthusiast like myself, these would be ideal for their well being, though not as ideal for your viewing pleasure!
I have decided to start a new painting series this new year. I am using acrylic as me medium and painting on square wood panels.
The first of the paintings is the newly acquired swallowtail angelfish- female
For those growing coral either as a hobbyist or a retailer, frag tanks is almost a must have as you propagate your coral to grow out in it. For the most part people tend to house their frag tank either at a side or behind the scene but still connected to the main water body of their display tank. The benefit of this is to maintain stable water perimeters as frag tanks tend to hold smaller water volume thus prone to status swings. By linking to the main system not only the water remain more or less stable. It'll be a smooth transition too to transport the freshly propagated coral into the frag tank, or vise versa.
As for the dimension of the frag tank. I recommend something no less than 8" deep but not more than 1' high. This gives you enough room to maneuver also provide room for coral to grow if necessary, but not too deep to prevent light generation and water circulation issues. For the width and length, I guess it really is up to you on how much you wish to keep and how spacious if your set up.
One thing I need to point out is that many people ignored the proper movement in the frag tank. So I have seen many cases of "flow dead spot" in these type of tanks. One smart idea I have seen from a friend is to place buffers so the water flows through all corners of the tank.
One of the sponsors for the aquatic show was Hikari fish diet company. Growing up in Asia I am very familiar with Hikari food. The Japanese company specialized in freshwater food particularly for Koi and likes of Goldfish. They also have a few publications of fish health, diet, and care.
To be honest I have not used dry, processed Hikari food ever since I began keeping Saltwater aquarium. However, Hikari's frozen food is still one of the most trustworthy source for my saltwater stock- to this date I still feed their spirulina enriched brine shrimp.
I have previously mentioned meeting the New Era food reps at the convention center. I thought I'd include some photos here for reference. As you can see below, they have a variety of food comes in variety of container sizes for average hobbyists, hardcore hobbyists, retailers, and serious breeders.
Variety of New Era fish diet comes in different sizes for hobbyists, retailers, and breeders
The booth also has a large TV display of video clips of their food being enjoyed here. You can also find an elapse video clip of my fish eating their marine grazer here:
Video Clip of New Era Marine Grazer Being eaten
There is also another clip in "normal" speed Here.
Actual size of the mini marine grazer from New Era
I happend to walk past the seahorse tank and thought I saw some "food" pieces floating in the tank. I thought to myself it's been a while since I last fed them why are there all these food? Upon closer examination I realized they are newly hatched peppermint shrimp floating around, and the seahorse is having a nice treat!
Happy New Year!
Seeing that the new year can mark a new ear of something for someone, I thought it would be fitting to introduce a new food I've been studying after but have not had a chance to try until recently.
I was first told of this food by a very nice and helpful girl working at a Milwaukee's local fish store "Best Fish". At the time I suspected my gold spotted rabbitfish had an appetite for my derasa clam ( I never caught it in the act though, but it was the ONLY suspect at the time). So I expressed my concern to her and see if she has any suggestions. She then recommended this mini grazer for the fish to slowly chew down over time so it will have no time to take after other items. I was given a couple rings of them to try out but did not have the mount to prop them properly. So that was a fail.
I then ran into a nice British gentleman at the Chicago Aquatic experience who was the rep at New Era's booth. He explained the food and the feeding process along with aid of video. So I was then convinced to give it a shot. It's been a few days now in my tanks and I am convinced it's a great food for all algae grazers like tangs and rabbitfish, even angels!
In the video you can see my swallowtail angelfish going after the feeder. Before I introduced the feeder this angel actually was struggling to eat, and I believe the angel finds the idea of a stationary food source very enticing and comforting. I now highly recommend it.
The food however, is not very cheap- a 290 gram can comes with two sucker mounts was sold for $30 USD at the LFS.
