20150726 Reef Tank update

Life and work has taken a real toll in my life and it's been a really long time since the last update. And also to be honest my tank has been battling against some lost and disease that the whole situation is just very demoralizing and the thought of shutting down the tank has crossed my mind a few times.
I did however acquired 3 pyramid butterfly in the last month or so as I have always loved them.

20150108 Tank update

Here is a shot of my tank update! See all my fish happily swimming, and love my pair of flame angels!

20150102 Fish enjoying new era marine grazer

I thought this time-lapse video really shows how popular this treat is among my fish!

20141226 Underwater footage of my 180 gallon reef- Fish point of view

Here is a submerged "fish point of view" to my clam in the middle of my tank. I love it when the sailfin desjardini tang decides to come up close and "size me up"

20141215 180 Mix Reef Video Update!

Here is video to the 180 Mix reef update with the new family members added. All mingling with no aggressions! I love the blue tang's electric blue color and the pyramid butterfly's golden highlights.

One thing surprised me: I was expecting the blue tang to appear "black" under actinic 430nm lighting, however, it appeared to remain sharply blue!

20141214 New fish in my 180 Reef

Added two new family members to my 180 Reef tank today: The gold pyramid butterflyfish, and the Paracanthurus Hipatus blue tang. I need to add the full name for the tang because there is a lot of confusion over the word "blue tang" in the trade.

Shot o my mix reef with the new fish. Lower left is the desjardini. pyramid butterfly in the middle. and the blue tang next to the clarkii clownfish.

My initial fear for adding these two fish were: 1) the pair of flame angel can be aggressive to any new comers regardless of species and size. 2) the desjardini tang being aggressive towards another tang.
The result- I actually also also introduced four blue line cardinal fish at this time, and no one messed with them at all, they joined my existing school right away. When introducing the butterfly, only one of the two flame angelfish came up and sized him up a bit but then left it alone afterward. All other fish completely ignores it. The blue tang went into hiding for 10 minutes and scared himself upon introduction- in my experience, very usual behavior for this shy fish. After 10 minutes it came out and swam around and explore the boundaries. No one bothered the tang at all, not even the desjardini. The blue tang must look so different from the desjardini tang that it they felt no threat to each other at all.

20140803 Waikiki Aquarium- Hawaiian Island Fish

The next exhibition after the show piece clams is the local species from the Hawaiian Islands tank. This tank also features natural sunlight with corals- the corals aren't as abundant, large, and colorful as the South Pacific display, but the fish in the tank is no less vibrant than that of the previous tank.

 In the photo above you can spot some of the more common fish in the N.American aquarium trade such as banner fish, anthias, cleaner wrass (should not be sold to individual owners), convict tangs, etc. But also many rare, expensive species- the masked angel, the Yellow pyramid butterflyfish, and the super expensive Bandit Angelfish (click on the link to see how much you should expect it to be)

 In this trip, the one fish that captured my attention is the blue line tang. To be honest, no responsible aquarium retail store should sell this fish to an average hobbyist. Because they can grow to an enormous size, as I have witnessed while snorkeling. But their beauty is truly unrivaled. This is the one fish I will not keep in my tank, but hoping to someday surround myself with when I move out to Hawaii.

Another look at the $1000 fish- the bandit angel.