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.

20140919 Japanese Swallowtail Angelfish

Last weekend I visited my local fish store Living Art Aquarium and noticed they have this angel available- Paul, the owner labeled it "very rare, and very good price" at $99. For those of you who are not familiar with this fish, many would pay up to $400 for a male specimen.

There are two fish in the Genicanthus family sharing the common name "Japanese Swallowtail Angelfish"- Genicanthus melanospilos, and Genicanthus Semifasciatus.

The first one is also known as a spotbreast angelfish and is quite common in the Aquarium trade with price ranging from $70 -$120 for female and a bit higher for male. Personally, I think the female of this species look prettier than the male (so do many of the other members of the Genicanthus family).

But not the Semifasciatus. While I think the female looks really adorable with the black mask, the male specimen of Semifasciatus is simply regal with the golden mask and trim streaming down the mid section separating tiger striped upper section and the silver abdominal portion.

They are not common, thus Paul's quote "rare", and they are also not the hardiest during shipping and acclimation due to their origin- ranging from Philippines to Japan, living as deep as 300ft, they can come from water as cool as upper 60's but also as warm as upper to mid 70's. So depends on the source, they might not always enjoy the tropical, reef temperature. Secondly, because they could have been collected at a greater depth, improper decompression can result in swim bladder disfunction, which was common in the genicanthus family but has been better in recent years.

Now, why was this fish so cheap, you might ask? Well, Paul explained when he was picking up livestock from the wholesaler, this fish was severely beaten and was in really bad shape. With the huge order Paul had placed, the owner just toss this in for free but not optimistic with its chances. After the fish had arrived Paul's store, it rebounded and recovered almost completely and was eagerly accepting food. I could not pass on this. 

If you google some of this fish's photos, you can see that my fish is actually in the midst of a gender reassignment. That's right, they are hermaphrodic and can change gender back, and forth at will. This fish appears to be on her way to become a male. You can still see a hint of the black mask around the eye, and the tiger stripes have not yet fully appeared. (Either that or it can be reversing it from male back to female, but I am hope it is the first one).

Currently I have a 5" female watanabe angel in the tank, as expected there is some squabble between the two since they are in the same family. But it has not grown too violent since at least one of them is female. It is only day two of the fish in my tank and it has been eating very well! I will have more updates later.

2014-06-08 Tank moving 1

This was a project long time coming- Ever since I did my most recent energy bill and tank wattage analysis, I realized having one larger tanks is a log more energy efficient than having multiple small tanks- even when the small tanks sums up to a smaller water volume.

The opportunity finally came when one of the local aquarium stores: Living Art Aquarium, had a store move. They've been very successful over the last few years and decided to expand store size.

As they move, some of the tanks from their previous location are now up for sell. I was able to obtain this 75Gallon mega flow with half the regular retail price + overflow kit included. I also decided to obtain a 29Gallon to function as a sump. The rest of the project was relatively inexpensive- but tedious as I cut wood and PVC pipes to put together a stand and the plumbing. The entire progress took about 48 hours (including cleaning up the old tanks). I will break down the play by play in the next few post in case anyone is interested in learn more about plumbing, livestock transport, cleaning tip.