20150506 Hawaii Vacation Lanikai snorkel- Caution: Strong swimmer alert

panoramic view of Lanikai Beach on the Windward coast

The second snorkel location we took was the Lanikai beach at the Windward coast (Southeastern) shore of Oahu. As you can see from the photo above, this is a much less visited public beach than Waikiki due to its slight remote location, accessibility, lack of public parking and no public shower or changing room. Also, there are no lifeguards on duty so you are on your own.

Lanikai Beach looking Northeast

 There is about 500 meter (1/3 mile) of shallow reef along the entire stretch of this beach. But do not let the crystal clear turquoise water color fool you- the Though the rooftop of most area seem shallow,  unlike the Waikiki beach, once you venture 100ft out, most adults will not be able to stand straight and touch the bottom. Additionally, located in the windward coast, while the water is still relatively calm, it can be more unpredictable. And the water does come in waves of warm patches mixed with cooler patches. For all of the reasons above, you should only consider snorkeling or diving in this location when you are experienced and are a strong swimmer as the current can easily take you off course. There are a few times when I surfaced to find myself way off course from where I thought I was heading- very dangerous situation if I was a weaker swimmer.

Two Islands southeast of Lanikai are bird sanctuaries with strict rules for visitation

The two islands Southeast of the beast are about 1.5 miles off shore. These two islands are bird sanctuaries that has very strict rules for visitation. You may rent a kayak to reach it, rest on the beach then return. But you are not allow to touch anything or venture beyond the beach there. Also, please never attempt to swim there, the current is rough and strong it will carry you off course.

Unfortunately due to the depth of this reef, I was hesitant to bring my camera along with in fear of loosing my grip and to never able to retrieve it should it skips into a tight crack (there are numerous crevices). Based on my observation, the species here are diverse and abundant. Also because of the depth of some of the drop offs, most of the herbivores seen here are reaching good size- sailfin tang at at least 18" diameter, adult yellow tangs at no less than 8" long, adult Achilles tang at 10" long, variety of wrasses so large I almost thought they were parrotfish! The coral system however isn't growing as strongly as it can be due to invasive macro algae species. It also seems that the reef must have been devastated by big waves from storms in recent year as many of the giant pillar pieces of the reef base (at least 10ft tall and each can weight a few tons) were torn off its main structure and were laying on their sides on the sand bed.

20150428 Hawaii Vacation- Waikiki Snorkel

Two weeks ago I revisited my dream destination- Hawaii. And once again we decided to only stay in Oahu as we have not enough time to explore all we wanted to see in our previous visit. But we did recall the wonderful snorkeling experience so we have specifically carved out time to snorkel in various coast lines this time.

The beautify, relaxing white sand of the Waikiki beach at Honolulu, Hawaii

First and foremost we went to the most accessible- Waikiki. It is amazing that with all the tourists, surfing, kids playing, and motorized boats in the near vicinity the Waikiki reef ecosystem remained in a very strong state. The amount and variety of fish in the near shore reef actually had significant increase since our last visit 9 months ago. We were able to see most of all the common species of tangs and wrasse along with a few that would have only appeared in the deeper water previously, but now are also living among the shallow reef. I used only an iPhone 5S with an otter case to shoot these underwater photos.

A goatfish and a two spot surgeonfish patrolling the shallow reef of Waikiki

Really healthy reef system with active growing sps coral such as this porcillapora colony here near shore Waikiki

Moorish idol feeding among the coral reef. Interesting observation: I visited the same area a few days in a row and found that the same group of moorish idol stays within a specific area, no larger than 1000 square feet and feeds only in that area.

Beautiful spotted box fish along the reef edge in Waikiki

A semi adult nano tang, what a magnificent creature and graceful swimmer in the wild.

Water clarity wasn't the best as the waves were quite high that day sweeping up lots of dust from the bottom. 

20150329 Janesville Fragswap

It is amazing that the Wisconsin are has so many aquarium clubs with multiple fragswap or similar community events each year to provide vendors and hobbyists a fair trade platform for quality, and inexpensive experience to fill up their tanks. The event took place at the Janesville convention center, a small venue but sufficient for this function.

Before the event begins, all venfors busy prepping for their start.

Some sexy corals from one of the vendors

 Though there weren't as many vendors at this event (still an impressive 15 or so) as the Madison fragswap event, the quality of livestock and corals is definitely no lesser than the Madison swap.

Torch coral of variety colorations

Coral pricing divided by glowstick

One of the vendors provided some diversity with sea-pen, and a large group of lyre tail anthias

Cool looking nudibranch, though I don't recommend the average hobbyist keeping these difficult to maintain animals

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.

2014-04-27 Livestock of the Day-2

Check out this cute possum wrasse! http://www.liveaquaria.com/diversden/ItemDisplay.cfm?c=2733+3&ddid=225424
I have great experience ordering from LiveAquaria before so I would definitely recommend anyone to try them out.

Caution- All wrasses jump! They are jumpers! Please make sure you have good protection device in place for your tank before you order this little dude.
Possum wrasse are cute and wonderful to interact with. They can be a bit shy and timid so make sure they are in before you put any more aggressive "reef safe" fish in there such as dwarf angels and tangs.
The one thing you don't have to worry with wrasses is diet. I have never lost a wrasse due to not eating! If kept right, they can be in your tank for years!