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Category Archives: Industry
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Dont Feed the Fish
In an attempt to limit the impacts of tourism many countries are offering “interactive ecotourism” trips where travelers have the opportunity to visit relatively undisturbed parts of the world and physically interact with wildlife. This concept is supposed to be a small scale alternative to large level tourism but the impacts of bringing people to fragile areas of the world is causing some unintended biological changes in Stingray that frequent shallow warm waters of the Cayman Islands. Stingray “City” or Stingray “Sandbar” is one of the largest tropical attractions yet the practice of feeding these animals to keep them close for human interaction has drastically altered their natural behaviors. 
The practice of providing supplemental feedings to the Dasyatis americana, a southern stingray, has affected their movement patterns and spatial distributions throughout the Western Atlantic waters. Researchers at Nova Southeastern University’s Guy Harvey Research Institute in Hollywood, Fla., and the University of Rhode Island studied the specimens found in the Stingray City/Sandbar and found their activities were the exact opposite of stingray studied elsewhere throughout the Caymans: “Tag-recapture data indicated that a population of at least 164 stingrays, over 80% female, utilized the small area at SCS for prolonged periods of time. Examination of comparative movements of mature female stingrays at SCS and control sites revealed strong differences between the two groups: The fed animals demonstrated a notable inversion of diel activity, being constantly active during the day with little movement at night compared to the nocturnally active wild stingrays.” Read the entire study here!… More:
A Rare Catch in Red
A fishermen dragging nets through Irish waters pulled in a rare find of the family Scorpaenidae recently. Scorpaena scrofa is one of the larger species of Eastern Atlantic scorpion fish and usually found in warmer waters like the Mediterranean, but the specimen found recently was caught in the cooler British waters of County Waterford. 
After placing the fish in the boats livewell Peter Lynch, the boats captain, contacted the Sea Fisheries Protection Authority where inspector Declan MacGabhann declared the fish a rare find. A poisonous species the Scorpaena scrofa is a predatory fish from the same family as the Lion fish and their range is extending as SFPA inpsector Declan MacGabhann states: “The seas around Ireland are getting warmer, and we are seeing an increased number of what we would classify as rare fish turning up in fishermen’s nets.” The fish will go o display at the Dingle Oceanworld Aquarium in the neighboring County Kerry, where it will join other interesting and rare taxa. Read more here!… More:
Posted in Conservation, Fish, Industry, Photography, Science, Uncategorized
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Tanked Returns
The boys at Acrylic Tank Manufacturers are at it again with another season of Tanked on the Animal Planet. Airing March 22nd, 2013 the show will continue along the same lines showcasing some of the nations biggest and baddest salt water aquarium installations produced by the industries largest acrylic aquarium company. 
Wayde King and Bret Raymer of ATM have really made a name for themselves, as is evident in their forth season on the Animal Planet, despite initial backlash from the aquarium community. Check out the latest info and updates on the Animal Planet website here!… More:
Posted in Events, Funny, Industry, Tanks, Uncategorized
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Product Review: Red Sea Reef Foundation Pro test kit
Thanks to shared knowledge, advancements in husbandry paired with state-of the art equipment and better understanding of corals biology, more people are able to create and maintain beautiful reef tanks. Despite all we know about keeping marine life in captivity, there is no one recipe for all problems and challenges associated with reef aquariums. Magic potions, miracles-in a bottle, innovative equipment and countless dosing variations are all part of a quest to find the Holy Grail, but so far, it just doesn’t exist. Every single reef aquarium is different, starting from source of water, salt mix used, lighting up to the choice of animals housed. Count into that the sophisticated nature of sessile invertebrates, their chemical interactions and enormous range of habitats they are collected from and we quickly realize there is no “sweet point” and the best we could do is create optimal conditions for corals to live and propagate.… More:
Cobalt Aquatics Makes Quite the Splash
A lot of new products and a lot of new coral will be showcased at this years MACNA but one company is hitting the ground running with a complete line of saltwater related products before the event even gets started. From foods to canister filters Cobalt Aquatics has been slowly leaking products and product info over the past couple of months with each leak wetting the pallet of many aquarists. Now a distribution schedule has finally come to fruition: Shipping from Cobalt week of April 1st
- Discus “Hans” Flake
- Mysis Flake
- Mysis Spirulina Flake Shipping from Cobalt week of April 8th
- Neo-Therm 150 watt Heater
- Neo-Therm 200 watt Heater
- Neo-Stat 300 watt Temperature Controller
- Neo-Therm Heater working “POP” display Shipping from Cobalt week of April 29th
- Discus “Hans” Pellet
- Mysis Pellet
- Mysis Spirulina Pellet
- Marine Vegi Flake and Pellet Food
- Marine Omni Flake and Pellet Food Shipping from Cobalt week of June 1st
- E-X-T Canister Filter (and media)
- E-X-T inline Pump
- Oxy-Pro Air Pump
- Neo-Flow DC Circulating Pump
- Duo-Filter LED-UV (and media)
- Micro-UV 3w The Cobalt Aquatics Vision Statement: On April 26th, 2011 Viral Surati, Randy Parham and Les Wilson set off for the adventure of a lifetime. The three hardcore fishgeeks set off to create an aquatics company of their own. Based in the values instilled in them by mentors of company’s past and lessons learned from a lifetime of fish keeping, Cobalt Aquatics and it sister brand Cobalt Pond were formed. Starting with a line of koi food proudly made in the USA and Equipment made in Italy, Cobalt Aquatics will always strive to bring the highest quality products to market. Check them out here!… More:
Posted in Corals, Equipment, Fish, Industry, Invertebrates, Seahorses, Tanks, Uncategorized
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Underwater Photographer Mixes Miniature Figurings with Marine Life
Photographer Jason Isley is forging new ground with his latest session where he mixes miniature figurings from beach goers to army soldiers with live marine fauna. The interactive portrayals create scenes that seem like they are from Hollywood; with giant hermit crabs pursuing beach goers and a lady watering Christmas tree worms Jason’s photos are extremely captivating. Check out the series and other links to Jason’s work here! 
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Posted in Corals, Fish, Funny, Industry, Invertebrates, Photography, Too Cute
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Clownfish assist in Anemone Respiration
Anemones and anemone fish have long had a relationship based on things like protection and sustenance but the findings recently published by Dr. Joe Szczebak from Auburn University have provided a more intimate connection. Joe’s studies include researching the respiratory capacities of corals and due to the lack of photosynthesis occurring during the nighttime he found that some corals need a little help breathing while they sleep. Finding that the most common of anemone fish, the “Clownfish,” was active more than 80% of the night implies that the constant movement provides oxygen to both host and hostess. Dr. Szczebak’s findings conflict with current understandings that clownfish remain passive at night to avoid predation. 
Joe summarizes his findings: “Many stony coral-dwelling fishes exhibit adaptations to deal with hypoxia among the branches of their hosts; however, no information exists on the respiratory ecophysiology of obligate fish associates of non-coral organisms such as sea anemones and sponges. This study investigated metabolic and behavioral interactions between two-band anemonefish (Amphiprion bicinctus) and bulb-tentacle sea anemones (Entacmaea quadricolor) at night. We measured the net dark oxygen uptake (
, μmol O2 h−1) of fish–anemone pairs when partners were separate from each other, together as a unit, and together as a unit but separated by a mesh screen that prevented physical contact. We also measured the effects of water current on sea anemone 
and quantified the nocturnal behaviors of fish in the absence and presence of host anemones in order to discern the impacts of anemone presence on fish behavior. Net 
of united pairs was significantly higher than that of both separated pairs and united pairs that were separated by a mesh screen. Anemone 
increased with flow rate from 0.5 to 2.0 cm s−1, after which 
remained constant up to a water flow rate of 8.0 cm s−1. Furthermore, the percentage time and bout frequency of flow-modulating behaviors by fish increased significantly when anemones were present. We conclude that physical contact between anemonefish and sea anemones elevates the 
of at least one of the partners at night, and anemonefish behavior at night appears to oxygenate sea anemone hosts and to augment the metabolism of both partners.” Read the full text study here!… More:
Posted in Conservation, Corals, Fish, Industry, Invertebrates, Science, Too Cute, Uncategorized
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Trop-Aquarium of Santa Cruz California Robbed
Last night my local fish store Trop-Aquarium of Santa Cruz California was broken into and robbed amongst the shooting of two local police officers. Thieves broke in through the front door of the establishment and went to a location where small amounts of cash were held for making change and paying vendors. Trop-Aqaurium and I ask anyone with information to please contact the local authorities or the local fish store directly. Trop-Aquarium of Santa Cruz1325 Mission St
Santa Cruz, CA 95060
Phone: (831) 429-1242
Email: tropaquarium@yahoo.com 
… More:
Posted in Corals, Equipment, Fish, Industry, Invertebrates, Opinion, Tanks, Uncategorized
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DNA sequencing reveals two Genicanthus species almost raised at the Long Island Aquarium
Last summer I reported on reefs.com that I had raised a number of marine angelfish (around a dozen in all) to more than one month of age using only cultured copepods obtained from Algagen. In each case, the late-stage larvae began to show a marked increase in pigmentation and changes in behavior that often coincide with settlement.… More:
Posted in Conservation, Fish, Industry, Science, Uncategorized
Tagged angelfish, Aquaculture, DNA Sequencing, Genicanthus, larva, larvae, Long Island Aquarium, marine, Todd Gardner
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Can Studying the Remora Fish Provide a New Bio-Adhesive?
Most of us are familiar with a Remora as the fish we see attached to the underbelly of sharks and some whales. While their presence on larger marine animals is quite simply for subsistence and transportation reasons, the exact way with which Remora’s attach themselves and then release without harming the symbiont it attached itself to has been a bit of a mystery for researchers. “While other creatures with unique adhesive properties – such as geckos, tree frogs and insects – have been the inspiration for laboratory-fabricated adhesives, the remora has been overlooked until now,” said Georgia Tech Research Institute senior research engineer Jason Nadler. 
This study presents some interesting product development ideas much like those developed with the understanding of the gecko’s adhesion abilities, but with this latest finding they found the attachment to be passive, meaning the Remora can actively control the adhesion in a harmless manner. “The remora’s attachment mechanism is quite different from other suction cup-based systems, fasteners or adhesives that can only attach to smooth surfaces or cannot be detached without damaging the host.” said Nadler. Research scientist Allison Mercer takes it a bit further stating: “We would like to identify, characterize and harness its critical features to design and test attachment systems that enable those unique adhesive functions. Ultimately, we want to optimize a bio-inspired adhesive for a wide variety of applications that have capabilities and performance advantages over adhesives or fasteners available today.” Read more here!… More:
Posted in Fish, Industry, Science
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Californian Fishroom Breeding of Rare Octopus
In the spare bedroom of a Californian home lies one of the rarest species of octopus just waiting to be reared. Richard Ross, a well known biologist from the Californian Academy of Sciences, is attempting to breed a species of octopus so rare it doesn’t even have a scientific name applied to it yet. In a barebottom 100 gallon acrylic aquarium Richard houses two females and three males. You might be wondering, with the cannibalistic nature of cephalopod mating behaviors, why Richard is keeping this large a group in one aquarium. That is because this particular species has been observed to be a communal and can “cohabitate in pairs, the females can lay clutches of eggs again and again, and they sometimes share the same den, while groups of them are reported to live in colonies of 40 or more individuals” said UC Berkeley Dr. Roy Caldwell one of Richards’ colleagues on the project.
Pic courtesy of sfgate.com
The temporary name given is the Larger Pacific Striped Octopus, however, the species tends to stay relatively small in comparison to other larger octopuses. These golfball sized octopuses have proved to be a bit of a mystery for Richard and his team over the past couple years as they have yet to successfully find a feeding preference for the hatchlings. Read more here!… More:
Posted in Conservation, Industry, Invertebrates, Science, Tanks, Too Cute
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Going for a Swim in the Local Hotel Aquarium
Things are done a bit different in the UK: Recently a fully clothed man climbed into a massive freshwater aquarium and went for a quick swim. Identified as “Matt” by his co-conspiritors, the man casually climbs into the tank and is encouraged to “swim.” The 3100 gallon aquarium, situated in the reception area of the Radisson Blu Hotel, was unaffected as well as the fish according to hotel representatives. Lydia Smith, director of sales and marketing at the Radisson, said that no fish had been hurt in the incident at 10.30 pm and she was sure the man meant no harm.… More:
Posted in Funny, Industry, Opinion, Tanks
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