Is retail dying? Not just in the aquarium industry, but across the country and around the world? For so long consumers were limited to products that were accessible, things for sale in our towns and cities. Now, the world is an open shop and nothing is out of reach. It’s changing global economies and re-defining industries. In some cases, it’s pushing small specialty stores to close, and in other cases it’s opening rural areas up to new ventures. The question remains, will aquarists still turn to the local fish store (LFS) through 2016 and beyond? Will marine life sales be dominated by a handful of large, all-inclusive marine outlets? 2016 marks my 15^th year writing for marine aquarium publications, with my history dating back to the now defunct Freshwater and Marine Aquarium Magazine (FAMA). I’ve been a fish, coral and aquarium consumer for even longer, and living in a rural part of Maryland, have a unique relationship with both the LFS and online retailers. Will online kill the brick and mortar store down, once and for all?    Once upon a time:We aquarists only had access to equipment and animals within our reach, animals for sale right around our towns or cities. For me, in far Western Maryland, there was no access to marine aquarium equipment or animals. When I was younger, this meant I was limited to freshwater aquariums, and a limited amount of species. Information, livestock and equipment was scarce, and so was information. Internet was in its infancy, mostly accessed at schools or libraries and home dial-up hadn’t yet made its way into my area. Eventually, when I was around 17 and newly licensed to drive, a store about an hour away was carrying marine animals and equipment. Up until that point, I could only keep marine animals I gathered from trips into Pittsburgh, or other cities I rarely travelled too. So it goes, my progression into and through the hobby was limited by what I could get. My early tanks were crushed coral bottomed, fish only systems with simple hang on back filtration. Not that I didn’t want to have something more advanced, I didn’t have access to it. The LFS relationship was a unique one, and I am still friends with fish shop owners whom I’ve shopped with for 15 or so years. It was a personal relationship, and often the shop owner served as your gateway to not only aquarium livestock and products, but also information.… More:

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Happy New Year one and all!!!! I have to say I am glad that night is over, it was a tough night for two of our dogs meaning we did nothing but close up the house and stayed with them all night, Indi was the only one out of all of us wanting to go out and watch, she is such a character… I am finally drying out after a long week of diving with Alan and Karen who are now both back home safe and sound. I spent the weekend getting in some long bike rides and getting a ton of projects done around the house, it’s like a never-ending list. Yesterday on our 30 mile bike ride we came across two of the saddest dogs I have seen to date, one was just skin and bones and would be surprised if it made it through the night… Once home I raced back out to where I had last seen them but could not find either but left a ton of food and water, will go back again today to check again, it’s so sad!!  Aimee and I are both being flown to Washington to the Smithsonian Institution february 8th through the 13th to do talks about what we do not only at the museum but at local high schools as well, will get you those dates when I have them. I have a little coral reef scene for you all today that I shot just a short distance away from our Substation house reef with Karen and Alan

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Paul B at his recent book release partySpecial thanks to Patrick Sugent for taking the time to write and submit the following review of Paul “Paul B” Baldassano’s The Avant-Garde Marine Aquarist: A 60-Year History of Fishkeeping. We couldn’t have said it better ourselves!“I first came across The Avant-Garde Marine Aquarist in an online forum which Paul Baldassano frequents. I gave the book a read not really quite sure what to expect. You see, I knew Paul has a great deal of saltwater knowledge as well as a witty style in online forums, but I also know that he is on a very different level than me in terms of saltwater aquarium experience. He’s got a tank that is going on 45 years old, and I have a tank that is going on two years old, slightly less old than my twin children. He’s also a big DIY (Do-It-Yourself) person when it comes to saltwater aquariums, and I once hired a professional electrician to change a lightbulb (a sad but true story). So, I thought there was a lot of room for this to be a book that was really beyond my grasp and understanding and just generally over my head with lots of discussion about history I don’t know about, devices I don’t understand, and saltwater theory I can’t follow. Fortunately, that turned out not to be remotely true.

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Dwarf Seahorses among Galaxaura subverticillata, one of the macroalgaes they associate with in the wild. 2016 will see wild Dwarf Seahorse Hippocampus zosterae gain new protections in the waters around Florida. These regulations are designed to limit their harvest from the wild in order to sustainably manage Dwarf Seahorse populations. The proposed regulations: Recreational bag limit: reduce the current limit of five (5) of each species of seahorse (within the 20 organism aggregate bag limit for all Marine Life species) to five (5) seahorses total per person per day Commercial trip limit: reduce the current daily commercial limit from 400 dwarf seahorses to 200 per person or per vessel (whichever is less) Establish an annual commercial quota of 25,000 individual dwarf seahorses and provide for closure of the recreational and

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SPS Deep Dive – Stylophora Coral Who likes to gaze at a reef tank containing SPS with bright and vivid colors? I do. Of course there are some best practices one can follow to achieve great colors but SPS coral selection plays a key role. Selection is very personal and there are many, many options out there for reefkeepers to craft a unique piece of reef tank art. I love solid, contrasting colors in my reef and Stylophoras fit the bill, with colors ranging from purple, bright pink to electric green. Typically, the pink and purple varieties can do well in the upper, middle or lower part of a tank under strong lighting. They are adaptable to different types of lighting and most grow relatively fast, although

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Having been on diving trips around the developing world, I have had the unpleasant experience of witnessing the terrible practice of dynamite fishing over the years. There has been a lot of effort, funding and education provided to help curb the practice, but sadly it still does happen. Researchers in Tanzania had an unpleasant discovery while studying whales and dolphins in the African country. They found out that Tanzanian fisherman routinely use bombs for fishing purposes also known as ‘blast-kill fishing.’ This basically entails using explosives to stun or kill large schools of fish, which are then more ‘easily’ collected. Blast fishing was said to be introduced by European armies in the first world war, who used grenades to catch fish for a fresh mail.  As you can imagine, this is extremely damaging to the surrounding ecosystem, and often to the fishermen themselves, and luckily is illegal in most places.
However, the practice still continues, especially in impoverished areas of the World. Currently, blast fishing is most used in South East Asia and Africa.The effects on coral reefs is especially devastating, turning the coral reefs into an effective graveyard with little hope for recovery. Additionally, the blast usually kills more fish than can be harvested. Although the practice should be easily policed, the mining and construction activity in Tanzania currently could be another reason that it is easier to obtain dynamite and also conceal blast fishing in Tanzania’s waters. Underwater recordings taken in March by National Geographic recorded up to 10 blasts per day. The Tanzanian government wants to stop the practice and is currently planning to begin a $1 million dollar initiative to reduce blast fishing. MORE… More:

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A new study found 85% of male smallmouth bass in the Northeast are undergoing a sex change. (AP Photo/Idaho Statesman, Roger Phillips) Male bass are experiencing unwanted sex changes, apparently thanks to the “chemical soups” that pass for waterways in the Northeast. The Washington Post reports 85% of male smallmouth bass surveyed in the region have “characteristics of the opposite sex”—specifically eggs where their testes should be. The same is true of 27% of area largemouth bass, Vice adds. For a recently published study, researchers tested bass near 19 wildlife refuges in the Northeast, according to a US Geological Survey press release. Researchers didn’t do a chemical analysis of the water where the intersex fish were found, so they can’t be sure specifically what is

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credit: Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium

 Great White Sharks inspire a mix of awe, fear, intrigue and excitement in most people. Movies like Jaws have helped create the media driven fear, while activities like cage diving, in my personal experience, lead to intrigue and respect for these amazing predators. The Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium in Japan just received an 11.5 feet Great White Shark this week, in what it believed to be the first adult Great White Shark to be exhibited (in 2004 the Monterey Bay Aquarium displayed a sub adult for 198 days before being released back into the wild)The shark was caught accidentally in fishing nets and brought to the aquarium. However, on Friday, after being in the aquarium for just three days, the Great White died. The shark had refused to eat since being brought to the aquarium. When it was noticeable that the shark was weakening, and had stopped swimming, the aquarium moved the shark into a separate tank and it was taken off exhibition. The shark was given oxygen in the special tank, but the efforts proved futile, as the shark passed away shortly thereafter. Great White Sharks are notoriously difficult to maintain in captivity and critics and proponents of keeping this species in aquariums abound.  MORE… More:

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One-spot foxface, the coral munching culprit, and the new fish in town, the Atlantic blue tangCaribbean Chris, who is currently in the process of moving his family down to Florida (apparently Ohio in mid-winter isn’t sufficiently tropical for his taste!), recently tore down his 127-gallon Caribbean reef biotope aquarium and bequeathed to me a variety of different invertebrates, including several species of gorgonian, rock flower anemones, Ricordea, lettuce corals, and others, along with a lovely Atlantic blue tang. Fortunately, there was plenty of room in my 125-gallon tank to accommodate all these specimens, as it held only five fish and a few soft corals at the time. As someone who generally makes stocking decisions at the approximate pace of molasses in January (thus the low stocking rate in my tank), I, of course, had some concerns about how this influx of livestock would affect my system and whether all of CC’s valued specimens would survive the transition and thrive under my care. Fortunately, the whole process went off as smoothly as could be hoped.Well, almost as smoothly. There have been a few minor issues, truth be told. The first occurred a day or two after the livestock was introduced, when my one-spot foxface decided to feast on a fluorescent-green lettuce coral, denuding about two-thirds of its skeleton. It didn’t bother any of the other newcomers and still hasn’t several weeks on. Apparently there was just something about that one coral that proved irresistible

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Good afternoon, I’m home sick as a dog with some freek cold that literally came out of no where!!??? It started yesterday as a slight persistent cough and then turned into a full blown cold, talk about unexpected fun!  So since I’m home I decided to do a major update to my Mac Book Pro and downloaded the new OS X El Capitan and Office 2016 which took around four and a half hours! While that was working I managed to wash the car and change out some burnt out bulbs which I had to do because our car is getting it’s annual island inspection tomorrow morning, we are not sure it will pass. I have a beautiful “as good as they get” Callyspongia vaginalis, Vase Sponge for you all this afternoon that I found on Klein Curacao earlier this year

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It’s time for the second installment of “Tips For Beginner Breeders”! Last time, we covered seahorses, and I hope you took my tips into consideration and tried your hand at breeding and rearing some of these great animals. This time, we are going to talk about goby breeding! 

One of ORA’s newest captive bred gobies, Transparent Cave Goby (Fusigobius pallidus)

 With around 28 species that have been bred in captivity, we as an industry haven’t even begun to crack open the family Gobiidae. There are over 2,000 species of known gobies; just about every hobbyist with a tank could be the first to breed a new species! Now I know how much everyone loves their clownfish – believe me, I love clowns  as much as the next guy…but for the love of aquaculture, get out of your comfort zone and try something different! Before you can get your gobies to spawn, you will need to pair them up, but pairing up gobies can be difficult, since most species have no external dimorphism. However, these fish can change their sex, giving you a better chance of making a successful pair. Gobies mainly change sex from female to male in a process called protogyny, which often follows the death of the male from a pair. The most dominant female in the area turns into a male, the opposite of what happens with clownfish. There are also a few species that can exhibit bi-directional changes, meaning they can switch back and forth as the need arises, but this doesn’t occur very often. I recommend getting the largest and the smallest gobies to pair together, which will give you a better chance of obtaining a bonded pair. 

Paragobiodon xanthosomus nesting a clutch of eggs. Photo Credit: Maluku Divers Resort

 Gobies are demersal spawners that will attach their eggs to substrate. This substrate can be rocks, sand, shells, coral, or PVC. They can lay anywhere from five to a few thousand eggs, depending on the species. After a pair of gobies have spawned, the male guards the eggs from predation, clean them, and fan the eggs to keep them oxygenated. Depending on the species of goby, the eggs will hatch between a few days and a few weeks after they have been fertilized. 

The Catalina Goby (Lythrypnus dalli). Photo Credit: Aquarium Domain.com

 Some species, like the Catilina goby pictured below, are very easy to raise; only a few weeks after they settle, they will begin to breed!… More:

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Astraea snail chowing down on nuisance algaeThis past year, I rediscovered how great an army of snails can be. At Tidal Gardens, we go pretty light on cleanup crews in general. For example, there really aren’t any hermit crabs to speak of in our systems. In 5,000 gallons of reef tanks, there may be only one or two hermit crabs. Most likely they arrived as refugees from local customers taking their tanks down who needed to re-home some of their inhabitants. I am not a fan of crabs because there is always a risk they might kill something they should not be killing, like another member of the cleanup crew or a coral. Long story short, I don’t trust them. I don’t have the same level of distrust for snails

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Online coral shopping can be tricky; if you’re looking for a fair price, healthy livestock and straight-forward deals. To make matters worse, everywhere you look on social media and online forums, there is a flash sale with some unknown vendor either offering unbelievable prices, or what they claim is rare livestock. Many of these vendors have little more than a Facebook profile or forum avatar, and use the excitement of a quick sale and good price to entice buyers. Concern about these vendors has led many aquarists to only shop at well-established aquaculture facilities. Even then, it’s a buyer beware world for coral shoppers. Certain vendors use a host of practices to pass most of the financial risk associated with buying a live animal online, over to the aquarist.    Sales tactics:Buying a coral online, shipping it out overnight via UPS or Fed Ex, these things come with inherent risks, to both aquarists and vendors. Corals aren’t cheap, and it’s easy for a medium sized coral order to cost in upwards of 1,000 dollars or more. When we make purchases of this size, say a home computer or television, we expect some sort of assurance the product will arrive, in working condition. It’s a lot of money, and aquarists depend on some form of guarantee to make it feasible. What happens if there is a delay with UPS? What happens if animals arrive dead? What happens if animals live a few hours, or days within the aquarist’s tank, only to suddenly die? Guarantees are one area that buyers must be very aware of when shopping online. Live Aquaria and their diver’s den, offer what should be the industry standard guarantee, with little questions asked and complete refunds. In this case, if your animal is delayed in shipping, or doesn’t arrive alive, you can rest assured you’ll get your money back, or a replacement. In the case of Live Aquaria, both fish and corals are covered by their two-week guarantee, and over the years I’ve had several Live Aquaria orders get delayed, or lost livestock within several days of it arriving. In all cases Live Aquaria quickly, easily and without hassle returned my money. They may ask for a picture, or a breakdown of water quality, but overall it’s a hassle free, up-front guarantee policy-perhaps the best online and a program that more outlets should model. From there, things get rather dicey.… More:

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Brilliant news from the Horniman Museum and Gardens in South London: scientists there there report a United Kingdom first – the successful in-vitro fertilisation of captive corals!  Gravid (already carrying eggs) corals were transplanted to the museum from Australia’s Great Barrier Reef in 2015, and in December, nine corals from two species – Acropora tenuis and Acropora millepora – released approximately 130,000 eggs in a spawning event. Eight cross-fertilisations have now been carried out (each is of eggs and sperm from two corals of the same species) and thousands of coral ‘babies’ will be used by the Horniman and other institutions for further research into coral reproduction and early life stages. 

credit: Jamie Craggs

 Jamie Craggs, Aquarium Curator at the Horniman Museum and Gardens, says: “We’ve seen captive corals spawn before at the Horniman, but this is the first time we’ve been able to successfully cross-fertilise them. This proves the techniques and equipment used in our lab are working, and is a key step forward for Project Coral.” The Horniman’s Project Coral has partners around the world working together to predictably spawn corals in captivity, in order to investigate, counter and repair the impact of climate change on coral reef health and reproduction. Dr Mary Hagedorn PhD, of the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute/Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology, says: “The work that Horniman scientists, led by Jamie Craggs, are doing on closing the life-cycle in coral is ground-breaking. Although some coral species have been bred in captivity before, never have they beenpurposefully induced to spawn while being maintained under captive conditions. So, this is a world-first for coral reproduction. Climate change is profoundly altering the viability and genetic diversity of coral reefs around the world. This amazing break-through in ex situ breeding of coral opens the door to an array of conservation measures to sustain coral in captivity allowing them to become living-banks for coral reefs.” To find out more and support Project Coral visit www.horniman.ac.uk/coral.… More:

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For the past few months I’ve been chatting with Nathan Levine, the founder of Current Labs and primary visionary behind Fishbit. As many of us know, Fishbit aims to be a simple, easy to install, trouble-free aquarium monitor and controller. In conversations with Nathan, he has likened Fishbit to many of the smart devices available for our home. The idea is that the controller simply connects to a wireless network and begins transmitting data to a mobile application. The controller side of the system works much the same way, giving the aquarist full control over six devices. Recently Current Labs began shipping beta versions of Fishbit off to Kickstarter backers and early adopters. Nathan was kind enough to send one my way, allowing me to see an early version of the device, install it and play with some of Fishbit’s features. While I haven’t had a chance to install the controller side of the system, I was able to get the monitor up and running. Initial impressions:At first glance, the Fishbit monitor is a very simple device. There aren’t a host of wires, probes and other devices; just a thin black case that houses all the monitoring sensors. The beta version includes a wireless power back-pack, which uses a magnet to transmit power and hold the monitor on the aquarium. The consumer version of Fishbit will have a standard power cord, as this simplifies the installation and reduces the risk of problems associated with wireless power. Other than that, there is one small AC power pack and cord, meaning the entire monitor is very small and easily tucks away in a sump or aquarium. The front cover of the monitor is removable, and you can see where the ph, salinity and temperature monitors all rest, with the brains of the unit being sealed up with silicone, leaving only the probe side of the sensors visible and exposed to water. The device communicates its status via a bright, multi-colored LED light on the unit’s back, easily noticeable from within the aquarium or sump. Upon plugging in and starting up, the Fishbit light blinks blue, meaning it’s in wi-fi set-up mode, the light turns green when trying to connect to the internet via a wireless network and breathes a cool cyan once connected and transmitting. Installation:If you’ve installed smart devices like Dropcams, smart bulbs or wireless compatible Bluetooth speakers, you’ve installed the Fishbit.… More:

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Most reefers have heard of Spectrum fish food, made by New Life International, Inc. Seasoned reefers may know that the founder and owner is Pablo Tepoot. Pablo has been keeping fishes since well before I was born, working with freshies and salties. Back in the ’90s I drooled over his Cichlid books. Fast forward a decade to me gawking over a video of a fish-only aquarium housing dozens of species ranging from tangs, large angels, moorish idols, parrotfish, butterflyfish… all thriving solely on Spectrum pellet fish food. Pablo’s feet are deeply entrenched in the industry these days; I relish the opportunity to speak with him at show’s we’re both attending. Recently the one and only Bob Fenner paid Pablo a visit and shared pictures of his reef. However it wasn’t the aquarium that caught my attention, it was the thriving outdoor mangrove refugium. Mangroves have garnished their fair share of attention for being an option for natural nutrient export, generally housed within a refugium of sorts. What some reefers miss is that while they can be phenomenal exporters, the tiny twigs available to most hobbyists will do about as much nutrient export as sneezing into one’s tank. It has been shown that macro algaes are far superior to mangroves for nutrient reduction in most circumstances. 

Mangrove roots growing hydroponically attached to PVC.

 Mangroves are trees that get very big with an incredible root structure which creates habitats for a plethora of animals in nature. Sticking them in a little pile of mud in a small section of your sump is not an ideal situation for them. However Pablo’s approach widened my eyes and got the gears turning. As Bob explains, these red mangroves (Rhizopora sp.) are grown outdoors, hydroponically, in concrete vats. These vats are connected to his 1,800 gallon reef aquarium. Phosphate reading was ~0.03 ppm, Nitrate ~3 ppm. This is the sole source of phosphate removal, no lanthanum chloride or GFO is being used, which is unusual in system of this size. 

Pablo’s 1,800 gallon display aquarium.

 Photo and info credit to Bob Fenner. Thanks for sharing Bob, keep up the great work Pablo!… More:

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Good morning gang, I came into work today but am still sick with the Curacao crud!! As of tomorrow it will be a week of coughing, aching and nose blowing and YES for those of you asking I did go to a doctor but even those pills don’t seem to be doing much. I wish I had some kind of exciting story to tell but I have been inside for a week, if there is any up-side to this it’s given me lots of time to prepare for our up and coming talks at the Smithsonian next month, I am going through old photos night and day… Your above photo was shot about a week ago on my last dive out in front of the Substation lagoon. This is my little buddy again that follows me everywhere, one of the coolest Scrawled Filefish I have ever seen! Hope you all are doing better than yours truly… Barry NEWER POST:

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Acropora loisettae I have a special fondness for this week’s coral having originally collected a small colony from Bali about 12 or 13 years ago which ultimately grew to become a stunning specimen. At the time, the Acropora loisettae or Blue Tip Green Stag was rather hard to obtain which justified my pride in having collected this one.  Fragging it for many people over the years was a pleasure and I typically sold it for about $60.00 for a  1 – 2″ frag.  Despite harvesting frags from the colony, it still became the size of a basketball in just two years time. As Acropora loiettae has become more readily available it is more easily obtained and a 1.5″ frag can be purchased from Unique Corals for a mere $24.00.

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I feel very lucky to live in South Florida. Living on one of Fort Lauderdale’s many canals also offers the opportunity to share my backyard with many beautiful manatees. Manatees are especially susceptible to boating injuries and loss of natural habitat and it wasn’t always so easy to find them in Florida’s waters. The West Indian Manatee was placed on the endangered species list in 1972. In 1991, there were only an estimated 1200 manatees in Florida. Today that number is now over 6000. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service last week proposed to remove the West Indian Manatee from the endangered species list. It has suggested that the West Indian Manatee should be reclassified and down listed as “threatened” based on “significant improvements” in its population and habitat conditions. This is wonderful news. “The manatee is one of the most charismatic and instantly recognizable species,” Michael Bean, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks at the Department of the Interior, said in a news release. “It’s hard to imagine the waters of Florida without them, but that was the reality we were facing before manatees were listed under the Endangered Species Act. While there is still more work to be done to fully recover manatee populations, their numbers are climbing and the threats to the species’ survival are being reduced. Today’s proposal is a positive step that recognizes the progress citizens, conservation groups, the State of Florida, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and our own Service employees have made working together.”MORE… More:

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Sunlight passing through a window generally provides very directional, odd angle lightingQuestionI’m setting up my first reef aquarium and want to keep my approach as natural as possible. The room where I plan to place the tank has a really big bay window in it, and succulents and other sun-loving houseplants really thrive there. Is there any reason I can’t take advantage of all that natural sunlight for my corals instead of using crazy expensive artificial lights?” – Submitted by CZ Answer Though you would save a bundle if such a plan were feasible, I would discourage relying on window lighting to illuminate your reef system for several reasons. First, the amount of sunlight passing through the window is going to change throughout the year as the sun’s position shifts and the days get longer or shorter with the seasons. That won’t bode well for tropical corals, which demand 10 to 12 hours of direct sunlight per day. Second, the sunlight passing through the window will reach the tank at an odd angle and from only one direction. So even if you could get enough sunlight of sufficient intensity to pass through the window and onto your tank on a consistent, year-round basis, your light-hungry inverts would always be shaded on one side. Third, placing an aquarium too close to a window—especially one that lets in a lot of direct sunlight at certain times of year—can make it difficult to maintain a stable, appropriate water temperature, which is stressful to the inhabitants

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