Credit: Joseph Pawlik, UNCWAs if corals didn’t have enough to contend with in nuisance seaweeds, another aggressive neighbour is moving in. Like seaweeds, sponges use an arsenal of toxins, mucus, shading, and smothering to kill nearby coral colonies and then, to add insult to injury, go ahead and grow on their skeletons. Furthermore, a recent survey of coral reefs across the Caribbean has shown that overfishing removes the predators of sponges, greatly increasing the threat to an already weakened population of corals. Headed by Dr. Joseph Pawlik at UNC Wilmington, the research team surveyed reefs from 12 countries across the Caribbean, where the combined effects of warming seawater temperatures, storms, and diseases have already decimated coral populations

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Asterina seastar on glass. Photo by Vishal BhaveCC BY-NC-SA When are spots on a seahorse not spots? When they’re starfish bites. Recently, a fellow seahorse keeper Adrienne Smith asked about some unusual markings on her seahorses.

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 How would you feel encountering a swarm of leeches swimming in masses??!!! That’s the stuff of horror movies….and apparently Green Bay, Wisconsin. Shedd Aquarium fish ecologist Solomon David filmed this eerie footage. He is working with researchers at the American Museum of Natural Science to try and figure out the species of leeches and reasons for the swarm. Check out the creepy video and be thankful you don’t have to swim anywhere near this. MORE… More:

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Look for Momma.

This week we play What’s on the Home Page, in which we visit a bunch of websites and see what they have to offer. Download the podcast here, or subscribe to our podcasts at iTunes. Also, follow us on Twitter at reefthreads.—Gary and Christine

Sponsor: Rod’s Food
Rod’s Food website

What’s on the Home Page links
Live Aquaria’s Reef Care resource

WikiHow’s Reduce Aquarium Maintenance

Bulk Reef Supply

Marine Depot

Salty Supply

Foster & Smith Pet Education

Premium Aquatics

ORA

Your email:

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For a week (13 – 18 April 2015), South Africans along the Western Cape coastline were dressing up in black and white and walking…and walking…and walking. The Waddle for a Week is an annual event that brings together committed, conservation-minded citizens keen to raise awareness about the plight of the African penguin. Starting in Gansbaai, the waddlers covered a 124km route along the Western Cape coast to raise awareness for the African penguin, which was once abundant in this area but is now endangered.  (Some scientists project that they could become extinct within the next 20 years due to a dramatic drop in the number of breeding pairs). All it took was a few aquarium staff to get this, now much-anticipated annual event, going.     The waddlers walk not for money, but for the love of these amazing animals!  Yes, all they want is for people to show their love for the penguins and the planet. Pedestrians, cyclists and onlookers of all sorts are informed about the Penguin Promises campaign as the waddlers walk along the coastline.  The campaign aims to get people promising to do something for the planet’s future, why not pledge your promise? Examples: 

• Don’t buy plastic shopping bags – reuse quality fabric bags
• Make a pact to be involved in at least one environmental day this year –  What about Earth Hour?!
• Stay informed about the Penguin – The more we know, and share with others, the greater the chance of people effecting social change.
• Get involved in coastal clean ups – Litter in our oceans is a threat to the Penguins. If you don’t live on the coast arrange a waterway clean up in your area.

  For more information go to: http://penguinpromises.com/what-you-can-do.html… More:

The post They don’t want your money honey, they want your love! appeared first on reefs.com.

My Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/coralfish12g My Instagram Page: https://instagram.com/coralfish12g/ Frost Nguyen AznNutty's SaltwaterConnections SaltwaterConnections@hotmail.com These are beautiful rock flower anemones. Frost Nguyen had these at his vendor booth at the CMAS Frag Swap in Chicago.

The post Rock Flower Anemone Collection! CRAZY HD appeared first on reefs.com.

Brain coral with feeding tentacles out at nightWhen it comes to acquiring food, fish will take the path of least resistance. And one of the best ways for a fish to score an easy meal is to snatch morsels away from their glacially slow-moving invertebrate tankmates. Heck, it’s practically like taking candy from a baby, except babies usually cry a lot louder when they’re robbed of treats. For hobbyists who keep corals or other invertebrates with a high demand for regular targeted feeding—e.g., many LPS corals and anemones—such food thievery can be a genuinely aggravating issue. The good news is, using one or more of the following techniques, it’s often possible to eliminate, or at least reduce, this bad behavior:Distract the culprits You may be able to buy your coral a few precious moments at mealtimes by first delivering food to the fish in another part of the tank and then quickly target feeding the coral. Of course, this is only effective if the fish haven’t already learned to identify the coral in question as a source of easy victuals. In that case, they’ll likely just gobble up their own food and then proceed to shake down the coral anyway

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For all of you hockey fans out there, check out the Florida Aquarium’s unofficial mascots. The Octopus have now picked sides between the Tampa Bay Lightning and Detroit Red Wings rivalry. The Octopus at the Aquarium were the unofficial mascot for the Detroit Red Wings, thanks to the long standing tradition of fan’s throwing octopus on the ice prior to the games during the play-off’s. However, to avoid any confusion, the staff at the Florida Aquarium gave the Octopus some new Tampa Bay Lightening hockey sticks to display in their exhibit’s. The Florida Aquarium has now made it clear that the Octopus are really Tampa Bay Lightening Fans. Can we really blame them? Especially when their poor octopus friends are thrown to the mercy of the rinks by Red Wings Fans? MORE… More:

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[embedded content] OK, so it’s been a little quieter than usual on the blog over the last few weeks, and we can now reveal why. In short, we’ve been busy behind the scenes creating this short video which we hope will be the first in a series of similar productions. In this introductory piece, we get ‘up close and personal’ with a range of LPS corals currently residing in our Black Tank, employing some timelapse macro and pure fluorescence imagery to ‘shed light’ on some of their otherwise hidden habits. Don’t forget to select full 1080HD resolution to see the fine detail! As said, we hope to continue the series as time permits and expand to focus on different groups of invertebrates… and as ever, we’ll certainly be looking to keep pushing the envelope in reef imagery by investing in new equipment and software for future offerings.

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A twist on the refugium concept. The Xenia refugium.

 Inspired by Jake Adams and Julian Sprung’s friendly debate on Refugiums last MACNA, I decided to remove algae from my Refugium and replace it with Xenia. I wanted to remove any nuisance algae but save beneficial Chaetomorpha and Caulerpa, so I added urchins, snails, and tangs. I also decided to try 24-hour lighting for the benefit of a more stable pH. I wasn’t sure how the Xenia would respond, and I was ready to switch to a reverse day/night cycle if needed.  Much to my delight, the Xenia thrived and pulsed nonstop. There has been no bleaching and its growth rivals Xenia grown under normal cycles. In contrast to the continuously lit Xenia, the Xenia under normal light in the system take a few hours to start to pulse in the morning. This is another sign that the pulsing action of Xenia respires oxygen out of the coral to reduce oxidative stress. It helps the Xenia thrive under the 24 hour lighting; as the zooxanthellae photosynthesis more, the coral can remove its buildup of oxides. And it continually absorbs nutrients from the system. 

Despite being lit 24 hours, this Xenia thrives, and is darker than 12 hour lit Xenia.

               Enjoy the video below! My sump happens to be located in a thriving public aquarium, this sort of thing happens around my system fairly often. Is that a dog?     … More:

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…and because it’s my birthday I’ll indulge myself and you all with a Friday afternoon look back at one of my favorite coral and music videos.  I was particularly inspired by the recent reef industry lip syncing awesomeness explosion on Facebook – Jim Gryczanowski, Caitlin Goldenberg, and Lemon TYK, you guys rock. Co-produced by veteran sound craftsman Andy Stackpole, this robot coral propagation/hip-hop crossover is sure to inspire coral growers of all ages. Most of this classic video was shot at the coral propagation lab and greenhouse at the Science and Technology Magnet High School in New London, CT. It was a great hands-on marine and general science program that got kids involved with coral propagation and used marine aquariums as tools for teaching science concepts.    … More:

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Zebra moray (Gymnomuraenea zebra)On various occasions, I’ve written about my fondness for the snowflake moray eel (Echidna nebulosa), in one post even going so far as to claim there may be no better eel for the marine aquarium. My biases notwithstanding, I can’t deny that certain other morays make excellent aquarium candidates as well. Among them is the stunning zebra moray (Gymnomuraenea zebra), which has a pretty sterling reputation for being peaceful, hardy, adaptable, and generally safe around piscine tankmates. Physical traitsAs you might guess from its common name and specific epithet, G. zebra is brown overall with a series of vertical white to yellowish bands running the length of its body (or is it white to yellowish overall with vertical brown bands?). Typically eel-shaped, this species can reach a length of almost five feet—but that’s the record holder. Most specimens are unlikely to achieve that prodigious length

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Summer is officially here for Detroit’s Koi. Yesterday, over 500 volunteers became involved helping move Koi at the Belle Island Conservatory. During the winter months, the Koi at Belle Isle Conservatory are contained in an indoor habitat. Volunteers moved the Koi from the indoor habitat, using plastic buckets, to the outdoor pond in front of the Aquarium. More than 292 Koi were successfully transferred. This bi-annual Koi transfer occurs twice a year thanks to the help of volunteers. MORE… More:

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Make every effort to attend the MBI Workshop, July 25.

It’s a new week and we have a new podcast for reef-aquarium junkies. This week’s topics are the MBI workshop, MASNA scholarships, lionfish, and the definition of a biotope. Download the podcast here, or subscribe to our podcasts at iTunes. Also, follow us on Twitter at reefthreads.—Gary and Christine

Sponsor: Rod’s Food
Rod’s Food website

MBI Workshop
MBI Workshop, July 25, Cranbrook Institute, Bloomfield Hills, MI

MASNA Scholarships
MASNA Scholarship applications due June 19

Lionfish overwhelm
A recap of what we’ve learned about invasive Lionfish this month (none of it good), Leonard Ho, Advanced Aquarist.

Biotopes
What Constitutes a Marine Biotope Aquarium?, Jeff Kurtz, Saltwater Smarts,

Your email:

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The Hairfin Eel Blenny, Xiphasia setifer, is a rare and unique fish that is easy to keep in your aquarium if you can find one. In this Fincast, John talks with Barry Wisebram of Sunpet which had a pair of the fish on display at the Global Pet Expo in Orlando.

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 Scottsdale, Arizona will be getting a fantastic new aquarium. OdySea Aquarium is in the works to open in July of 2016. Upon completion, the 14 acre Aquarium will be the largest aquarium in the Southwest. It will be over 200,00 square feet and hold up to 2 million gallons of water. A literal oasis in the desert! Aquarium visitors will get the chance to get up close and personal with marine life as they travel through large acrylic tunnels with floor to ceiling views of the shark tank. Another must see exhibit will be a room showcasing 500 phosphorescent flashlight fish. Opening day cant come soon enough.MORE… More:

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Bristleworm that was found in an aquariumIn my early days of writing for the marine aquarium hobby, I frequently cautioned fellow hobbyists to be on the lookout for “unwelcome” live rock stowaways, and high on my list of undesirables were the bristleworms. As I saw it then, every prickly polychaete that poked its head out of the rockwork was a potential troublemaker with a vicious sting and an insatiable appetite for coral polyps. Sure, some were supposedly worse than others, but why take the chance? Get them before they get you and your corals, I used to think. Now, having acquired a few more decades’ worth of aquarium-keeping wisdom, I’ve come to appreciate that most of these worms are beneficial scavengers and consumers of detritus and, thus, actually welcome aquarium inhabitants despite their creepy appearance. They’re also useful in that they help keep the substrate stirred somewhat.But what about those poky bristles? It’s true enough that bristleworms can poke you with their calcareous bristles (called chetae), potentially causing localized pain, itching, and/or swelling to varying degrees

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Today is our first “Tattoo Tuesday” on Reefs.com. I’ll kick it off with my latest piece, which I just had finished by my good friend George Wilkinson at Spirit Gallery Tattoo Shop in New London, CT. It is definitely a shop worthy of its 5 star rating on Yelp. The design of the tattoo reflects my fascination with charge and opposing forces, the mathematics of the physical universe, facets of my wedding band tattoo, elements of my Ram/Taurus Zodiac signs, and, most relevant to my fellow reefers, cnidarian and cephlo-inspired design themes. Send a picture of your tattoo and its story to xeniaforever030@gmail.com to be featured on a future Tattoo Tuesday post!… More:

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It would seem as the great Thomas Brown mercury disclosure chapter, sub-chapter, anecdotal quote, foot-note, has come to a close. Larry DuPont, owner of Reef Frenzy foods submitted several different frozen foods, including his own, to an accredited lab for testing. For those out there that believe science doesn’t provide accurate predictions, this is one case where they would be mystified. Richard Ross, biologist at the Steinhart Aquarium along with many others, were very skeptical of the results Thomas Brown reported, which were 22,000 times in excess of the FDA’s safe mercury consumption limit. It was journalist Ret Talbot that took severe suspicion, especially after being forwarded Brown’s report. Before Larry DuPont’s test results came back, Ret had essentially debunked the claim.  To close the book, test results showed that mercury concentrations within frozen fish food were less than those found in a can of tuna, meant for human consumption. The benefits of feeding marine fish frozen fare, similar to what they would consume in the wild trump the risks of mercury by a winning margin too large to even discuss. All three food brands came back with very safe mercury concentrations. Faulty test, crying wolf, whatever the reason for Brown’s disclosure, the book should be closed and we can go on feeding without worry of mercury. At least you would think. Now I wanted to discuss the implications of mercury in our fishes’ diet, whether or not it was natural and what it effect it may have. I am still researching this topic and assimilating various conflicting opinions of experts in the field. It goes without saying that we aren’t harming our fish, short or long term, by feeding them frozen fish foods. What’s more important is that even after Larry DuPont turned his results over to be published, mysteriously some weren’t satisfied. They questioned the level of phosphates and silica Brown reported, which like mercury were very high. If the mercury test that was performed was dead wrong, why would the other tests be any different? Some questioned why Larry DuPont had the fish food samples sent to him and not directly to the lab, as if he had tampered with it, even when other manufacturer’s foods tested with less mercury then his own. This hobby faces several serious challenges, beyond that of the obvious environmental, economic aspects which some are familiar with. Information is a major challenge in reef keeping, here in the internet age.… More:

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The Texas Aquarium has launched a Recovery Fund, to help replenish the fish which were lost through the recent chemical mislabeling disaster.  As most of you are aware, since I have followed this sad story since it occurred, a mislabeling error of a chemical, which was thought to be a commonly used drug for the treatment of a pesky parasite, led to the massive fish deaths. As of April 14, the count for the total fish lost at the aquarium was 389. This was a devastating loss, which included male tiger sharks and multiple species of fish. The recovery fund was created due to the outcry of supporters trying to help the Aquarium. Now you too can help support the Texas Aquarium by clicking here.Whats pretty awesome is that your donation will be matched, dollar for dollar, until the Aquarium reaches $50,000 in donations. Wayne Squires, the CEO and founder of Orion Drilling, has committed to matching every dollar donated up to $50,000.00. Lets hope this generous gesture, combined with the help of aquarium and marine supporters, will get the Aquarium back to capacity. But the Aquarium isn’t just waiting around for donations. On May 8th, 2015, the Aquarium will be hosting a Putt-Putt Golf Tournament inside of the Aquarium, with a cash bar, fajitas, and all proceeds going to the recovery fund. Putt-Putt in an Aquarium for a great cause? Sounds like a great event for a great cause. MORE… More:

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