Sea apples are definitely colorful and exotic-lookingIn several posts here at Saltwater Smarts, I’ve mentioned that certain marine organisms routinely offered in the aquarium trade should come with a warning label—especially for novice hobbyists. In these cases, I’m usually referring to animals that are really gorgeous or exotic-looking (hence hard to resist) but either difficult to keep alive or dangerous to tankmates for one reason or another. In the case of the sea cucumbers known as sea apples (Pseudocolochirus spp.), you get a bit of both worlds in one enticingly beautiful package. What they look likeSea apples have round to ovate bodies that are brightly colored in shades of red, blue, purple, and yellow (or combinations thereof). The oral cavity is fringed with brightly colored, feathery feeding tentacles, and colorful tube feet appear in rows along the body. These holothurians can reach a maximum size of around five to six inches, but they are capable of dramatically deflating if stressed or, if dissatisfied with their placement, inflating in an effort to drift to a more suitable spot. Two different species of sea apples Okay, sea apples sound like really beautiful, fascinating animals, right?

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Good morning friends, the winds here in Curacao are pushing 38 knots this morning, that’s around 43 mph not including the 60 mph wind gusts, not a fun place to be right now! I have two different, very aggressive, male Sergeant Major’s for you all today that I photographed a few days ago guarding their eggs which you can see in the last photo. Sergeant Majors earn their name from their brightly striped sides, known as bars, which are reminiscent of the insignia of a military sergeant major. This is a very common reef fish growing to a maximum size of about 7 inches and found in the 1-40 foot zone. The female will lay her eggs in patches on a firm substrate and the male will guard them vigorously until they hatch.

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For today’s Friday Rewind, we take a look back at the demonstration video for the CRM-2000 Coral Fragging Robot. These handy dandy robots make propagating Goniopora stutchburyi a breeze!   … More:

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There comes a time in every reef fanatic’s life where little things like work and vacation travel get in the way of enjoying the hobby. While being away for just a week, I have gone through everything from little disasters, such as algae blooms, to the horror of losing a whole system. Rather than accept problems as inevitable every time I travel, I’ve set out to automate as much of my system as possible.Allow me to introduce myself! I am by no means a professional aquarist, nor do I make my living in this industry, but as a professional systems engineer, I have applied many of my engineering practices to my reef aquarium, which in my mind feels like a multimillion-dollar system. I have been in the saltwater aquarium hobby for over 25 years. I worked at a local pet store chain growing up and ran its first saltwater system when the base technology encompassed only undergravel filters, wet-dry systems, and air-driven skimmers with wooden air diffusers. Today, technology has advanced quite a bit with respect to filtering methods, lighting, and water chemistry

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My Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/coralfish12g In this CoralFish12g video I take a trip to the CMAS, Chicago Marine Aquarium Society Frag Swap. There were a lot of vendors and plenty of people to meet. Marc Levenson was the guest speaker and it was overall a very cool event.

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Good morning one and all, how are you doing out there?? I trust all our mothers out there had a wonderful Mother’s Day?? I heard our friends in the Black Hills of South Dakota got hit with a major snow storm this weekend which is normal for April but in May??? Here in Curacao we have had record-breaking, non-stop hurricane force winds for the past three weeks making life very difficult! Because of these gale-force winds we had to more or less close Dolphin Academy to swimmers the whole week because of Hawaii sized waves rolling in and crashing over the walls and sinking one of our big floating platforms! On top of that, our island has had no rain for months now and everything is bone dry, boy do I miss our rainy season and would do anything to get it back

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One of the animals in Marius Schudel’s Irish rockpool aquarium.

Postmodern Jukebox support for Gary leads off a podcast packed with reef information including clown triggerfish mariculture, Quality Marine’s fish-information QR codes, lionfish eating, Marius Schudel’s (he’s a guy!) Irish rockpool aquarium, and anti-aging nematocysts. 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

Prepping lionfish
Three videos about how to prepare lionfish for eating:
Video 1
Video 2
Video 3

Irish rockpool aquarium
Marius Schudel’s rockpool aquarium
Video of Marius Schudel’s Irish rockpool aquarium

Anti-aging nematocysts
Sea Anemone Delivery of Collagen and γ-PGA for Anti-Aging Benefits, Tal, Danon, Toren, Khaiat, Cosmetics and Toiletries magazine.

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Everyone love’s the idea of a perfect diet. There are so many diet trends and vitamin supplements on the market right now. It is a huge and booming industry, one that I don’t think is going anywhere anytime soon. The low-carb diet, the low-fat diet, the zone diet, the paleo diet, the vegan diet, the juice diet, etc etc. They all tout certain benefits and rewards. If the desire and the ability is there, it is very easy to eat or live a certain way, to get precisely the right nutrient balance that may be needed to achieve the ideal health. Additionally, there are plenty of nutrient supplements available at our disposal. One can walk through any pharmacy or grocery store or vitamin shop and get whatever essential nutrients that your body may not be getting through actual caloric nutrients. On the other hand, our coral reefs, are literally starving to death. Between the stress of global warming, coral bleaching, dredging and over fishing, our corals are under attack from many different elements. Scientists at the University of Miami are striving to find a much needed nutrient boost for coral reefs. The scientists at the University of Miami focused their research on Staghorn coral, a  critically endangered species, which was once very common to Florida and the Caribbean. By adding two feedings of dried zooplankton powder per week, the corals improved. “For many years we have known the some types of symbiotic algae can convey climate change resilience to corals,” Chris Langdon, UM Rosenstiel School professor and chair of marine biology and ecology, told ScienceDaily.com. “In this study we found that the threatened coral was able to increase its feeding rate and stored energy reserves when exposed to high CO2 conditions at 26°C or 30°C, and mitigate reductions in calcification that caused significant decreases in growth rate in unfed corals,” researchers reported. Lets hope the researchers are on the right track so that we can attempt to utilize supplement’s to get our coral reefs healthy again. MORE… More:

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Large coral insert tank decoration at a big box pet storeI’ve always favored very naturalistic aquariums, so when an acquaintance recently asked me what I think about using decorations in saltwater systems, my immediate response (more or less) was that I find them tacky and cringe-worthy and that corals and fish should be decoration enough. But I have to admit, when pressed to explain why I think this way, I couldn’t really come up with a satisfactory answer. My contention that I prefer to keep things natural doesn’t really hold up, since, let’s face it, I’m using artificial means to provide everything from water currents to sunlight to waste removal in my tank. Not to mention, there aren’t a lot of fish and corals out there in the natural world living in rectangular glass houses (and if there are, they probably shouldn’t throw stones!). Nor could I honestly argue that aquarium decorations are just plain ugly because, as the old saying goes, “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.”So this challenge to my long-held viewpoint sort of got me thinking. Can I really support the assertion that ornaments have no place in marine tanks? Tasteful tank décor I’ve seen My mind goes back to a photo of an aquarium I saw in some book many, many years ago. A focal point of this tank was a spot-lit, half-buried amphora (similar to these ancient vase replicas) with bubbles created by a hidden airstone rising from its mouth.

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Not long ago I spoke about filmmaker Rob Stewart’s newly released documentary Revolution and how important this film was. After reading a New York Times editorial, When Humans Declared a War on Fish, I was happy to see that Boris Worm, a marine biology and conservation professor at Dalhouise University co-authored the piece. Worm is featured in both Stewart’s films, (Sharkwater and Revolution) as a consultant on oceanic biology and ecology. After reading the article, I had to ask, is there really a war on fish and are aquarists contributing to it.  During World War II nations across the globe poured ample resources to create vast new weapons of war. It’s not surprising, given the pacific front, that many of these weapons were aimed at high seas warfare. The period saw massive improvements to sonar, air to sea identification and ships capable of hauling large loads and traversing lots of watery terrain. After the war all this new technology needed applied to a civilian industry. Sonar could help fishermen detect large schools of fish, bringing their vessels within a few hundred yards of animals beneath the surface. In Japan, pilots trained to spot allied submarines from the sky could help detect fish schools or whales. Thin, nearly weightless monofilament line could be fashioned into invisible nets and powerful ships with onboard freezers could house a month’s worth of catch. As Boris Worm pointed out in the New York Times, weapons of war were re-purposed for a war on fish. Before the end of World War II global fish harvests totaled about 15 million metric tons, today they total over 85 million metric tons. With modern satellite imagery and GPS technology, worldwide marine fisheries have a more powerful arsenal than ever. One that is too powerful in fact. Scientists predict a global fisheries collapse in the next 50 years and many species have been fished to the brink of extinction. Interestingly enough, during World War II fish populations in world oceans surged, as the war prevented a lot of fishing activity in remote areas. After the war, commercial fishing exploded, literally. So does the collection of marine organisms for our aquariums contribute to this war on fish, or perhaps better referred to as a war on marine animals. Many collectors for the marine aquarium hobby aren’t privileged enough to have access to the vast technological reservoirs used in industrialized nation’s fishing fleets.… More:

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 Georgia Aquarium resident Beluga Whale, Maris, gave birth early Sunday morning to a female calf. What a special Mothers Day for the Aquarium! The calf was born coming in at almost 60 inches long and 126 pounds and successfully swam to the surface to take her first breath of air. The Georgia Aquarium has temporarily closed the Beluga Exhibit to allow mom and baby some private time to bond and to ensure that all of their needs are properly met. Both mom and baby will receive 24 hour monitoring and care in this crucial period after birth. The birth of this beautiful calf marks a significant achievement for the Georgia Aquarium, as the new calf is born of two parents who were also born in human care. Maris was born at the New York Aquarium and her mate, Beethoven, was born at Sea World San Antonio. The Georgia Aquarium has a blog where you can receive updates on both mom and baby. MORE… More:

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 The Cannes Film Festival kicked off today. The Festival has been a yearly event since 1947. It previews films of all genres from around the world and is certainly the place to be and be seen if you are a celebrity. It also brings to light the failed attempt to create an artificial reef along the French Riviera. In the 1980’s, thousands of tires were dropped into the waters off the Mediterranean Coast, in an attempt to regenerate coral marine life. It was thought that the tires would support coral and marine life, thereby replenishing the coral reefs. The plan however, although well intended, actually caused devastating damage to the surrounding coral reefs. Marine life did not actually take to the tires. Additionally, the currents moved the tires around and in the process, destroyed surrounding coral life (as one would imagine a dragging underwater tire along coral reefs would do). This is not the first failed tire reef project. Similar projects, for example Osborn Reef in Florida, have had similar and unfortunate results.  This removal of tires in Southeastern France just finished, right before the debut of the Cannes Film Festival. While these tires were removed from Southeastern France, many more still lie beneath the Mediterranean Coast in a destructive, underwater tire graveyard.MORE… More:

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Alright, alright…I’m back with another episode of Salt Speak! In this third installment I sat down to talk coldwater marine systems with Stu Wobbe. Stu is the owner of Coldwater Marine Aquatics in Oregon, USA.In the first half of our chat we speak about temperate and coldwater marine aquariums. We dig into equipment and maintenance requirements and how they differ from tropical systems. In addition, Stu introduces us to some of the interesting fish and invertebrate species that are available to coldwater hobbyists. Then we change gears to focus on his business, Coldwater Marine Aquatics, including how they got started (hint: a hand-written note started it all!). CMA is permitted through Oregon for commercial collection and they also use self-imposed restrictions to lessen their impact on the natural environment. Since coldwater systems aren’t as mainstream, we spend time at the end of our chat to focus on a variety of resources available to hobbyists interested in learning more

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 The Japan Association of Zoos and Aquariums (Jaza), a collection of 89 zoos and 63 aquariums, is voting on whether to keep buying dolphins from the notorious town of Taiji, made famous by the movie ‘the cove.’  Taiji is known for the dolphin drive hunt, which occurs every year, from September to March. This ‘hunt’ has received unfavorable international acclaim for the cruelty of the dolphin and whale killings. Locals, however, argue that this practice sustains fisherman and has gone on for centuries. The Jaza vote comes after Japan was threatened with expulsion from the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (Waza) for its ‘continuing unethical procurement of dolphins from Taiji’. The Jaza vote will have large ramifications for the organization, no matter which way the vote goes. A “Yes” vote would end Japanese aquarium’s from using dolphins from Taiji, but allow continued associations with Waza. Where as a “No” vote would allow Japanese aquariums to continue using dolphins from Taiji, but would mark the immediate expulsion from its membership with AZA, thereby potentially limiting Japan’s ability to acquire rare species overseas and attending annual conferences or educational services or any other association with Waza. Waza has given Jaza until May 21st to stop using the Taiji dolphins or they will face expulsion from Waza.  MORE… More:

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Real Estate will likely be a big part of your investment portfolio. Therefore financial professionals recommend you carefully consider your real estate purchases. The other big part of your investment portfolio is your saltwater fish tank and here’s tips on how to make sure your real estate is good for your fish tank.

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For today’s Friday rewind I reflect back on my love song for Goniopora. In fact, I will be singing it tonight to friends and strangers at my rock show. What is your favorite coral? I think you can guess mine. … More:

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 A giant squid was found washed up on a beach in New Zealand. The Kaikoura Marine Centre and Aquarium has frozen the giant squid and placed it on display at the aquarium. Giant squid are a rare deep sea species which are rarely glimpsed in their natural habitat, often times not until they are found washed up on beaches. This opportunity to study the deceased squid gives aquariums and scientists an opportunity to study these mysterious deep sea creatures. It wasn’t even until 2004 that these large creatures were caught on video by Japanese researchers, so there is a lot more to learn about these fascinating creatures. MORE… More:

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When yellowhead jawfish are comfortable with their environment, they’ll hover just above their burrow.When trying to determine whether different species of marine fish will cohabit peacefully in the same aquarium, we usually ask ourselves whether the combination will result in one fish eating another or whether interspecific squabbling is likely to be an issue based on disparate levels of territorial aggression. If we can answer “no” to each of those questions, we may be inclined to assume the species in question are, indeed, compatible. In many cases that may be a safe conclusion to reach, but it overlooks another important (albeit more subtle) aspect of fish compatibility that is often underemphasized if not outright ignored—the natural differences in energy level that exist among various species.What do I mean by this? I’m referring to combining shy and retiring species with more boisterous and gregarious ones. In this situation, the former takes no interest whatsoever in the latter from the standpoint of predation or territorial rivalry. In fact, it may not even acknowledge the shyer tankmate’s presence.

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With a global reputation for quality, Sicce products represent the culmination of over 40 years’ experience in the industry. Based on innovative research and advanced technology, their pumps are highly regarded, being incorporated into many systems, either in stand-alone application, or as parts of other devices. In this unboxing review, we take a look at the latest offering from their aquarium division, the X Stream E compact wave pump. Actually, Sicce have made our job rather easy here with their own promotional video which gives a really good overview of the new pump. Although we will be bringing your our own operational review in due course, the video covers the key features and shows in-tank operation also. We suggest you watch the video. [embedded content] In terms of our initial thoughts, we were very happy with the packaging and presentation of this pump.

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 The Deep Sea is a still unknown world. At depths of 200-500 ft, scientists can discovery up to 14 new species per hour. It is rather amazing that in our technological and digital world, there is still so much that is unknown. The members of the California Academy of Sciences’ “twilight zone” deep-dive team go for five hour shifts under the depths of the ocean. The are lucky enough to have a submarine to explore the depths of the ocean between 200 and 500 feet, that’s properly called the mesophotic and known as ‘the twilight zone’. It is an area of underwater depths we still have so much to learn about and which requires many resources and even more bravery to do so. While on deep sea explorations, the team collects live animals, 4K video documentation, and more.The process is completed by using “rebreather” technology: ‘closed-loop systems that recycle the unused oxygen in your breath while removing exhaled CO2 via sodium-hydroxide-packed scrubbers’. This process enables longer dive times without the distraction of bubbles disturbing the marine life and allowing the divers to have warmer breather air, but it comes at a significant risk to the team. Brian Greene, a fish expert who sometimes dives with the Academy team, puts it this way: “There are maybe a dozen people on the f***ing planet doing what we’re doing, because it’s F***ing hard and people die.” The divers receive a balance off ‘a combination of oxygen and diluent—a mix of mostly helium and nitrogen that prevents the O2 from getting overly concentrated’. Coming up from the dives is an extremely slow process, involving four or more hours of decompression. This is an extraordinary process this team of amazing individuals goes through to gain ever important knowledge about the deep sea. MORE… More:

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