The external structure of cowfish show promise in the industrial world.

We’re back again. This week we talk about the Rod’s Food summer offer, Reef Savvy Dream Tank giveaway, box fish and angler fish. 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

Win a reef system
Reef Savvy Tank Giveaway

Box fish protection
Boxing Clever: Engineers Draw Inspiration from Bulletproof Boxfish, Reefs.com and Digital Reefs

Midnight angler
New scary-looking fish species comes from the ocean’s dark depths, Ben Brumfield, CNN

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Take one look at the Panta Rhei Hydro-Wizard and it’s clear you’re dealing with something different. Pick up the hydro-wizard and the controller and the units feel as different as they look. This certainly isn’t a bad thing, the Panta Rhei pump wreaks quality from the time you open the box. From the dense packing foam (similar to what is found on a Parrot drone) on up to the unique design of the controller, it’s clear to see that Panta Rhei has truly “finished” this product. The pump’s guts are encased in high-quality acrylic and the entire thing looks and feels as though whomever constructed it methodically implemented each detail. While as aquarists we might expect every product to have such a polished, quality finish – more often than not we are disappointed. As a pump:It’s sad but true, the reef aquarium hobby is plagued by sub-par products, poor performers and overpriced gimmicks. There are several strong contenders who release consistently good products, but once you step outside of that tier, quality takes a nose dive, along with performance and durability. Within seconds of removing the Panta Rhei pump, you notice a stark difference in finish which is certainly welcome among reef aquarium equipment. Many aquarists are unfamiliar with German company Panta Rhei and it’s understandable. Usually Panta Rhei is building powerful water movers for public aquariums, such as the 52,000 gallon per hour hydro-wizard ECM 75. In 2014 the company envisioned a new type of home aquarium circulation pump, which has become the hydro-wizard ECM 42, which is capable of moving 5,000 gallons per hour. As a fully adjustable pump, the ECM 42 offers a wide array of capabilities for aquariums of all sizes. A little research into Panta Rhei as a company makes it clear that they should know how to make a great water mover for home reefs, but as always, aquarists are mostly concerned with how the ECM 42 performs. The ECM 42 doesn’t look like traditional circulation pumps. It’s not a simple propeller, though it’s not as strikingly “out of the box” as a Maxspect gyre either. The motor, along with everything else mounts in the aquarium, unlike Ecotech’s Vortech which keeps the motor outside the tank. If electrical consumption is any indicator of heat, then it’s likely the ECM 42 runs cool, as it uses a scant 22 watts of power. In my tank, after running the ECM 42 I haven’t noticed even a slight increase in overall temperature.… More:

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The all-new FUSION Lagoon 50gAn interesting trend in marine aquarium aquascaping is taking advantage of the space above the water surface to create more complex habitats for livestock while enhancing the system’s visual impact. With their new Fusion Lagoon aquariums, Innovative Marine taps into this new aesthetic. Described as “shallow yet deep,” these all-inclusive plug-and-play aquariums—available in 50- and 25-gallon sizes—offer a greater front-to-back dimension and thicker glass than their predecessors, opening up all kinds of unique display opportunities. A coral frag or mangrove garden, a clam lagoon, a sea mount rising from the substrate and thrusting above the water surface, and a tidal zone suitable for crabs and snails are just some of the possibilities these tanks might present.An acrylic wall located at the rear of the tank discreetly conceals the designated mechanical filter, protein skimmer, and heater compartments, helping to keep the display as “clean” and naturalistic as possible. The high-gloss stands are available in three different colors Innovative Marine also offers high-gloss stands for their Fusion Lagoon aquariums, each available in three different colors. The stands come equipped with magnetic latches, storage shelves, and precut cable ports to help keep all those cords neat and organized. Below are the specifications for the new Fusion Lagoon aquariums, which will be available for purchase on Friday, August 28th through major online retailers and brick-and-mortar stores: 50-gallon aquarium Cost: Aquarium – $600, Stand – $500 Ultra Thick 10mm High Clarity Glass / Low Iron Leveling Rubber Mat DIMS (30” x 24” x 16”) Flat Polished Diamond Edge Polished Black Silicone Filtration: Acrylic Filter Wall w / Dual Overflows Pre-Molded Micron Sock – Mechanical Filters (2) Adjustable Return Flare Nozzles 476-Gallon-Per-Hour Pump Designated Heater Column Designated Skimmer/Reactor Column Stand: 36” High (30” x 24” x 36”) Magnetic Cabinet Latches Storage Shelves Pre-Cut Cable Ports Available in colors: Obsidian Black, Pearl White, and Gunmetal Gray The FUSION Lagoon 25g and 50g 25-gallon aquarium Cost: Aquarium – $249, Stand – $300 Ultra Thick 8mm High Clarity Glass / Low Iron Leveling Rubber Mat DIMS (24” x 20” x 12”) Flat Polished Diamond Edge Polished Black Silicone Filtration: Acrylic Filter Wall w / Dual Overflows Pre-Molded Micron Sock – Mechanical Filters (2) Adjustable Return Flare Nozzles 211-Gallon-Per-Hour Pump Designated Heater Column Designated Skimmer/Reactor Column Stand: 36” High (24” x 20” x 36”) Magnetic Cabinet Latches Storage Shelves Pre-Cut Cable Ports Available in colors: Obsidian Black, Pearl White, and Gunmetal Gray Also, check out this video to see aquascaping artist Johnny Ciotti (you may remember him from his aquascaping presentation at MACNA last year) put his talent to work in a Fusion Lagoon system below: [embedded content] Photo & video credit: Innovative Marine Related posts:Share this:

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Following Todd’s success with catching a Blue Angelfish (Holacanthus bermudensis), my coworker Phil Argiros was lucky enough to catch another Blue Angel! Although they make their way to Long Island through the gulfstream, it is still very rare to see them here. In fact, it has been several years since the last blue angel siting. Diving for tropical fish is one of the many perks of my job. To be be able to catch marine creatures and save them from the cold death that awaits them a couple months from now makes my work so rewarding. And I feel such a sense of pride when I later see that fish swimming around an exhibit. After this little fella made his way through our quarantine system, I placed him in my filter-feeder display tank. He shares this tank with a Firefish goby (Nemateleotris magnifica), a Reef Butterflyfish (Chaetodon sedentarius) that I caught 2 years ago, several colonies of Sun Coral (Tubastrea aurea), a non-photosynthetic gorgonian, and a few dozen sponge colonies. Some of you might be asking, “But Noel, Angels eat sponges. Why would you do that?” In answer to your question, I keep a large number of sponges in the display for him to pick on. Besides that was part of the plan. In quarantine, the angel was quite picky and we became concerned that it wasn’t eating enough. Now, with multiple sponge colonies for it to choose from, it has begun to fatten up. In addition to feeding on plethora of Porifera, it has also started feeding on LRS (Reef Frenzy)! Pictured in the photo to the left is a sight I have never before witnessed in person with this species. This morning when I went to check on the Angelfish – to my surprise and excitement – I found it cleaning the Reef Butterflyfish. As juveniles, many Holocanthus sp. clean larger fish of parasites. They set up cleaning stations much like cleaner wrasses do. However, unlike cleaner wrasses, Blue Angels are quite territorial of their stations I will be out hunting this week and I hope that there will be more Blue Angels out there to catch. For more information and updates about tropical strays on Long Island, check out my good friend Todd’s posts here.… More:

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This is an exciting hobby and profession to be a part of. The smartest people I know are continually surprised and dumbfounded by the new discoveries that are constantly made, and all the questions that are yet to be answered. I am fascinated by the variability in captive grown coral lines. There have been many studies on chimerism in coral, and this explanation describes certain characteristics in some of the imported coral colonies I have seen. However, as I have farmed more and more coral long-term, I have seen certain variations and mutations show up in some of my asexually-propagated coral clone lines that defied this explanation. 

project X and project X2

 Due to the fact that this “color change in clones” phenomenon kept popping up, I decided I would take this opportunity to see if I could maintain any changes in future clones from that gene  line. One happy byproduct of that research is the Project X and Project X2 line of Fungia. Project X is by itself an exciting animal, normally a free-living, single-polyp coral, that is now content to encrust and produce a multitude of mouths. The X2 is is just as fascinating as the original Project X, but all frags from this lineage sport bright green stripes going right into the middle of the oral disc, brighter and greener tentacles, and the propensity to produce more mouths and lobes. Determined to prove to myself that the effect wasn’t merely induced by odd flow or differences in light, I grew a few dozen of Project X and X2 together in various lighting and flow schemes for over a full year. The same color and morphology differences persisted in each line. That is when I decided that it was appropriate to give the disparate clone line a label of its own, since its downstream mutations were over multiple generations, next to clone lines from the same original mother. Goniopora continue to be one of my all-time favorite animals. In fact, I am writing this post today because I saw, out of the corner of my eye, two of my treasured Goniopora mother colonies. There was a paper published this spring related to such an observation that had me all excited about the topic again. (More than one genotype: how common is intracolonial genetic variability in scleractinian corals?). I have been keeping  this line of Goniopora norfolkensis since 2009.… More:

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MACNA 2015 will take place in Washington, D.C.In a little more than a week, thousands of marine aquarium hobbyists and industry professionals will shoal in Washington, D.C. for the 27th annual MACNA (Marine Aquarium Conference of North America). If you attended MACNA last year in the Mile-High City or in South Florida the year before, you’ll know they were both incredibly successful events. Hosted at the beautiful Marriott Wardman Park, this year’s conference is in the capable hands of the Washington D.C. Area Marine Aquarist Society, marking ten years since the club last brought MACNA to our Nation’s Capital. What is it and what can you expect?MACNA is a long-running, large-scale event that successfully hybridizes several components into one cohesive weekend of saltwater and reef aquarium goodness. First is the learning symposium aspect, which gives industry leaders, conservationists, authors, and scientists a platform to address a wide variety of topics. I always look forward to hearing what the top minds in our hobby have to say – so don’t underestimate how educational and entertaining these can be

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This is a very interesting study. Researchers from UC San Diego published a study in Advanced Materials, that has printed 3D tiny microrobots in the shape of fish. The tiny fish microrobots, or microfish, are just 120 microns long and 30 microns thick. A micron is a unit of length which is equal to one millionth of a meter. To put it another way, there are 25,4000 microns in one inch. So we are talking a very, very small microfish. Hundreds of the fish can be printed in seconds. They contain platinum in the tail with reacts with hydrogen peroxide, moving the tails of the fish. As the microfish swim through a liquid, the glow red while detoxifying a liquid that has been contaminated with toxins, and continue to swim around to ensure they get all of the toxins. Although the fish are still early on in their development, scientists are very excited about this new prospect. “This method has made it easier for us to test different designs for these microrobots and to test different nanoparticles to insert new functional elements into these tiny structures. It’s my personal hope to further this research to eventually develop surgical microrobots that operate safer and with more precision,” one of the microfish inventors Jinxing Li said in a press release. One day, we all may be swallowing little glowing fish in the morning. MORE… More:

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While watching an interview with Fishbit creator Nathan Levine, I noticed a surprising statistic. One out of every ten people who enter the marine aquarium hobby stay in it past 18 months. Is it really surprising? The hobby is expensive, time consuming and often equipment is difficult to implement when you’re new. It also can be disastrous to a home, in the event of a large water leak. I’ve known aquarists who enjoyed the hobby and maintained moderate success, but once their floors or ceilings were ruined by saltwater, they decided to throw on the towel, quite literally. Nathan Levine brings up an important point about controllers, in that they can take some of the guess-work out of hobby success, but are often so difficult to use they alienate many aquarists.  Would we use a mobile phone if it was overly complicated, taking hours to set up and months to learn how to place a phone call? How about an office printer, car radio – the list goes on and on. Technology works best when it’s simple, quick and within a short period of time it’s working for us, making our lives easier. Aquarium controllers today are all about control and providing real-time data, but how they provide that control has remained a problem. To this effect the market for aquarium controllers has never really developed. It’s safe to say if something easily implemented, conservatively priced and fool proof could aid marine aquarists in having a healthy tank, we all would be doing it. Controllers provide some protection against failure, but it’s wrapped in a high cost, and often high user difficulty. Does a marine aquarium require a controller?The short answer is no – no more than any home, vehicle or building requires an internet connection or cable TV. Marine aquariums have existed for years without controllers, so there is no reason to say they require them for success. However, as we have learned, once technology reduces the burden and increases success in any field, it often becomes a part of life that would be tough to do away with. Imagine a day without an internet connection, or phone, or tablet or any device that is with us today nearly 24/7. I don’t need my Apple Watch to tell me when to stand up from my desk at the office, or track my evening walk, but it sure is nifty to have.… More:

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Long tentacle anemone (Macrodactyla doreensis) at night under LED lightingAnyone who has done any night diving knows that nighttime activity on coral reefs is very, very different from what goes on there during the day. A dramatic “changing of the guard” occurs, with diurnal fish seeking refuge in the reef and nocturnal predators and planktivores taking dominion. Parrotfishes, wedged in caves or crevices, cloak their chemical signatures in mucous cocoons. Morays, only partially visible during the day, slither from their dens and swim in the open in search of prey. Octopuses, too, lose their daytime shyness and ply the reefs with busy tentacles. Night-feeding corals that appear bare and lifeless while the sun is up come into their glory with polyps fully extended. Bioluminescent organisms of all kinds put on otherworldly displays

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Sea & Reef was trying to create a designer Black and White DaVinci Clownfish when they accidentally created this crazy mutation.

 Sea & Reef’s newest strain of clownfish is so beautiful; when the company posted about this clown earlier today, I practically fell out of my seat! This is the first time that I have been this excited about a clownfish since the introduction of the Lightning Maroon Clown. This new fish is a mix of Sea & Reef’s MochaVinci Clownfish  and a Black Ocellaris Clownfish. The creation of this new, still-unnamed variety started with a singular unique variation found in a MochaVinci clown. Out of the strain of a DaVinci/Black Ocellaris cross, the breeders found that one offspring stood out from the rest. What set this singular specimen apart from the others? Instead of the swirly pattern commonly associated with both the DaVincis and the MochaVincis, this clown has a much more amplified white pattern, and this jet-black coloration appeared very early in its life. 

This picture is one clownfish parent taken from three different angles.

 Sea & Reef initially named this parent the Black DaVinci Clownfish, believing that they had simply somehow skipped a few generations of the MochaVinci Line. But upon further observation and reflection, Sea & Reef realized that they had a potential new strain, and decided to breed this mutation with a Black Ocellaris to produce similar clowns. After a bit of time, they stumbled across something spectacular. This may very well be my new favorite designer clown! 

What amazing name will these clowns receive?

 Sea & Reef does not want to use the name “Black DaVinci Clownfish” for this new strain; they wish to save it for a later date and another fish. So that means that these new little guys need a spectacular name that does them justice. Therefore, Sea & Reef will be holding a contest to decide their name.
This new Sea & Reef designer clown is slated for release this Autumn. For your chance at naming this ultimate designer look out for the Facebook naming contest in September here. Or email your suggestions to sales@seaandreef.com.… More:

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It’s MACNA week! Hope to see lots of listeners in D.C.

It’s MACNA week! In our pre-show podcast we talk about our plans for the big event in D.C., the 2016 gathering in San Diego, the Rod’s Food Summer Savings program, donating to the Reef Savvy Dream Tank effort, Gary’s tank plans, and things you wish you’d known before you got into this hobby. We hope you enjoy the podcast and look forward to seeing you in Washington. If you’re not going, be sure to listen to our daily mini-casts and follow us on Instagram at reefthreads. 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

Win a reef system
Reef Savvy Tank Giveaway

Wish you’d told us
Things you wish someone told you a long time ago, Harry Y, ReefCentral

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Seahorses have been a reoccurring theme this week and I couldn’t be happier! At the end of last week, friend of the Aquarium and local fisherman, James Bricca, brought us a pregnant Hippocampus erectus. We put the baby-daddy into one of our seahorse nursery tanks to await his labor. A few days passed by and finally, late Monday afternoon,  he gave birth to a million babies! Okay, that may have been an exaggeration, but it was a heck of a lot of seahorse fry. Below is a video that I took shortly after they were born.  

Hippocampus erectus fry.

 After removing the dad, I separated the fry into two tanks. I turned up the airflow and added a mixture of algae and copepods, specifically, Apocyclops panamensis, as well as some Euterpina acutifrons that I recently acquired from Tami Weiss. For more information on what techniques I use on rearing seahorse, take a look here. Once these little guys are a few months old, I will put them in our “baby” display tanks. This is where we feature things aquacultured here at the Long Island Aquarium. 

Local Seahorses collected for display at the Long Island Aquarium.

 Another reason that I have seahorses on my mind is because I went seining on Wednesday with Master-Seiner Todd Gardner and my good friend Teddy Tilkin. One of our main goals was to collect some of the local H. erectus for my display at the Long Island Aquarium. It wasn’t long before we had pulled up enough seahorses to fill my exhibit and then some! 

Spotfin Butterflyfish (Chaetodon ocellatus).

 But seahorses weren’t the only thing that we collected. We caught hundreds of Spotfin Butterflyfish (Chaetodon ocellatus). There were so many, but we didn’t keep any of them; the only butterflyfish that we did keep from the trip was a lone Foureye (Chaetodon capistratus). Todd was also able to get some interesting photographs of mysterious things for his MACNA talk. As to what these “mysterious things” are, you’ll just have to go see Todd’s talk to find out! 

Fin clipping seahorses for the VBML research project. Author left, Professor Todd Gardner top right, Courtney Lamond bottom right.

 When we returned to the aquarium with our catch, Todd and I got to work collecting seahorse fin clippings for a research project going on at Vero Beach Marine Lab, a satellite lab of Florida Tech.… More:

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 Who among us doesn’t love dolphins? They are often considered some of the smartest animals and are very quick learners. With my many years working in the public aquarium industry I’ve developed quite an affinity for them and can vouch for how clever these marine mammals really are.Dolphin behavior is often studied and seen as a sign of true intelligence. In this fascinating video, you can see that these dolphins have devised a very smart way of catching fish in the shallow water. The dolphin pod communicates and works together to drive the school of fish into a circle as they beat their tails in unison in the shallow water to stir up the muddy bottom. The dolphins can be observed herding the fish into a smaller and smaller area while creating something that can be described as a fishing net made of mud. This action creates a ring of mud which traps the fish and scares them into jumping out of the water right into the dolphins’ gaping mouths. This behavior is a good example of how dolphins have developed unique skills to make their lives easier. Other dolphin species have been observed using tools to make their lives easier.  MORE… More:

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The ReefRack 102 in actionOver my many years in the marine aquarium hobby, I’ve constructed various and sundry coral frag racks out of egg crate light diffuser, ranging from simple one-tiered platforms to somewhat more complex stair-step configurations. It’s relatively easy to do; I just use a pair of diagonal cutters to snip out sections of the egg crate in the desired geometric shapes to form the platforms and supports of the rack. Then I join the components together with either cyanoacrylate glue or plastic zip ties. While cheap and easy to make, these racks do have their downsides. For one, they’re not especially attractive, so they can detract from a system’s aesthetics depending on whether they’re placed in a display or dedicated frag tank. Also, the egg crate material tends to become brittle and prone to breakage with prolonged exposure to salt water, so there’s a limited lifespan to the rack. Cleaning egg crate can be a real pain as well, with all those little square-shaped cells presenting a nice growing surface for algae.With the goal of overcoming these challenges while offering reef hobbyists a unique way to organize and showcase their coral frags, our friends at Innovative Marine have designed the sleek, multi-tiered, customizable AUQA Gadget ReefRack, which will be available online and at your local fish store beginning September 21

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Good morning friends, how was your weekend out there?? I apologize for the lack of postings lately but we have been super busy playing with the folks from the World famous Smithsonian Institution. Last wednesday was spent taking load after load of supplies to the Chapman (the white ship seen in the 2nd photo) and getting ready to set sail for the remote island of Klein Curacao early thursday morning. The top photo shows our 2.5 million dollar mini submersible named the “Curasub” on the back of the research vessel the Chapman heading out to sea on the way to Klein Curacao. The second photo shows the Chapman anchored at Klein Curacao and the bottom photo shows the view of the desolate island from way above the Chapman, both of these killer shots are compliments of our sub pilot Barbara who has a mini-drone and boy does she know how to use it!

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Right now 35,000 walruses are mobbed together on the Alaskan coast, an unusual occurrence. From the air it looks like a massive walrus protest, with tens of thousands of animals huddled together. Why would walruses pact together in such numbers? The answer, because the ice that they rely on has totally disappeared. Unlike seals (who can swim indefinitely) after a day of hunting, walruses need a place to plant their tusks and rest. Walruses in the Bering Sea usually rest on ice flows, which in the past, have been plentiful in both summer and winter. With rising global temperatures, artic sea ice has diminished, leaving the walruses no choice but to congregate on the Alaskan coast, just north of Point Lay. The melted artic sea ice presents a wide range of problems for the walruses, from access to food, ease of diving, on up to rearing young. This comes at a time when three category four hurricanes touched down in the Pacific Ocean. It’s a strikingly rare meteorological event, and experts blame warmer than average sea temperatures for the massive storms. These hurricanes come on the heels of what has already been a devastating hurricane season. The climate is changing, yet you may be wondering, what in the heck does that have to do with my aquarium?    The symptoms:The symptoms of climate change are many, from coral bleaching to ocean acidification. Both are terms that most marine aquarists are somewhat familiar with. The ocean exists as a natural carbon dioxide filter, and much of the excess co2 created by man ends up in the ocean. Scientists have implicated this co2 build-up with warmer water, on down to strange fish behavior. It’s changing the ocean, and species that once were rare, now thrive as they’ve been able to adapt to conditions their predators could not. The octopus and cuttlefish are prime examples, and reefs wiped out by acidification and warming have seen a surge in cuttlefish populations. Like Ian Malcolm said in Jurassic Park, “Life finds a way.” Unless you want every coral reef to exist behind glass or acrylic, than climate change matters to you. It’s a conversation starter among marine aquarists, and while some still deny the human cause of climate change, the vast majority of global scientists agree that since the Industrial Revolution, we’ve been altering Earth’s climate and oceans by releasing massive amount of co2.… More:

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Tiny Dancer, Rocket Man and Crocodile Rock are among the many hits by rock legend Sir Elton John.  Now, the music superstar can add to his list of accomplishments with the naming of a crustecean in his honor! An amphipod was recently discovered in the coral reefs of Raja Ampat,Indonesia but may also be found other south pacific reefs. The shrimp-like crustacean creature has been named Leucothoe eltoni, after the famous rocker.The discovery was recently published in Zookey’s Journal. “I named the species in honor of Sir Elton John because I have listened to his music in my lab during my entire scientific career,” said James Thomas from the Halmos College of Natural Sciences and Oceanography in Florida. “So, when this unusual crustacean with a greatly enlarged appendage appeared under my microscope after a day of collecting, an image of the shoes Elton John wore as the Pinball Wizard (in the movie “Tommy”) came to mind” as that the little creature reminded him of the star’s famous footwear. Reef hobbyists will probably be familiar with various species of amphipods which are often found in reef tanks or used as fish food.  The amphipod  enjoys a commensal relationship on the reef, where it benefits living among reef dwellers like corals and sponges. MORE… More:

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Good morning friends, I found a beautiful Azure Vase Sponge on the island of Klein Curacao that reminded me of the Cookie Monster, one of Sesame Streets all time greatest characters. As many of you already know, I love finding faces in nature, especially if they are underwater! Aimee and I have searched for years for fun faces but they are very hard to find making the quest that much more difficult. A few years back I had a photo assignment involving faces around the home and ended up selling a picture of a shoe that looked like a face to National Geographic Kids magazine, do any of you remember that one?? I am still looking for these types of photos so if you find something around the house, please let me know. We have a lot going on today, I have to get ready to splash… Barry NEWER POST:

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So we’re en route to MACNA, doing our best to not get Sanjay-ed, and we obviously brought the whole suitcase of fun activities and antics we’re known for.  This year’s floorplan is HUGE, and since we’re not all in the same room you may have to look around to find us.  You can visit our lounge by heading to the Hawkfish logo on the map above.  We’ll be waiting for you with comfortable seating, snacks, children’s activities, video games, and FREE BEER.  So come by, relax, and take a break from the madness that is MACNA.  If you get lost, find the Hospitality Lounge on the map.… More:

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When I give presentations on fish selection and I mention Dottibacks, someone in the audience always blurts out, “devil fish!” For some dottibacks, yes. For the orchid dottiback, no.

Orchid Dottiback

The orchid dottiback (Pseudochromis fridmani) is not only the most docile species in the genus, but is also one of the most striking. Its body is solid bright purple with a black streak though the eye and head. Under royal blue LEDs, the fish will glow as if radioactive.

Known for being very personable, these fish take time to warm up to their surroundings. My experience in keeping them is that they will spend the first week to two weeks in a tank hiding in the aquascaping and only darting out of rocks to eat. Over time, they hide less and interact with you more. Clients who have these fish always fall in love with their orchid dottibacks as the fish greets them when they approach the tank and will sometimes follow the client around the tank.

The orchid dottiback’s docile nature also lends themselves to be victims of bullying especially from more aggressive dottibacks. Therefore, if I am placing an orchid dottiback in a tank, I will make sure it is the only dottiback in the tank.

Rounding out my reasons I love the orchid dottiback is that fact that captive bred specimens are readily available. My Orchid Dottibacks always come from ProAquatix and I’m proud to place captive bred fish in client tanks.

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