squat lobsters sharing crinoid

I still have the two black Crinoids in my aquarium, but the purple one slowly fell apart and died. The black ones are not doing bad, still extending their arms to feed.

I was surprised last night when I glanced at one of the Crinoids to find that both of my squat lobsters were hosting in it.



Darth Maul, in the lower half of the photo, is a Galathea inflata. He prefers to cling to the rocks underneath a Crinoid. Sometimes he moves to a different Crinoid, and sometimes doesn't stand under one at all. Darth Vader, in the upper portion of the photo, is an Allogalathea elegans. He is always in a Crinoid, usually in the center or on the arms.

Squat lobsters are solitary creatures, so it's unusual to find them sharing a Crinoid. These two have not been fond of one another, either. Darth Maul has chased Darth Vader from his favorite Crinoid before. But it looks like they've made a truce. There is another Crinoid in the aquarium, exactly like this one, but they both prefer this one. They are still sharing this morning, I wonder how long this will last.

Yasha Goby and Red Banded Pistol Shrimp

Last night when I was feeding my fish, I was shocked to see that my Yasha goby has a friend! Kenobie, my Yasha goby, has been alone for over two years now. About a year ago, I bought her an unidentified green pistol shrimp from my LFS; I later ID'd it as Alpheus ochrostriatus. They completely ignored one another. So in February, I got a Wheeler's goby for the pistol shrimp. Kenobie was still all alone, except for her peppermint shrimp friends. In February I bought her an Alpheus randalli, red banded pistol shrimp, which is the pistol shrimp that Yasha gobies are commensal with in the wild. I heard a lot of pistol shrimp popping and shooting, and didn't see the red banded pistol shrimp after that at all. I thought for sure it was killed by the much larger green pistol shrimp. But all is well, and my Yasha has a new pistol shrimp friend!

Felicia's Drs. Foster & Smith Pet Blogs

Seahorse, of Course

by Felicia M. on August 12, 2009

I’m the photographer at Liveaquaria’s Aquaculture Coral and Marine Life Facility, and I’ve always been fascinated by aquatic animals.  Right now I have three aquariums – a chilled “deepwater” aquarium, a coral-only nano bullet tank, and a planted livebearer tank.

My favorite fish are my seahorses, of course.  In the wild seahorses are cryptic and rarely seen, but captive seahorses can be very friendly.  Mine love to hitch on my fingers when I feed them or do tank maintenance.   If you have fish at home, you’ve probably seen them swim at the front of the glass begging for food.  Imagine how funny it is to see a seahorse do that.  Despite being poor swimmers, seahorses are great dancers with elaborate courtship and greeting dances.  They even dance to greet me when I come home.

Contrary to popular belief, captive bred seahorses are not difficult to keep, as long as you are well prepared for them.  They have different requirements and are prone to different diseases than other fish, so you might have to first unlearn what you already know about fish to understand seahorse care.  Seahorse.org is a great place to go if you want to learn more.

I have five seahorses, three females and two males, living in a 55 gallon aquarium with a 20 gallon sump.  Their peaceful tank mates include many small gobies, pipefish, flasher wrasses, non-photosynthetic corals and inverts, and small crustaceans.  I tried photosynthetic corals in this tank, but they were overwhelmed by algae due to the heavy feedings seahorses require and had to be moved to their own tank.  It’s better this way, since now I can have LPS corals and anemones, which are dangerous to seahorses.

You don’t need a lot of expensive equipment for a seahorse aquarium, but in my experience, a reliable chiller is the most important piece of equipment on a seahorse aquarium.  I’m convinced that having a chiller has saved the lives of two of my seahorses and one of my pipefish (more on that later).  I also have a Hydor Performer skimmer, Fluval 405 filter, and compact fluorescent lighting.

In future posts, I’ll be sharing more photos and information about each of my aquariums and what has worked well for me.  I’ll also tell you about some mistakes I’ve made and how you can avoid them.

 by Felicia M. on February 1, 2010

If you’re an aquarist, you probably have a preference for a certain type of fish. Some people like little peaceful fish, some like big aggressive fish, and others like rare oddball fish. I’ve always been inclined toward small, weird, peaceful fish like Seahorses and Curious Wormfish. I never imagined myself wanting a large predator like a Lionfish until I met “Serendipity.”

Serendipity is a Yellow Dwarf Fuzzy Lionfish (Dendrochirus brachypterus). I know Serendipity is a female because she has only five bars on her pectoral fins; males have more. Yellow is a rare color for this type of fish, and she is a gorgeous shade of yellow. In addition to her yellow fins, she has beautiful blue eyes and reddish-brown bars on her body.

Serendipity is the only fish in the coral tank I keep in my kitchen. I think she likes being in the kitchen as she gets lots of attention and can be where the action is. She has been outgoing and friendly since day one. If I am looking into the tank, there is usually a curious little Lionfish face right in front of what I’m trying to look at. I suppose I wouldn’t be afraid of anything either if I were that venomous. I have to be careful when I work in my tank so that I don’t bump into her venomous spines. If I am stung, I’ll put the affected area into water that is as hot as I can stand it, and that may help deactivate the venom. If not, I’d have to take a trip to the ER.

Serendipity is also unusual for a Lionfish because she eats frozen food. Most Lionfish will only eat live foods. The “fish guys” here at LiveAquaria’s Aquaculture Coral and Marine Life Facility do their best to try to train the large predatory fish to eat frozen foods like frozen silversides and krill before being sold on Diver’s Den. I was lucky that Serendipity learned to eat frozen food.

I feed her a diet of mostly thawed, cut up silversides three times a week. Sometimes she gets a piece of krill as a treat since a diet of krill only has been reported as a cause for lockjaw in large predatory fish. I use a blunt bamboo stick to transfer the food to her. I impale the food on the end then wiggle the food in the water to entice her. She swims up to the food and pauses for a moment while flaring and vibrating her fins before striking. I try to let the food go off the stick in front of her face right before she strikes so she doesn’t hurt her mouth on the stick. We both have to have perfect timing or else the food floats to the bottom of the tank where she won’t eat it and I’ll have to get it out.

Do you have a Lionfish or other large predatory fish in your aquarium? We’d love to hear about it!

by Felicia M. on January 14, 2010

I was walking through our Aquaculture Coral & Marine Life Facility the other day when a beautiful coral caught my eye. It was a Heteroxenia, a soft coral closely related to Xenia. Usually Heteroxenia spp. are tan or silver, but this one was purple! I soon found out that this was going to be a new Drs. Foster & Smith Certified Captive Grown Coral frag.

It’s exciting when we offer a new aquacultured coral frag; everyone is involved with fragging, caring for, or naming the new coral. It’s not easy coming up with a catchy name that captures the color and form of the coral. I’m not very creative, so I usually try to leave the naming to my more creative co-workers. Chris M. and I were looking at the coral when we both said, “This coral sure does look like an Octopus.” That’s when it hit me – Octopus ink is purple, and each polyp of this coral has eight tentacles, just like an Octopus! That’s why we decided to call it the Octopus Ink Heteroxenia.

The brand new Octopus Ink Heteroxenia is for sale right now on Liveaquaria.com. I have some Pumping Xenia in my home aquarium that I find to be relatively hardy and fast-growing, so you can bet I’ll soon be buying one of these beauties.

Leave a comment and tell us what you think of the new Octopus Ink Heteroxenia.

Seahorse Personality

by Felicia M. on November 2, 2009

It’s hard to think of fish as having personalities or being interactive.  Before I had seahorses I thought they were neat looking, but I just assumed they sat around and didn’t actually DO anything all day. After caring for my seahorses for over a year now, I feel they are “pets” more so than any other fish I’ve ever kept. I’m certainly not going to claim that seahorses are intelligent, because, well, they’re not. However, they definitely have what I call personality.

Unlike other fish, seahorses have a prehensile tail they use to hitch themselves to rocks and plants. This strange appendage is what enables their unique, laid-back fish lifestyle. They are able to use their tails to hold perfectly still while hunting. Their tails also make it easy for them to keep in close contact with their friends, as you can see in the photo above. They aren’t in stealth mode all the time, though. They aren’t the best swimmers, but they love to swim, dance, and play.

My favorite seahorse is a little erectus named Kuiter (named after the biologist, of course). I’m convinced that Kuiter recognizes me and knows who I am (the mysis dispenser!). She follows me around as I work on the tank, swimming against the glass as close as she can get to me. Kuiter even likes to hitch on my fingers. I attribute this behavior partly to the fact that she is captive bred. Captive bred seahorses are used to humans and can become very friendly. This has been helpful on a few occasions when I had to handle Kuiter to medicate her. If she wasn’t used to my hands, the stress from the situation could have been fatal.

Inter-seahorse relationships are pretty complex and fascinating. I have two boys, Juniper and Debelius; and three girls, Ellis, Hoover, and you already know Kuiter.

Hoover and Kuiter, the two youngest and smallest females, are best friends and always together. They are the two most playful seahorses, always holding onto each other’s tails. My seahorses seem to enjoy holding tails with each other, like people hold hands. But apparently, it is extremely impolite for a seahorse to hitch on another seahorses’s face, body, or neck. Kuiter has a bad habit of doing this, especially to Hoover. Hoover will shake and buck wildly until Kuiter gets the hint to let go.

Juniper and Ellis, the largest and oldest, are a mated pair. He makes time every dawn to dance with Ellis and strengthen their pair bond. They have a flowing, elegant dance. Juniper turns silver and does pouch crunches while Ellis turns a lovely reddish shade. The two of them circle each other while lifting their heads like trumpets and ascending to the water’s surface. The actual courtship dance is even more elaborate, ending with Ellis depositing eggs into Juniper’s pouch.

Debelius is a young adult male, having recently developed his pouch. Debelius dances with all the girls! He used to dance with Ellis a lot, but realizing he’s no match for Juniper, has turned his attentions lately to Hoover and Kuiter. In my opinion, Debelius is a terrible dancer. His movements aren’t graceful at all. Instead, he turns a yellowish-white color, grabs a girl’s tail (or head, whatever’s available) with his tail, and starts shaking violently. I’ve never seen anyone mate with him, or spend much time around him, so apparently they’re not all that impressed with his dancing skills, either. Maybe he’ll learn some better dance moves from watching Juniper.

This may all sound pretty far-fetched to someone who’s never had seahorses, so if you are a seahorse keeper, back me up! Please leave a comment and tell us about your seahorse’s personality.

Roborovski Hamsters – Smallest Hamsters in The World

by Felicia M. on October 15, 2009

The Roborovski dwarf hamster is the smallest hamster in the world, maxing out at just under 3 inches long. This isn’t the only thing that makes “Robos” unique. They have the longest lifespan of any other pet hamster, up to 3-1/2 years. I also find their white eyebrows to be extremely endearing.

I started my own Robo family in 2007 with a pair named Reepicheep and Ratatouille. I read that Robos enjoy each other’s company and do well in groups, so I decided to breed them. When they were old enough, they had 2 litters of 4 babies each. They got along well, with a noisy little scuffle every now and then, until the first litter of babies was almost a year old.

They started fighting constantly, even causing some serious wounds. Before I knew it, I had hamsters in seven different Crittertrails and an aquarium. I was baffled by my hamster family’s fighting, so I decided to talk to other Robo owners and found that many were having similar aggression issues. Luckily, all my co-workers love animals; it wasn’t hard to find homes for my Robos. I tried in vain for months to discover who was compatible by using cage dividers, trial, and error. Ratatouille even started chasing Reepicheep and had to be separated. The females all had to be re-homed individually, because apparently, they don’t like company at all. The males were less aggressive; some paired up easily. I kept two of the brothers, Felix and Mookie, who have proven to be peaceful friends.

My Robos are very energetic and playful, running almost constantly when awake or not eating. Robos are the fastest of the pet hamsters and need a lot of room to exercise. (Notice in the photo, he’s running so fast his feet aren’t even touching!) I keep my two males in a 55 gallon aquarium with two wheels, and this seems to be enough for them. They are awake during the day more often than other hamsters, but are still mostly nocturnal. I am an extremely light sleeper, but don’t worry - the Silent Spinner wheels they have are absolutely noiseless.

I’ve never been bitten by one of my Robos, but they are super squirmy and don’t hesitate to jump out of my hand every chance they get. I am very careful and try to only handle them in their cage. They don’t seem to mind being touched and petted on the rare occasion they’re not running at full speed.

Their fur is thick and soft, and like other hamsters, they groom obsessively. If their fur starts to look oily, I let them roll around in some Critter Bath Powder. They appear to really enjoy these dust-baths, and it’s an interesting natural behavior to observe.

Robos are really different from all the other hamster species I’ve kept. Their high activity level makes them fun to watch, but difficult to handle and play with. I don’t think they’d make good pets for younger children for that reason. An older, more mature child (or adult) who would rather watch them than pick them up might be a better Robo keeper.

Roborovski hamsters have only been available to pet owners in the U.S. for a few years, so not a lot is known about them yet. If you have a Roborovski hamster, please leave a comment. I would love to hear about your experiences.

Corals bright as the sun

by Felicia M. on September 9, 2009

my sun coral

I’ve been the proud owner of a sun coral since I found a black and orange combo sun coral at my local store in June 2007. The orange side, a Tubastrea coccinea, was in very good health with plump, fleshy polyps. It even extended its polyps in the take-home bag. The black side, a Tubastrea micrantha, wasn’t in too bad shape, but it did have some tissue recession between the polyps, which is common. It just needed some TLC.

When deciding where to place my new coral, I knew it was most important to put it where I could easily target feed each polyp. I target feed my sun coral daily with thawed mysis shrimp and Cyclop-Eeze, making sure after feeding to squirt food out from between the polyps where it can decay. When I first brought it home, it was reluctant to open. I trained it to open at the same time every evening by gently squirting it with small, meaty foods and “mysis juice,” the soupy part of a frozen mysis cube. Now that it’s comfortable, it opens every evening at dinnertime. I used to have a shrimp that stole food right out of the sun coral’s polyps, so I cut the bottom off a plastic water bottle and used it to cover the coral during feeding.  A hole drilled into the lid allowed me to squirt food from a syringe into the bottle.

Sun corals are non-photosynthetic, so light is of little importance to them. If the lighting is too bright, though, algae can grow around the coral or on its exposed skeleton and choke the coral. Sun corals like moderate, alternating flow and often won’t open if the flow is too slow.  In the wild these corals live on warm, bright reefs and in the cooler, deeper waters beyond. This is why they can adapt well to different environments. I’ve kept mine as low as 65°F, but average about 70°F. Most sun coral keepers maintain them at normal reef temperatures, up to 78°F. They are quite sensitive to high nitrates and poor water quality, and need supplemented Calcium and trace elements to grow.

baby sun corals

A few months after I brought this coral home, I started noticing tiny black and yellow polyps scattered on my live rock. I did some research and discovered that sun coral colonies are hermaphroditic, containing both male and female polyps. A male polyp fertilizes a female polyp’s egg, then she broods the larvae inside until it is ready to be expelled and swim to its new location. The tiny larvae attaches to a rock to start building its own colony. I am finding new ones all the time in my aquarium; it is certainly a task to target feed all of them. I hope that any baby sun corals living in the caves I can’t reach are getting enough passing Cyclop-Eeze to survive.

Almost Finished Renovations

I finally finished moving my aquariums around the kitchen. The 55 gallon with the 20 gallon sump is now home to all the reef fish, inverts, non-photosynthetic corals, and seahorses. The 25 gallon nano bullet tank is now a coral-only tank. The 37 gallon, which used to be the seahorse tank, is now a planted guppy and Limia tank. I usually go to bed pretty early, but some night I'll try to stay up past dark and get a shot of all three tanks with the lights off in the kitchen so you don't have to look at my refrigerator.



I had to combine the two saltwater tanks and was nervous at first about how everyone would get along. So far, there haven't been any major problems. There was a squat lobster confrontation, however, on the first day. Darth Maul, the Galathea inflata, evicted Darth Vader, the Allogalathea elegans, from its favorite black Crinoid. In the wild, Darth Vader would have been eaten immediately without the protection of a Crinoid. So it felt that it had to move quickly to the nearest Crinoid, which happened to be my newest Crinoid, a purple one. It was obvious that Darth Vader did not like the purple Crinoid much, because it made its way to the nearest uninhabited black Crinoid soon after. Darth Maul, the Galathea inflata, does not live on the center of the Crinoid like Darth Vader does. Instead, it stands on the rock underneath the Crinoid's outstretched arms.



What I found interesting is that the short, tufted antennae on either side of its rostrum were pointed toward the Crinoid the whole time it was travelling toward it. I wonder if commensal squat lobsters use those to chemically sense, or smell Crinoids. I wish I knew what those little antennae, circled in red on the picture at left, were called.



I found this pretty Zoanthus gigantus rock at my local store. Since I was good at the doctor and didn't hit the anesthesiologist this time, my husband let me buy it. For this photo, I tried out my new surface viewer while the coral was in acclimation. I think it turned out pretty well.

The light fixture I won from a raffle is kind of broken. Only some of the bulbs light up now. That's ok, since this is a non-photosynthetic tank now, and the hair algae is dying. Both the actinics light up, which looks pretty nice. Here's my sea cucumber under actinic lighting. It's still doing well and eats phytoplankton every day. It's difficult to tell since they change shape so much, but I think it has grown. It definitely hasn't gotten smaller. You can also see in the photo a small, white tuft coming out around the mouth. Since taking this photo last week, it has grown into a regular sized feeding tentacle. I don't think the animal hasn't lost any tentacles, so I wonder why it's growing new ones.

Lost my Scooter

One of my favorite fish jumped out of the tank and died Saturday night. This isn't the first time he's done it, either. I have pond netting covering the holes in my canopy, but there is a tiny space where the filter intake pipes hang on the tank. He must have found his way through that space, because I found him on the floor just underneath the filter. He wasn't completely dried out, so I threw him back in the tank, hoping he'd revive. Unfortunately, he didn't.

I'm really bummed out about it. I liked this fish a lot. It's such a shame that he died so needlessly, because he was very healthy and fat. I had him since he was only a little more than an inch long, and he was about 3 inches when he died.

Livebearing Marine Brotulids

I've always been fascinated by livebearing fish like guppies, so when I discovered Brotulids, I had to know more about this odd, cryptic fish.

The most common species in the hobby is the yellow dusky Brotulid, otherwise known as a yellow eel goby. They're easy to care for and not picky eaters. They do best in small, peaceful aquariums with easily accessible places to hide, like PVC pipes and flowerpots. They should be target fed, since they are so shy. In large aquariums with a lot of rockwork, they can't be target fed and may starve.

I bought my first yellow dusky Brotulid in March 2008. I put him into my reef aquarium with over 90 pounds of live rock where he promptly dove under a rock pile never to be seen again. A few months later, I bought another one and put her in my seahorse aquarium which has low lighting and little live rock. She lives inside of a rock that is shaped like a cave. I can easily see her, but sometimes I have to use a small flashlight. She is almost constantly in movement, hovering inside her cave while undulating her beautiful, ribbon-like fins. She has become much less shy and even pokes most of the way out of her cave to eat thawed frozen mysis shrimp alongside my seahorses. She is not picky about what she eats and took to frozen food right away. She lives with my two female Orange Eel Gobies, which are a similar species. All three of them are very social with one another and share a cave. Strangely, they also share their cave with my Curious Wormfish, who is very similar to them in behavior and body shape. She is extremely peaceful and doesn't bother any of the small crustaceans or fish that share her tank. Even the squat lobster and Trimma gobies are safe with her.

Sexing this species of Brotulid is a little different than sexing other species. The males of most Brotulid species have large, visible claspers at the beginning of the anal fin. The male yellow Brotulid has a fleshy, crescent shaped pouch which contains his rounded claspers and sexual organs. The female (pictured here) is similar to females of other species in that they have a tiny "knob" at the front of the anus. Breeding this species in captivity might prove to be as easy as breeding freshwater livebearers. The young are large and highly developed when they are born. Unfortunately, there isn't a high demand for this cryptic species, so aquaculture facilities are not breeding them. There have been reports from hobbyists that some Brotulids eat bristleworms, which are a nuisance to aquarists. If this claim can be validated, that would make this species more popular with hobbyists.

These fish have gone by many scientific names including Dinematichthys riukiuensis, Brotulina fusca, and Diancistrus fuscus. No one is entirely sure which scientific name is valid for the little yellow Brotulids that sometimes show up in the aquarium trade. According to fishbase.org, Brotulina fusca is no longer a valid name, and is replaced by and a synonym of Diancistrus fuscus. Fishbase.org goes on to say that Brotulina fusca is very rare and known only from a single male specimen. It seems unlikely, but not impossible, to me that such a rare species would regularly make it into the aquarium trade. I think that these yellow Brotulids we see in the aquarium trade are more likely in the genus Dinematichthys. I recently came across this photo of a Dinematichthys randalli while doing a Google search. This is the closest I've ever come to positively identifiying my little Brotulid.

The best information I've found on these awesome fish so far has been from a German website called www.seahorsemania.eu. This is what they have to say (translated loosely into English):

"The following photos and info on the animal, comes courtesy of Martin Reith, Freiburg - www.seahorsemania.eu

This very unusual fish, Freiburg shop "Under Water" photographs, where several rare animals for sale. The Yellow bearded Brotulid is considered "Brotulina fusca" in the aquarium trade, but the current Latin name is Diancistrus fuscus. Hardly a rarity these aquarists will have ever seen, so a few additional details:

Assignment and kinship:

The Yellow bearded Brotulid is the family of livebearing Brotulas (Bythitidae) in order Ophidiiformes (like fish entrails / male-like beard) and is therefore associated with the widely-style cod (Gadiformes) related. Fishes of the order Ophidiiformes are mainly deep-water fish and this is also the reason why most divers and aquariums are not yet familiar with members of this order. The only members of this order, the little known, are the bizarre fish viscera (Family Carapidae) in the body of live sea cucumber.

In the family of livebearing Brotulas (Bythitidae) in addition to marine fish and a few representatives that live in anchialinen caves (caves where freshwater and saltwater mix). To mention are the genera Typhliasina, lucifuga and Ogilbia from cave systems in Central America as well as in various groups of islands in the western Atlantic and eastern Pacific. From the genus Diancistrus come here next to the imagined nature, even (still rare) reddish colored fish on the market. They are traded as Brotulina Erythrea, it could therefore possibly be Diancistrus erythraeus.


Verbreitung und Lebensraum:

The Yellow bearded Brotulid Diancistrus fuscus lives in the western Pacific in southern Japan, Taiwan and the northern half of the Philippines. To the south of the equator it is replaced by "Allen's bearded Brotulid" Diancistrus alleni. The Yellow bearded Brotulid was rarely observed free-living, it probably lived in shallow waters up to 20 meters in depth, well hidden in columns of coral reefs.


Posture and nutrition:

When it comes to attitude, we can only give rough recommendations because we have little experience with this species. For the welfare of the Yellow Bearded Brotulid in the aquarium, a large number of crevices and caves are needed, since the animals in nature predominantly reside in in columnar systems. Since the diet of these animals still as good as nothing is known, however, should first try to get these animals in a darkened aquarium with very little possibilities to keep hiding in order to be able to observe what food they take. The above-mentioned with the Yellow Beard related fish from anchialinen caves are known to eat several small crustaceans. Yellow Beard Brotulids may eat small copepods and Mysis shrimp. Pair or group housing would be recommended so that the very interesting reproductive behavior and the largely unknown social behavior can be observed.


Reproduction:

The animals are livebearing fish and have an internal fertilization. The males have in a belly fold a penis and pair of claspers similar to those of rays and sharks. The females live bring juveniles to the world. Perhaps Yellow Beard Brotulids are especially easy to breed.


Abstract:

The Yellow Bearded Brotulid is a rarely traded, and highly interesting from an unusual fish group, their way of life is still very little known. Even the exceptional reproduction suggests that the biologically interested aquarists, who is a Artbecken up a lot of sensational observations can be. The very hidden way of life make the Yellow Bearded Brotulid unsuitable for aquarium fish in their normal set, mixed reefs aquarists often want to see."

Don't Do This

I have had a pretty terrible week so far. I spent yesterday in the hospital for a minor outpatient procedure. After explaining my severe needle-phobia to my anesthesiologist, he still managed to fail to properly insert the IV not once, but twice.

Very early this morning I awoke with alarm as my husband shook me awake saying, "Honey, you need to get up, the aquarium is overflowing." How could this happen? I admit it is totally my fault. I have the necessary check valves and clamps, brand new, in a bag under my aquarium stand. I've just been procrastinating about installing them.

As you can see from the extremely cluttered photo at the left, the return pump has no hose clamp. It is just dangling precariously from the end of the hose. Don't ever do that. It's bad. It's hard to see in this photo because it's obscured by the hose in front, but also take note of the extremely long outlet elbow. It reaches below the water level to about a third of the way down on the main aquarium. Don't do that, either, especially if you don't have a check valve on your outlet hose.

Even if you're not a physicist, you can probably tell from the photo and the description what happened very early this morning to my aquarium. The hose disconnected from the return pump, causing water from the 55 gallon main tank to siphon down into the 37 gallon sump on the floor. If there had been a hose clamp, the hose wouldn't have disconnected from the return pump. If the outlet elbow wasn't so long, it would've stopped siphoning once the water level sunk below it. If I had installed the check valve, it wouldn't have siphoned at all. I knew all of that was possible, which is why I have those hose clamps and check valves under my stand. But you can't change someone's true nature. I'm still a procrastinator, and guess what I'm doing rignt now instead of installing them...

The silver lining? the 20 gallons of water on my floor didn't do any lasting damage. It stopped inches from my computer tower and cell phone.

Pom Pom Crabs and Basket Stars

The pom pom crabs I ordered have arrived! They are in perfect condition, and the acclimation couldn't have gone any smoother. I placed them next to my older pom pom crab in the aquarium, and they seemed to get along fine. As you can see from the pictures, one of the new pom pom crabs is definitely a female. Note the bright orange eggs on her abdomen. Please forgive the hair algae stuck all over the crabs, that came from my aquarium...





I'm doing a little experiment to see if it's true that pom pom crabs share their anemones with one another, then frag them to make more. I think it's more likely that they steal anemones from each other. When a pom pom crab molts, it puts down its anemones for a short time until it can shed its old exoskeleton and pick them back up again. Perhaps that is when they are most vulnerable to anemone theft! Unless I see it happening, I may never know. But hopefully my older pom pom crab acquires some new anemones somehow, because she lost hers a few months ago and has been carrying around sponges instead. It's kind of sad and pathetic.



Word has gotten around that I like Crinoids and other non-photosynthetic animals, so I was given some basket stars last week. Thanks, Joe! You're awesome!



I have no idea what species these basket stars are. If you click on the photo to enlarge it, you can see that they are pinkish with red-orange stripes all over them. If I had to name them, I'd call them "candy-striped basket stars." They are only about the size of a nickel when they spread out. These are the smallest basket stars I've ever seen, hopefully they'll be easier to feed as a result. They came on this gorgeous non-photosynthetic orange and red soft coral, which I also couldn't ID. It reminds me of corals related to Dendronepthea sp. and Stereonephthya sp. Anyone know what this is? It wasn't attached to a rock, so I rubber-banded it to a heavy coral mariculture plug. I'm going to pin it tomorrow with a long stainless steel frag pin. The stars haven't strayed from the coral yet.

The other basket starfish I got this week is a Caribbean basket starfish, Astrophyton muricatum, similar to the one pictured. I had that one come in as a hitchhiker on a Gorgonian order a couple years ago, and it didn't last long. That is how I learned that basket starfish can crawl inside return pumps and get destroyed by the impeller. Since then, all my pumps have been covered with ugly mesh bags. The one I got this week is about the size of a large man's hand when it is stretched out. This species grows to three feet in diameter in the wild.

I hope to do better with this basket star than with my last one. Like most other non-photosynthetic marine creatures, the majority of the basket star's diet will have to come from my aquarium's refugium and sand bed. In the wild Caribbean basket stars prefer to eat pelagic copepods and other small zooplankton, so Cyclop-eeze, Cyclops, and rotifers are an ideal supplemental diet for a small to medium-sized basket star.
Here's an older article about basket stars on reefs.org http://www.reefs.org/library/article/r_toonen17.html

Aquarium Update

All my aquatic pets are doing well. I'm dealing with some condensation on the glass now that summer is here and I chill my aquarium to 72 degrees. The algae is coming back with a vengeance and threatening my corals. I'm considering starting a nano tank just for my corals. I have a 20 gallon bullet tank, but it currently houses my freshwater livebearers. I doubt my husband will alow me to get ANOTHER aquarium, so I'll have to either get rid of the algae or get rid of my livebearers.



The Curious Wormfish is doing great and eating a lot. He spends most of his time buried in the sand, but when I feed the aquarium he emerges to feed. It's strange to see a tiny blue head poking up out of the sand, waiting for the perfect, calm moment to burst out and begin hunting Mysis. He's now eating the large PE Mysis, about 2 or 3 pieces a day. After dinner, he may stay out for a couple hours, then buries himself in the sand again.

I just ordered some pom pom crabs, they should be arrving soon. My pom pom crab, who is a couple years old now, lost her anemones a few months ago. Hopefully her new friends will share their anemones with her.



My yellow-fin flasher wrasse accidentally went over the overflow box and now lives in my seahorse tank. I'm not very good at catching fish, so he has stayed there. It's been a few weeks now, and my Rubriventralis fairy wrasse has turned into a male within that short time. "His" ventral fins are a gorgeous black-red color, and the blue on his tail and body glows. I promise to post better pictures soon.



The Erectus seahorses are also doing great. They are growing so big! It's hard to believe that just five months ago, they were tiny juveniles, only a few inches tall. I love this picture of Hoover, who is usually black. She turns white when I feed her or when she is being courted by Juniper or Debelius. Click on the photo for more detail.

The one-eyed goby my friend Paul got me for my birthday in April has finally started to gain some weight. Well, technically, he has two eyes, but one is severely deformed. When I first got him, I was concerned that he wasn't eating enough because he can't see anything on his right side. I try to target feed him, but if the food falls to his right side, he can't see it at all. He is less shy now and is confident enough to compensate for his eyesight by swimming in circles to look around.

Honestly, I'm surprised that my Crinoid feather star is still alive. All of its arms are intact, and it seems to be thriving. I put a fish net in my seahorse tank in an attempt to get the flasher wrasse used to it so I could catch him better. The Crinoid decided to make that fish net its home, so now I can't remove the net. The squat lobster is less shy now and is always visible on the center of the Crinoid. I'm noticing that the squat lobster doesn't steal small food particles from the Crinoid, only larger pieces (like Mysis) that fall and get stuck in its arms.

Lastly, one of my female Brotulids has slowly been getting fatter and fatter, till recently, her stomach turned dark and swollen. She definitely looked like the pregnant Brotulids I've seen before. The strange thing is that I don't have a male of the same species in the tank with her. She hasn't been around a male in almost a year. I'm not sure if they can store sperm the way that freshwater livebearers can, or if she possibly mated with the yellow Brotulid who is from a different genus and has radically different genitalia. Last week, I noticed that the front of her belly was flat, and a long black shape was still visible near her vent. The next day, it too was gone, and she now looks exactly like her sister. These fish are so ridiculously cryptic, I can only view the adults with a small flashlight I keep near the tank. Most people who buy Brotulids for their aquariums never see them again, or see them years later when they tear down their tanks. I can't help but wonder if I now have a couple baby Brotulids...

McCullochi Clownfish Breeding Update

We've posted some new photos on Liveaquaria of our McCulloch's Clownfish eggs and larvae. Click here to view photos of the eggs' progression, the larvae, and the rearing set-up. I took some of these photos, but the best one is the "Day 2" larvae photo that Kevin took.

I've never seen clownfish babies before, and my first reaction was how big they are! I know that doesn't sound right, but really, they aren't that small. They were just as big as some other freshwater egg-laying species' fry I've seen. They swim a lot faster than I would've expected, making it even harder to get a photo. The first to hatch are eating voraciously and growing exponentially. They've been segregated from their smaller brothers and sisters, who are catching up to them in size now.

Any we've lost have been donated to my microscope. It's clear to me that since day three, they are starting to develop a crude tail. You can tell from the photos that they are turning black already. Some have more black than others, and it seems that the larger ones are darker. Under the microscope, you can see neuron-shaped spots of black and some smaller, rounded yellow pigments.

This is such a wonderful and exciting learning experience. I'm grateful that even in these hard economic times, Dr. Foster and Dr. Smith have enthusiastically supported this expensive experiment. It is my hope that someday, the rare McCullochi clownfish will be just as numerous as "Nemo." The best news you'll hear all week? The parents are cleaning the glass again...

06/18 Update: Unfortunately, all the babies died a couple days ago. This isn't uncommon with a first spawn, so we're being optimistic. The second batch of eggs is much larger and due to hatch on Saturday. This time around, I hope we'll be more successful.

06/29 Update: Our second batch of eggs only produced five larvae. Maybe our pair is young and inexperienced at spawning. They spawned again on Friday night; this clutch is much larger, and the eggs look healthier and brighter. Hopefully we'll get a larger hatch this time.

07/02 Update: We still have one little fry swimming around in the nursery tank. He is past the larval stage now and doing great. The newest spawn is starting to look really mature; the eggs have eyes! These eggs look great.

07/08 Update: We've got about thirty hatchlings with fat, healthy bellies and one lone ranger from the last clutch who has finally metamorphosed into his sub-adult form. He is about a centimeter long and is obviously a mini-adult. He's jet black with two white stripes and yellow fins. His eyes look absolutely enormous compared to the rest of him. He's our little mascot; I have named him Pierre. Here's a link to some photos and a video of him chowing down on some baby brine shrimp.

Oh, and by the way, they spawned again tonight. This clutch is even BIGGER than the last one!

07/14/09 The newest eggs should be hatching any minute now...

08/22/09 We now have four large babies that have gone through metamorphosis, and one getting ready to. They look completely different from the adults. The babies have three stripes instead of one, and yellow markings on their fins. Some of them are mis-barred, but you won't be able to tell when they are adults, they lose their stripes. We have about a hundred (I don't know, I was an English major) swimming around in the fry rearing tank. The parents spawned again last night, right on time. You could set your watch to them.

08/30/09 Kevin says he successfully collected the entire batch this time using his larvae collector. I can't wait to see all the babies tomorrow, I bet there's a lot! He said all of them hatched at the same time this time. That's been a major problem for us in the past. Before today, a few would hatch out before the majority of them, and would be stronger and outcompete their smaller siblings.

Interview with Dan Underwood of SeahorseSource.com

I've been a member of the seahorse community for a few years now, and it's been blatantly obvious which seahorse retailer stands out among all the others. No matter which seahorse forum you visit, you'll notice that the vast majority of posters recommend buying from SeahorseSource.com.

Unlike many Asia-based seahorse breeders that mass produce seahorses and offer no customer service, the Underwoods are active in the seahorse and aquarium community. Dan and his wife, Abby, are active posters on Seahorse.org, answering questions and giving expert advice to seahorse keepers, customers or not. I also had the pleasure of meeting Dan and his daughters at IMAC last year.

As you can imagine, Dan U. is a very busy guy, but he graciously accepted when I asked him to do an interview for Aquarium Adventures.


FM: First of all, why seahorses? What (or who) was your inspiration?

DU: A few years ago, I was involved in a startup business in New England. I knew the company was to be sold soon and was looking for another venture to be involved in. While on a business trip, I stayed with my sister who was working with seahorses and she told me about seahorses and that there were only a handful of successful breeders worldwide and how difficult they were.
After several conversations with my sister, my wife and I decided that we wanted to be involved. A few months later the company sold, we sold our house and sailed to Florida. We spent a couple of years studying, keeping and observing seahorses. After figuring out how to successfully rear them, we started Seahorse Source.


FM: How many different species do you breed?

DU:Currently 6 species. H. erectus, H. zosterae, H. barbouri, H. fuscus, H. kuda & H. reidi.


FM: That sounds like a lot, is your whole family involved in caring for the seahorses?

DU: Yes. Originally it was a 2 person partnership with my wife & myself. Now both of our daughters are involved.


FM: Do you have any other pets or animals at home?

DU: Yes. 3 dogs and a rabbit.


FM: When you're not taking care of seahorses, do you have any other hobbies?

DU: Yes. Boating. We love sailing, but due to time restraints with the seahorses, that is temporarily on hold. We sold our sailboat and bought a power boat for exploring the estuaries and studying the seahorses and their natural habitats. We do sneak in a little play and chill time on the water as well.


FM: I noticed that you sometimes sell seahorses from other breeders. What do you do to ensure their health and quality?

DU: We would prefer to breed all of our horses that we sell. Space and time constraints prevent us from doing so. Also, sometimes it is more profitable for us to resell than to breed. First we take a look at the breeder and learn everything we can about them. What is their track record, what do others think about them (both professionals within the industry and their customers), what we learn from a personal interview and how well they will stand behind their product. Next
we order a sampling of their specimens. After we have observed a sampling and are satisfied, we do a trial order. From there it is based on consistency with their livestock. As long as we feel we would be personally happy with their livestock, we are willing to continue with them. We have had breeders that we have dropped due to deterioration in quality.


FM: What temperature would you recommend for most tropical seahorse species in your customers' home aquariums?

DU: 72 to 74 degrees F. This is not always possible though. Especially during the peaks of summer and winter. We consider 77 to 78 degrees the high for summer and 68 to 69 degrees the low for winter. Generally we have found that customers that maintain temperatures in the mid to low 70's have a much higher success rate in keeping seahorses long term.


FM: I've never heard of a customer giving you negative feedback. What's your customer service secret?

DU: I have a very strong sales and customer service background. I did very well in this area in previous businesses. It is more or less a carry over in philosophy. I believe if you understand what your customer wants and deliver or exceed upon those expectations, you will have a satisfied customer. We are not perfect though. It is when you make an error or fail to deliver that your true customer service shows. We admit when we have goofed or were wrong, and fix it. We are one of the few companies that if we fail to deliver what we promised, will replace our products at no charge, including shipping, instead of issuing a credit towards the next order.


FM: What do you think makes Seahorsesource.com's pet seahorses higher quality than other live seahorses on the market?

DU: First, because we are a small Mom & Pop Operation with very high standards. Our focus is on quality. Being small and hands on we have direct control over this. Secondly, unlike many of the seahorses sold today, all of our seahorses are true Captive Bred specimens from closely monitored recirculating systems.


FM: Other retailers sell their "colored" seahorses for a higher price. Why do you choose not to sort yours by color?

DU: Quite simply, because it is impossible to stand behind the product when selling by color. Seahorses can and do change colors. It is part of their defense mechanism to blend into the environment. We have no control on the décor of the customer's tank which will be the largest determining factor in their color. Selling seahorses by color is like offering green chameleons at a higher price than say brown chameleons.


FM: What do you think the future holds for the live seahorse industry?

DU: Seahorse husbandry is still very much in its infancy. There is still a ton to be learned. Presently the biggest challenge for breeders is how to become more consistent in production and how to be profitable. The profitability end is an issue for USA breeders who have to compete against foreign breeders with low over head, very little regulatory control in aquaculture and inconsistencies in defining how seahorses are bred.

FM: Do you think seahorses will continue to be popular aquarium pets ten years from now?

DU: Yes! Maybe, even more so, than now.

McCullochi Clownfish Spawn in Rhinelander, WI

It's an exciting time for us Rhinelander, WI residents. Love is in the air, and Liveaquaria's super rare in-house McCullochi clownfish (Amphiprion mccullochi) pair has spawned! Amazingly, Kevin Kohen, Liveaquaria's director, was there right when it was happening and caught it on film. Check out Liveaquaria's Exclusive McCulloch's Clownfish spawning video. There's a hilarious clip near the end of a snail that got too close to the egg patch. Watch as the McCulloch's pair viciously attacks it in an attempt to move it away from their precious eggs.

The eggs were laid on Sunday, and we expect them to hatch this Monday after an eight day gestation period. I feel very lucky to have a front-row seat for this experience. I'll keep you posted when I can, so look for more updates from me in the near future.

McCulloch's Clownfish are endemic to Lord Howe island off the coast of Australia, which is a national park. One ambitious Aussie named Ryan was granted permission to collect ten pairs for breeding purposes. Thanks to him, McCulloch's Clownfish became available in the aquarium trade for the first time in nearly 30 years, since Lord Howe island became a marine reserve in 1982. Most of the F1 McCulloch's Clownfish were sold in Japan for around $5,000 U.S. each! Because of Liveaquaria's endeavors, these amazing creatures are now available to hobbyists in the Unites States. You can read Ryan's whole McCulloch's clownfish story here, or an easier to follow version here.

UPDATES HERE

Curious Wormfish

I am very excited about my new pet Curious Wormfish. This fish has been on my fish wish list for many years, but I haven't been able to locate one until last Friday. I was very pleased that my fish has blue on it; some curious wormfish are more yellow and lack the blue stripe. Mine must be the true Gunnelichthys curiosus. I took more than two hours to acclimate him using the drip method. I take longer than normal because my tank's temperature is so low, and this is a delicate fish. Updates on this fish Here.

I took a top-view photo of him in the bucket, then transferred him to a specimen container to get a good closeup. In all my life, I've never seen a fish jump so much. Poor thing is too skittish to even photograph with the flash on. So I gently put him into my aquarium. Lucky for me, he decided to swim around for a few seconds before promptly burying himself in the sand, which is where he will probably spend most of my waking hours. I was able to get a couple half-decent pictures of him. You can sort of tell how he swims from the photos, undulating his whole body in an S-shape.

Curious wormfish are very shy and cryptic, but so is everything else in my aquarium. They have a poor survival record in captivity, mostly due to improper housing. These fish must be kept in an aquarium with a tight fitting lid. I'm using fine pond mesh to cover mine. They are so thin, they can fit through even the tiniest spaces.

According to wetwebmedia's FAQ, These fish are even more shy than seahorses, and shouldn't be kept with swimming fish, including wrasses. Almost any fish will easily outcompete them for food and harass them. They are surprisingly thin, and may be easily swallowed by all but the smallest, most peaceful fish. I put mine into my seahorse/Brotulid aquarium where he can be cryptic in peace.

When I came home from work today, he was swimming out in the open. I immediately thawed a cube of Hikari Mysis shrimp and put it in the tank. He ate with gusto! I tried to get a couple pictures of him, but he jumps every time the flash goes off. (I don't know how anyone could possibly keep one of these in an uncovered aquarium. The poor thing would only last 2 minutes.) And my glass has billions of Spirorbids on it from the phytoplankton feedings. I'll let him settle in more before subjecting him to the camera again. For now, check out this gorgeous photo by Keoki Stender. This is by far the best photo I've ever seen of a Curious wormfish.



December Update: my Curious Wormfish moved himself to my sump with the Brotulids a few months ago. I left him there because he seemed more comfortable in the dark with other lazy fish. He hides with them in their PVC tubes and comes out when he smells food. He is still an extremely skittish, shy fish. He seems to get along wonderfully with the Brotulids. There are several PVC pipes in the sump, but they all share one. Guess they like company.

Devonian Fossil Cluster

I found this neat fossil at an art/fossil store in Minocqua, WI. They had a small inventory of fossils, mostly whole Trilobites, Ammonites, and some crystals. They had this fossil labeled as a Devonian fossil cluster, 350 - 416 million years old. I immediately assumed it was of marine origins, but now that I have it home, it occurs to me that it could be terrestrial. Any fossil afficianados out there want to hazard a guess at what these little...things are?

Click on the photos to see the huge detail version.