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AMAZONAS Video: 17-Gallon Wonder Planted Tank
A short video of an amazing 17-gallon planted tank (ADA 60P), edited with full Hollywood effects....
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Male Seeking Mate: Must Want Kids - Quest to save Ptychochromis insolitus
Calling all cichlid aquarists - ZSL London Zoo launches worldwide appeal to find and save a critically endangered fish....
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Friday Photospread - Blue Angelfish Babies
A Friday Photospread with tips for recreating similar images....
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Can unusual suspects reform the aquarium livestock trade?
Opinion on needed changes in the aquarium livestock industry and who the gamechangers might be....
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CORAL Featured Video: Shane Canellis' SPS Reef
Here's a very nice SPS reef with thriving corals in a 4x2x2 footprint. (Approximately 120 gallons or 450 L, 120 x 60 x 60 cm.)...
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"Fishzilla" Loose in Central Park Lake
Peaceful Harlem Meer has long been a place to cast a fly or a worm-baited hook in hopes of catching something in the panfish category—yellow perch, small bass, and crappies—but several fishermen have been reporting surprise or downright terror when they have latched into toothy gamefish with pugnacious at...
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Earth Day Post: Corals As the First Casualty in Climate Change
Such a doomsday perspective ignores the resilience of coral reefs, our current incomplete understanding of their stress dynamics, and the ability of many of these systems to adapt to changing conditions....
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Wild Blue Wilderness Found
The findings are prompting leading international marine scientists to call for the protection of more, large marine wilderness areas in a bid to shield the world’s dwindling stocks of fish from destruction....
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AMAZONAS Featured Video: Riparium Tank Basics
Inspiring look at a very appealing new type of planted aquarium, with emergent and shoreline plants creatively mounted to the back wall of the tank. ...
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Perfect Storm Looms for Brazil's Diversity of Fishes
Biologists fear a new wave of invasive fish species will be headed for Brazilian waters if legislation in that country's Congress is passed....
News & Notes
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PIJAC Launches New Advocacy Website
The Pet Industry Joint Advisory Council (PIJAC) is pleased to announce the launch of their new, advocacy-based website. The interactive website reflects the organization’s mission to provide members and concerned pet owners with a voice in legislative issues effecting pets and pet ownership.
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Male Seeking Mate: Must Want Kids - Quest to save Ptychochromis insolitus
Calling all cichlid aquarists – ZSL London Zoo launches worldwide appeal to find and save a critically endangered fish.
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"Fishzilla" Loose in Central Park Lake
Peaceful Harlem Meer has long been a place to cast a fly or a worm-baited hook in hopes of catching something in the panfish category—yellow perch, small bass, and crappies—but several fishermen have been reporting surprise or downright terror when they have latched into toothy gamefish with pugnacious attitudes and mouthsfull of razor-sharp teeth.
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Perfect Storm Looms for Brazil's Diversity of Fishes
Biologists fear a new wave of invasive fish species will be headed for Brazilian waters if legislation in that country’s Congress is passed.
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Julian Sprung's NOAA / ESA Commentary
One more day to comment on ESA listing of 66 coral species.
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Open Letter to CORAL Readers from MASNA
THE PROPOSED ACTION IS NOT BASED ON SUFFICIENT DATA
Marine
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Marine Breeder's Workshop 2013
You’ve seen the Black MBI Shirts at many events…this is what it’s all about.
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A Snail's Babysitter
Dr. Shimek seeks to learn the secrets of whelks placing their eggs in the vicinity of anemones in the Northeast Pacific.
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Can unusual suspects reform the aquarium livestock trade?
Opinion on needed changes in the aquarium livestock industry and who the gamechangers might be.
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CORAL May/June 2013 Digital Edition
Digital Edition of CORAL Magazine for May/June 2013 is live and available for reading online.
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CORAL Featured Video: Shane Canellis' SPS Reef
Here’s a very nice SPS reef with thriving corals in a 4x2x2 footprint. (Approximately 120 gallons or 450 L, 120 x 60 x 60 cm.)
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Earth Day Post: Corals As the First Casualty in Climate Change
Such a doomsday perspective ignores the resilience of coral reefs, our current incomplete understanding of their stress dynamics, and the ability of many of these systems to adapt to changing conditions.
Freshwater
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AMAZONAS Video: 17-Gallon Wonder Planted Tank
A short video of an amazing 17-gallon planted tank (ADA 60P), edited with full Hollywood effects.
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Male Seeking Mate: Must Want Kids - Quest to save Ptychochromis insolitus
Calling all cichlid aquarists – ZSL London Zoo launches worldwide appeal to find and save a critically endangered fish.
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Friday Photospread - Blue Angelfish Babies
A Friday Photospread with tips for recreating similar images.
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AMAZONAS Video: Backyard Pond Inspirations
Here’s a portfolio of appealing garden water features and their ecstatic owners. Mildly promotional, but inspiring for anyone bitten by the pond bug as spring weather unfolds.
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"Fishzilla" Loose in Central Park Lake
Peaceful Harlem Meer has long been a place to cast a fly or a worm-baited hook in hopes of catching something in the panfish category—yellow perch, small bass, and crappies—but several fishermen have been reporting surprise or downright terror when they have latched into toothy gamefish with pugnacious attitudes and mouthsfull of razor-sharp teeth.
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Friday Photospread - Betta ocellata, the Bodacious Eyespot Betta
Getting a second chance with the bodacious mouthbrooding Betta ocellata.
New Products
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REEF LIFE Calendar in Time for Holidays
See the whole year in a brilliant slideshow of images. REEF LIFE 2013— The perfect gift for all reef and marine aquarists on your gift list and you get FREE SHIPPING.
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Fish Tank Kings Gets New Season with National Geographic
Nat Geo WILD Channel today announced that the network is renewing its popular series Fish Tank Kings for a second season.
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Revolutionary New Red Algal Feed
In the marine environment, D. salina appears green, however, in conditions of high salinity and light intensity, the microalgae turns red due to the production of protective carotenoids in the cells. The D. salina is harvested without any harmful solvents or chemicals and the carotenoids (the highly-prized anti-oxidant pigments responsible for the red color) are then extracted for use in pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, nutritional supplements, aquaculture feeds and food coloring.
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ERI: Supplier to Animal Planet Hit Show
Exotic Reef Imports, One of the World’s Largest Distributors of Live Marine Animals, Is Now Appearing on Tanked, Animal…
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New EcoSMART Live Platform
With the introduction of EcoSMART Live, lighting control has moved to the cloud. Thanks to the controller’s web interface (compatible with Mac, Windows, iOS, Android and more), Radion owners can enjoy EcoSMART’s cutting-edge controls and user-friendly design on any device with an internet connection.
Josh Groves says:
Great read and good points! I'm glad to be apart of the new generation of Marine collectors since we can learn from past mistakes and move on in a more positive direction. Also Eric Cohen made some great points! always a pleasure dealing with S.D.C.So my neighbors think I'm a drug dealer. says:
[...] because of finding Dory, will be the variations we'll get from the run on trying to breed them. CORAL Magazine's Captive Bred Marine Fish Species List for 2013 Reply With [...]Eric Cohen - Sea Dwelling Creatures says:
Of course Public Aquariums can always be excellent ambassadors for the industry, and rightfully so. Larger livestock distributors like us, and a few others, have gone to great lengths to raise the handling techniques and improve the quality of marine species in general. There is really no comparison to how we as wholesalers handle livestock compared to a transhipper, or old-style wholesale business's. Fish are medicated upon arrival, slowly acclimated using automated systems, fed vigorously before shipping, and heavily screened before selected for a retail location. Not all companies go through the great lengths as we do, but I believe the bar has been raised, and quality is a huge goal most companies must achieve in order to compete for the retailers business. There are many choices for the retailers out there, and non of them have to settle for less than excellent quality. LAX wholesalers are the mainstream of the industry, and anyone wanting to look at the industry just has to come down and see for themselves how far the industry has come in a relatively short period. Improvements are ongoing, but let's not forget to realize the strides the industry has made. Educating the hobbyist and teaching them best practices is very important. Retailers keeping up with new filtration technology and food resources that greatly improve the success rates of marine organisms is an ongoing process. The coral trade has completely evolved into a fragging extravaganza and has never been so exciting. There's a coral farmer in every corner of the country, and a frag swapmeet being held nearly every month. Look at the conferences like MACNA, MAX, Reefapalooza, Coral Con etc.....and you will see a vibrant hobby, and amazing coral frags being successfully propagated to the 9's. At last years MACNA conference in Dallas, Texas, even Mr. Cousteau was so impressed with all the successful farmers, he admitted to being pleasantly surprised. Perception definitely needs to catch up to reality...on so many levels.Hobby/trade reform? - Dendroboard says:
[...] Hobby/trade reform? This is a link to a recently posted opinion piece regarding issues involved in the marine aquarium trade, but some parallels can also be drawn to the amphibian/Dendrobatid hobby and trade as well. Worth reading...and please don't comment unless you've taken the time to read the piece in its entirety. Can unusual suspects reform the aquarium livestock trade? [...]Ted Judy says:
A part of the problem is the contraction of livestock supply chain pathways into the U.S. aquarium hobby (and public aquariums). This is a problem for the freshwater side of the industry as well. 20 years ago, the number of livestock wholesalers in the U.S.A. was far greater than it is today. The cost of logistics has made it all but impossible for small distributors to exist. Today, almost all of the aquarium fish distributed in the U.S.A. are bottle-necked through a few large companies that have become very efficient at moving fish, but not very good at actually caring for them. The cost of transportation requires that large numbers of animals be moved at the same time so that the cost of shipping is reduced per fish. This change heralded the age of transshipping (transshippers are still import most of the fish entering the USA market). A company acts as a broker in order of import huge numbers of fish to one place, and then turn them around (literally overnight) and ship them to retailers around the country. How is this different that the old system and why is it worse? The amount of time a fish stays in transport between its source and its final destination is directly associated with the survival of the fish within the first few days of its arrival in a store. The greater the time in transit, the greater the stress and the greater the loss. Large transship companies have to use a least common denominator approach to rebagging fish. The exporters are actually very good at packaging fish the in water parameters that are best suited to them, but a transshipper generally uses water that is available to them. When the parameters between transshipper water and exporter water are very different, there is additional stress placed on the fish. Transshippers do not tank fish. Traditional wholesalers do. Unfortunately, there are not many 'traditional' wholesalers left. Most are not much better than transshippers, and will regularly move fish out the day (or even less than a day) after they arrive in their facility. No chance to over come stressful international transport. No quarantine. No real observation to see if the fish are healthy. This has resulted in a lot of stress-related disease issues, and the industry's answer to that is to basically ship fish in a pharmaceutical soup. These drugs prevent infection, but they also suppress immune response. So we have created a situation where fish are leaving the export country on a very stressful journey that only really ends when the fish arrive at the retailer (or the home aquarium if the retailer is not doing due diligence with quarantine and acclimation). Once upon a time there were small wholesalers all over the country. They serviced stores in a relatively small geographic area, were familiar with the water parameters in that area and were experienced in how to acclimate the fish to those conditions. Fish were routinely given an opportunity to rest between import and wholesale distribution, and some wholesalers actually quarantined fish for at least a few days before listing them for sale. These small wholesalers paid attention to the fish they sold and provided good service the stores that bought from them. The stores, in turn, were able to provide a better quality fish to their customers. The 'bigger is better' (or 'Walmart') distribution model is not sustainable in the aquarium industry. The really sad part is that there are still enough small wholesalers in the USA to make a difference, but corporate-managed retail stores only care about one factor when buying fish... the price. Small wholesalers are generally more expensive (back to that cost of logistics issue) than the huge national wholesalers or transshippers. And even though the fish from the small wholesalers are a better quality and have a better survival rate, it is the last number on the invoice that wins out most of the time. Why? Because the customer demands rock bottom prices. So there we have it. Everything that we want to do for the sake of sustainability will fail if the result of the efforts is an increase in the retail cost of the fish. Why are cyanide-poisoned fish still imported into the U.S.A.? We know where they come from. We have the choice to not buy them. We still do because a $29.99 cyanide angel from Indonesia will sell better than a $39.99 angel that comes from a source that does not use cyanide. The biggest challenge we face for sustainability on wild-collected fish is cheap hobbyists. By only buying the cheapest fish possible they enable the giant transshippers and massive fish exporters that use volume to overcome the cost of logistics. Change that part of the equation and we have a chance to halt the unethical practices and see better quality fish that will survive.Steve Lowes says:
Thought provoking article Ret. I do like the parallel to the Sustainable Seafood initiatives - of course not as many people keep aquariums as eat seafood but the concept is still valid. I do think public aquariums in general have an opportunity to educate more than they typically do. And in some respects I think public aquaria have learned from the hobbyist community for some of latest advances - particularly in reef aquarium scene. As such I wonder if more can be done collaboratively between public aquaria and local aquarium societies to aid in design and development of not just the aquarium displays themselves but also the public messaging that can go hand in hand. Basically, take a proactive lead on the positive concepts of responsible aquarium keeping through the educational value. My own install/maintenance company is working with a local museum (Museum of the Earth - Ithaca, NY) in exactly this mode with two new reef aquarium exhibits. As much effort is going into the post instal messaging and public outreach programs as the displays themselves. I've learned through this that as experienced hobbyists we have a vast amount of information (biology, chemistry, physics, environmental sciences and beyond - even to artistic concepts) that can can be used as a promotion for aquarium keeping done in a responsible and sustainable way. Of course this requires that if you are claiming low-environmental impact and sustainable practices that you can defend the messaging. However, I think we are able to do this now with appropriate use of modern reef aquarium technology (LED lighting, low power draw pumping, efficient design etc) and selected livestock (captive bred, captive raised, sustainably collected, maricultured etc). The true potential is to do so with messaging that takes this to the public - rather than waiting for the criticism and being defensive. Tie this in with educational programs about the whole biotope display (rather than a "fish tank") and we hope to build public support from a much wider audience than is the norm. I think we realize that not everyone looking at a public aquarium is interested in say what a protein skimmer is BUT a reef aquarium is a tremendous vehicle for engaging on topics of physical and environmental sciences - therein lies an intrinsic value of such displays. If all public aquaria did this then I think the influence on the trade that your article describes could be a very real outcome. An outcome many can benefit from, the public aquaria, the hobbyist and maybe more so than anyone, the public themselves.