Showing posts with label Marine Fish. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Marine Fish. Show all posts

2017-09-06

FLAME ANGELFISH (Centropyge Loriculus) Care

Among the most spectacularly colored dwarf angelfish, the flame angelfish has become the most recognizable and the most popular member of the genus centropyge. Almost everyone in the marine aquarium hobby has at one time either owned a flame angel or at least considered getting one. A true testament to the beauty this angel possesses.

Flame angel, Centropyge loricula
Flame angel, Centropyge loricula (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The genus centropyge contains 33 species that have been found thus far, making it the largest genus within the marine angelfish complex (Pomacanthidae). Our fish of interest goes by the scientific name Centropyge Loriculus. Its common name is the flame angelfish, so named because it is colored a bright red-orange with vertical black lines down its body. The tips of its anal and dorsal fins are accentuated with neon blue patches.
The flame angel is a little on the high side in terms of price so expect to pay between $ 40 and $ 50 US dollars for a specimen. While this may seem like a lot for an ornamental fish, it pales in comparison with rarer angelfish such as the golden angelfish. Considering the effect it has on most onlookers I’d say the price is a steal.

While commonly thought to hail from Hawaii, they are actually collected around the Marshall and Christmas Islands instead. True Hawaiian flame angelfish are very rare and are said to have a very specific coloration. They are uniformly red without any orange throughout their bodies and their black vertical lines are always thin.

As with all members of the genus centropyge this angelfish can be aggressive towards other tank mates. They are particularly hostile towards members of the same species. Putting two flame angelfish together in a small tank is generally a bad idea. The same goes for housing two members of the same genus together. Such an endeavor should only be attempted if the marine aquarium in question is large enough, 75 gallons or larger.

The flame angelfish should be kept in an aquarium no less than 50 gallons. Ideally, you’d want something like a 75 gallon or larger aquarium for them. The added space keeps issues stemming from territory to a minimum. This is assuming the tank isn’t chock full of fish in the first place. They require caves and holes throughout the rock scape so your live rock arrangement should reflect this.

Like all members of the genus centropyge, the flame angelfish has been known to nip on corals in a reef aquarium. There is no telling when such behavior will happen. I’ve heard stories of flame angels that have never bothered corals for years only to begin sampling them overnight. This is how it is with all dwarf angelfish. No exceptions. Unfortunately, once they start nipping they usually don’t stop.

Flame angelfish are grazers in the wild. They constantly pick at the substrate and rocks that surround their territory. Their food items mainly consist of tiny crustaceans and algae.


Ensure they are given a varied diet within a marine aquarium. Provide a good mix of algae based foods along with meaty foods. Nori, spirulina, frozen mysis shrimp and other meaty or algae gel cubes should be part of their everyday diet. A good dry food for flame angels is new life spectrum, formula one and formula two pellets. A great food that contains everything they find in the wild is the pygmy angel formula gel cubes by ocean nutrition. These only come in frozen form i believe.

In the wild, flame angelfish form harems, a single male will dominate up to 7 females. Each female maintains a separate territory within the male's territory. Every evening the male approaches each female in his harem until he chooses to mate with one of them. He then assumes courting behavior. Fins are flared, he darts around the female in circles and assumes mating colors.

Courting ensures anywhere from 5 to 15 minutes until they finally spawn. The male nudges the female up into the water column until they are perfectly positioned to release eggs and sperm at the same time. The actual mating process takes no longer than half a second. Having mated, they disappear into the rocks.

While there have been many cases of flame angel pairs spawning in the home aquaria, there have been no cases of their larvae being raised to adulthood. Dwarf angelfish have only been successfully raised on a commercial level by companies with a lot of money backing them. And even then, success came not more than 7 years ago.

The biggest breakthrough in angelfish breeding happened in Hawaii around 2002. It was found that the key ingredient to raising dwarf angelfish larvae was in finding an appropriate food for them. The food item had to fulfill 3 criteria. It had to be small enough for the larvae to eat, it had to be nutritious enough for them and it had to move in a way that elicited a natural feeding response from the larvae.

Frank Baensch of Reef Culture Technologies along with three others collaborated to find this food, and they were successful. What followed was the captive breeding of not just the flame angelfish but of rarer species such as the bandit angelfish, Colin's angelfish, and the Japanese pygmy angelfish. All very expensive fishes in the hobby. The breakthrough food is reputed to be an undisclosed copepod nauplii.

Such success has not been seen by hobbyists or even small scale breeders of marine fish. Baby brine shrimp and rotifers are the mainstays of home breeding but both of them do not seem to elicit a feeding response from dwarf angelfish larvae. As a result of the larvae usually, starve to death. So the key is finding an easily bred food that would work on this species. Until that time comes we are left with buying wild caught flame angelfish and even the occasional captive bred ones.




2017-08-28

ROYAL GRAMMA - Gramma loreto

Royal Gramma - Photo: Wikimedia

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2017-08-01

Tips on ANTHIAS Care

Anthias are members of the family Serranidae. Several different genera comprise this family including; Pseudanthias, Nemanthias, and Serranocirrhiti. All are collectively referred to as anthias. The anthias most familiar to saltwater aquarium owners belong to the genus Pseudanthia. There are several species within this genius. This article is meant to be a generalized description of the genus.

Anthias anthias - Photo: Wikimedia
Anthias inhabit all the topical oceans and seas around the world. These are considered the quintessential reef fish and often account for the majority of the fish population swarming around tropical reefs.

Anthias are typically among the smaller more docile fishes made available by the saltwater aquarium industry. These are extremely popular ornamental fish because of their intense and varied coloring. Common color variations found among Anthias include pink, purple, orange and yellow. They will live an average of five years but have been known to live as long as eight.

Anthias are generally considered hardy fish in their natural habitat but they have been known to have problems adapting to a life of captivity. They are quite often traumatized to the point of not bothering to eat. They have frequently been known to starve themselves to death. It is strongly recommended that you ask your fish store to watch them eat before purchasing them. If they are feeding they will be more apt to acclimate to your aquarium. Live food will often aid in the acclimation process.

These are a shoaling fish. In nature they congregate by the thousands very often schooling in larger populations. There are innate subdivisions within these schools typically referred to as harems. Harems have a hierarchical order. This hierarchy is comprised of one dominate and up to two subdominant males. Subdominant males are generally smaller and less colorful. And what is a harem without a female population? There are often as many as twelve females populating the harem all of which have their own hierarchy.

Anthais are considered good additions to a community tank. They are "reef safe" and are accustomed to living with a variety of other species. They range from 1.5 to 5 inches depending on their particular species. The size of a specific species should be inquired about to select suitable tank mates. You want to raise them with other mild mannered species. Despite their inherent nature to live in communities a single Anthais can be added to your tank. However several will allow you to watch them act as nature intended. A new arrival will often adapt to unfamiliar surroundings if you already have an established anthais community in your aquarium. Unless you have a very large tank you will want to have a single male to avoid territorial issues. However a few may establish a social order. A harem of females is appropriate when raising theses fish in a community. Anthais prefer subdued lighting. They are hiders by nature and should be provided with plenty of plants, rock work or hollow aquarium décor.

Anthias are dither fish. They communicate with each other. They will warn each other if there is danger approaching and then issue an all is clear signal once the potential threat has passed.
Anthias are protogynous hermaphrodites. All species are born as females. If the dominant male of the harem perishes this event will often trigger a hormonal response in the largest female transforming her into a male. This can lead to aggressive behavior between the two. The dominant male views the largest female as his potential replacement, while the largest female's body is surging with testosterone because of her rank in the harem's social structure.



Anthias are Zooplankton feeders. Zooplankton are microscopic organisms that float in the oceans and seas of the world. They typically float in columns. These columns are inhabited by crustacean larva, and extremely smaFll crustaceans like daphnia, and radiolarians.

Zooplankton can be purchased commercially. Anthias can also be fed vitamin enriched brine shrimp, other varieties of tiny crustaceans as well as frozen protein enriched food for marine fish. Anthias are active fish with healthy appetites and should be fed at least three times a day.



2017-01-16

Tips on HUMBUG DAMSELFISH Care

The humbug damselfish (Dascyllus aruanus) are members of the family Pomacentridae. They inhabit the Indian Ocean, the Great Barrier Reef, and the shallow waters of the Micronesian sub-regions in the western Pacific Ocean.

English: Alan Slater Category:Pomacentrid images
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

This fish has a narrow rounded body. Its distinguishing characteristics are a white body with black vertical bars. These markings are evenly spaced on the fish's body, one in the front, one in the rear and a third mid-body. The humbug is commonly marketed by the aquarium industry under the names three stripe damselfish, humbug dascyllus, or black and white damselfish.

All damselfish have a hardy constitution and a semi-aggressive temperament. They are an excellent choice for the inexperienced aquarist. This damsel's reasonable price tag and resilience to fluctuating environmental parameters make it the perfect guinea pig for testing survivability in newly established saltwater bio-systems.

In their natural environment the humbug exists in small shoals. The dominant male will often exhibit territorial behavior toward the more submissive members of the group. In an aquarium it is recommended that humbugs be kept either as a solitary fish or a community of no less than four. Having only two together in an aquarium will result in serious aggression toward the subdominant fish. A group will substantially lessen the possibility of a particular fish being singled out as an intended target for bullying.

Damselfish are instinctively territorial. You do not want to make a group of them the first inhabitants of an aquarium. This will allow the shoal to develop the perception that the news surroundings are their turf. They will be intolerant of new additions to your tank. When keeping more than a single humbug, it is advisable to add them to a pre-established population. This will minimize the possibility of territorial disputes. Lots of hiding place will also prove beneficial.

Damselfish tend to become more aggressive as they age. It is not uncommon for a shoal of juveniles to disband in adulthood. This is a small species. They reach a maximum adult length of 4 inches. Their innate aggressive behavior makes up for their lack of stature. They will not back down to a fish twice their size. Keep their temperament in mind when selecting their potential tank mates. They actually make very good community fish as long as they are with equally aggressive species of their own size or larger.



Despite their aggressive tendencies, humbugs are well suited for a marine reef setup. In their natural environment they make their homes amid the coral formation prevalent in tropical reefs. They will feel right at home in an aquarium with plenty of coral growing in it. It is unlikely that a humbug will pick on you ornamental crustaceans.

This is an omnivorous species. In the wild algae plays an important role in their dietary intake. They are not picky eaters in captivity. They will readily eat flake food and pellets. Supplementing their diet with vitamin enriched brine shrimp and dried algae sheets will help to maintain their natural vigor.
There are no distinguishing features between the males and females of this species. However, like all damselfish they are hermaphroditic. Their ability to change gender will insure that both sexes are always present in a population. This fish has been known to breed in captivity.

    By Stephen J Broy
    Technological advancements in the aquarium industry continually redefine the concept of "home aquarium ownership." Just twenty years ago not even the biggest public aquarium was capable of keeping jellyfish alive in captivity. Now they make desktop Jellyfish Fish Tank Aquariums. And why would you want a jellyfish tank? Perhaps you should check out what the translucent bodies of Pet Moon Jellyfish look like under LED lighting. Pet Jellyfish give a whole new meaning to the term exotic pets.

    Article Source: EzineArticles


2016-12-31

ANTHIAS Fish

Anthias fish are a grouping of small marine aquarium fish which are located in roughly all tropical oceans. They are typically some of the brightest colored marine fishes in the ocean and are especially admired additions to the saltwater tank. They come from the family Serranidae that have mostly basslets as well as groupers. In the basslet family, they are classified in a sub-family named Anthiinae.

The sea goldie is an anthias. They are hermaph...
The sea goldie is an anthias. They are hermaphrodite, and swim in "harems"
(Photo credit: 
Wikipedia)

There have been seven discovered types among this subfamily so far. Anthias are mainly a shoaling species that can occasionally be found in the thousands throughout their usual habitats on the reefs.
They are customarily found living in areas of exceedingly high flow, something that ought to be replicated in the home aquarium. Roughly all anthias types feed on saltwater plankton during the day. This fact makes these stunning fish fairly tricky to house in the aquarium.

Some do exceptionally poorly in captivity and reject prepared foods until they finally starve to death. Multiple feedings of small foods need to be available every day. A few good selections are made up of cyclopeeze as well as grinded meaty seafoods. Feedings more than of three times each day is recommended. If such a feeding timetable cannot be offered, it would be best to shop outside of the anthias family of fish.

Anthias are located at depths anywhere from twenty feet all the way as deep as 200 feet. Deeper dwelling anthias regularly command a incredibly expensive price and are almost always sold immediately when available. Two recognizable and pricey deep dwelling varieties are Pseudoanthias Ventralis and Pseudoanthias Privitera.

Also included in the Anthias fish family are various distinctive oddities such as the highfin perchlet. Commonly confused as a hawkfish, they come from the genus PLectranthias. Like hawkfish, the highfin perchlet does not have a swim bladder.



All anthias fish are sequential hermaphrodites. Large shoals are regularly made up of a greater number of females than males. These fish have need of large fish aquariums to do well. If more than one specimen from a species is required, make certain there is only a single male present. Adding males in captivity will almost always bring about aggression.

On the whole, anthias fish are thought of as a fairly modestly priced saltwater fish outside of the uncommon deepwater types. Prices range anywhere from $20 to $40 per specimen based on species. exceedingly colorful, most lovers attempt to replicate their shoaling behavior in the aquarium. However, only those with the largest marine aquariums are successful.

    By Indran Manickam
    For further information on the Lyretail Anthias do drop by the authors website.
    All manner of popular marine aquarium fish are covered including the popular clownfish, dwarf angelfish, surgeonfish and many more.

    Article Source: EzineArticles