Photo Credit: James Duncan Davidson

It is with great sadness that we report today that Mike DeGruy, famed documentarian of almost all things aquatic, has been killed in a helicopter accident in Australia yesterday around 4 p.m. local time. While working on his latest project, a documentary down in Jervis Bay, the helicopter carrying DeGruy and a cameraman, along with the pilot, experienced issues shortly after take-off. The helicopter didn’t get far out of the hangar before it crashed back to the ground and burst into flames. Both Mike and the cameraman were reportedly killed in the accident. The cause of the tragedy is still under investigation, and the effects of this horrific accident will be felt for an eternity. Mike DeGruy was just 60 years old.

If you’ve ever watched a show on the popular nature-based channels, then you’ve likely seen Mike or witnessed some of his work. DeGruy was a very active filmmaker and even gave talks at events within the aquarium community. He was passionate about the ocean and both educated and entertained countless numbers of viewers with his amazing documentaries. I can recall watching his shows for hours and hours, even watching repeats many times in a row. Mike’s stuff was really that good and he will be forever missed.

I’ll be honest, we really are in just too much shock to really say anything else. We can only encourage you to watch his documentaries and rediscovery what made him so special to the scientific community. You can read more about Mike DeGruy on his website.

Photo at the top of the article taken from TED Blog.

Steve Robinson, the owner of the fish importing company known as Cortez Marine International, learned his legal fate earlier this week when he received his sentence for illegally collecting and importing 52 Clipperton angelfish (Holacanthus limbaughi) back in 2009. The fish, which aren’t illegal to import if all of the proper permits are attained, were captured and labeled as the much more commonly found blue passer angelfish (H. passer). The fish were then reportedly smuggled in through Mexico in an attempt to throw off customs officials, but obviously the agents eventually caught on.

Robinson plead guilty to the charges back in August, and for the crimes he is getting 45 days and a fine of $2000. This might seem harsh for fish smuggling, but Steve should be thanking his lucky stars that the sentence wasn’t enforced to its fullest extent, which could have been a maximum penalty of one year in prison, a fine of $100,000 and another year of supervised release. Robinson is scheduled to begin serving his sentence on January 30, and we still have doubts that he’ll ever see a day in prison given the overpopulation problems of the California penal system.

For the original story, please visit Kron 4 News. We also wanted to thank cephalopod guru Richard Ross for sharing this story on Facebook.

According to the Winnipeg Free Press, Jason Daeninck, owner of Salt Water Connection (or SWC), has apparently been convicted of illegally importing protected live rock, sea horses and giant clams into the city of Winnipeg from Indonesia. Daeninck was found guilty of 18 charges under the federal Wild Animal and Plant Protection and Regulation of International and Interprovincial Trade Act and faces fines up to $1 million fine and some jail time. The business owner was originally arrested in 2007 after Canadian customs agents got their hands on an illegal shipment of 20,000 pounds of live rock. After seizing the shipment, agents searched Daeninck’s home only to find that he had been involved in other illegal shipments that included sea horses and clams. The rulings were, of course, appealed. Daeninck argued that the rock was ordered to build a fence and that the wrong type of rock must have been shipped to him, also claiming that the mistake shouldn’t be his responsibility. However, the judge didn’t buy the argument and denied the appeal. This decision to deny the appeal was made possible by the discovery of emails and duplicate sets of invoices designed to deceive customs officials. It should be noted that possessing or importing of the live rock isn’t illegal, but that Daeninck didn’t possess the appropriate permits.

While I’m not arguing with the evidence and in no way supporting what Daeninck did, we are a little worried about some of the wording of the news reports. According to the story, “…officials believe they were brought into Canada and then sold on the black market.” Now, I’m not sure what they mean with that wording or if they are referring to the aquarium trade as the black market. There is a possibility that these items were being sold off the books, but I find it hard to believe Daeninck could move 20,000 pounds of live rock and keep it all off the business ledger. Perhaps the rocks, seahorses, and clams were being sold in a storefront. Or maybe he was pushing them on the local scene as a cash-only venture. Regardless, he didn’t follow the rules and now has to face the punishment.

What we are also unsure of is how this will affect the business operations of Salt Water Connection. As we all know, SWC makes some pretty swanky protein skimmers, among other things of course. We would hate to see these items disappear from the aquarium equipment scene, but again these things are all out of our control.

The marine ornamental aquaculture geniuses at ORA are at it again, with the latest offering of aquacultured clownfish species being the gorgeous ORA McCulloch’s Clownfish (Amphiprion mccullochi). But their success with this new species is quite a bit different than what they’re used to, as the clownfish presented several challenges. According to ORA, when the McCulloch’s clownfish first popped up in 2008, they scooped up several individuals in the hopes that they would pair off and eventually start breeding. Unfortunately though, the extreme aggressive nature of these fish put those hopes well out of reach, forcing ORA to explore other options. Despite their behavior, one individual was able to successfully breed these fish and raise their offspring to adulthood.

Kevin Kohen, of LiveAquaria fame, and his staff at their Wisconsin facilities successfully bred these fish in 2009, becoming the first to do so here in the US. After two years of breeding these fish, LiveAquaria eventually teamed up with ORA in a collaborative effort to raise the McCulloch’s clownfish and spread them throughout the aquarium hobby. But this again presented some issues. Transporting broodstock McCulloch’s clownfish to ORA’s Florida facility from Wisconsin was out of the question. The shipping stress alone could break the mating bonds between these fish, and we all know how stressful shipping livestock can be. So, LiveAquaria agreed to ship just the fertilized eggs. This strategy of course had its own set of issues, but after overcoming these immense logistic challenges, ORA had their first successful hatches of the McCulloch’s clownfish ealier this year.

As part of their agreement, ORA has already sent a batch of the gorgeous clownfish back to LiveAquaria, which will eventually find their way into the Diver’s Den section of their website. Additionally, the clownfish should be popping up on the ORA pricelist anytime now, so go bug your favorite fish store to order you some as soon as they become available.

To read about LiveAquaria’s success story with these clownfish, please read the article we wrote way back in June 2009 entitled “LiveAquaria Breeding McCulloch’s Clownfish“.

We also wanted to thank Dustin from ORA for sending us the information.

Native Hawaiian Fish at the Waikiki Aquarium

In one of his latest articles on the MASNA Blog covering the aquarium trade’s legal hurdles in Hawaii, Ret Talbot tells the aquarium community that the Kauai County Council has voted unanimously to get a draft resolution into next year’s legislative package that would place an outright ban on the collection of wildlife to be sold in the aquarium industry. As with the previous legislation from the Hawaii County Council, this proposed ban will not have an immediate impact on aquarium collection and isn’t a state law. However, it is still something to be taken seriously, as both of these council resolutions could easily grow into something with a far greater impact.

The major persisting problem seen between this council vote and the previous one is the misuse of real information and the overabundance of misinformation. Couple this with the fact that decision makers (e.g. council members) are ignoring the data that’s right in front of them, and you’ve got people making decisions based on emotions and ethics instead of facts. According to Dr. William Walsh, a state aquatic biologist with the Division of Aquatic Resources from the Department of Land and Natural Resources Division of Aquatic Resources, yellow tang populations are actually on the rise with the help of well managed fisheries. But those arguing against the aquarium industry tell the story otherwise, often taking data out of context and outright ignoring the fact that fish numbers are increasing.

These two council votes, while not immediately damaging to the industry, do undermine the intense efforts of biologists, activists, and everyone else participating in the management of the Hawaiian fishery. The misuse and misrepresentation of available data only drives a wedge between pro- and anti-aquarium activists.

We encourage all of you to get informed and get involved in these current issues. For more information, head on over to the MASNA Blog and read more about the council votes.

Tenecor has officially gone out of business. Much like the glass aquarium builders at Aquarium Obsessed, the acrylic aquarium manufacturer was another well known supplier of tanks for many years, eventually becoming one of the largest and most often purchased aquariums in the hobby. However, it’s their previous success that may have led to their downfall, at least in part. Tenecor eventually built a massive facility to build all of their tanks. With dwindling sales and long build times, Tenecor could move tanks fast enough to keep pace with the bills. Couple these falling sales figures with tough economic times, and they just couldn’t stay afloat.

For some, this news might come as a shock. Tenecor was fairly well respected and you couldn’t find too many complaints about their work on the popular aquarium forums. However, in recent years we’ve heard many reports of unusually sub-par quality, which most likely helped with the demise of the company. We got to see some of these tanks in person and can attest to their poor quality, but it is entirely possible that those where the select few that squeaked past Tenecor’s quality control. Regardless of the speculation, the doors have shut on Tenecor permanently. Let’s just hope none of our fellow hobbyists were waiting on an aquarium from them.

The small and unassuming Banggai cardinalfish (Pterapogon kauderni) have been the center of more than their fair share of controversies over the past several years. Their limited distribution and the overwhelming desire by hobbysts to house these gorgeous shoaling fish in marine aquariums have driven their numbers down significantly in the wild. On top of that, aquarium collectors have been blamed for introducing these fish into the non-native area surrounding Lembah Strait, which is several hundreds of kilometers north of the areas in which these fish naturally occur. Aquarium hobbyists have responded to the cardinal’s dwindling numbers by captively breeding the fish, taking some stresses off wild populations, but a whole new set of problems has popped up recently. According to Segrest Farms, a popular fish wholesaler based out of Flordia, a recent outbreak of a highly contagious and untreatable iridovirus is decimating wild-caught Banggai cardinalfish. The symptoms of the virus include a reduced appetite, listlessness, and a sunken stomach. It is being reported that infected Banggai cardinalfish have mortality rates exceeding 50% and they are dying within 4-6 weeks. In response to the virus, Segrest Farms has stopped all import and sales of this species and stores will likely start to see a shortage in the fish over the coming weeks.

More about the virus can be read below.

To date, the iridovirus has only been found in wild-caught Banggai cardinals entering the US. The virus is not affecting other species, leading the Segrest Farms importers to think the virus is species-specific. And since the virus has only been seen in wild-collected fish, it’s uncertain as to where in the supply chain the virus has originated from. It is speculated that the virus is coming from the wild and its effects are being amplified by shipping stresses and trouble adapting to captive life. The virus is said to have a long incubation time, which means fish may seem fine for a month or more before showing any signs or sypmtoms. This also means that traditional quarantining techniques will need to be tweaked if you have recently purchased or plan to purchase Banggai cardinalfish.

To help prevent the spread of this nasty iridovirus, Segrest Farms is recommending that fish stores stop carrying imported Banggai cardinalfish altogether, at least until more is known about the affliction. They are also suggesting that stores talk to customers about the ongoing issue and inform them about the risk associated with adding new cardinals to an established group. And while they have stopped selling wild caught individuals, Segrest is exploring their options with tank raised cardinals. This of course will be dependent upon the tank raised fish being virus free.

Special thanks to Keith from Super Pet World for letting us know about this issue.

Here’s some potentially bad news for the nano tank crowd. The popular nano aquarium DIY gurus at Nanotuners (aka Nanocustoms) have apologetically announced that they are ending their “consumer facing operations”, and are instead switching gears. While we haven’t been able to clarify exactly what these statements mean as of  yet, we assume this to mean that Nanotuners isn’t going out business, but are perhaps moving into more of a distributor-based network. This is a typical move for growing businesses, as it puts more of the burden of product distribution onto the shoulders of stores and wholesalers. Again, this is all speculation on our part and we’ll update with more information as it unfolds.

The original story dug up by our friends at Marine Engineers. A full press release from Nanocustoms can be read below.

Nov 16, 2004 – Oct 27, 2011

It is with great sadness to announce the end of consumer facing operations at Nanotuners/Nanocustoms. After nearly 8 years as a direct to consumer operation, we are changing gears.

For those customers who have been along for the ride, we thank you for your support. From our humble beginnings on a dining room table, to our latest endeavors, you have been the driving force behind our creativity. A hobbyist to the very core, I am eternally Grateful.

To those customers in the past 3 weeks whom we have been out of contact with, I am truly sorry and ashamed. Our email system has been down since early October, with my sole contact being at chris@nanocustoms.com

Please contact me through this email address and I will be right in touch. Refunds will be issued in Full to all remaining orders. Custom orders for CNCd products (hybrids + retros + fixtures) will be filled within 3 weeks.

It has been my utmost pleasure serving and growing with the community. INNOVATE OR DIE!

THE ONLY THING PERMANENT is CHANGE.

Cheers & Good Luck.

Christopher Jung
Founder & CEO – Nanocustoms/Nanotuners

Some sad news for the pet industry, it was recently announced that well known industry icon Rolf C. Hagen passed away suddenly at his home in Montreal on October 22. Born in Germany in the 1930s, Rolf immigrated to Canada in the mid 1950s to start Rolf C. Hagen Inc., an export business that sent bird seed back to Germany. The company grew rapidly, eventually drawing in Hagen’s brothers Dieter and Horst. Each brought their own passion and energy to the company, and it quickly graduated from exporting bird seed to covering just about every aspect of the pet industry, including the aquarium trade. Over the past 55 years, Rolf C. Hagen Inc. went on to include products from brands such as Hydor and Fluval, and Hagen himself won several industry awards that included an induction into the American Pet Products Association Hall of Fame in 1999 and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Pet Industry Distributors Association in 2004. Rolf was also awarded two very prestigious German honors, The First Cross of the Federal Order of Merit from Germany and The Highest Order of Merit, the highest honor that Germany can give to a civilian. But Rolf didn’t let all of the success and awards go to his head, as it has been said that he was a very humble and selfless individual.

Funeral services will be held on Saturday, October 29th and the family will start receiving condolences starting tomorrow. Our thoughts go out to the family members of Rolf C. Hagen and we know he will be greatly missed.

For the original story, please visit Legacy, where more information about Mr. Hagen and his life have been listed.

Even though I try not to post too much about my personal happenings online, this is something that’s just too exciting to hold back. After enjoying the married life for a few years, my wife and I are finally expecting our very own little future AquaNerd. It’s still too soon to tell if I will have a child who will actually help me maintain the aquariums (boy) or tell me how to do it (girl), but we’re excited either way. And even though having children generally leads to the aquarium hobby taking a backseat, I am promising myself that it won’t happen that way, especially since I’m still in the process of building my 90-gallon AGE rimless aquarium that already seems to be taking forever to get fully established. The AquaNerd Blog will not see any changes in all likelihood. We’ve got a pretty good system of writing and scheduling articles here and it makes sharing aquarium information with all of you very easy to do. Additionally, we will still be attending local and national events in an effort to bring you information about the cutting edge products seen at all of the big shows.