Just a little reminder about some events going on this evening on the local scene. Since today is Tuesday, Fish Gallery will be hosting their weekly “Drink Like a Fish” event where they will be doling out free alcohol to customers during happy hour. In addition to the free drinks, I will be speaking to a group of potential and new aquarium keepers all about saltwater tanks. For the most part, I’ll just be going over the basics like aquarium equipment, biological and chemical processes, and different livestock, but I’m sure the conversation will wander into reef conservation and wherever the questions take us. So, if you’re local to the Houston area and want a great spot to hang out after work, stop on by Fish Gallery and say hi. The talk starts somewhere around 6 pm and will probably last an hour or more.

Houston-based aquarium installation and maintenance company Aquarium Design Group recently showed off their new digs in a video that was originally created to show off the Current USA TrueLumen Pro LED strips. Before we discuss ADG’s new shop, which we are very excited about, we’ll describe the strips first. The TrueLumen Pro strips are simple and sleek, providing an energy efficient way of illuminating the fish-only freshwater and saltwater aquariums seen in the video above. The lights are mounted directly to the aquarium stands, not at all getting in the way of the day-to-day tasks that require putting hands into the display aquariums. The TrueLumen Pro strips are water resistant and are available in 12″, 24″, 36″ & 48″ lengths. They come in 8000K white, 12000K white, 453nm actinic blue, a combo strip with 12K white and 453nm blue.

Details about the new ADG store can be read below.

As for the store itself, it’s been one that we (Houston aquarium keepers) have been waiting on for a couple of years. ADG was previously located in a showroom in downtown Houston. The showroom was nice, but somewhat small and the space didn’t allow much for a shop that was open to the public. Instead, they had holding tanks in the back, but that was pretty much it. Realized a need to have more contact with the aquarium purchasing public, ADG moved to a larger space on the south side of the city. When they originally announced the relocation a couple of years ago, they also told us that ADG would have it’s own storefront. It’s still not exactly open to the public, though people can walk into the showroom and see all that the showroom and store have to offer.

According to Tech Crunch, Amazon is jumping into the pet industry with a website dedicated to cats, dogs, and yes, even fish. The online retail giant recently went live with the beta version of their pet friendly shopping site Wag.com, sporting products from a variety of aquatic categories. The section of the site dedicated to fish is brightly colored and seemingly aimed at the saltwater sect of the hobby, but don’t get your hopes up. The site is vastly incomplete, having probably less than 100 aquatic products from only a handful of brands. I was half expecting to see live fish on the site, seeing as how they have a “New Fish” section, but it only leads to more aquarium products. Despite initial shortcomings, don’t count Wag.com out yet because it is still so new. Who knows what the future has for the site and perhaps it will become populated by the aquarium equipment we’ve all come to know and love.

Fish Gallery recently announced that they will be conducting aquarium-related seminars at their Houston location. The seminars are designed to educate hobbyists and potential hobbyists about a wide range of topics and are open to the general public. Both freshwater and saltwater topics will be covered, including the discussion of fish, plants, and corals. Because the seminars are actually part of a series, the very basic of aquarium keeping will be covered first, increasing in complexity as the group learns more with each meeting. The first Fish Gallery seminar is scheduled for Wednesday, July 13th at 6:45pm. This seminar will be on the basics of keeping aquariums, focusing entirely on freshwater aquariums. Despite the first seminar’s focus, the principles will be tied into the saltwater side of the hobby as well. The first seminar is free and will last around 45 minutes. Participants in the seminar will receive a discount toward a new aquarium purchase and refreshments will be provided.

A high end aquarium store in the city of Houston has decided to add a little more social atmosphere to the aquarium trade. Fish Gallery Houston recently announced that on Tuesday evenings from 6pm to close, customers can come in and get a free beer or soda while they shop. On top of the free booze, a 20% discount will be applied to one full-priced item. Obviously the free hooch will be limited to of-age customers, and other kid friendly drinks will also be available. The only issue I even have with this is the fact that it takes place on a Tuesday.

More info below.

The reasoning behind mixing booze with aquariums probably has a lot to do with the fact that Fish Gallery is located in downtown Houston, in an area close to both the bar scene and tons of office buildings. When people get off work, they need a place to relax, and most hit up happy hour for cheap drinks and a little elbow rubbing. Fortunately, Fish Gallery is providing a place to get that relaxing drink along with some relaxing scenery.

Similarly, another Houston fish store is actually located inside of a liquor store, though I think it’s a misdemeanor in this state to imbibe alcohol at liquor stores. Instead of being a place to relax and mingle, I guess that store serves more as a “kill two birds with one stone” sort of place. Pick up your corals and alcohol and take the party back to your place. Just don’t get too tipsy that you wind up drinking what’s in the bag and try to acclimate your new bottle of Jose Cuervo to your reef tank.

I was recently visiting a fish store and I came across a reef tank with several gorgeous, green Majano anemones. These anemones are considered a pest to many aquarium hobbyists because they multiply rapidly, sting other corals, and are very difficult to remove once they have taken hold. Despite their aggressive nature, Majanos are actually desired by many aquarium keepers. They can be quite attractive, as seen in the picture above, and many of these anemones develop bulb tips or have multiple colored tentacles.

Majano anemones stay small, not getting more than an inch or so across. They can move about the aquarium like most other anemones and may wander too close to corals. If you have these anemones, or another pest anemone like Aiptasia, and need to remove them, use lemon juice or Kalkwasser paste to kill them.

Lightning Maroon Clownfish on Blue Zoo

As promised, we have uncovered the breeder that was hand selected by Blue Zoo Aquatics to breed the massively popular and wildly patterned PNG Lightning Maroon Clownfish. According to Blue Zoo, multiple bids started coming in for this fish instantly. Some of the bids even exceeded $5000. But Blue Zoo didn’t cater to the highest dollar amount. Instead, they did the smart thing and sought to sell it to someone who could properly care for and breed this magnificent fish. They had a very short list of potential candidates, and in the end, MASNA award winning marine fish breeder Matt Perdersen was selected to breed the PNG Lightning Clown.

Lightning Maroon Clownfish

Photo by Ret Talbot

Matt Pederson earned his fish breeding respect by sucessfully breeding harlequin filefish, a notoriously difficult fish to keep alive and well fed. But there was a slight bump in the road where Matt is concerned…he doesn’t like designer clownfish. He apparently stands against man-made hybridization that has recently popped up in this hobby over the last few years. Luckily for those seeking this clownfish in mass numbers, the PNG Lightning clown is 100% natural, so Matt won’t have to abandone any of his principals.

Two days ago, the PNG lightning maroon clownfish was shipped to Matt Pedersen, along with a large femail clownfish collected from the same reef. Blue Zoo is also planning to obtain at least two more juveniles from the same PNG reef in the event that the initial pairing is unsuccessful. I’m not sure if these two juveniles will also be Lightning Maroon Clowns, or just normal looking clowns.

Reef Nutrition Logo

Reef Nutrition, the producers of various liquid and live foods for reef aquariums and fish, narrowly avoided a nasty little early morning fire the other day, according to a KTVU News Story. A nearby office on the first story of a two-story building was apparently set ablaze by an arsonist. Reef Nutrition is located in an office on the second story, near the office that caught fire. While Reef Nutrition didn’t actually catch on fire, it did suffer some heat damage to its wall of glass blocks, which all cracked. Thankfully, nobody was injured and Reef Nutrition didn’t suffer much damage…just enough to be an inconvenience. To view a video of the story, please visit KTVU.com.

Anampses femininus

© 2010 Foster & Smith, Inc. Reprinted as a courtesy and with permission from http://www.LiveAquaria.com

Great news for all of the rare fish connoisseurs, the Bluestripe Tamarin Wrasse (Anampses femininus) will be available on LiveAquaria’s Diver’s Den. And according to the LiveAquaria Facebook Page, this specimen is “SUPER HEALTHY”. Additionally, the Bluestripe Tamarin is “eating enriched Hikari Mysis and Spirulina brine, hails from Australia, and has been at our facility in Rhinelander for almost a month.”

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© 2010 Drs. Foster and Smith, Inc.
Reprinted as a courtesy and with permission from
DrsFosterSmith.com (http://www.DrsFosterSmith.com)
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It brings me great pleasure to announce that the AquaNerd Blog has a new sponsor…Aquariums Life. Aquariums Life currently offers products related to carbon filtration and aquarium bacteria. They also have a wonderful blog, where they talk about all sorts of topics, including freshwater and saltwater topics.