Aquatic Blog

The Tomato Clownfish - (Amphiprion frenatus) is a great fish for a beginner or expert. They’re colorful, vibrant, and do very interresting things in the home reef aquarium. In nature they are usually hosting some type of anemone, usually a BTA (bubble-tip-anemone). In the home aquarium they are known however to host very easilly corals if no anemone is present. Captive bred species are even better at hosting corals instead of an anemone. In the pics below you can see my tomato clown hosting with a candy cane coral colony, he also hosts with a brancing hammer at times.

In the home aquarium they usually reach only about 3″-3.5″ in length. Though in the wild they can grow around 5 inches. I would consider this around a medium size of clownfish, needing about 30 gallons or more. They are very hardy which makes them great for a new setup. They do have a slight temperment, though usually this only comes out when feeding time. So make sure other shy feeders are getting their fair share of food also. They are a non picky omnivore which will eat most prepared, frozen, & live foods.

If you have captive bred species they can usually be quite easy to breed. Unless if you have a very large tank you should probally only keep one male/female pair in it. The females will be slightly bigger than the male. All tomato clownfish are born as males & the dominate one will change to a female. A beginner should never try to mix different species of clowns in one tank. As they will fight a lot of times. This can be done with a larger tank, but I wouldn’t recommend it.

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The Scarlet Cleaner Shrimp - (Lysmata amboinensis) is my favorite shrimp I have kept. They have a great pure white strip running down their back with red on each side, the sides & underbody is a transluscent yellowish. They only get up to about 2″, but they are full of life. Their is no other shrimp in the trade that will be out as much as this species. Mine stays out during the day & night where I can see him clearly. He even fights for pellets of food when its feeding time. One other interesting thing that I have notice is when I clean the tank he will come onto my hand and even clean under my fingernails.

Which brings us to why they’re called cleaner shrimp. These shrimp will setup “cleaning stations” quite readily in the home aquaria. Fish will let them clean the dead skin & parasites from their body, mouth, gills, & oral cavities. These shrimp are completly reef safe. They are pretty easy to care for basically scavenging on left over, etc. Things that should be watched out for though is rapid salinity changes like all shrimp as well as copper & nitrAte levels like all inverts. Also fish like hawkfish will surely make a meal out of these guys so be sure to house them properly.

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Giant Hawiaan Feather Duster - (Sabellastarte sp.) are a great addition to many aquariums. They are inexpensive, attractive, and need no speacial lighting requirements. However proper knowledge for care is needed. These guys can get up to around 6″-8″ long and have a radiole aka crown up to 7″ in diameter. The tube itself is a light brown color & the crown can consists of a few stripes and consists of browns, bieges, oranges, etc. These gusy live by filtering food from the water column with their crown and then pulling it into their tube. They need to be housed in a very mature aquarium where there is plenty of food for it. Still though even a mature aquarium may need some food like phytoplankton added 2-3 times weekly to give it suffice food. If it is starved of stressed it will discard its crown. It will grow back another one within a couple of weeks. However if that is to happen be sure to make appropiate changes for it.

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The Velvet Multicolor Wrasse - (Cirrhilabrus luteovittatus) is a great wrasse with lots of beauty. It’s pattern consists of a maroon/purple body with a distinctive yellow stripe horizontal on each side. They won’t bother niether corals or inverts and are perfect for the reef setup. A 55 gallon or larger tank is required for this wrasse. They don’t favor bright lighting to much so live rock is great for providing shade to them. In my experience they’re easy to get feeding, good shippers, and no signs of aggresion. One word of caution is make sure to have good lids. As they are prone to jumping.

They are also known by these other names;
Yellow Streaked Fairy Wrasse
Yellow Banded Wrasse
Marshall Island Wrasse
Purple Fairy Wrasse
Purple Velvet Wrasse

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The Candy Cane Coral (Caulastrea furcata) is a member of the LPS family. A very attractive coral that is great for an LPS beginner. It grows fleshy individual heads with stony stalks to form a colony. Colors can range from different shades of; blues, greens, browns, & yellows. It requires moderate lighting along with moderate flow, but not to direct flow. Under atinic lights the heads will give off a fluorescent glow. At night time it will release feeder tentacles like many LPS to help grab food, though this can happen during lights on. This is a peaceful coral that gets most of what it needs from lighting, but also benefits from calcium, strontium, & other trace elements. It can be target fed things like brine & mysid shrimp, though not necessary.

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Yellow polyps sometimes referred to as (parazoanthus) is actually an undescribed zoanthid. They have to be on the top 5 list of easiest corals to keep. They will also quickly grow, split, & multiply into a mass colony. In a well maintained tank this can happen very quickly. Some people recommend isolating them on their own rock as they are considered somewhat aggressive. They can lightly sting neighboring corals and take over other polyp colonies. As the name states they are yellow polyps, however different ones & different lights they can have a slight brown look on them or a very bright yellow look. They require around medium lighting & medium flow where their tentacles will lightly sway. They can benefit a lot from things like iodine & trace elements. They also survive mainly on light, but feeding will do good. They can be target fed things like brine shrimp or by dosing the tank with phyto-plankton.

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Devil’s Hand Leather Coral(Lobophytum sp.) is a great easy to care for softie. It is closely related to the sacrophyton genus & is hard to differentiate sometimes. It is also hard to tell the exact species of devil’s hand because of close looks inside the Lobopytum genus. Colors are usually beige, brown, & tan, you can also find pink, yellow, & green ones.

This is definately a coral beginners should look at. It requires medium to high lighting and medium to strong movement. It can release toxins that can bother stony corals especially SPS, but is generally peacful & should be fine in most cases. Lighting provides most of what it needs however things like phytoplankton & other filter feeding foods will be great for it. Trace elements, strotium, & iodine are other good things for it.

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The Plate Coral, short tentacle (Fungia repanda) is an interesting & easy to care for LPS coral. It’s colors can be very bright green & purples to more dull browns. It only requires moderate lighting and only little to no movement is needed. This coral is considered semi-aggressive, though it has only short tentacles unlike the long tentacle version it can inflate twice it’s size stinging nieghbors. The best place to set it is in the sandbed. It needs a good amount of calcium and trace elements added to flourish. It can also be target feed things like mysid shrimp and other meaty foods as long as they’re not to big for it.

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The branching Hammer Coral AKA Achor Coral (Euphyllia paranchora) & is a great LPS coral with soft wavy looking tentacle type polyps. It’s basic shape is a tree with stalks branching out with polyps on the end of each branch. The wall hammer is actually Euphyllia ancora. It’s long polyps can range from green, ten, & brown as well as having different colored tips from; lime green, yellow, etc. It is a beautiful piece that will softly wave its polyps with the flow. It is not a hard LPS to care for, but isn’t normally considered for first time LPS people. It will however easilly thrive given the proper conditions. It requires moderate light with moderate flow. As with most LPS it gets most of what it needs from lighting, but can benefit from additional calcium, strontium, & other trace elements. It can also be fed brine & mysid shrimp, but not required. This coral would be considered aggressive & requires at least 6 inches of space from neighboring corals. As it will release sweeping tentacles that can reach around 6 inches.

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Trachyphyllia geoffroyi, is an LPS coral sometimes refered to ad a trachy brain or folded brain. They have a folded shape to them or also noted as a “Figure 8″ look. There is also another Trachyphyllia coral which is Trachyphyllia Radiata, used to be Wellsophyllia Radita, but that is now eliminated. They both have a lot of similarities.

They are a pretty easy to care for LPS. Great for the beginner, loved by many. The color on these guys can vary so much is another great thing about them. They usually have an outer color that is somewhat bright with an inner color that is dull. The inner color can vary from different shades of, gray, cream, white, blue, etc. The outer colors can also range even more from, bright to dull greens, reds, blues, pinks, even yellow I believe.They can also have streaks of colors on them.

It needs moderate lighting, sometimes they do prefer a bit of shade from a rock though. They also need some flow, but not to direct on it. Most agree this coral should be stuck on the sand bed. However some do say you can put them on rocks just be careful. Which I don’t recommend. They are usually attached to a small piece of dead coral or rubble rock. As with most LPS good calcium is needed as well as trace elements & strotium. All should be found in a good “reef” salt like Reef Crystals. They can also be target feed small pieces of meat & things liek mysis shrimp. It will also feed on things like micro plankton.

Feeder tentacles out. Yes it needs more sand bed space as its pushing against the glass.

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