That Fish Blog – Aquarium Advice and Information

Hello, Jason here. Every day I find a customer seeking a colorful fish that they can put in their reef tank. The decision can be difficult because so many of the fish are far from reef safe and many fish will pick at (if not devour) corals. One fish to consider for your reef is the Chalk Bass (Serranus tortugarum). This Caribbean fish occupies rubble and sand bottoms from South Florida to to the Bahamas. Read More »

Some of the most common questions we get from customers are about the relationship between clownfish and anemones (especially after the release of a certain animated movie several years ago). Aquarists see that relationship and want to replicate it in their own aquarium, only to find that the clownfish and anemone they brought home don’t seem to want anything to do with one another. “Why is that?!”, many ask. “I thought they couldn’t live without each other!” The truth is….they can. Anemones don’t need clownfish and clownfish don’t need the anemone, especially in aquariums where (hopefully) they don’t have any predators to hide from. In the wild, the anemone’s stinging tentacles give the clownfish somewhere to hide from and the clownfish’s messy diet gives the anemones some extra food (although there have been reports of clownfish actively feeding their anemones, but that’s another blog). Read More »

For all of those who love Banded Coral Shrimp, Peppermint Shrimp, and Arrow Crabs along with all of the other fish and invertebrates found in the Caribbean, we have some great news! Last week we received our first full shipment of livestock since the earthquake in Haiti. Even better news is the availability and prices are about the same as they were before the disaster. There are still a couple of fish such as the Black Cap Basslet that are still unavailable, but they are few and far between. Read More »

Hi, Dave back again.  In part 1 of our LED lighting series, we introduced the new Stunner and Panorama systems from Ecoxotic.  In part 2, I want to tell you about another LED lighting system that we are now offering here at TFP. Read More »

Hello, Frank Indiviglio here.  California’s Steinhart Aquarium (a “must see, by the way”) has become the first American aquarium to breed the dwarf cuttlefish (Sepia bandensis), and the first anywhere to do so on a large scale.  Marine hobbyists have reason to celebrate, as this smallest of the world’s cuttlefishes, the only one that can reasonably be expected to do well in home aquariums, has until now been in short supply (large cuttlefish species require a great deal of room, and are not practical inhabitants for most home or even public aquariums).  Lessons learned at Steinhart may someday help to establish breeding populations of this most fascinating Cephalopod among private aquarists. Read More »