That Fish Blog – Aquarium Advice and Information

Many stories have come to light through recent years discussing the plight of coral reefs around the world; overfishing, destructive collecting methods, pollution, and ship traffic damage have taken a serious toll.  A number of new studies show that an even greater threat has emerged in 2010, extreme water temperatures.

Earlier this year, the region of Indo-pacific reefs known as the Coral Triangle (a roughly triangular area that encompasses Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Solomon Islands and Timor-Leste) endured record surface water temperatures. These extreme water temperatures caused a mass coral bleaching event that may prove to be the worst on record. Read More »

Some of the things that the scientific community is “discovering” are things that have been known for years by reef hobbyists.  I’ve been reading through some articles about recently published studies. A couple of them really got my attention as things that many hobbyist already know, just from keeping aquariums in their homes.

Distressing Damsels

Ask a long time reef aquarist about keeping damselfish in a reef aquarium…they will probably tell you that damsels are aggressive, and sometimes destructive to a reef aquarium community.  A study recently published on PLoSONE.org found that Threespot Damselfish are damaging coral reefs in their efforts to find new habitat.  Read More »

It is amazing how little we know about our ocean’s ecosystems! We know that corals can defend themselves against other corals, invertebrates, and to a certain extent fish, but a recent study has found that corals may have another attacker to defend against. Algae has always been a problem with coral and coral reefs as a whole. The rapid growth and expansion of some macro algae will eventually choke out specific corals, killing them in a matter of days. Taxifolia a species of Caulerpa, began invading parts of the West Coast years ago, choking out everything in it’s path as it spread. Normally, we think of the tangling tendrils of green smothering the corals in darkness as they take over, slowly starving them of vital light and nutrients. However, a recent study performed by a professor and his graduate student at Georgia Tech have found algae that can kill coral on contact. Read More »

The Great Barrier Reef is the largest and most diverse coral reef in the world. The aquarium industry over the past few years has seen a growing list of fish and corals that have been made available from the Barrier Reef, and they’ve been some amazing specimens. The last thing anyone wants is anything damaging the pristine natural wonder, especially something so devastating as to restrict collection of fish and corals from selected areas again. Read More »