Reef Hobbyist Magazine Q2 2009

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SECOND QUARTER 2009 | Volume 3

JELLYFISH! A New Frontier

S U P E R M AN R E T U R N S!

ST U N N I N G P URPLE H O R N E TS

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Features

SECOND QUARTER 2009 | Volume 3 Copyright© 2009 Reef Hobbyist Magazine. All rights reserved.

RHM Staff

President

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Peggy’s Pets – The Lovely Trachyphyllia: Peggy Nelson, owner of All-Reef in Minnesota, currently teaches reef-keeping classes at her store and writes articles (www. all-reef.com) discussing care requirements for various coral species. In this article, Peggy exposes her secrets to keeping Trachyphyllia corals healthy and colorful.

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Stunning Purple Hornets: Jeremy “Who Dah?” Hale is a California based aquarist who started ZoaID.com which recently became Coralpedia.com. In this article, Jeremy profiles the stunning Purple Hornets which once sold on eBay for $305 per polyp!

Image by Reef Pets.

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Superman Returns!: Lou Schiavo is one of the owners of World Wide Corals in Orlando, Fl. In this coral profile, Lou introduces the Superman Chalice and discusses suggested parameters and fragging tips for this highly sought after echinophyllia.

Image by Jacob Larsen.

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Fragging Along the Dotted Line: Jake Adams is a professional aquarist and the founder of CoralIdea.com and FishIdea.com, free online guides for coral and fish.

If you’re thinking about fragging one of your precious corals soon, make sure you read this article first!

Harry Tung

Executive Editor Jim Adelberg

Art Director Tamara Sue

Graphics

David Tran

Advertising The A-Team

Special Thanks Greg Rothschild

www.gregrothschild.com

Reeferscafe.com Richard Ross Zoaid.com Jen Dub

Image by Jake Adams.

comments or suggestions? comments@rhmag.com

Image by Greg Rothschild.

On The Cover

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JELLYFISH! A New Frontier

Jim Stime, Jr. is the pioneer and designer of the Jelliquarium. He is also the producer of a new online reality show called LA Fishguys. In this off-topic article, Jim introduces awe inspiring jellyfish and explains how anyone can and should breed their own.

Image by Chad Widmer.

Come visit us online at www.reefhobbyistmagazine.com • • • • •

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Upcoming Reef Events April 25 Reef Ed in Colorado (www.reefed.org) May 3 Bay Area Coral Farmers Market (www.ba-cfm.com) *July 31 – August 2 IMAC West in California (www.imacwest.com) * October 21 – 25 Reef A Palooza in California (www.reefapalooza.org) * denotes RHM sponsored events – come support us!

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Join Us! RHM WANTS YOU! We’re constantly looking for the best writers and photographers to contribute to our free magazine.

We believe that free quality information is the key to helping our hobby advance. If you’d like to join us in our mission, please contact our editor Jim Adelberg via email: jim@rhmag.com.

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• Used in conjunction with Brightwell Aquatics MICRŌBACTER7 and REEF BIOFUEL, helps establish biological filtration and maintain an ultra-low nutrient environment for the express purpose of enabling coral coloration to be perceived without interference from zooxanthellae pigmentation.

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CORAL Peggy’s Pets

The Lovely Trachyphyllia Article By Peggy Nelson Images By Peggy Nelson (unless otherwise noted)

I

n this article, we’ll discuss the incredibly beautiful Trachyphyllia coral, more commonly known as the Open Brain. This amazing coral is a member of the LPS or “large-polyped stony” group of corals. Its colors vary from reds and greens and combinations of the two and also include pinks and browns. The two species of Trachyphyllia are T. geoffroyi and T. radiata (also known as the Pacific rose coral), with T. geoffroyi being more commonly available in the aquarium hobby.

T. geoffroyi is often confused with T. radiata (formerly scientifically known as Wellsophyllia radiata), which typically has many more folds in the tissue and is more rounded than elongated. Pictured below is a coral displayed in our store. We believe it’s a rare T. radiata.

This beautiful coral draws a lot of attention due to its unusual and incredible colors and almost “layering” folds of tissue.

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Trachyphyllia geoffroyi is surely one of the most popular reef aquarium corals. This coral is usually found on its own (solitary) but occasionally colonizes and is commonly found on the soft sea floor and also in sea grass beds. The septa, or “skeletons”, are usually cone-shaped, and the tissue overlaps the septa sometimes to three times its size when fully inflated. The tissue also houses fluorescent pigmentation, which gives this beautiful coral its amazing fluorescent appearance in the aquarium under actinic lighting.

Although T. geoffroyi is photosynthetic and feeds heavily on the biproducts of the Zooxanthellae (algae) that reside in its tissue, it will in fact feed on finely chopped meaty foods such as Mysis shrimp, Silversides (minnow-like marine fish), Cyclop-Eeze (copepods), and other similar foods of appropriate size. The tentacles are an inch or so from the coral’s mouth and are situated in a circular fashion around the mouth, which is usually centrally located on the coral. The tentacles are usually present at night but the feeding response may be stimulated over a period of minutes by waving the food source in the tank. Feeding is accomplished by simply setting a finely chopped piece of fish or other meaty marine food on the tentacles. The coral will then fold in towards its mouth and feed itself (Note: this coral may have multiple mouths). Please remember not to attempt to feed when the tentacles are not present, as it will only irritate the coral. We feed our Trachs once per week with a variety of the above-referenced foods and have good success with them. Please also remember not to overfeed.

Once per week with a couple finely chopped pieces of food as described above is sufficient.

Trachyphyllia will adapt to most lighting schemes, but be careful not to “bleach” or “burn” it by placing it too high in the water column under intense lighting such as metal halides. At All-Reef, our Trachs are housed under T5, metal halide and T5 combinations, and also VHO (very high output) lamps and respond well to all of these light

Image By Greg Rothschild.

CORAL

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sources. Do remember this coral should always be placed on the floor of the tank, preferably on a soft sand bed, under moderately bright light. Low water movement will produce the best tissue expansion by the Trachyphyllia, although it does need enough current to gently blow debris and sediment off its tissue. Tissue recession is possible if sediment/debris sits on the tissue for an extended period of time. Another thing we do recommend watching out for is fish that may be interested in nipping at the coral’s tissue. As is true with any coral that is nipped persistently by fish, it can and will eventually cause damage to the coral and/or cause the coral not to expand its tissue, which would eventually result in its starvation from a lack of light and/or feeding potential. This behavior is most common with Angelfishes, including even the smaller Centropyge species such as Coral Beauties or Flame Angels. Although beautiful, these fish are not considered to be 100% reef-safe.

In conclusion, the Trachyphyllia geoffroyi is a beautiful coral that we find well suited to the reef aquarium. If you follow the above recommendations for its care and feeding, this coral should do nicely for you and provide you with years of enjoyment. We highly recommend it and give it a blue thumb’s up!

NanoMag1/4RHM.qxd:Layout 1

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Image By Greg Rothschild.

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Image By Greg Rothschild.

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CORAL

Stunning Purple Hornets

By Coralpedia.com Council

Image by Reef Pets.

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U

nless you’ve been living under a live rock for the past few months, chances are you have

heard the wings of Purple Hornets ripping through the reef community. For those of you unfamiliar with the topic, Purple Hornets are a morph of zoanthid sp. from Indonesia. This stunning morph features a purple backdrop with a yellow/green ring

and faint white mouth.

Image by Peter Phan.

The Purple Hornet’s unique alternating skirt color that matches its base and ring stops every zoanthid collector in their tracks.

They first made their debut in the summer of 2007 and then went relatively dormant. When they resurfaced again in the winter of 2008, the Purple Hornets created a huge buzz within the zoanthid community as a single polyp auction on eBay ended with a final bid in the amount of $305. Just when everybody assumed that the high-end zoanthid craze was over, the Purple Hornets proved the skeptics and the economy wrong.

The first person to introduce this morph to the zoanthid community was Casey Lacefield. The Purple Hornet originates from Kupang, Indonesia. According to Casey, they came up quite often on the supply list (almost every week) before disappearing altogether.

According to Gary, whom I will soon introduce, they appeared once on the list before Casey was able to acquire the entire colony. At that time, they were identified by various different names that were already in use, ranging from Lemondrops, AOIs, or Alien Eyes. For the most part, the Purple Hornets went unnoticed by the overall public with the exception of a few hardcore zoanthid collectors.

Similar to many wild zoanthid colonies, the mother colony suffered heavily from fungus and zoapox infections. Fortunately, Casey was able to pass on a few frags to his local friends and most importantly to Gary at Reef Pets before losing his entire colony.

Since receiving his frag in the summer of 2007, Gary had allowed the Purple Hornets to grow and color up to their maximum potential.

When the Purple Hornets came in from Casey’s T5 lit tank, they exhibited more of a blue coloration. It was only after several weeks under a SE 20K Ushio 400W metal halide that the Purple Hornets began to show the deep purple coloration they have since become famous for. At that time, Gary’s wife coined the name Purple Hornets, which is the name that stuck.

Image by Vince Suh.

Image by Reef Pets.

CORAL

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Faced with a growth rate of approximately one polyp per month, Gary saw his five polyp initial frag grow into a 15 polyp mini colony by the winter of 2008. One could say that the growth rate of these zoanthids is much the same as Rasta zoanthids or the infamous PPE palythoas! On the collector’s side of the hobby, many will agree that a slow growth rate almost always equates to a high market value in the world of high-end collector zoanthids. The first auction of Purple Hornets took place on eBay about a year ago.

Two polyps that went up for auction were sold for approximately $80. They then disappeared from the public eye until the winter of 2008. When Gary noticed that discussions of Purple Hornets had resurfaced on various reefing forums, he decided to put up a single polyp for auction on eBay. This famous polyp, after seven days, was sold for an amazing final bid of $305, earning the title “305 PH”. The second single polyp auction ended at $300.50, and the third at $280.

The news of the Purple Hornet eBay auctions soon spread and the level of demand and interest suddenly exploded on every major reef forum around the net. Many hobbyists, from newbies to experienced old timers, began chiming in. When asked for his opinion on this phenomenon, Gary stated that he had “no idea that they would be in such high demand and become as popular as

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they are”. Being a strong believer in letting people decide the true value of his livestock, Gary always started his auctions at $19.99 with the notion that, “If it sells for $19.99, that’s great. If it sells for $300.00, that’s great as well.”

The craze of Purple Hornets that swept through the community died out almost as fast as it began. Soon after the initial introductory auction from Gary, there were many Purple Hornets for sale on eBay daily. One thing is clear in regards to this incident: the reef market has always been unpredictable, bursting with new trends everyday in unexpected areas. To many of the old time zoanthid lovers, regardless of the monetary value of the Purple Hornets, it was exciting to see another beautiful morph surface in our hobby.

It truly is amazing how many countless variations there are with zoanthid polyps.

Image by Casey lacefield.

Enter the RHM photo contest at www.reefhobbyistmagazine.com!

Image by Casey lacefield.

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OFF TOPIC – JELLYFISH

I

was fortunate to have become a marine aquarium hobbyist back in

JELLYFISH! A New Frontier

By Jim Stime, Jr.

1982. At that time, the state-of-the-

art in aquarium filtration was under gravel filters driven by powerheads and external canister filters. In 1984, a series of articles written by George Smit appeared in FAMA magazine describing the Dutch Mini Reef systems. This article showed an aquarium filled with ‘live’ rocks and beautiful pastel colored puffy corals and detailed a filter box that sat below the display tank where water dripped through a series of trays.

Not only did this kick off the beginning of the living coral reef aquarium revolution, the frontier of the marine aquarium hobby at that time, but it also introduced the last great improvement in the aquarium hobby: the wet-dry trickle filter.

Image By Chad Widmer.

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My first attempt at keeping living corals was in 1985 with a 26-gallon tank. Over the course of the next 10 years, I worked at a few tropical fish and pet shops and set up a number of reef tanks. At that time, the common coral choices were mushroom and colonial polyps, finger and toadstool leather corals, and large polyp, fleshy corals such as Elegance, Hammer and Frogspawn. In 1994, a hobby magazine called Aquarium Frontiers published an article on the reproduction and keeping of acropora or staghorn corals, now known as Small Polyp Stony (SPS) corals, and printed a set of three pictures that showed the acropora tank of Steve Tyree. At that time, there really were only a few places to get these types of coral. I called Mr.Tyree to place an order and was told that they were completely sold out, but I could place my name on a list. It took a few months but eventually I did receive a thick staghorn branch.

It was blue / grey and within a couple of weeks it was white and dead.

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The point of this short story is not to tell you how long I have been in the marine aquarium hobby or how quickly I could kill off a staghorn coral but to show that at the beginning of the acropora coral craze, there was a very limited supply of these corals. Now look around at the success.

After 25 years, today’s reef hobbyist has access to much better equipment, and a far greater understanding of how to become successful at maintaining a coral reef tank. Within the aquarium hobby, reef keeping has now become mainstream. Today, a new frontier of the marine aquarium hobby is jellyfish keeping. Over the last few years, consumer level jellyfish display systems have begun appearing on the market. Recently, movies, television shows, and commercials such as ‘Seven Pounds’, ‘CSI NY’ and MTV’s ‘The Hills’ have featured jellyfish as part of the plot or as artistic background. And, as happened in the beginning of the coral craze, so it appears is happening with jellyfish; the ability to provide jellyfish systems has exceeded the variety and availability of the actual jellyfish livestock.

by their pale white pulsing disk and a four-leaf clover design within their round bell. The bell is edged with an array of fine tentacles called fringe tentacles, which pass food items to the four trailing oral arms. In most species of jellyfish, it is these oral arms that contain the stinging cells and it is also these arms that pull the food items up to the mouth of the jellyfish.

Moon jellyfish generally do not sting, or have a very, very mild sting.

A Moon jellyfish starts life as a tiny white anemone looking structure called a polyp. This polyp attaches itself to almost anything ( SEE FIGURE #1 ). I have seen polyps dangling from the water’s surface but most seem to collect in areas where the water flow is slow and the larvae simply drop down onto the bottom of the container they are held in, attach and develop into polyps. Typically, these areas are the floor and walls of the tank.

Jellyfish and corals are from a group called Cnidaria. Cnidarians exist as either a polyp (like an anemone) or a medusa (like a free swimming jellyfish). All Cnidarians share a very similar body plan, which can be described as a sack within a sack. These sacks possess no distinct head or structural organs but they all have one thing in common: Cnidae, specially modified stinging cells.

These stinging cells contain a coiled, spear-like tubule filled with venom. When triggered, the tubule is discharged extremely quickly, like a harpoon, either entangling or piercing the skin of the animal it contacts and injecting its venom.

The Cnidarians are further divided into four groups. Anthozoans are the anemones and corals that we keep in our tanks. There about 6000 species and they all live exclusively as a polyp, or colony of polyps. Hydrozoans, such as Fire coral and the colonial ManO-War jellyfish, alternate between a polyp and a free-swimming medusa life phase. Cubozoans, such as the Box Jellyfish, which are extremely dangerous, start as a polyp and become a freeswimming medusa.

The Scyphozoans are the fourth group of Cnidarians and contain the typical jellyfish. There are over 200 species of Scyphozoans and these too start life as a polyp and become a freeswimming medusa.

An adult jellyfish.

Image by Chad Widmer.

Jellyfish are sexually active at an early stage. As with many planktonic life forms, the male releases sperm into the water column that fertilize the eggs that the female has attached to her oral arms.

Once fertilized, the larvae will detach and settle out of the water column to develop into stationary polyps.

The Moon jellyfish, Aurelia aurita, is the best documented, and easiest to raise of the jellyfishes. They are commonly recognized

A Moon Jellyfish showing its four-leaf clover design.

Image by Jim Stime, Jr.

Figure #1: Moon jellyfish polyps.

Image by Jim Stime, Jr.

OFF TOPIC – JELLYFISH

15

As with most Cnidarians, a jellyfish polyp is composed of a central column that has a foot for attachment and an oral disc for the intake of food and exit of waste products.

The oral disc has a fringe of feeding tentacles surrounding it, which brings food items to its centrally located mouth.

It is this oral disc that segments, divides and separates from the polyp. This is called asexual division or budding, which is also referred to as strobilation.

In the wild, small jellyfish swim through a liquid garden of food items and grow very quickly. From a display tank point of view, a two-inch Moon jellyfish fed properly and twice daily can grow into a dinner plate sized adult in a very short time. From a producer or breeder’s point of view, one polyp can produce an average of six Ephyra each strobilation event, two to three times a year. A single 1”x 4” acrylic slide can hold 200 or more polyps. That’s a potential 3600 Ephyra a year, just off one acrylic slide. Imagine if you had thousands of polyps.

As a result of this strobilation, the oral disc portion of the polyp segments and detaches from the main body of the polyp and pulses away. This pulsing disc, which resembles a small snowflake, is now a free-swimming baby jellyfish called an Ephyra (SEE FIGURE #2).

So, how do you get polyps, and how do you get them to strobilate and produce Ephyra? If one were to place a handful of freshly collected wild Moon jellyfish into a tank together, chances are quite good that they will spawn in the tank or that the females may already have been fertilized and are ready to release their planula (eggs), which are attached along the edge of her trailing oral arms. Once released, these planulae will settle in the tank and within a few weeks, develop into polyps.

Ephyra begin pulsing before they detach from the polyp. It is this pulsing that is the main method of separation from the polyp and is the means of locomotion in jellyfish species.

The pulsing is not just a means of propulsion but is also how the jellyfish moves its food items around and into its mouth and helps move fluids throughout its body.

Now before you run out and start looking for jellyfish in your local harbors and boat marinas, know that many states have very specific regulations regarding collection. Here in California, there are three permits involved in the collecting, receiving and reselling of ANY aquatic life and they total around $2500 a year. Technically, one needs to collect the animals 1000 feet offshore. Fines

Figure #2: Ephyra, a baby jellyfish. Images by Jim Stime, Jr.

Wild jellyfish.

Image by Chad Widmer.

OFF TOPIC – JELLYFISH

17

for poaching can be very severe and the reality is jellyfish are not always hanging around waiting to be collected. Additionally, blooms of jellyfish are generally seasonal.

Alternatively, one may have access to tanks that have jellies currently in them. It’s ironic that the talk on the internet is about the need to bleach tanks due to foreign growths such as hydroids (the result of feeding newly hatched brine shrimp) when in fact it’s the jellyfish polyps themselves that will become a greater concern.

Jellyfish will reproduce in your tanks. These resulting polyps will collect in the pockets of debris at the bottom or edges of the tank or in slow flow areas. I can tell you now that, whether you want to or not, as a result of your jellies reproducing, you will have to deal with these polyps in your display tank. Allowed to collect in large enough colonies they can sting the larger adult jelly enough that either the stress or the collective sting is enough to cause a decline in the bigger specimens.

Assuming you are attempting to collect these polyps from an existing jellyfish tank, I would use a flat edged scraper of sorts and a length of airline tubing. By creating a siphon with the airline tubing running up and over the edge of the tank and down into a bucket placed below the aquarium, and holding the suction end of the tubing near the leading edge of the scraper, you can dislodge the polyps and suck them into the container outside the display tank.

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Once the siphoned matter settles down in the outside container, you can use a turkey baster to draw out the individual polyps and relocate them into a small holding tank, dish or jar of the same water. These holding containers can then be distributed across the bottom of the tank, attached to a glass or acrylic tank wall or placed on grids of egg crate panels. More available real estate will result in more polyps to produce jellyfish!

So now you have a tank, dish or jar full of polyps and you have a steady flow of water within the tank. You have been feeding them with freshly hatched baby brine shrimp and they have grown big and strong. How do you get these polyps to produce Ephyra? To me, it became very obvious once I considered the natural habitat of these animals. Jellyfish metamorphose as a reaction to an environmental stimulus. Stop and think for a moment. There are four seasons in a year. These seasons cause temperature and salinity fluctuations swinging from warm in the summer to cold in the winter. As the seasons change, there will be a noticeable increase or decrease in the amount of run-off water, freshwater that invades the sea as a result of snow, rain, wind and air temperature. These are the factors that stimulate jellyfish polyps to begin strobilation. With Moon jellyfish, it’s typically a rise in temperature.

Pacific coast Moon jellyfish live in 53 to 68 degree waters. By using a chiller unit, you can maintain the colder temperature water and

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Figure #4

Nickel size juvenile jellyfish in comparison to size of Ephyra.

Image by Jim Stime, Jr.

One of the author’s Ephyra systems. Image by Jim Stime, Jr.

then by allowing the temperature to rise, sometimes just two degrees, you can encourage the polyps to begin to strobilate or bud off Ephyra.

Up to this point, a simple tank or glass jar with a slow flow of water through it could hold your polyps. But, from this point onwards these small jellies, Ephyra, are in need of a flow or current that keeps them constantly suspended.

This can be accomplished through the use of some slight aeration or a tank designed specifically to rotate or keep its inhabitants in suspension. If allowed to settle, Ephyra will quickly become deformed or perish as a result of starvation.

The key to an Ephyra tank, or any jellyfish tank design, is to create a means where the water enters and exits the tank, as well as, suspends its inhabitants weightlessly within the center, all without being visually obvious and without damaging the soft gelatinous bodies of its jellyfish inhabitants. There are quite a few designs on the internet. I understand the one using a drum shaped fish bowl submerged within a larger tank is quite successful. This same style tank is also used by seahorse breeders.

Ephyra recently detached or budded off. Image by Jim Stime, Jr.

Dime size juvenile jellyfish beginning to develop oral arms.

Image by Jim Stime, Jr.

At first, Ephyra resemble small snowflakes. Within a few weeks, they go through a slight metamorphosis. First is the development of what appears to be a tail extending from the underside, which will develop into the four trailing oral arms. These oral arms will pull the food up into the jellyfish’s body cavity.

Next, the radial arms that have formed the branches of the snowflake now begin to fill in with solid tissue and develop into the more commonly seen bell or disc shape ( SEE FIGURE #4 ).

From day one, both the polyps and Ephyra are fed freshly hatched baby brine shrimp, enriched in some manner. Feedings take place two to three times a day depending on how fast you want them to grow. Growth rates vary considerably. Some grow at an accelerated rate and become two inches in diameter within 60 days while others grow at a slower pace, some taking 120 days to become saleable size Moon jellyfish.

Juvenile jellyfish.

Images by Jim Stime, Jr.

OFF TOPIC – JELLYFISH

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Desi g n e d for Fishkeepers

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The anodized gloss and matte black aluminum finish compliments any aquarium.

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Included adjustable-width Aquarium Frame Mounts support fixture above the aquarium.

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Suspension Ports allow connection to optional cables for various mounting configurations.

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As with most live foods, you can increase baby brine shrimps’ nutritional value by adding various vitamins, algae or enrichment concentrates. I understand the advantages of doing so but as with my first few attempts at growing brine shrimp, there is a learning curve. It does not take much to overwhelm the tiny shrimps. An extra drop or two of the preferred enrichment media will wipe out an entire batch of freshly hatched baby brine shrimp.

As these jellies become larger, 4 inches or more, it may become beneficial to begin feeding a wider range of foods. In the wild, Moon jellies do not see their food; they simply bump into it. Anything that they can snare or hang on to they will attempt to bring into their digestive cavities. This obviously would include larger food items such as copepods, shrimps and some small fishes. At this time within the hobby, the most

The author’s brine shrimp hatchery.

Image by Jim Stime, Jr.

frequently fed foods are brine shrimp, freshly hatched and sub-adult, as well as large size frozen copepods. I much prefer the live food as it stays in suspension where the jellies can continue to feed upon it. The frozen or non-animated foods quickly settle to the bottom of the tank where the jellies do not feed. This un-utilized food can build up quickly and will need to be siphoned out of the culture vessel in order to maintain high water quality. This becomes a challenge when the tank is full of Ephyra or small jellies.

Once you have developed a saleable sized jellyfish, aside from generating the sale itself, it needs to be transported. Jellyfish are packed similarly to fish by placing the jelly in a sealed plastic bag. With fish, one would use a net whereas with jellyfish, you must use a container that will allow you to scoop up the entire jellyfish so that it is completely suspended or supported within the water. Never use a net. There is one other significant difference: the transport or shipping bag must not contain air. Any air in the bag will, as a result of splashing, become trapped under the bell of the jellyfish causing a buoyancy problem.

Additionally, the jellyfish will ingest some of this air, which could become lodged within its digestive cavities. This creates further issues as the bubble works its way through the bell to escape, causing a hole in the bell.

I will close with one last short story. I recall hearing the old-timers telling their tales of being back in the Great Depression. To further explore their interest in the aquatic hobby, they bred and grew betas and guppies in pickle jars. Some sold their batches of fishes to the local Woolworths, and some traded for other fishes. As we work through this economic crisis, situations and opportunities arise. There is a new market developing in the marine aquarium hobby. It is a new frontier, and it needs livestock.

If you want more information, here are two very good sources: (1) a scientific article called Collection and Culture Techniques for Gelatinous Zooplankton by Kevin Raskof, Freya Sommer, William Hamner and Katrina Cross, and (2) How To Keep Jellyfish In Aquariums, by Chad Widmer.

Both provide details of the processes, systems and techniques needed to maintain, manage and produce jellyfish.

A saleable size jellyfish. Image by Jim Stime, Jr.

OFF TOPIC – JELLYFISH

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OPINION

Passion in the Local Fish Store Article, Image & Aquarium By Robin Bittner

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he other afternoon while waiting in line at the checkout of a local fish store, I observed an interesting exchange between two other parties, also waiting in line. The experience itself was nothing remarkable – perhaps other than the very good news for the store of having a line of customers in these tough economic times, even with two cashiers! However, it got me thinking about the hobby and why those of us who enjoy our boxes of water remain passionate about the hobby. I suppose the word “passion” really describes the essential element that keeps us interested, and while some have spent years developing their passion, others are just in the formative stages of theirs.

In the particular exchange I observed, a mother with a stroller and baby was standing by the counter, and she in turn was observing two teenage boys who were waiting in line behind her. Given that aquarists are generally a congenial lot, I wasn’t overly surprised that she struck up a conversation with the boys, even if the social norm these days in our part of the country is to be reserved with most everyone keeping to their own business. As the two boys were debating the merits of some rigid tubing, she looked over at them and inserted herself in the conversation by asking how many tanks they have, a common “hey, how’s it going” way to introduce oneself in a fish store. They replied that they each had one, and she then smiled (perhaps remembering when she first entered the hobby) and commented that she and her husband have “a lot of tanks, a lot”. This of course piqued the interest of the bystanders in line since this is somewhat akin to weightlifters in a gym flexing their muscles, but in a less competitive way. However, I was a bit taken aback when she revealed that they had 13 tanks, which by any account is a lot to care for unless those “tanks” were merely betta bowls on a wall display!

Clearly the woman and her husband have a great passion for the hobby, since anyone who has aquariums and children and aims to do an adequate job with both knows the time and effort required.

However, if there is passion, then the cleaning of tanks and other mundane chores take on less of a burdensome feel and become part of what we “just have to do” in order to reap the joys of the hobby. In the case of the 2 boys, their journey of developing a passion is just in the early stages we all went through. Remember when the gadgets and tools and additives and décor (not to mention the livestock) had a somewhat confusing allure that drew us deeper into the hobby? Fortunately the myriad of aquatic suppliers have developed a seemingly endless supply of new “toys and tonics”, so

although some of us may have left the world of undergravel filters and incandescent hoods long ago, there is an ever-changing array of metal halide bulbs and LED lighting – or the latest skimmer design with multiple injection and recirculation schemes – to seduce us.

This continuing evolution in the sophistication of the hobby is what keeps those on the frontiers of aquarium keeping pushing forward, fueled by their passion to always challenge the status quo and do something new. These aquarists are the ones who discovered how to maintain fragile plants in mixed freshwater biotopes, or began understanding the needs of fragile marine organisms such as SPS corals which have become a mainstay of the saltwater sector of the hobby.

For those of us who have been around the hobby for more time than seems possible (decades, to be honest), the evolution of technology and the broadened availability of organisms has truly been nothing less than astounding. Passion on both the part of those who make the tools of the trade and those who use them has enabled us to become better caretakers of the plants and animals that we care for. Our skill with replicating the natural environment has even enabled us to captively propagate organisms that a few short years ago were considered impossible to keep. All of these efforts have contributed to retaining the freshness of the hobby and offer “old timers” something new to capture their imagination and attention.

Going back to the scene in the fish store, it occurred to me that while both the busy mother and the teenage boys had, albeit at different levels, passion, it was the sharing of this passion that was the key.

Despite our challenging economic times, both groups came to their local store to pursue their passion, and their chance interaction left both of them more enthused than when they arrived. This small event also demonstrated an important responsibility that we all must keep in mind – the encouragement of new hobbyists both young and “less young” will ensure the continuation of something we all share a passion for, and that “newbie” that you take a moment to encourage at the LFS or a local club may very well be led by their passion to make the next great stride in husbandry or hardware that will continue to move us all forward. So next time you see someone standing in line looking at their intended purchase or perhaps pondering which fish or plant to purchase, take a moment to smile and say hello. At worst you’ll be nothing more than friendly, and at best you’ll help to continue spreading the passion for the hobby we love.

OPINION

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CORAL

The

Superman chalice

By Lou Schiavo

Image by Jacob Larsen.

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chinophyllia corals, also known as chalice corals, are undeniably some of the most colorful corals available. Because of this, they are some of the most popular and sought after corals among collectors. These colorful corals are commonly found in the South Pacific and exported mainly from Fiji, Tonga, the Solomon Islands and Australia. They typically grow in a flat, plating fashion and have a disc-shaped surface covered with small bumps. In some instances, these corals may also exhibit encrusting growth as well. Echinophyllia corals usually have many individual corallites in which various colors may occur. In rare cases, the mouths of the corallites may exhibit multiple colors themselves. To date, Echinophyllia corals have been found in almost every color of the rainbow.

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This “Creamsicle” Echinophyllia is an example of plating growth.

Image by Jacob Larsen.

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Collecting chalice corals, for some hobbyists, has become an obsession. Many of us scour our local fish stores and our favorite websites weekly, even daily, looking for the next “cherry” chalice to add to our aquariums. If this describes you, you are not alone. All too often, we think we’ve seen the nicest chalice until someone posts a picture of an even more colorful chalice on one of the many reef related forums or websites.

This brings us to the “Limited Edition” Superman Chalice. Coined by Steve Tyree, the name Superman Chalice was given for the color combination this coral exhibits.

The base color of this chalice is a striking blue with the corallites’ eyes being bright reddish-orange, which just happens to be the same color combination as everyone’s favorite superhero, Superman. Around the corallites, the coral exhibits yellowishgold bumps. Because of this contrasting color combination, the Superman Chalice is definitely one of the rarest and more sought after chalice corals available to collectors and hobbyists today.

The value of lineage for these types of collector corals has been a much-debated topic amongst collectors and hobbyists. Lineage is, in some ways, like having a pedigree for your dog. Many people would spend more money for a purebred dog that has a pedigree with a champion bloodline than they would for a dog with unknown bloodline origins. Similar distinctions are made for collector corals in our hobby.

The “Limited Edition” Superman Chalice was discovered by Victor Fornari of World Wide Corals in Orlando, Florida. Victor acquired this chalice when he was visiting a store in Tampa, Florida called The Coral Corral. Eventually, Jose Casas of Fullerton, California received the first frag of the Superman Chalice and passed along a frag to Steve Tyree. After evaluating this chalice, Steve Tyree designated it a “Limited Edition Echinophyllia” on his website Reeffarmers.com in December of 2008, helping to catapult this coral’s popularity and exposure.

This “Megamonster” Echinophyllia is exhibiting encrusting growth.

Image by Jacob Larsen.

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A close-up of a Superman Chalice. Image by Jacob Larsen.

CORAL

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Overall, care of this chalice coral can be quite simple if basic guidelines are followed. We suggest horizontal placement in areas of low to medium light and water current, though most chalices can adapt to different amounts of lighting. They will do great in the sand, as well as on a rock structure if placed securely. When positioning a chalice coral on a rock structure, we find it best to secure chalice type corals to permanent structures in the tank with a reef safe epoxy so the coral will not be knocked down or blown over. We find chalice corals to grow and color up fastest when kept in a location where they will be undisturbed.

This Superman Chalice frag is nearly healed. Image by Chris Thomas.

Radioactive Pink Watermelon Coral. Image by Jacob Larsen.

Chalice corals feed most commonly at night. Though supplemental feeding is not necessary, chalice corals do benefit from small pieces of meaty foods such as mysis shrimp. They also seem to benefit from regular calcium supplementation. Appropriate food sources and supplements can be found at most local fish stores.

Chalices are semi-aggressive and can produce sweeper tentacles that can harm other corals. The temperature range should be kept between 76-80 degrees. Temperature stability is quite important, as is stability of all measureable tank parameters.

Chalice corals, like most corals, are very resilient when it comes to fragging. We have achieved the best results using a Dremel tool with a large diamond cut off blade to shear through the hard skeleton from the back first. We recommend finishing up the cut with a sharp new razor to cut through the soft, fleshy layer of the coral. You can attach the frag to a reef plug or a small piece of rubble rock using Super Glue Gel for a tight bond. After cutting, place the new frag in a small bin of tank water and use a turkey baster to blow water on the frag to remove any mucal slime left over from the fragging.

When placing the new frag back into your system, remember to keep it in a moderate water flow zone and in a moderately lit area for a few days before relocating it to a permanent area in the tank. If done correctly, the coral will begin to heal up within a few days and should be completely healed within 2-3 weeks of being fragged.

Chalice collecting has reached an all time high in popularity amongst hobbyists. This is mainly due to their variety of dramatic color combinations and ease of care and propagation. Initially, it was the Watermelon Chalices that first gained major popularity.

Soon after, the Reverse Watermelon Chalices were introduced and now, Superman Chalices are the newest corals to be added to the list of “must haves” for chalice collectors.

These are the best times to be a hobbyist. Just think back to the early 1990’s when the pioneers were just mastering the art of growing stony corals. I wonder if they ever imagined that 15-20 years later, we’d be capable of not only keeping all these amazing corals alive, but flourishing in captivity. Technology has definitely played a large part in the reef hobby and has helped us come a long way. It’s exciting to think about what types of corals and color combinations we will see in captivity in the next 5 to 10 years.

MyMiami Hurricane Reverse Watermelon Coral. Image by Jacob Larsen.

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TIPS & TRICKS

Fragging Along The Dotted Line Article and Images By Jake Adams

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onsidering that there are innumerable discussions of how to cut corals, it seems strange to me that there is so little discussion about where to cut corals. Cutting corals in the right place is crucial for ensuring that a coral is cut easily, with minimal damage to the animal and with as little effect on the coral’s final appearance as possible. The steps involved with cutting along the dotted line include classifying the shape of your coral and its weak points, taking inventory of what tools you have available and determining why you want or need to cut a particular coral in the first place.

Corals grow in a wide range of shapes with great variability of form occurring even within the same coral species. Without generalizing too much, we can say that the most common coral shapes include plates, mounds, encrustations and branches. These basic coral shapes all require different tools and techniques to optimize fragging success.

Plating corals, which grow in a single plane, include disc and chalice corals and certain species of Acropora and Montipora. Disc corals have hard skeletons, which must be cut with a Dremel tool using a cutting wheel or a band saw. Montipora and Echinopora species have fragile skeletons that must be fragged in the right place to prevent fracture in unintended directions and locations.

Echinopora forms a mostly continuous perimeter with few dotted lines and this species is best fragged by cutting with a thin saw or Dremel wheel. Foliose Montipora forms multiple long tiers that can usually be snapped by hand or small cutters at the point where they grow away from the colony. Places where frags are taken close to the colony will be mostly unnoticeable after just a few days.

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A large, mature colony of scrolling Montipora offers many sites where frags may be taken without affecting the colony’s long term appearance.

Massive corals which form mounds include Faviid or moon corals, Acanthastrea and Micromussa. Cutting these specimens is usually no different from cutting into limestone rock. A tile saw is an appropriate tool for fragging these corals. Propagating massive corals can be made easier by looking for weak points underneath the coral colony. Although these corals will not be harmed by fragging through a corallite, frags which include mostly whole polyps make for much more attractive new colonies. Some species of Montipora form thick massive tiers, which are very difficult to break with cutters. These specimens have a thick but soft skeleton that is easily cut with a drywall knife or a small hacksaw, or other tools, which allow for more precise and difficult cuts.

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Encrusting corals that grow over the available substrate include Zoanthids, Montipora, Cyphastrea, other Faviids and a whole range of soft coral polyps including Anthelia and Xenia. Propagating corals which have encrusted on a live rock surface is similar to propagating massive corals except there will be more numerous natural weak points in the rock. The weak points of a rock that has been encrusted make great dotted lines and they make it easier to break the rock. A hammer and chisel can be used in this application. In some cases the natural ďŹ ssure may not be conducive to preserving the colony appearance or it may not be the size of frag that the aquarist intends to make. In this case, try a series of thinner chisels or even screwdrivers to obtain the desired cut.

Branching corals that grow in all dimensions include a wide range of SPS corals such as Acropora, Montipora, Hydnophora and Seriatopora and a broad diversity of soft corals such as Sinularia, Cespitularia and Gorgonians. All of the corals in this group are among the easiest to fragment and propagate. Branching soft corals should be cut with a sharp pair of scissors or a razor and most branching stony corals may be cut or snapped with sharp cutters. In cases where a stony coral branch is too thick to easily snap, the cut should be made using a small hacksaw blade or other, similarly small toothed, serrated edge.

Choosing the cut line on faviids can be very straightforward.

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A poorly located frag cut left an indentation in the perimeter of this Acropora plana.

TIPS & TRICKS

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The final step in cutting along the dotted line is determining your reason for cutting a particular coral. Naturally, you would cut a colony that is in recession differently from a colony that you want to use for producing frags. Furthermore, a colony, which is strictly for brood stock, may be cut quite differently from one that is in a display situation. In the case of a coral with receding tissue, the place to frag will be a comfortable distance from the line of tissue recession. The distance from the line of recession to the cut will vary. If the recession is particularly slow and ‘benign’, or if the cut is being made preventatively due to mechanical injury, the cut can be made relatively close to the recession line. If the recession is progressing aggressively and it is potentially virulent, it is advised to cut further away from the recession line in order to ensure that the affected tissue has been isolated from the healthy tissue.

The placement of the coral cut will depend on whether you are looking for the ‘low-hanging-fruit’ frags which will be easiest to cut or whether the aquarist is looking for the place to cut that will be least visible in the aquarium display. If a coral is being cut to produce frags for sale or trade, there will be more discretion as to where cuts can be made on the colony. In the case of a brood stock colony, which is used strictly for producing more coral, the main goal is to make cuts that will maximize future growth. Most arborescent corals produce the most new coral tissue from the perimeter. Until the coral has grown to an adequate diameter, try to limit making frags from the perimeter while making more cuts at the interior of the colony. When properly executed, taking branches from the interior of a colony can decrease the density of branches which allows for more water flow and more growth to the colony overall.

When taking frags from a coral in a display situation, the name of the game is to take cuttings from a part of the colony that is least visible.

It is an art form to cut numerous coral frags from a mother colony without being able to see a single point where the cuts were made.

In most cases, there is an inverse relationship between the ease of making a cut to a display coral and how visible that cut will be in the short and long term. This relationship means that branches on the front of a colony are the easiest to get because they are easily visible. A little time spent looking at a coral from unusual angles will reveal breaking points that will yield the desired size frags but remain mostly out of sight. Be it a soft or stony coral, arborescent coral colonies at some point develop lowly small branches around the base, which are perfect for propagating without affecting the integrity of the entire colony. Looking at a coral colony from the top of the aquarium is the best way to spot strong healthy branches that are ideally suited for fragging but still invisible to the general view of the display aquarium.

There once was a time when people fragged their coral primarily for propagation purposes. As reef keepers have become increasingly successful at growing coral in aquaria, we have learned to groom our corals for a variety of reasons. In addition to propagation, a coral may need to be cut to make it smaller, to reduce aquarium

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crowding or simply to prune a coral for aesthetics. The shape of a coral colony will generally feature multiple weak points or “dotted lines” which are more or less desirable as fragging sites depending on the purpose for cutting the coral. Whether an aquarist is looking for the part of the coral that will facilitate breakage, make the most fragments or facilitate a discreet cut, being able to find and cut along the dotted lines of a coral’s shape will yield a maximum of result with a minimum of effort.

Fleshy LPS, such as this rare Symphyllia wilsoni, can be difficult to frag cleanly.

The projecting lobe on this Goniopora colony is the perfect place to take a frag to minimize damage to the parent colony’s appearance.

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