Reef Hobbyist Magazine Q4 2008

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FOURTH QUARTER 2008 | Volume 2

THE BUBBLE GUM MONSTER!

CLEANING CORAL WITH A WATERPIK

D E S I G N E R C LOW N F I S H

BREEDING

BANGGAI CARDINALFISH

ADVANCED ZOA FRAGGING

visit us online @ www.reefhobbyistmagazine.com

Features

a

Fourth Quarter 2008 | Volume 2

RHM Staff President

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Breeding Banggai Cardinalfish: Richard Ross is an aquatic biologist at the Steinhart Aquarium, California Academy of Sciences.

Matt Pedersen is a co-founder of MOFIB (Marine Ornamental Fish & Invertebrate Breeders Association). Richard and Matt describe the process of breeding the Banggai Cardinalfish.

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Advanced Zoanthid Fragging: Jeremy “Who Dah?” Hale is a California based aquarist who started ZoaID.com which recently became Coralpedia.com. In this article, Jeremy shares an in-depth look at fragging zoanthids with a scalpel.

Included are detailed step by step pictures and instructions from start to finish.

Image by Richard Ross.

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Designer Clownfish: Robin Bittner is a professional clownfish breeder in Northern California. Robin discusses two of the more popular designer clownfish: Onyx and Picasso. Included are interviews with designer clownfish specialists Morgan Lidster and Vince Rado.

Image by Jake Adams.

25 The Waterpik – A Miniature Pressure Washer For Your Reef: Jake Adams is a professional aquarist and has been an active participant in the national marine aquarium community for over 10 years.

Jake is also the founder of Coralidea.com which provides a free downloadable guide to corals and fish for mobile devices and home computers. Jake introduces us to an off-label use of the Waterpik: coral cleaning.

Image by Jake Adams.

On The Cover

Harry Tung

Executive Editor Jim Adelberg

Art Director Tamara Sue

Graphics

David Tran

Advertising The A-Team

Special Thanks Greg Rothschild

www.gregrothschild.com

Gresham Hendee Reef2Reef.com Reeferscafe.com Richard Ross World Wide Corals Zoaid.com

Tell us what you think: comments@rhmag.com Copyright© 2008 Reef Hobbyist Magazine.

All rights reserved.

Come visit us online at www.reefhobbyistmagazine.com And see what we have to offer you!

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• • • • •

The Bubble Gum Monster!

Lou Schiavo is one of the owners of World Wide Corals in Orlando, FL. In this article, Lou writes about how WWC discovered the beautiful Bubble Gum Monster Chalice that is now highly sought after amongst rare coral collectors. Image by Jacob Larsen.

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CORAL

REVERSE WATERMELON

CORALS

The Bubble Gum Monster Chalice

By Lou Schiavo IMAGE BY JACOB LARSEN

R

everse Watermelon Corals, first popularized in the hobby by the Mummy Eye Chalice and the Miami Hurricane/ Pumpkin Patch Chalice, have earned a colorful reputation amongst coral enthusiasts. It’s no surprise that the Bubble Gum Monster Chalice, one of the latest Reverse Watermelon Chalice Corals, is also gaining popularity quickly. The Bubble Gum Monster Chalice is an incredibly colorful coral. This chalice morph has bubble gum pink corallites with spots of bright pink and orange. The base of the coral is covered with large, bright green bumps/tuberculae with a turquoise hue beneath. At first glance, some people confuse this coral with the Mummy Eye Chalice, but the Bubble Gum Monster has less dense tuberculae and a lot more turquoise color in the base.

You can see a comparison shot of the two corals next to each other on the right. Although similar, each coral has some very distinctive features that make it a “must have” for chalice collectors.

A picture of a Mummy Eye Chalice by Jose Casas.

HISTORY The Bubble Gum Monster Chalice had already been growing in captivity for a few years when World Wide Corals in Orlando, Florida acquired it. One evening after closing the store, I received an e-mail from a hobbyist in Tampa, Florida. He stated in his e-mail that he wanted to sell his entire collection of corals and fish and included some pictures and prices. We were constantly receiving emails from hobbyists wanting to sell their corals and fish for one reason or another. In this case, the hobbyist was moving across the country and, with his new job, no longer had the time to maintain a reef tank.

What made this email different from most is that the corals and fish appeared super healthy and the colors were bright and vibrant. An orange Australian Acanthastrea hillae was the first coral to catch my eye, so I grabbed my partner Victor Fornari to show him the e-mail.

As we scrolled through the pictures, we came across a photo of the Bubble Gum Monster and Victor almost fainted. Unfortunately, the picture was labeled “sale pending”. At that time, Victor had been in the hobby for over 8 1⁄2 years and was responsible for the maintenance of thousands of gallons of reef tanks. He had undoubtedly developed an eye for “cherry” corals. Victor stated that he had never seen a coral as nice as this and said to me, “Call him up, we’ll drive to Tampa with cash in hand right now.” Victor told me that we must not lose this coral because we may never see one like this again. He would not take no for an answer. When we arrived, it was not easy getting the hobbyist to part with this chalice. But, after much negotiation, he finally agreed to sell it to us. That night, as we were driving back to Orlando, we knew we had found a very

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A picture of a Bubble Gum Monster Chalice by Jacob Larsen.

special coral, but didn’t realize how important the find actually was.

Needless to say, we did not get much sleep that night. The feeling we both had was like that of waking up on Christmas morning and seeing that Santa had left everything we asked for under the tree!

Shortly after placing the coral in our tank, we posted a picture on Reef Central. In less than five minutes, we had a dozen private messages from people wanting a frag. Jose Casas of Fullerton, California was one of the Reef Central members that sent us a private message along with his phone number. Victor called him and after talking, both

CAPTIVE CARE

A Bubble Gum Monster Chalice in the lower center of the aquarium. Image by Jacob Larsen.

agreed that this coral was special and could possibly be a Steve Tyree Limited Edition.

First, they had to name the coral. They thought about what name best represented this coral’s coloration, and came up with Bubble Gum for the corallite color and Monster for the base color. Then, we proceeded to cut two large frags - one for Jose and one for Steve Tyree.

In February 2008, Victor flew out to Los Angeles to meet Jose and attend the Southwestern Coral Farmers Market. It was his first trip to Los Angeles and besides the traffic, Victor felt right at home amongst the other farmers, store owners, and hobbyists that have made LA the epicenter of the universe for reef keeping. This event is where Jose auctioned the first 1⁄2 inch by 1⁄2 inch frag for $200. The coral was classified as a Super Exotic Echinophyllia. Soon after the Southwestern Coral Farmers Market, Steve Tyree designated the Bubble Gum Monster Chalice an “Echinophyllia/Oxpora Limited Edition”.

World Wide Corals has been maintaining the parent colony in a 180-gallon bare bottom system.

It is kept in a medium to high flow area near the bottom of the tank. The lighting consists of a combination of 3 X 250w Reeflux 12,000 K Metal Halides, 2 X 96 watt 460nm PC’s, and 44 460nm Powerbrite LEDS, both made by Current. The coral has shown excellent growth and has maintained outstanding coloration since being acquired. The Bubble Gum Monster is a fast growing chalice in captive culture. We have also found that the best way to frag it is to use a Dremel Rotary Tool with a large diamond blade attachment. The Dremel’s large diamond blade gives a clean and precise cut.

As the Bubble Gum Monster heals, it develops a very distinctive outer edge.

To say that over the past few years, the hobby of rare chalice collecting/ farming has grown by leaps and bounds is an understatement. Since Steve Tyree’s Original Watermelon Chalice started to gain popularity, the demand for these types of corals has reached an astronomical level. The recent introductions of the Reverse Watermelon Chalice corals adds colors and shapes previously unavailable to hobbyists and it’s exciting to imagine what we may see next.

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5

FISH

BREEDING THE

BANGGAI

CARDINALFISH It’s so easy,

anyone can do it!

By Richard Ross and Matt Pedersen

IMAGE BY RICHARD ROSS

B

anggai Cardinals (Pterapogon kauderni) are beautiful, peaceful fish. Their large, seemingly expressive eyes are hypnotic. And their dramatic finnage, bold black stripes, and white dots over a silver background make them a stunning addition to any aquarium. They are also one of the only marine fish that is considered easy to breed and rear in the home aquarium. So much so that they have been called “The Guppy of Marine Fish Breeding” and were the focus of this year’s easy category in the Marine Ornamental Fish & Invert Breeders Association annual breeder’s challenge.

Breeding animals at home is always rewarding, but Banggais are a special case. Banggais often ship very poorly, resulting in a lot of deaths for recently imported animals. Each wild-caught fish offered for sale can represent several that died en route. Strong hobbyist demand for the Banggai Cardinalfish has led to their over-collection. According to some estimates, nearly half of the wild population may be harvested for the aquarium trade in 2008 alone. Unfortunately, and unlike most marine fish, Banggai Cardinalfish produce relatively few offspring over the course of their lives, so over-collecting can dramatically impact their wild

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populations. In fact, Banggai Cardinalfish were listed on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List as an endangered species in 2007. This listing resulted largely from the work and research of Dr. Alejandro Vagelli, a Banggai Cardinalfish researcher and advocate. Dr. Vagelli frequently travels to the Banggai Islands to conduct census surveys and monitor the population status of Banggai Cardinalfish.

If you take nothing else away from this article, we hope that anyone interested in keeping Banggai Cardinalfish will ask their local store to help them seek out captive-bred specimens (when available) although they may not be the least expensive option at the time of purchase. Any extra up-front expense is quickly offset because captive bred Banggais are more successful than wild specimens at adapting to aquarium conditions. More importantly, every captive bred Banggai produced and purchased means not one fish, but several fish, can be left on the reef to help prevent the extinction of this treasured species. Best of all, for the new marine breeder, the Banggai Cardinalfish represents an ideal point of entry into marine fish breeding, and a great way to obtain your first success.

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Banggai Cardinalfish are naturally found around Banggai Archipelago, as well as the Lembeh Strait off Sulawesi, Indonesia.

It seems these fish were introduced to the Lembeh Strait between 2000 and 2002, perhaps for commercial purposes. In nature, Banggai Cardinals commonly occur in pairs or small groups and are often found amongst sea urchin spines, presumably for protection. They are also found hosting in sea anemones, sharing the anemone with one or more clownfish.

Banggai Cardinalfish are one of only a handful of marine fish species that feature direct development of their offspring, meaning there is no pelagic or planktonic larval phase during the early life of a baby Banggai. This makes them incredibly easy to raise.

Male Banggais carry fertilized eggs to term in their mouths, and the babies are released as fully formed miniatures of the adults.

Newly released babies are immediately ready to eat small foods that are relatively easy to produce.

Based on the notion that most Cardinalfish species naturally form large schools, many people will make the mistake of purchasing a group of adult Banggai Cardinalfish to school in their aquarium.

Sadly, this is typically a recipe for disaster. Once the group settles in, a pair forms, and in short order the pair attempts to eliminate all the others. Only in larger aquariums, 100 gallons or more, may the keeping of multiple pairs be possible (and even then it is risky).

While juveniles will school, once they start to sexually mature, individuals will become aggressive to the point of murdering conspecifics, so it’s best to keep Banggai Cardinalfish in pairs.

Banggais may be ready to breed as early as 4 months of age for males, with most becoming mature somewhere between 6 months to 1 year. It is useful to note that Banggai pairs are nonmonogamous so it is possible to keep two males in separate tanks, rotating the “bachelor” in with the female when the brooding male is isolated.

Male Banggai Cardinalfish reorganizing the eggs in his mouth. Note the swollen mouth and gills indicative of a brooding male. Image

by Matt Pederson.

8/20/08

11:31 AM

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For people with limited space, the best method for obtaining a pair is to simply purchase a compatible pair from a reputable source.

They are available, but it may take some persistence and patience to acquire a breeding pair.

If you cannot find a pair, don’t despair. Though some claim differently, there is no proven sexual dichromatism or dimorphism to reliably distinguish males from females. However, sexes can usually be identified by observing the fishes’ behavior.

The most effective manner to sex Banggai Cardinalfish is to “test” them against fish of known gender. When placing a banggai with another of the same sex there is typically a relatively quick fight reaction. If they ignore each other, or hang out together, then the odds are good that they are of different sex and can be paired for breeding.

Many aquarium stores house Banggai Cardinalfish in groups while on display for retail sale. If the fish are mature and healthy, it is possible to observe the group and make a good guess as to the sex of an individual. The ‘ringleader’ of the group should be the female. In extreme cases, she may dominate a large portion of the aquarium with all the other fish occupying the left over space.

Watch which fish the ‘ringleader’ chases, and pay special attention to those that she doesn’t chase. There is a good chance that any fish being allowed to routinely remain in the ‘ringleader’s’ vicinity is likely a male. Ask the LFS to catch the suspected male first, as it will be easier to find the ‘ringleader’ female again after the fish calm back down.

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Although it is possible to breed this fish in a ‘community’ tank, to maximize reproductive activity, pairs should be kept in isolated quarters. A young pair can successfully be kept in as small as an 18-gallon tank with moderate to high flow. They often tend to prefer to have some macro algae to hide under, so floating a ball of chaetomorpha may be helpful. Put the tank in a low traffic area if at all possible.

It may also be possible to isolate the pair within an existing reef set up. Sumps and refugiums are often underutilized as areas to keep fish, and they may be perfect areas to house a breeding pair of Banggai Cardinalfish. These areas often have an abundance of live foods and may be hidden away in stands, giving the happy couple the privacy that can help them get in the ‘mood’. Banggais are generally easy to feed, eating a wide variety of prepared foods including frozen mysis, brine shrimp and just about any chopped meaty food or small crustacean.

Banggai Cardinalfish, once established as a pair, prove to be willing and reliable spawners. They may spawn as frequently as every 30 days if given the opportunity, although there is evidence that females are capable of producing eggs as rapidly as every 2 weeks, faster than a single male can handle. After a year or two, this reproductive behavior can slow down dramatically – a fish at this age is likely past its natural life span and could be considered “old”, though Banggais can live up to 6 years in captivity.

Courtship starts in the afternoon and is initiated when the female swims parallel to the male, and begins to quiver rapidly. She will then drop behind the male and quiver rapidly along his other side.

This back and forth vibrating dance may occur on the day of, or the days preceeding spawning. The courtship dance in itself does not mean the fish will mate on that day, only that the fish are getting ready to mate. Interestingly, the courtship dance may even continue in the hours immediately after spawning.

Banggai eggs in a home made ‘egg tumbler’ at 14 days of development. A simple egg tumbler can be made from a glass and an aqua lifter pump to keep the eggs tumbling. Image by Matt Pederson.

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Banggai Cardinalfish are paternal mouth brooders, meaning the male keeps and incubates the eggs in his mouth as they develop.

During spawning, the transfer of eggs from the female into the male’s mouth takes only seconds, so it may not actually be seen.

Confirming a spawn, however, is very easy because its effects are quite obvious. The male’s mouth and the area behind and below the gill plate become distended (giving him the appearance of a fat mouth), and he will also refuse to eat any food. The female may “guard” the male following spawning typically for at least a couple days.

Make sure to note the date of the spawn, so you will have a good idea of when to expect the baby fish to leave the safety of the male’s mouth. This is especially important because the male can actually eat the babies once they hatch.

Incubation will typically last between 21 and 25 days, during which time the male will continue to refuse to eat. Many breeders will isolate the male completely during incubation. Some isolate him after the first few days after spawning, some starting around day 15 and some don’t isolate the male at all, preferring to strip (more on this below) the babies just before he would normally spit them out.

Extreme care must be taken when moving a brooding male as the stress of moving him may cause him to spit out the eggs or babies before they are mature. A clear plastic bag, deli container or plastic cup rather than a net should be used to catch and move the male to the ‘nursery’. A refugium makes a particularly good nursery as it is filled with good potential first foods for newly hatched Banggai Cardinalfish.

As fry release becomes imminent you will begin to see the fry’s eyes or fins popping up above the lip of the father’s open mouth – a very exciting and satisfying experience. Some breeders will put the male into a freshwater livebearer breeding box for the release.

These breeder boxes can be obtained from your local aquarium store. Once the fry emerge, they will swim down through the slats in the box into the nursery tank while the father remains trapped in the box, unable to eat the newborns. Some breeders will allow the release of fry to occur naturally, while providing cover, often in the form of a fake or real sea urchin, where the babies can hide from predators. Other breeders ‘strip’ the babies from the mouth of the males as soon as they are observed peeking out in order to remove any possibility of the father eating the fry.

Stripping sounds scarier than it really is. Usually, all it takes to get the male to spit the fry is netting, or touching him with your finger. If netting or touching is unsuccessful, gently hold the male in wet hands; gently pry his mouth open with your fingernail, or the round end of a paperclip like a tongue depressor. Dunk the male head first into a container of tank water, and then pull him backwards, up and out of the water. The water should back-flush through his gills and out his mouth, causing the fry to spill right out.

Make sure to open the mouth and look inside for any stragglers.

Afterward, make sure to return the male to the water face up, and open the mouth one last time to allow any air trapped inside his mouth to escape. After he calms down from this activity, make sure to feed him so he can begin to recover from all the time he didn’t eat while brooding.

Most pitfalls in the breeding process have to do with males refusing to hold eggs through to term. Stripping of the unhatched clutch, followed by artificial incubation with an egg tumbler, may be necessary for deadbeat dads. The most successful artificial incubation attempts seem to occur with eggs that have undergone a week or more of paternal incubation (for more information about artificial incubation see the MOFIB’s “Cardinalfish - Pterapogon” forum at www.marinebreeder.org).

There is a lot of speculation regarding why males will consume or spit their clutches prematurely. Common theories include excess stimulus (in the form of a crowded or small tank, or external movement by the breeder), and insufficient nutrition/ nourishment, especially in pairs that spawn repeatedly (remedied by providing the male some rest and relaxation following the breeding cycle before reintroducing him to the female, another reason why rotating two males is a good strategy).

A school of 22 day old Banggai fry taking refuge in an artificial sea urchin made from epoxy putty and black zip ties. Image by Matt Pederson.

Newly released Banggai Cardinalfish will eat immediately. Live baby Brine Shrimp (Artemia nauplii) are the reliable standard first food for newly hatched Banggai Cardinalfish, although there are some reports of success with non-live foods. Since hatching baby brine shrimp is easy and inexpensive, as well as fun, our suggestion is that it should be your first choice. If you can locate decapsulated brine shrimp eggs, they are by far the easiest to use, although any brine shrimp eggs will suffice. Other first foods or supplemental first foods may include any of the commercially available live copepods. Newly released juveniles should be fed a minimum of 3 times daily, with 5 feedings per day being suggested by Banggai breeding pioneer, Dr. Frank Marini.

Fry can be weaned onto other frozen foods of the appropriate size within 30 days, at which point growth rates will increase dramatically. Secondary foods include Cyclopeeze, Cyclops, Arctipods, Prawn Eggs, Brine Shrimp and Mysis Shrimp (shaved or grated into bite-sized pieces).

Feeding a wide variety of foods is always a good idea, and seems to develop healthy fish faster than a single feed diet.

Furthermore, fry fed solely on baby brine shrimp seem prone to Sudden Fright Syndrome (SFS). During a bout of SFS, the fry will start twitching uncontrollably, sink to the bottom and stop breathing. Sometimes they recover, sometimes they don’t.

Enriching the baby brine shrimp from the very first days with Fatty Acid Supplements (such as Selcon) is helpful in reducing SFS. Branching out to additional prepared / frozen foods as early as possible can also reduce the risk of SFS. SFS seems often to be brought on by an external stimulus like a sudden loud noise, or bumping the tank, so keeping the fry in a quiet, low traffic area of the house is recommended.

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Keeping and breeding the Banggai Cardinalfish can be fun and rewarding. It’s also easy, so if you have a fishless sump or a refugium, or an extra tank collecting dust, get to work!

For more information on keeping and breeding the Banggai Cardinalfish, check out the Marine Ornamental Fish & Invert Breeders Association (MOFIB) at www.marinebreeder.org.

Special thanks to Dr. Frank Marini for his input on this article.

A school of 25 day old Banggai fry taking refuge in an artificial sea urchin made from epoxy putty and black zip ties. Image by Matt Pederson.

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FRAGGING

ADVANCED ZOANTHID FRAGGING Written by Who Dah? Reprinted from Zoaid.com by permission of the author.

Contributions by mfinn, Jovreef, Reef Junkie, weatherson, Where Dah?, Mrs. Who Dah? A special thanks to Where Dah? and Mrs. Who Dah?, the shutterbugs for this article!

Let me first say, I’m no expert here...no official schooling or doctrines! Just sharing my experiences - so bear that in mind!

I

n this article, I’m going to talk about how I frag some of my zoas. There are easy techniques and there are difficult techniques - this will focus on the latter. The easy technique to frag a zoanthid is über simple: take a hammer and chisel to it! The problem with this is that your zoanthid rock gets smaller and smaller each time, and it’s not very precise. Sometimes, the rock won’t break the way you want it to either. The upside: quick, easy, and the zoas stay on the rock they are ‘used’ to.

I tend to use the advanced technique when the zoas are on a nice rock that I do not want to reduce in size.

But don’t get me wrong - I only use this advanced technique once every ten or so ‘fraggings’ due to its complexity, or at the very least, its time consumption.

The zoanthid mother colony prior to fragging, under 14K Phoenix DE with VHO Actinic.

Step 1: You ABSOLUTELY NEED protection! These guys can be extremely toxic! We’re talkin’ send you to the hospital toxic.

As of now, there is no ‘cure’ for zoanthid toxins (palytoxin) in the human body. You’ll be in pain, freaking out because your eye, mouth, arm, or hand is swollen. Please do not skip using appropriate protection. And all typical disclaimers apply: we cannot and do not take any responsibility for anything that can, will, or does go wrong if you attempt this at home. This is a demonstration only.

Having said all that - “What kind of protection are you talking about, Who Dah??” I’m glad you asked. I’m talking about a face shield and gloves. Here is what I use:

There are some other techniques out there as well but those are for another article! Now let’s begin our discussion of fragging zoanthids with a scalpel.

A major advantage to fragging with a scalpel is the opportunity to take frags from any point on the original zoa rock. I’ll cut out frags from the middle area of the mother colony, not just the edges. So you are asking, “But why, Who Dah? It’ll make your mother colony look weird!” Good point! However, by cutting frags out from the middle of our colony, we allow the polyps in the middle of the rock to spread out too! If we only cut from the edge, then only the ‘new edge’ polyps will have room to grow. By following this technique, we’ll have new growth on the edge and the middle!

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Necessary protection when fragging zoanthids — gloves and a face shield!

ReBornQtrPage.QXD:PhosBan Qtr Page.QXD

You’ll also see that I have plenty of towels available - and my other tools. All in all, you’ll need: • • • • • •

•

•

•

FACE SHIELD - Do it. Seriously. Do it. Wear the shield. Do it.

GLOVES – Again, do it!

Lots of ‘fish towels’ as my wife calls ‘em.

A small tub of your tank water that the frags will go in.

A small/medium tub of water large enough to hold your mother colony.

I prefer to use plugs to mount my zoas to so that they are easily traded, sold, and kept-upright. More specifically, I prefer Boston Aqua Farms plugs. They stay up in egg-crate real nifty like. I’ve toyed with GARF’s and they’re OK...but BAF has it goin’ on with the egg-crate plugs! Reasonably priced too.

Something to hold your frags upright - mostly if you are going to use plugs. I’ve made a little egg-crate stand to hold them upright temporarily.

Surgical tools - I got all of these at pretty good prices from Dr. Instruments. I use just about every tool they offer under that Aquatic Tool section in my tanks. For this technique, I use the forceps, scissors, solid scalpel, and their handle/blade scalpel handles. (All stainless steel of course.)

Super glue gel - be sure to get gel. I prefer the Loctite stuff in that it’s an easy to manage bottle. It’s a little pricier, but not by much.

The consensus is that any ‘CYANOACRYLATE’ based gel glue will work. Non-gel will come off real easily and there are several reports of fish eating a non-gel super glue blob! GARF sells some too, or that IC Gel stuff works as well.

8/20/08

11:51 AM

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Alrighty then, we’re ready to cut! Don’t forget to put

on that face shield and gloves! Grab your mother colony and get situated. Here’s mine in one of the tubs we talked about earlier.

A container of tank water to hold the mother colony and a second container to hold the frags.

The mother colony out of the tank in its holding container.

A scalpel (both solid and handle/blade combos), super glue gel, bone shears, forceps, scissors, towels, frag plugs, and an egg crate stand to hold the plugs. (All metal tools are stainless steel.)

Let your mother colony drip a little to get rid of that excess water, and we’re ready to go!

Oh, by the way...in this session, my mother colony was out of the water for about...ohh...30 minutes or so. No ill effects.

Not saying all zoas can do this, but most can. They’re hardy and frequently get exposed on the reefs for hours at a time during low tide!

The mother colony prior to the first cut.

Looking for a reef club in your area? Search online at www.reefhobbyistmagazine.com today!

13

OK

, now to the good stuff! This is when the sturdier one-piece scalpel becomes my tool of choice! Agitate the polyps so that they close up. Be prepared for them to squirt out at ya! But you have your gloves and face shield on, right? Once the polyps are closed, look for an obvious cut line where you can make your first incision. You can spread the zoas out a little with the backside of the scalpel (non-sharp side) and make a valley/channel where you can cut just the zoanthid mat, not the polyps. Avoid cutting the polyps as much as possible. Most of the time, you can avoid cutting any polyps. Firmly and without hesitation, make a clean cut in the mat where you want the frag to be, as seen in Figure 7.

Once your cut is made, carefully pry underneath the zoanthid mat.

The goal here is to not scrape the mat, but to scrape off a very thin layer of rock/surface-algae underneath the zoanthid. We’ll be gluing these down later, and the zoas are already attached to this thin layer of rock. Why not utilize that? If we can keep this thin layer of rock, we’ll be gluing ‘rock’ to our plugs, not ‘zoanthids’ to our plugs (see Figure 8)!

If you look closely in Figure 9, you’ll see exactly what I mean. The zoanthid mat has a very thin layer of rock/algae still stuck to it. It’s not 100% bare mat.

After your initial cut, you can peel back the mat and cut the mat to the frag shape you desire. In Figure 10, I’m peeling it back and cutting the mat to make about a 10-polyp frag. The quantity of polyps per frag is of course up to you. One theory is to make frags small and they’ll explode in immediate growth in a “flight or fight” manner. My frags in this demo will range from about 2 polyps up to about 15 or so.

Once I have a good group of frags detached from the mother colony rock, I place the mother colony rock back into the holding tub (as shown in Figure 11) - not back into the tank yet as I’m not done cutting frags. But, I want to get the frags that I already cut mounted before they sit out too long.

After fragging, this is how my mother colony ended up looking (see Figure 12). I cut away too many zoanthids in a couple of places. I

14

wanted to leave more ‘dots’ of them on the mother colony so they could spread easier. So, I simply glued a couple small frags back on to the mother colony! (More on gluing in a sec...) See how the mother colony now has room to grow both on the edge and in the middle of the rock? Admittedly, a full mother colony looks better in the tank than a splotchy one. But this rock will be fully recovered before you know it!

FIGURE 7: Using the handle/ blade scalpel combo to make a clean, firm, and non-hesitant cut on the mat separating the zoanthid polyps.

FIGURE 9: Rock/algae still attached to the zoanthid mat of the soon-tobe frag.

FIGURE 11: Placing the mother colony into its container as I glue frags to frag plugs.

FIGURE 8: Using the solid and stronger scalpel to pry underneath the zoanthid mat, scraping off a very fine layer of rock/algae still attached to the zoanthid mat.

FIGURE 10: Additional separation of mat and the rock leaving a fine layer of rock/algae still attached to the zoanthid.

FIGURE 12: A shot of the mother colony post fragging with a couple of ‘patches’ re-glued to the mother rock.

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OK

- so now that we have a ton of loose polyps with various polyp counts, let’s make our final frags! When cutting these polyps off the mother colony, some came out the perfect size, some too small, some too large. The perfect sized and too small frags will simply be glued to our frag plugs. However, let’s trim down some of those frags where the polyp count is too high. I prefer scissors if I can get them in between the polyps. It’s safer, a true cut, and easier. But sometimes you cannot get scissors in there to make a clean cut without damaging the polyps. In that case, the scalpel will aid in making the more difficult cuts. I’ll use the sharper scalpel this time as I do not want to place pressure on this cut and the sharper blade will make a cleaner cut.

Figure 13 shows a scalpel cut and Figure 14 shows a scissor cut.

Not much to it, just be sure to cut in between the polyps and not the polyps themselves!

FIGURE 13: Using the scalpel handle/blade combo to make a clean cut on the mat to separate polyps.

The general consensus is that you want to use as little super glue as possible (see Figure 15). This does create a risk of frags “blowing away” in the current, but for best growth, as little glue as possible is better. The idea is that the zoa growth will be much greater on the points of contact with the rock/plug than on the super glue. Here, I’m applying glue (again, I typically use a greater amount) to a frag plug in preparation for final mounting.

Sometimes it is easier to apply glue directly to the polyps/mat rather than the frag plug as seen in Figure 16. This type of super glue container allows for some pretty precise glue application. I’ve read online that some people will dip a toothpick into super glue and apply it - thus, using as little glue as possible.

16

FIGURE 14: Using the scissors to make a clean cut on the mat to separate polyps.

FIGURE 15: Applying super glue gel to a frag plug.

FIGURE 17: The frag is finally mounted to the frag plug!

FIGURE 16: Applying super glue gel directly to the mat/polyps.

FIGURE 18: Applying super glue gel to a frag plug.

A gentle push of the polyps onto the frag plug like in Figure 17 and...voila! A mounted frag!

On occasion, I’ve found that I haven’t used enough glue. So, I then apply it “directly” to the final mounted frag as in Figure 18.

After the quick dip, I let them sit out a while to dry. Again, remember that zoas are found exposed to air for hours on end where low tides occur. I’m not recommending that you keep your zoas out for hours, but a couple of minutes shouldn’t hurt ‘em!

After the gluing is complete, a quick dip in the water is performed.

Super glue dries “hot”. By dipping it in water, we accomplish two things: 1. Cool down the super glue during its drying process.

2. Create a quick-curing skin on the surface of the glue, holding the frag in place while the rest of the glue dries.

Dip the frag into a bin of tank water to quickly cure the surface of the super glue gel and to lower the temperature of the curing process.

Frags on frag plugs in the egg crate stand!

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A few minutes later, I place them back into a holding bin (see image below) while I complete the other frags. They are ready to go back into the tank at this point, but for efficiency, I continue mounting and add them to the tank later.

Mounted frags in a container of tank water waiting to go back into the main tank.

And here we are in the tank! Just minutes later, these guys are starting to open.

Be prepared for your frags to stay shut all day and night. In my experience, about 1/4 of the morphs I have will start to open within an hour of fragging, about 1/2 the same day, and the rest over the next day or two. Place the new frags in moderate water flow to help push away anything they may excrete during the healing process.

Now the fun begins - time to get these guys out to other people!!!

I hope you’ve enjoyed this presentation and I hope it helps you in future fragging endeavors!

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FISH

Designer Clownfish

By Robin Bittner

O

ne of the inherent challenges at all levels of the ornamental aquatics industry is the

application of consistent, easy to remember

names.

The

de-facto

standard for naming is the “scientific” genus – species convention, but who really wants to walk into a fish store and ask for a Pomacentrus coelestis when it’s so much easier to say “I’d like a blue damsel”? At this point, one enters the highly confusing world of common names, and hopefully the store clerk will be wise enough to ask, “What kind of blue damsel...a neon, yellowtail, or some other type?”

It is no wonder that many fish stores keep reference guides under the counter for their customers...or more realistically for themselves when the invoice from the importer arrives with a name that doesn’t seem to match any item in the shipment!

20

Onyx Percula hosting in an anemone. Image by Matthew Garbarino.

Duplication of common names has been around for several decades, since the global nature of the aquarium industry means that the same species of fish may be imported from countries as distant as Tonga, Australia, the Philippines, Bali, and Sri Lanka...each of which have their own local names for that fish. However, the rate of name proliferation has accelerated in recent years, driven primarily by individuals seeking to distinguish their variant of a particular species from other, but slightly different, variants. This phenomenon is particularly prevalent in the marine invertebrate trade where every slightly different version of a zoanthid or coral is given a unique name.

While one could reasonably argue that many species of corals and zoanthids exhibit a higher degree of visual variation than nearly all species of fish, and thus are more likely to experience variants in naming, certain species of fish which exhibit natural variants in pigmentation or shape have experienced a similar evolution in naming convention. It is certainly reasonable to expect that new variants of fish will be given names to reflect their unique appearance (note, for instance, how all current variants of fancy goldfish evolved over a thousand years ago from a common ancestor – Carassius auratus), but problems arise when unsuspecting stores and hobbyists begin to consider common name variants as representing different species. Such is the current situation with two of the most highly coveted (and thus valuable) variants of the True Percula Clownfish, Amphiprion percula.

More Black = More Value

A pair of Onyx Perculas. Images by Morgan J Lidster.

True Percula clownfish typically display a wide range of pattern and color variation, with those originating in the Solomon Islands reportedly displaying the highest proportion of variation. It is not definitively known why A. percula from this area vary so much, but perhaps it is due to the nutrient supply during the early stages of development, or the lack of predators which target odd colored or patterned individuals. Clown breeders usually experience some degree of color and banding variation in each captive bred clutch, and it has been speculated that poor nutrition and environmental conditions will produce “mis-barred” or oddly colored adults. It also has been observed that in captive growout tanks, oddly marked fry are frequently targeted by their more normally patterned tankmates, leading to stress, stunting, and even death.

Given the large volume of True Perculas imported over the years and the potential for eye-catching variants, it was only a matter of time before unique specimens would intrigue importers and be separated out of the “regular” stock. These special fish would then either be sold at a premium, or go to select individuals for breeding purposes. Thankfully for those of us in the hobby today, the latter occurred about 15 years ago when darker A. percula variants were collected in the Solomon Islands and cross-bred to ultimately produce the variant commonly known as the “Onyx Percula”.

Morgan Lidster of Inland Aquatics shares the following story on how Inland Aquatics came to establish their strain of Onyx True Percula (A. percula) which subsequently led to descendent pairs such as the “Rod’s Onyx” pair and others.

“When we began accumulating broodstock in 1993, I took Bill Addison’s recommendation to use Dave Palmer (Aquarium Arts) as Inland’s supplier of True Percula pairs from the Solomon Islands. We later marketed these fish, and their offspring, as “Solomon Island (SI) Black Perculas”, which we define as A. perculas upon which 50% or more of what would normally be orange (in text book Perculas) is black. Several years later at a MACNA hosted in Chicago (or perhaps Louisville), I purchased our first twelve “Onyx Perculas” from Bill Addison. As I recall, he had developed the strain by cross-breeding the blackest SI A. perculas.

“Clowns that we sell as “Onyx” have (or are guaranteed to develop) black coloration in at least 75% of the typically orange regions. As such, most Onyx Perculas end up as mostly white and black fish with some orange highlighting on the head, tail, and / or underbelly. Like the “SI Blacks”, the black of the Onyx typically darkens and spreads over the first several years of life. Ironically, Onyx juveniles are typically more washed out than common A. percula juveniles.

“We have had only a few pairs that have been proven to produce 100% Onyx offspring. When we sell juvenile pairings from these proven Onyx pairs, we guarantee that they will have full Onyx coloration within two years of the purchase date. We have never had a pair coloration issue reported.”

21

This pair of Picasso clowns from ORA was displayed at this year’s MACNA. Image by Jake Adams.

Really Funky Patterns = Even More Value!

Despite the best efforts by Morgan and others to provide a definitive description of the specific traits which qualify for “Onyx”, there remains a variety of opinions on what is “real” Onyx versus “partial” Onyx. A review of the marine hobbyist boards will reveal claims that “real” Onyx range from just having the black bands connect between the head, body, and tail stripes, to the extreme that the entire space between the white bands, including the dorsal fin, must be solid black. Many times pride will weave its way into these conversations, as hobbyists will debate that their fish qualifies for an “Onyx” designation while “lesser” specimens don’t quite make the cut. The bottom line appears to be that naming is at best an opinion based activity in these cases, so the hobbyist should find a specimen that they truly enjoy since their own opinion of their aquatic pets should matter the most!

Fortunately in the case of our other A. percula variant, the “Picasso True Percula”, the history and qualifying characteristics are much more clearly cut than those surrounding the development of the Onyx True Percula. As noted above, the Solomon Islands have historically produced a wide variety of A. percula colors and patterns. These have ranged from the dark variants, which led to the Onyx Percula, as well as very rare specimens in which the head, body, and tail bands were so wide that the entire fish appeared to be white. Still rare, but more commonly seen, are patterns in the white banding which appear as a cross or circle on the side of the fish.

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One particular specimen of this odd-patterned type was captured in mid 2004 and ultimately achieved legendary status as the “father” of the “Picasso True Percula” variant occasionally available in the market today. Vince Rado was Sales and Marketing Director at ORA during the development of the “Picasso True Percula” and recalls the following events around the establishment of this lineage.

“In the summer of 2004 we got a call from a Los Angeles wholesaler who said they had a really mis-barred True Percula in from the Solomons.

They wanted a big price, but also wanted ORA to get it for breeding purposes. So we did buy him (a male) and it was a stunning fish. It had a perfect The original “Picasso” Percula pair. Image by Vince Rado. square spot below one eye, and wild striping patterns. It was just a few weeks later that ORA got hit by two hurricanes in September 2004 (Frances and Jeanne). We moved a lot of the broodstock to the hurricane bunker at Harbor Branch for safety. The hurricanes really ripped the place up, and even the generators at the bunker failed after a few days. We quickly moved the fish back to the pack out building where we had power. To my surprise, there was the Solomon Percula - he had survived.

“Shortly after that, we paired him with another mis-barred female and they began to spawn. The hatchery manager began to refer to them as “Picassos” because they were so crazily striped. As the first spawns got through metamorphosis, we weren’t sure if the mis-barring trait would breed true as previous attempts with mis-barred A. ocellaris had failed. As the fry grew, we could see that some indeed carried the “Picasso” trait, but only very few - about 1% of the spawn. Over time we saved those that developed “Picasso” traits and managed to pair some F2 (second generation) fish. These pairs also produced “Picassos”, again in very low percentages. Eventually we had enough to start to sell, and slowly the word got out that we had some really amazing clownfish. As the popularity began to grow, so did demand and price. Some more pairs were set up, but still the production rates were very low (and I guess always will be). This limited the availability and makes them the rare and valuable fish they are today.

“Interestingly, the fish that the pairs produced that did not have the “Picasso” patterns were sold as regular A. percula specimens. But did they have the genetics of the “Picasso” trait in them? I’m sure they did, and maybe someone has a normal looking True Percula pair that every now and then produces a wild and crazy pattern - the original Picasso!”

24

As Vince notes at the end of his comments, the different variants that are seen in the A. percula clownfish do have a genetic basis and can therefore be expected to appear in future generations of offspring. This is partly why the culture of A. percula is exciting for breeders...although a fish looks “normal”, it may actually The original male Picasso. carry the genetics of a very unique Image by Vince Rado. parent and thus will produce a small number of amazing offspring. Should you find yourself with a pair of breeding A. percula and you decide to raise their fry, you might be surprised to one day find that you have indeed hit the jackpot due to the wonders of genetics!

In closing, hopefully the information above has been useful to describe the history of these popular and unique clownfish variants and remove some of the confusion around their classification.

Thanks to Morgan and Vince for sharing their memories of past events around these variants, and also for their efforts (and the efforts of similar organizations) to propagate rare specimens so that they may be enjoyed by a wider number of hobbyists.

Certainly more variants will come in the future, and just to whet your appetite, the rumor is that a new one should be available soon...so keep your eyes open!!! PS Ad 8/20/08 1:39 PM Page AccuraSea.qxd:PhosBan+react

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TANK TIPS AND TRICKS

THE WATERPIK® A miniature pressure washer for your reef Article And Images

By Jake Adams

S

ince the beginning of the hobby, reefkeepers have had to adapt nonaquarium technologies to suit aquarium keeping and maintenance needs. Metal halide lighting, super glue, Dremel rotary tools and even toothbrushes were all designed for purposes other than keeping our corals alive and growing. This article introduces another oral hygiene product, the Waterpik®, as a new tool in the reefkeeper’s toolbox.

The Waterpik® WP-60W countertop dental water jet is a miniature pressure washer which is designed for cleaning between teeth. The focused jet of water can also be used to clean aquarium and live rock surfaces of a range of parasites, treat coral recession and for general cleaning applications in hard to reach places.

The small, shoe-box sized appliance which can be purchased for under $40 at most department stores consists of three basic parts: a reservoir, a pump and a handheld jet. The reservoir is a small, one liter basin which sits on top of the high pressure pump. The pump connects to the handheld jet via a narrow, two foot long cord. The handheld jet features a flow adjustment valve and an on/off switch and can be fitted with a narrow focused nozzle or a spoon shaped diffuser nozzle. Depending on the chosen flow rate, the reservoir will hold enough liquid for two to five minutes of spray.

The narrow nozzle of the spray jet can be used to clean both smooth and complex surfaces such as the air intake of venturi valves, aspirator valves and other complicated

fittings, often without removing them from their assembly.

The water jet is strong enough to remove the most stubborn undesirable algae and encroaching sponges within the aquarium and the nozzle on the handset is articulate enough to clean around corals. Pressure cleaning a rock surface is a sure fire way to ensure a better bond when using super glue or epoxy to attach corals in the aquarium and it is all that much easier with a Waterpik®. You can even use the Waterpik® for really messy jobs like removing “mushroom anemones” (corallimorphs) or unwanted zoanthids but this is best accomplished outside of the display tank due to the toxins likely to be released. In all cases it is best to keep your jet submerged so that the resulting spray doesn’t go everywhere and you should always take measures to protect yourself from the harmful compounds which are released when pressure washing toxic corals and sponges.

The Waterpik® is perhaps most useful when dealing with such coral maladies as pests, parasites and various forms of necrosis. The common treatment for most pests is an iodine/bromine dip for treatment of the entire coral colony.

Successive dips may be costly, time consuming and stressful to the coral and may not even treat all life stages of certain pests. For severe infestations where physical removal of the parasite can be time consuming and only partially effective, the popular recommendation has been to salvage what is left of a colony by fragging uninfected parts of the colony and discarding the rest. By using a Waterpik®, it is possible to blast away parasites in their adult and egg stages where they are visible and in the crevices that are normally inaccessible to brushes and other tools. This technique is quite effective for removing Montipora eating nudibranchs.

Because these nudibranchs like to hide on the undersides

25

of colonies, a few clean sweeps of all the surfaces of the coral which are not covered with tissue will generally remove all the eggs and adults with just a few treatments.

The Waterpik® particularly shines when treating coral tissue necrosis. When a coral exhibits signs of tissue recession, it is usually advised to cut out or break off the receded area past the point of infection accompanied by a disinfecting dip. Cuts and breaks are usually crude, sacrificing more tissue than required and leaving a nasty scar on the colony. This entire process is time consuming and destructive, often leading to more injury and stress than necessary. Furthermore, disinfecting by dip is a passive process which relies on diffusion to deliver the disinfectant to the afflicted area. The process of excising necrotic tissue and applying active, targeted disinfectant can be combined into one step which I call tissue blasting treatment.

Tissue blasting treatment removes infected or necrotic tissue and disinfects a receding coral in one simple procedure. This technique can also be used to treat a coral which has been stung by another coral or has suffered some other type of physical damage. Just as surgery removes undesirable cancers, this treatment will isolate healthy and unhealthy tissue so that no further damage occurs to the healthy parts of the coral. To perform a tissue blasting treatment, fill the Waterpik® reservoir with one liter of clean saltwater and 10 drops of lugol’s solution or a similarly strong dose of your preferred coral disinfectant.

Place the affected coral in a transparent container which is large enough to contain both the water needed to cover the coral and the additional water volume of the Waterpik® reservoir. Turn on the Waterpik® and while pointing the jet away from the healthy tissue, release the pressure control button in short bursts to blast away infected tissue from the coral skeleton up to the line of recession or infection. Once all of the unhealthy tissue has been blasted away, rinse off the coral several times to remove any debris and place it in an area of your aquarium with generous water flow to flush away stress-induced slime. Keep a close eye A coral exhibiting signs of tissue recession.

on your patient over the next couple of days and repeat this procedure if the infection or recession begins again.

The Waterpik® countertop water jet is a versatile tool with many applications in the reef aquarium. Many aquarists will find the appliance to be a welcome addition to their reefkeeper’s toolbox as it streamlines many of the tasks we already perform as part of our regular aquarium maintenance.

WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE AN AQUARIUM PRODUCT REVIEWED?

Beginning in 2009, we will be publishing product reviews for our readers. We’re now accepting product requests. Email us at reviews@rhmag.com and tell us what products you’re curious about!

26

©2008 AQUATIC LIFE LLC

B R I N G I N G T H E O CE A N TO YO U, W H E R EVE R YO U M AY B E. aq u at i c l i fe .c o m