Captive Aquatics: An Aquarium and Ecology Blog

Review: Seachem NutriDiet Wet-Packed Foods

It's not often that I'm a 'fanboy' of anything or anyone - heck, I will point out how bad a product is, even if it's given to me!  However, when something or someone has consistently made quality products for a long period of time, I can be converted.  Seachem has been making superb aquarium products for as long as I've been in the hobby (nearly twenty years), and their latest Nutridiet foods are no exception.

Earthquake in Indonesia, Flooding in the Philippines

For those of you that don't know, Padang, Indonesia was hit with an earthquake measuring at 7.6 on the Richter Scale on the 14th.  The earthquake caused widespread damage to a country that supplies our hobby with a large percentage of our fish & coral. 

As a firefighter in Galveston who volunteered during the aftermath of Hurricane Ike and other disasters, I feel for the people of Indonesia, and for the people working tirelessly to provide relief.  As I've had first hand experience with disaster relief charities (and scams), I recommend not donating to the Red Cross, and instead donating to SurfAid for those interested in helping via donation.  Below is a video provided by SurfAid regarding the disaster area:

As if that weren't enough, recent heavy flooding in the Philippines (our largest supplier of animals for the saltwater trade) was heavily flooded four days ago, putting most of the capital, Manila, under water.  More information is in the video below, or via BBC News. 

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The Fluval G in Action

Well, we're stuck with this (cheesy) demo video of Fluval's new "revolutionary" canister filter, the Fluval G, in action. Unfortunately, our rep at Hagen said that the marketing dept. was locking down, and only shipping units to "preferred vendors" (retails stores) in mid-November, and that the filter isn't even going to be available online, at least initially. Well, we all know my opinion of local fish stores...so I won't be seeing this display in person.

Overall, although the electronics seem nice, the filter itself doesn't seem to have the capacity or capabilities that the Fluval FX5 does, in terms of filtering messy freshwater aquariums.  Since canister filters are really only useful on freshwater aquariums, this does seem to be a possible waste of innovation on Fluval's part, as does the G's built-in salinity measuring  Well, without further ado:

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Feeding your Reef Aquarium

Certain sea stars, such as this Nardoa spp. in the author's aquarium, are excellent scavengers

I often hear the phrases “In the wild, reefs are nutrient poor” and “a reef aquarium should have a low nutrient level”.  Seeming in contrast to these statements is the necessity of feeding the coral and other inhabitants of the reef aquarium.  What do these phrases really mean, especially to the hobbyist? 

Photo of the Week

A diver says "hello" to a humpback whale - talk about perspective!

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Species Spotlight: Tiger Oscars

A very popular species of cichlid, the tiger oscar, is a very fun and interactive fish that any freshwater hobbyist can appreciate.  These rather mild mannered fish are great for hobbyist who wants to try their skills at keeping a large freshwater fish.  Here is a spotlight on the care and requirements to properly keep a tiger oscar.

Captive Aquatics Gets New Logo!

Captive Aquatics™, an aquarium design, installation, and worldwide ornamental aquatics consulting company (and the parent company of this blog!) gets a new look:

Captive Aquatics & staff have been quite busy designing and installing upscale aquariums for several large companies, and have provided consulting services as far away as India.  We needed an eye catching way to distinguish ourselves, and this was the result!  Stay tuned for a behind-the-scenes look at a few of our latest creations!

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Blue Zoo TV: Cichlid Breeding

The latest episodes of BlueZoo TV are up, featuring a cichlid hatchery and breeding.  Enjoy!

Interesting videos, even if I don't like LFS stores in the least.

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Visiting the Monterrey Bay Aquarium

Editor's Note: this post introduces our newest contributing author and photographer, Nate Bernardo.  All images in this post are © Nate Bernardo, 2009.

It was a beautiful Wednesday morning when I decided to head out to Monterey. I packed my bag with water, food, and a book to read on the bus and left my house with my SLR camera.

Four Anemone Tips

The author's purple S. haddoni carpet anemone, in a species biotope aquarium

1.  Anemones are not reef crest animals, meaning they do not live in the same area as most corals.  Anemones fare much better in species aquariums than they do in a reef aquarium.  Anemones will move around, sting and/or kill corals, and can consume your fish!