Reef Builders

Getting close and personal with CPR Aquatic’s Larvae Collector

Guinevere Burnard — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 18:35:47 +0000

The whole Package

The new Larvare Collector from CPR Aquatic is a nocturnal device for those of us who are either aren’t going to be a around for spawning or have no means of collecting eggs. Collecting the eggs or larvae of marine fish is a hump most beginning breeders are struggling to overcome but the Larvae Collector is specially designed to do just that. Most pelagic spawners court and spawn into the water column at night, releasing gametes that create a nice snack for other fish and they are ridiculously small. But those that are lucky enough to survive have usually a few hours before they turn larval and are still not quite fish yet. The basic idea of the larvae collector works on the principle that larvae are attracted to light at the surface. The Collector provides a small LED light which attracts larval fish and a gentle water pump draws in larvae fish at a slow rate as they approach the LED light. For the intrepid fish breeders who have tried to put together similar contraptions with popsicles sticks and duct tape, the Larvae Collector is a useful devices for collecting larvae, especially out of large display tanks where the proto-fish are sure to perish if left to fend for their own. Sure this product is not CPR’s top selling product and it won’t be paying the bills be we applaud CPR for making this product available as a contribution to the advancement and sustainability of the hobby. The Larvae Collector from CPR Aquatic retails for $119 and it can be purchased or ordered from your friendly neighborhood CPR dealer. Full specs and more photos of the device after the break.

-Dimensions 10 3/8″L x 4 1/4″W x 8 1/4″H
• Nocturnal collection device for aquatic hobbyists and breeders
• Easily collect fish larvae- no more sleepless nights with a net and flashlight
• Capture plankton and other nocturnal creatures that are active during the night- see what swims about while you are asleep
• Flow rate design gently draws in larvae and other nocturnal animals, safely housing them until morning
• Includes pump, magnet mount and battery operated LED light (battery included)
The Larval Collector is available on AquaCave.com, or ask your LFS if they can order it. It should retail for about 120$, which depending on the fish is worth it.

Marine Tower Filter system from CPR Aquatic arriving at a store near you

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Getting close and personal with CPR Aquatic’s Larvae Collector

Aquarium Stimulus Program: Prodibio Biokit Reef

Ryan Gripp — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 12:39:50 +0000

Want to get your hands on a Prodibio reef Biokit? This is our 3rd set. Here is your chance, be sure to read the rules below.

Become a Fan of Reef Builders on Facebook. It’s easy, just go here and click on “Become a Fan“.
You may only enter this specific giveaway once. If you decide to enter this contest more then once you will be disqualified. Yeah, we have robots and human slaves that check for fairness.
Contest is open to anyone in the USA 18+! Yeah, turns out that in some states its illegal to win a contest if your under 18. Who knew? Ask your parents if you want to be entered.
Winner will be chosen randomly. The winner will receive one, Prodibio Biokit Reef valued at $63.59
If you are chosen as the winner, you need to respond to our email within 3 days. If you don’t, we will pick someone else. So check your email!
Entries can be submitted until Friday, July 17th, 11:59PM CST. Good luck!

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Aquarium Stimulus Program: Prodibio Biokit Reef

ATB Deluxe Skimmer Line closer to US shores

Ryan Gripp — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 12:11:12 +0000

While a few of us our out enjoying our summer vacations ATB has been busy over in Austria in developing the next generation skimmer designs. The newest is the ATB Deluxe skimmer line which is hefty skimmer designed for larger tanks with higher bioloads coming from fish, corals and inverts. Although already released in Europe, these skimmers offer features that you can’t get on other ATB skimmers, like for example, an automated system that will shut the skimmer down if the sensors detect the collection cup is to full to catch any additonal skimate. Something we have seen on the new higher end Bubble Kings as well. The Deluxe line, like the rest of the ATB skimmers can be ordered in the standard ATB red or white (pictured) which in Europe is fetching $2400.

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ATB Deluxe Skimmer Line closer to US shores

Matthew Wittenrich comments on new developments in marine fish breeding

Jake Adams — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 20:38:57 +0000

We want to thank Matthew L. Wittenrich for contributing the following post. Matt is the author of Breeder’s Guide to Marine Fish and he is the founder of the awesome Aquatic Pixels website. Photo of Queen trigger larvae by Andy Rhyne

Today’s marine aquarium hobby has come a long way since the first pioneers attempted raising coral-reef fishes in plywood boxes. Recent years have met a huge surge of hobby-level and scientific interest in raising marine ornamental fishes for profit, self satisfaction, and research. Each year more and more success stories are uncovered and shared, and with each success comes renewed excitement that coral-reef fishes are not impossible to breed in captivity after all. Perhaps the greatest achievement of the hobby as a whole is sharing in this excitement and coming closer to our common goal of sustainability by sharing in the passion that is the marine aquarium hobby. It is no longer uncommon for hobbyists in Colorado and Iowa to be successful in raising dottybacks, gobies and clownfish and more exotic captive bred species are introduced to the trade each year.

One of the major bottlenecks of commercial propagation is the heavy reliance on easy-to-culture food organisms such as rotifers and Artemia. This has greatly limited the number of captive bred species making their way into the trade and slowed the progress of achievement overall. Mother Nature is a dynamic and complicated setting that surely can not be replicated with foregin foods and glass boxes. Recently, Dr. Andrew Rhyne, a research scientist at the New England Aquarium and Assistant Professor at Roger Williams University began experimenting with new rearing methods and food organisms for coral-reef fishes. In an unprecendented collobaration Dr.Rhyne has access to dozens of species spawning in the aquariums cumulatively millions of gallons of seawater. It is an incredible accomplishment to mesh the various disciplines of science and hobby into a common arena of sharing so that we all may learn and become inspired. Not many of us have access to an aquarium large enough to house spawning pairs of triggerfish, aggregations of permit, spadefish, butterflies and angels, but for Andy Rhyne this is his playground.

Andy has recently begun posting some of these journeys on MOFIB and I encourage everyone to pay close attention to these stories. Perhaps most interesting is the pair of queen triggerfish (Balistes vetula) that spawn in the aquariums Giant Ocean Tank. So far the queen trigger larvae are 11 days old and represent a significant leap in the direction of collaboration and helping unravel the mysteries of coral-reef fish reproduction. I am personally, very excited to follow Andy’s daily struggle to bring the first captive raised triggers through to metamorphosis as these techniques will surely apply to other difficult to rear species.

Andy Rhyn’es queen trigger journey can be found here: http://www.marinebreeder.org/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=190&t=5375

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Matthew Wittenrich comments on new developments in marine fish breeding

Aquatic Life releases 30″ T5 HO light, video demo of built-in timer set up

Jake Adams — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 20:13:03 +0000

For the folks living in the land of 30″ tanks, trying to choose a light fixture can make you feel like being in limbo with manufacturers often choosing to manufacture only 24″ and 36″ light fixture. Do you get a larger fixture and let it hang loose all tacky like or do you precariously perch the 24 incher and accept the reduced light coverage on the ends of your tank? Although AquaticLife already has dual T5 lamps that can be linked together in multiples of two, the trailblazing new aquarium manufacturer went ahead and outed a full fledged 30″ 4 lamp T5 HO lighting unit, complete with built in digital timer, mounting legs and all. We couldn’t dig up a picture of this new T5 package but we thought the video demo of how to program the digital timer would be just as good. Enjoy.

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Aquatic Life releases 30″ T5 HO light, video demo of built-in timer set up

17 days later Mccullochi Clownfish fry are growing up

Ryan Gripp — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 17:04:45 +0000

You remember those Mccullochi Clownfish fry a few weeks ago? Well the little suckers grew. 17 days later they look like this, with stripes that are starting to appear and develop. Any guesses as to when these fish might show up for sale?

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17 days later Mccullochi Clownfish fry are growing up

Signature Series Aquarium Moonlight from R2

Ryan Gripp — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 15:14:10 +0000

If you need a lightweight and durable blue LED lighting unit then the newer R2 signature series moonlights are perfect for you. “They utilize ultra blue LEDs spaced at intervals of 2 inches to ensure complete coverage resulting in a beautiful shimmering moonlight effect. These compacts are designed to be installed in the same manner as regular aquarium lights, above the acrylic or glass cover. The compact size allows for the R2 Signature Series lights to easily sit beside conventional daylight lighting systems.” These work great with the R2 controller for true more simulation. These come in sizes of 24″, 36″ and 48″ (with the 48″ version being the newest) and retail between $19-70. If you haven’t looked into these yet now is the time to do so to get your fish and corals in the mood.

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Signature Series Aquarium Moonlight from R2

Fluval Edge Aquarium seen in the wild

Ryan Gripp — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 12:14:00 +0000

While Fluval isn’t about to rest and sit on its laurels, they aren’t a stranger to releasing new products with the impending release of their new G series filter. However, you might have forgotten about the Fluval Edge Aquarium that was released a few months ago that has started to drop to local fish stores in the United States. The aquarium kit can either be used for freshwater or saltwater and although the vast majority of these new aquariums would be used for freshwater there isn’t any reason to think that you can’t do saltwater either. These retail for around $150 and only seem to be available at local fish stores at the moment as we haven’t found them to be at any online retailer.

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Fluval Edge Aquarium seen in the wild

Fluval G series filter gets its own mini site

Ryan Gripp — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 19:53:40 +0000

Hagen decided to launch a complete mini-site devoted to their new Fluval G series filter of sorts. This is a bold move considering the industry is relatively small. Since we first mentioned the murmurs of the Fluval G, we still have no idea what this new filter might bring, but industry sources seem to indicate that a programmable wet-dry/refugium sump system may be in the works. Those are only rumors sadly and we have nothing tangible to go by. However, the silhouettes in the image above appear to be sporting the glow from a display backlight, perhaps because they will be sporting a display and all the programmable features which might be made available with such a display. See you in October shall we?

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Fluval G series filter gets its own mini site

The Hybrid lemonpeel x eibli angelfish, Tiger’pyge gets video treatment

Jake Adams — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 17:26:37 +0000

Last week, Reefbuilders had the honor of introducing the hybrid lemonpeel x eibli centropyge angelfish to our readers. The world of rare fish collectors was set ablaze by the hybrid lemonpeel x eibli angelfish which we have affectionately come to call the Tiger’pyge. The Tiger’pyge was sold to the upscale aquarium store, Old Town Aquarium and the fish sold for $1600 within an hour of arriving at the store. Local hobbyist Eric Sanchez was fortunate enough to visit the Tiger’pyge at Old Town and he has produced a video of the rare gem of an angelfish which we have posted above. Big thanks to Mr. Sanchez for sharing this video with us and stay tuned to Reef Builders as we document more amazing specimens and rare fish species entering the marine aquarium trade.

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The Hybrid lemonpeel x eibli angelfish, Tiger’pyge gets video treatment

Reef Builders

Getting close and personal with CPR Aquatic’s Larvae Collector

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