Frag'd It

Torch Coral Spawning

caruso — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 14:00:15 +0000

Lately I’ve been noticing my Australia Gold Stream Torch (Euphyllia glabrescens) hasn’t been inflating as much as possible. It still looked healthy just not as big. Last night I think I discovered the reason. My Torch Coral was preparing eggs for a spawning event. Since these corals reproduce by brooding their larvae, there is a good chance that the ‘babies’ will survive and pop up in awhile. It seems that most of the eggs were released last night, although a few remained today. Enjoy the pictures.

Hanna Cheker Phosphate Colorimeter

caruso — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 02:10:31 +0000

I haven’t meet a reefer who wouldn’t like to get their hands on a Hanna Phosphate Colorimeter, but with the steep price of $250 USD most haven’t. Since titration test kits just don’t cut it at the low levels of phosphate we maintain in our reefs, many people just don’t measure this parameter. Enter Hanna with their new Checker line of colorimeters, including the new phosphate model.

The HANNA HI 713 Checker®HC bridges the gap between simple chemical test kits and professional instrumentation. Chemical test kits are not very accurate and only give 5 to 10 points resolution while professional instrumentation can cost hundreds of dollars and can be time consuming to calibrate and maintain. The HANNA HI 713 Checker®HC is accurate and affordable.

Friday Night Cinema: The Great Barrier Reef

vlad — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 20:27:19 +0000

Please enjoy some great videos of the GBR, sent by one of our readers (Thanks Derek)!

“Someone who knows what they’re doing … terminated our fish.”

jeff — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 15:00:58 +0000

A fish store in Toronto claims someone has deliberately wiped out all of their livestock:

Staff at Indoor Jungle on Kennedy Rd. allege that a vandal dumped a substance into their aquariums Wednesday that killed about 700 fish and ruined about 200 pieces of coral.

The dead fish were discovered after customers alerted employees to a strange, bleach-like smell coming from the back room that houses aquariums at the five-month-old store.

“This is an act of vandalism and an act of animal cruelty,” store manager Navid Azar told the Sun.

I’ve been to the store in question and the fish room is isolated so there is an opportunity to pour something into the tanks. Still, the first thing that comes to mind when reading this is human error. Either way, hopefully the culprit is found quickly.

Thanks for the heads up, Mike!

EDIT. This gem comes from the Toronto Star. I guess they failed biology:

The Ontario Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals said the case would not fall under animal cruelty because fish are non-vertebrates.

“According to the act, animal means a live, non-human vertebrate,” said Alison Cross, OSPCA spokesperson.

Heartbeats

jeff — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 16:00:01 +0000

Ever seen the heartbeat of a clownfish while its still inside the egg?

Video taken via a mesoscope.

Video via Linda L. Header photo via this video.

No related posts.

Friday Night Cinema: Coral Reef Fish

vlad — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 20:06:21 +0000

Its been quiet here at the Fragd.it blog. Sometimes, life gets in the way. But don’t worry, we are still alive and well, thank you for asking.

As I was browsing Youtube for some cool videos, I stumbled upon this touching, educational BBC clip about the decline of reef fish in the Indo-Pacific. It is a true eye opener.

Miami Hurricane Blows into Canada

caruso — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 16:16:20 +0000

Over the past few years there has been a lot of talk about the named “designer” corals available to our American neighbors; and lately a few of these high end pieces have been available in the Toronto Area. A couple of vendors have brought in the Strawberry Shortcake Acropra, making many SPS collectors very happy. But that’s not the only big name coral that has showed up lately; thanks to my most frequented reef store, the Miami Hurricane Chalice is now in Canada.

So next time you’re feeling “designer” coral envy, take a trip to your local reef store and you’ll remember just how good we have it in the Great White North.

Elusive corals!

vlad — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 00:31:06 +0000

Recenty, I have been chatting with my fellow reefers about certain types of elusive, hard to find corals. Like the Purple Monsters, red acroporas, assie chalices. Why? Because we were lucky enough to get a hold of a larger colony of the Strawberry Shortcake acropora, and a big bertha of a Miami Hurricane chalice. Quite the haul!

So what have you been looking to find? What is your elusive, hard to find coral? Please do share!

The Newbie Corner – SPS Can Sting

caruso — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 00:17:44 +0000

One on the first Newbie lessons in coral care is that your corals (and many other things in reef tanks) can sting you. Most know this and handle their corals with care or even better wear gloves; However what most don’t know (including myself before last week) is that even SPS corals can sting you. For those trying to picture how those little polyps could possibly get you, here is my story. One night I decided to move one of my SPS a little because it was agitated by the direct high flow from my vortech. Based on its reaction to this new location I decided to move it a little more the next night. Once I picked it up (from the top) it slimed up as usual, but what wasn’t usual was the pain that followed. It seems this slime was laced with some type of stinging chemical. I’m not sure if this was a fluke or because the coral was moved twice from an already agitated state, but the outcome and lesson is the same.

Immediately after, many painful hives formed on my hand.

After that, they got itchy for a few days and now remain visible after almost 2 weeks.

So newbies or not, be careful when you handle your corals, even the SPS.

Reefy News: New Research Results On Coral and Climate Change

vlad — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 20:26:51 +0000

As written in Science Dailyon Jan 10 2010, there is new research that suggests that corals around the world have the ability to rebound from global climate changes. A study by the University of Exeter published on Jan. 11, 2010 in the journal ‘PLoS ONE’, showed that protected reefs were much more resilient to climate changes than those in non-protected reefs. The article explains:

The researchers conducted surveys of ten sites inside and outside marine reserves of the Bahamas over 2.5 years. These reefs have been severely damaged by bleaching and then by hurricane Frances in the summer of 2004. At the beginning of the study, the reefs had an average of 7% coral cover. By the end of the project, coral cover in marine protected areas had increased by an average of 19%, while reefs in non-reserve sites showed no recovery.