brandon429 Posted October 9, 2012 Share Posted October 9, 2012 very very very neat about the dracula goby. i cant wait for the results. I pose there is no possible way in biology for a mutation like that to develop in one single filial generation, transpose the internal structures, nerves and muscles for fins, and the vast blood supply of the gills, and have a viable organism in one pass, no way. either the locus of structures is misidentified or these aren't the same species. thats a huge, huge deal not a small one Quote Link to comment
Rollermonkey Posted October 9, 2012 Share Posted October 9, 2012 Got my first e-mail reply, which is largely a canned response concerning how Divers Den is WYSIWYG and Live Aquaria is not. They have acknowledged that something may be up, and are looking into it further. I spelled it out pretty thoroughly that I recognize the coloration differences aren't a surprise, but the head and body structure is less likely to vary much within the species, and the fin location seems like a pretty big sign that something is up. Quote Link to comment
wombat Posted October 9, 2012 Share Posted October 9, 2012 Can we see either some close up video or photos of the pec fins of this fish? Quote Link to comment
albertthiel Posted October 9, 2012 Share Posted October 9, 2012 very very very neat about the dracula goby. i cant wait for the results. I pose there is no possible way in biology for a mutation like that to develop in one single filial generation, transpose the internal structures, nerves and muscles for fins, and the vast blood supply of the gills, and have a viable organism in one pass, no way. either the locus of structures is misidentified or these aren't the same species. thats a huge, huge deal not a small one My best guess at this point Brandon is that they were actually two different species, resembling each other real closely, but not the same. That difference between the positioning of those "Pectoral fins" is just too great for it to be the same species, and in the first picture the hind of the fish is hard to see (well not quite visible so we can't compare with the second pic). Also the striping over the eyes appears to be different (round versus rectangular) ... I think there are too many differences for them to be of the same species, but you probably saw Rollermonkey's posts just as I did that state that LiveAquaria is looking into it and if I read between the line of what he posted it looks to me like they know something was not right ... Then there is the fact that the first one can out of the Diver's Den selection where prices are usually higher than in the normal listings and that was not the case here as he got the commensal shrimp with it for $129.99 whereas in the regular listing that fish goes for $129.99 without the shrimp ... that's sort of the opposite of how their pricing scheme normally works. Hopefully Rollermonkey will get credit for his purchase, or at least some sort of compensation ... I am sure he'll post what the outcome is. Albert Quote Link to comment
albertthiel Posted October 9, 2012 Share Posted October 9, 2012 Got my first e-mail reply, which is largely a canned response concerning how Divers Den is WYSIWYG and Live Aquaria is not. They have acknowledged that something may be up, and are looking into it further. I spelled it out pretty thoroughly that I recognize the coloration differences aren't a surprise, but the head and body structure is less likely to vary much within the species, and the fin location seems like a pretty big sign that something is up. Good to read that they seem to be admitting that something is "wrong" as I think that everyone who has read these messages is in agreement that there is something not right about this ... See my reply to Brandon that gives more details ... I hopefully Rollermonkey they will give you some sort of credit, maybe not the whole amount since you did get a "fish" after all, but maybe a partial amount as the non-Dracula types are far less expensive (maybe even half price for some and more for others). Good luck with your negotiations and do keep us posted please. Hopefully this will be resolved soon. And I would not give up on calling and emailing them till you get satisfaction ! Happy Reefkeeping Albert Quote Link to comment
albertthiel Posted October 9, 2012 Share Posted October 9, 2012 (edited) Rollermonkey's Predicament with the Dracula Goby: Stonogobiops dracula To simplify the Pictures that were posted I cropped themm just to show the fish and make the images smaller: 1st Fish 2nd Fish Comparison is still difficult because part `of the back of one of the fish is missing. Albert Edited October 9, 2012 by albertthiel Quote Link to comment
albertthiel Posted October 9, 2012 Share Posted October 9, 2012 Can we see either some close up video or photos of the pec fins of this fish? Not sure he has the 1st one any longer Wombat ... so he may not be able to get those close ups but maybe he has pictures he took of that first fish and if he posts some of those maybe more "will be revealed" as they say, Thanks for chiming in, I appreciate it Albert Quote Link to comment
albertthiel Posted October 9, 2012 Share Posted October 9, 2012 Yet Another New Fijian Anemone Fish Discovered ? © Scott Michael Link: http://gobiestogrizzlies.blogspot.com/sear...l/anemonefishes Albert Quote Link to comment
albertthiel Posted October 9, 2012 Share Posted October 9, 2012 Steve's UltraCoral Pictures (Stephen Ketteringham) © Steve's UltraCoral and Stephen Ketteringham Link: http://www.facebook.com/stephen.ketteringham.7?fref=ts Albert Quote Link to comment
albertthiel Posted October 9, 2012 Share Posted October 9, 2012 Beat the Heat in the Aquarium : Methods explained © Kevin Kokot and reefkeeping.com The primary methods of aquarium cooling fall under these five basic categories: · Simple fans that run on a timer along with the lighting · Fans regulated by simple temperature controllers · Thermoelectric chillers · Refrigerant based chillers · Alternative methods Link: http://tinyurl.com/8vpngwe Albert Quote Link to comment
albertthiel Posted October 9, 2012 Share Posted October 9, 2012 Researchers Claim Breakthrough in Starfish Fight © thelivingocean.net Researchers have made a killer discovery that could protect the Great Barrier Reef's most valuable coral sites from the destructive Crown of Thorns Starfish. A harmless protein mixture, used to grow bacteria in science labs, has been found to destroy the starfish in as little as 24 hours. Link to Article and a Video : http://tinyurl.com/8nzt3dn Albert Quote Link to comment
albertthiel Posted October 9, 2012 Share Posted October 9, 2012 Feeding the Reef Aquarium: A New Paradigm © Ronald L. Shimek, Ph. D. and reefkeeping.com It has been known for some time that corals and other coral reef animals must feed. Eric Borneman has been discussing the various aspects of feeding in corals for the last several months in his column in this magazine, and some of those data are applicable to reefs in general. Nonetheless, it is hard to get a good handle on the feeding dynamics of many reef animals. Interestingly enough, however, what we do know about feeding on a reef, as a whole, indicates that aquarists, generally, go about feeding their animals in the wrong way and with the wrong foods Link: http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-02/rs/feature/index.php Albert Quote Link to comment
atoll Posted October 9, 2012 Share Posted October 9, 2012 OFTEN OVERLOOKED NANO-REEF FISHES : The Tailspot Blenny © Scott Michael and gobiestogrizzlies.blogspot.com Link: http://tinyurl.com/99h9h2m Albert Here's mine in his fav resting place but unfortunately it carpet surfed Quote Link to comment
albertthiel Posted October 9, 2012 Share Posted October 9, 2012 Here's mine in his fav resting place but unfortunately it carpet surfed Oh what a pity ... they are such nice little fish to have ... shy but when they come out and swim around they are a joy to look at .. Did you have a cover and it just managed to find a little open spot and got out ? I guess in your new tank you can think about adding one again, and have a real tight fitting top cover ... Albert Quote Link to comment
rick12 Posted October 9, 2012 Share Posted October 9, 2012 Here is a pic of my BB. Lots of encrusting coral. http://db.tt/mbfQhSL9 http://db.tt/s0ZkIGpG http://db.tt/dzPAHV9C http://db.tt/rE8NRfYa http://db.tt/dKx1YIOT Quote Link to comment
albertthiel Posted October 9, 2012 Share Posted October 9, 2012 Here is a pic of my BB. Lots of encrusting coral. http://db.tt/mbfQhSL9 http://db.tt/s0ZkIGpG http://db.tt/dzPAHV9C http://db.tt/rE8NRfYa http://db.tt/dKx1YIOT Thanks for the links ... I see a lot of them indeed on that BB, and some Asterinas but I would not worry about those for now as their population tends to stabilize. If you feel you have too many you can always manually remove them. Looking good from what I can tell from those pictures. Is there anything else you wanted to me to "see" ... Albert Quote Link to comment
atoll Posted October 9, 2012 Share Posted October 9, 2012 Oh what a pity ... they are such nice little fish to have ... shy but when they come out and swim around they are a joy to look at .. Did you have a cover and it just managed to find a little open spot and got out ? I guess in your new tank you can think about adding one again, and have a real tight fitting top cover ... Albert No no cover Albert as for a number of reasons I much prefer an open topped tank There will be a pelmet on my new tank which will reduce the problem of fish wanting to carpet surf. Perhaps we should debate the advantages and disadvantages of covers? Not just glass covers but egg crate and other covers with the for's and against. Quote Link to comment
albertthiel Posted October 9, 2012 Share Posted October 9, 2012 Full tank shot today after some major cleaning last night Did a little reshaping, the arch is still there but because I moved the skimmer to the right it is not as visible in the picture. Due to the re-scaping the water flow changed somewhat and I may have to re-adjust it a bit as some of the corals on the left are not getting enough flow and others too much (e.g. Cabbage). Albert Quote Link to comment
eitallent Posted October 9, 2012 Share Posted October 9, 2012 Full tank shot today after some major cleaning last night Did a little reshaping, the arch is still there but because I moved the skimmer to the right it is not as visible in the picture. Due to the re-scaping the water flow changed somewhat and I may have to re-adjust it a bit as some of the corals on the left are not getting enough flow and others too much (e.g. Cabbage). Albert Lovely tank. I spy your little Citron! I just updated my thread with lots of pictures including Skipper and corals too. I wanted to share one particular interesting thing I observed yesterday and posted on my thread today. I think you and your readers may enjoy this and probably have observed it too. I brought home a new Sympodium spp. frag on LR and the Peppermint shrimp (I call him Karloff) went right to work on the new rock. There must have been some Aiptasia that was to small for me to see but not too small for Karloff! Click image to view a 30 second video of Karloff on duty. In the video he is working on the edge of the rock and after I stopped recording he moved onto the top of the rock. THANK YOU, KARLOFF! Quote Link to comment
albertthiel Posted October 9, 2012 Share Posted October 9, 2012 No no cover Albert as for a number of reasons I much prefer an open topped tank There will be a pelmet on my new tank which will reduce the problem of fish wanting to carpet surf.Perhaps we should debate the advantages and disadvantages of covers? Not just glass covers but egg crate and other covers with the for's and against. I understand, and there are quite a few hobbyists who obviously keep open top tanks, especially of course those who do not have known jumpers. The "pelmet" should in your case solve the problem I would imagine, although some fish that want to jump seem to always find that little spot that allows them to get out anyway ... clever little fishes they are (unfortunately for those who lose fish because of it). As to the merits of covers, I think that is one of those topics that if you ask 10 hobbyists you will get 11 different answers :-) Personally I do not like them, especially not the glass ones, but I do like to European ledges built into tank that make it far more difficult for fish to get out as they fall on the ledge and slide back in the tank. Glass covers, as some use, inhibit gas exchanges too much IMO, and as to the other types I guess that is going to be a matter of preference ... and a function of what fish are in the tank. Eggcrate is another story and which probably does prevent fish from jumping out, but can look unsightly although I have seen tanks, with the black one on top, and it did not look that bad. The question with those is: do they lower the amount of light that can get through and of course, some of the real tight mesh ones, may do so as well. Maybe readers have contributions they want to make, and can tell us how they feel about covers and the various types used. Albert Quote Link to comment
Rollermonkey Posted October 9, 2012 Share Posted October 9, 2012 Here's the non-cookie cutter portion of Live Aquaria's reply. Thank you for your inquiry. We believe the body differences are most likely attributed to the males being longer and more slender while the female is stockier. However, it has been suggested by a few ictheologist that a few fish from Maldives may in fact be a different species than the ones from Sri Lanka but as far as our Aquatics Director knows, no one has performed a genetic analysis for this fish. We apologize for any inconvenience this has caused. Sounds to me like I got a different fish one of the two times, but since a second species has never been formally recognized, right now both are officially Dracula gobies. At this point, I just have to hope the one I have now is the "right" fish and will pair up with my Randall's Pistol shrimp. Quote Link to comment
albertthiel Posted October 9, 2012 Share Posted October 9, 2012 (edited) Lovely tank. I spy your little Citron! I just updated my thread with lots of pictures including Skipper and corals too. I wanted to share one particular interesting thing I observed yesterday and posted on my thread today. I think you and your readers may enjoy this and probably have observed it too. I brought home a new Sympodium spp. frag on LR and the Peppermint shrimp (I call him Karloff) went right to work on the new rock. There must have been some Aiptasia that was to small for me to see but not too small for Karloff! Click image to view a 30 second video of Karloff on duty. In the video he is working on the edge of the rock and after I stopped recording he moved onto the top of the rock. THANK YOU, KARLOFF! Thanks for the kind words eitallent ... tank still looks a little "bare" but right now with the available space it is a bit hard to put more corals in there and the Totoka rock shape is part of the problem as it is so "branchy" and of course the 20G High is so narrow that I do not have much space in the front. Guess I may have to remove some more rock to make space when I am ready to get more corals. Thanks for the pics you posted ... very cute ... I watched that video and KARLOFF sure was doing a good job on that rock from what I could see .. wow he was going at it with "gusto" for sure ! Looks like a nice piece of Sympodium too ... nice addition to the tank And yes you can just see my Citron on the right .. resting on a piece of rock rather than on a coral or on the Zoas or Yumas as he likes to do ... funny fish he is ! Thanks for the post Albert Here's the non-cookie cutter portion of Live Aquaria's reply.Sounds to me like I got a different fish one of the two times, but since a second species has never been formally recognized, right now both are officially Dracula gobies. At this point, I just have to hope the one I have now is the "right" fish and will pair up with my Randall's Pistol shrimp. Sounds like a real non-answer answer they gave you ... Not good customer service IMO as they are "brushing" you off ... On the fish: looks like one indeed so hopefully the pairing will happen but IME it sometimes takes a few days till they sort of "find" each other ... Keep us posted and thanks for the update Rollermonkey. Albert Edited October 9, 2012 by albertthiel Quote Link to comment
Rollermonkey Posted October 9, 2012 Share Posted October 9, 2012 Sure, no problem. Next update should be after 25 October when this one moves out of QT. Quote Link to comment
albertthiel Posted October 9, 2012 Share Posted October 9, 2012 (edited) Sure, no problem. Next update should be after 25 October when this one moves out of QT. Thanks. Much appreciated .... good move to QT ... better safe than sorry .. Albert Lovely tank. I spy your little Citron! I just updated my thread with lots of pictures including Skipper and corals too. I wanted to share one particular interesting thing I observed yesterday and posted on my thread today. I think you and your readers may enjoy this and probably have observed it too. I brought home a new Sympodium spp. frag on LR and the Peppermint shrimp (I call him Karloff) went right to work on the new rock. There must have been some Aiptasia that was to small for me to see but not too small for Karloff! THANK YOU, KARLOFF! Forgot to ask eitallent, what did you use to recored the video ... I have tried few times with my iPhone but do not seem to have too much luck, so wondering what you used ? Albert Edited October 9, 2012 by albertthiel Quote Link to comment
albertthiel Posted October 9, 2012 Share Posted October 9, 2012 New Article by James Fatherree on Euphyllia Corals James describes the many species of one our hobby's most iconic and popular coral genus, Euphyllia, and discusses their merits, pitfalls, and husbandry requirements. © James Fatherree and advancedaquarist.com Link: http://tinyurl.com/8lanxg7 - with lots of pictures from all the species Albert Quote Link to comment
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