AquariumChatter.com

On my way home from work today I saw a sign for a new fish store called Out of the Blue Aquatics.  It is in St Charles,IL at the corner of Route 64 and Durham Road.  The store is not open yet but says that it will be opening in July.  I peeked in the window and there is a small pond type setup in the front of the store and in the back of the store it looks like that is where the main fish room will be.  There looks to be 4 rows of aquariums.  I believe the...

Since I started my 240 gallon reef aquarium over 2 years ago I have wanted to make an aquarium canopy for it.  Finally I got around to it.  I built the canopy because I wanted to add supplemental T-5 lighting and to help keep in the humidity and heat in the aquarium.  Since the 240 reef aquarium is in the basement I have a hard time keeping the aquarium warm in the winter.  Trapping the heat from the metal halide lighting in the canopy should help heat the water. The aquarium canopy is build out of oak 1x2's, 1x3's and...

My first two batches of Onyx Percula clownfish have hit 10 months old and are looking pretty good.   They are getting some interesting patterns, and are beginning to develop their black coloration.  Most of them are close to 1.5 inches in size.  One thing that I think is interesting is there are two different color variations that seem to be showing up.  One variation has a darker orange coloration and the other ones are very light orange almost yellow coloration. From what I have heard this has been seen with some other peoples Onyx Percula clownfish.  I plan to keep...

The Chicago Marine Aquarium Society(CMAS) is holding the Marine Conference of Illinois (MACI) next Sunday March 11th at the Pheasant Run in St. Charles,IL.  This event has four speakers including Kevin Kohen of Live Aquaria and Tal Sweet of the Marine Breeding Initiative.  There are also plenty of coral and equipment vendors selling corals and showing off the latest products to get your aquarium running at its best.  There is also a Reef Ball workshop and other events.  The cost is $20 at the door or $18 before hand.  If you are a CMAS member you can get your ticket...

Well I have been having some struggles with clownfish larvae dying the first night after hatch.  This time I tried mixing using a  50/50 mix of  water from my brood stock system and freshly made saltwater.  It seemed to make a big difference as I had about 75-100 clownfish larvae alive after the first night.  Over the next 10 days I lost some but I still have around 50 or so left that went through metamorphosis.  At this point they are looking pretty good and eating a ton of food.  I am using TDO size "a" dry food and newly...