Roll in the Tanks!

We're setting up some new tanks for a HUGE assortment of zoanthids coming in from Asia really soon. Pics to follow. Woo-hoo!

Oh boy! Coupon!

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*Discount does not apply to sales items, tax, shipping, gift certificates, rock, sand, or aquarium supplies.
**We do not sell dancing ducks. Sadly.

When You Wish Upon A Star....

A four-armed Fromia Starfish

We've had a whole bunch of cool starfish come through our warehouse this month. Most recently was a  perfectly formed four-armed Fromia Starfish. This shipped out to a lucky aquarist at the end of last week. Fromias are incredible stars. (Some folks might know them as "Marble Stars.") The coloration can vary from all red to reddish orange with black marbling, or it can be closer to the one pictured here with a red center and tips, white in between, and marbling throughout. No two are exactly alike, especially when the number of arms varies.

Corn Cob Linckia

But as I said, we've gotten a BUNCH of a cool starfish. Check these guys out. Two new kinds of Linckias we had never seen before. This first one, the Corn Cob Linckia, (named for its resemblance to kernels of corn on the cob) is crazy strong. Normally Linckias are pretty easy to move. But these Corn Cobs stick to our tank walls like super glue! Of course, this isn't unheard of amongst starfish. Some starfish have been reported to be strong enough to rip metal off of ships. This starfish wasn't THAT strong, but compared to the other stars we normally have, he was the Hulk.

Blue Plasma Linckia

Then we got these little stunners. We named them Blue Plasma Linckias since they resemble those little plasma balls every kid used to play with at the science museum.

Picture by Kez

These starfish behave more like the Linckias we all know and love, but they have the crazy awesome pattern you see here. Sadly, we sold out of all of our special starfish for now. We have our divers and suppliers on the watch for more, but who knows if we'll ever find such unique and stellar stars again.

Mushroom Madness

We have so many new mushrooms!

Rainbow Florida Ricordea

Lavender Florida Ricordea

Our divers found a treasure trove of mushrooms around the new year, and we've been cultivating them in our tanks. Can you believe the colors on the Rainbow Florida Ricordea? Oranges, greens, blues, even purples! Speaking of purples, we got a bunch of new Lavender Florida Ricordea in, as well. Sometimes it can be tough to tell the difference between the Lavender Ricordeas and the Blue Ricordeas. All of the Florida Ricordea are the same species, and the colors are really more of a spectrum. These leaves us in a predicament at times: is it more blue or is it more purple? Is it more green, or is it a rainbow? This is where lighting really comes into play. You've got to look at your corals under the aquarium lighting in which they will regularly reside, or you'll have a tough time identifying any of your stunning colors. So on occasion, we have to override our light timers to get a look at the coloration. With the right lighting, the difference between the Lavender Ricordea and the Blue Ricordea is like night and day.

We also got some new Actinodiscus mushrooms in that we're gradually releasing from quarantine. The Cheetah Mushroom, named for, well, the obvious:

Cheetah Mushroom

Actual Cheetah

And a bunch of others that we're keeping under wraps until they're officially released on the site. The colors are spectacular. Makes you want to get a whole tank of nothing but Mushrooms.

...Hey, anyone else suddenly want mushroom pizza?

A Haiku From Our Tanks

"Oh, for the last time,"

Muttered the little clownfish.

"My name's not Nemo!"

--A Haiku by Steve the Clownfish

Feeding Frenzy

It's a beautiful morning at Aquatic Connection Live! Miss Mary is hand-feeding our baby banded cat sharks some fresh squid. And apparently Lou missed breakfast because he keeps trying to steal the squid.

That's a bad Lou. Stop that.

Miss Mary feeds our sharks, eels, and team members several times a week, helping them stay healthy and somewhat accustomed to human interaction. Baby banded cat sharks cannot open their tiny mouths very wide, so the food needs to be cut up fairly small. Pieces that are too big will be spat back up or just ignored completely. It's common for newborns to resist eating at first, occasionally resisting to the point of fatal starvation, so the attentive hand feeding performed by Miss Mary helps to make sure all of our little banded babies get off to a good start.

The Season of Lights

Coral Specialist Ron is rearranging our aquaculture tanks to accomodate a stunning array of new corals we just got in. You wouldn't believe the colors on these! Totally unreal. Of course, the proper lighting makes all the difference when it comes to the colorations of your corals. And the proper amount of lighting. Remember: you're trying to replicate nature. The sun isn't out 24/7, so your lights shouldn't be on 24/7. We had an incident with one of our light timers back when we were still in the process of moving into our new warehouse. It kept turning the lights on when it wasn't supposed, hurting many of our specimens. But fortunately, our Coral Specialists are very knowledgable and were able to save and heal most of the tank. Our timers have been working perfectly ever since... like clockwork!

By the way, all of the photos you see in our coral section have been taken under the optimal lighting to show off their coloration. However, the lights in your tank may result in different intensities of hues.

The Aussie Dragon Soul Reverse Prism Favia
flourishes in medium metal halide lighting.

Some corals, such as the Red Chili/Cactus Coral, do best in low lighting and should be placed in shady areas. (And no, we do mean the bad neighborhood in your tank.) For corals that need more extreme lighting, such as most xenias, donuts, and zoanthids, we advise only the best Metal Halide 1000-watt, 6,700K lighting in order to awaken the sleeping polyps and color enhancing zooxanthellae that really transform an aquarium from a simple fish tank to a show-stopping display of deep sea life.

To learn more about caring for corals, we recommend Aquarium Corals: Selection, Husbandry, and Natural History by Eric H. Borneman.

Oh look! A discount!

Thanks for checking out our blog! Enjoy 10% off your next livestock order* when you use the code "GRINCHGOBY" at checkout. Minus the quotes, of course. Better hurry. This coupon is only good for a limited time!

*Excludes tax, shipping, handling, and sale items.

A Festive Friday

It's holiday time at Aquatic Connection Live! Before opening this morning, AquaCon team member Dave set up a beautiful Christmas tree and hung a stocking for everyone in the warehouse. I guess we know who's going to be playing Santa this year!

Also, a happy seventh night of Chanukah to all of our Jewish friends out there! We have a menorah we break out in the evenings. None of us can pass up a good latke.

This year will be our first holiday season in our new warehouse and offices. Even our coral specialist is getting into the holiday spirit, cultivating mushroom rocks with red and green mushrooms for our showroom tanks. He's also working on some items exclusively for some special holiday promotions coming up.

Can't wait to see who everyone got for our annual Secret Santa game. It's almost more exciting to see who got who than to see who got what! Almost. Hehehe.

In the Beginning

*tap tap* Is this thing on? Check, 12-12-12....

Hahaha, happy December 12th 2012, everyone!

And welcome to the start of the Live from AquaCon blog! Here you can keep updated on all the latest happenings with the Aquatic Connection Live team. We're not just purveyors of saltwater fish, corals, live rock, and aquarium supplies; we truly love aquatic life.