Found between 30 degrees North and 30 degrees South on any tropical reef environment around the world, Zebrasoma flavescens is most commonly known as the Yellow Tang and is the main marine aquarium export fish from Hawaii.

Benthic turf algae and other marine plant materials are the sustenance of these hardy tropical reef dwellers who can be found anywhere from 1 to 60 meters below the ocean/lagoon surface, showing a preference for 2-40m and also enjoy providing cleaning services upon the shells of marine turtles.

Adult Yellow Tangs will grow to between 6 to 8 inches in length and anywhere from half an inch to three fourths of an inch in width.

Yellow Tang are considered a hardy fish, able to survive up to 40 years in the wild, although they require at least 80 gallons to 150 gallons or more to stay healthy, as they are susceptible to most common tank bourn diseases.

The tank should maintain a stable temperature anywhere between 75.2-82.4 degrees, the pH balance needs to stay at 8.0-8.4, the recommended degrees of carbonate hardness range between dKH 8-12 and the specific gravity should remain between sg 1.020-1.025.

Zebrasoma flavescens is a Semi-aggressive species, requiring an abundant amount of hiding/sleeping places (especially live rock), in order to feel safe, and may do battle over these kinds of territory if enough are not provided.

While the Achilles Tang, Blue Tang, Eels, Lionfish, Cardinalfish and large Clownfish all make good tank mates for Zebrasoma flavescenes, invertebrates are sure to be safe from their temper at not finding a good hiding spot.

The Yellow Tang (Zebrasoma flavescenes) is a beautiful saltwater fish that thrives around the world upon tropical reefs and in lagoons, they will eat a variety of prepared fish foods in the tank environment, especially meaty algae, and if well kept, can live for years in a reef aquarium and still bring inspiration to both the beginning and advanced saltwater aquarist alike.

Valued for its exquisite beauty of fading purple into yellow, Royal Gramma (Gramma loreto) is not to be confused with its cousin the Royal Dottyback (Pseudochromis paccagnella) which does not fade, but is two distinct colors and is more territorial (also a favorite among many starter marine aquariums).

Royal Gramma is a lover of the tropical Atlantic waters of the Americas, near reefs and caves, especially the Caribbean Sea (Lesser Antilles, Venezuela, Honduras and Nicaragua), the Bahamas, Cuba, the coasts of Central and South America (usually outside the gulf of Mexico), from the tip of Southern Florida along the coast of central America all the way down as far as Espírito Santo in Brazil.

Royal Gramma usually swims between 1-40 meter below the surface near coral reefs, inside caves and under ledges, but will swim as deep as 60m making it appear blue in the front and orange toward the rear, deep in the sea.

Royal Gramma will swim with its belly towards substratum, thus usually upside down when under ledges, will feed off of the ectoparasites of other fish and retreats quickly into recesses when alarmed.

Live brine shrimp and other meaty foods make for an excellent source of nutrition that will tend to keep the Royal Gramma happy, but nothing is wrong with vitamin-enriched flakes for even better nutritional purposes.

Living between three and five years, the Royal Gramma can grow as much as four inches in the wild, usually only three in captivity (depending on the tank size; a minimum of 30 gallons for this species), while they enjoy a rather acidic pH of 8.1-8.4, they will usually need a carbonate hardness between 8-12 degrees, with a sensitive specific gravity from 1.020-1.025 and a temperature range from 72-80 degrees F.

When keeping more than one fish with the Royal Gramma it is important to provide a variety of hiding places to accommodate everyone more safely since the Royal Gramma doesn’t like to share its hiding places (especially with other Royal Gramma’s).

Also known as the Fairy Basslet, Royal Gramma (Gramma loreto) is a colorful starter fish recommended for the first time marine aquarist, looking for a fish that needs between easy to moderate care, loves meaty foods like ectoparasites off of other fish or live brine shrimp, is usually harmless except when defending its hiding spaces and enchanting to look at with the fairy-like hues that start as purple and gradually fade into yellow.

Found in tropical reef waters such as those of East Africa, Japan, Samoa, New Caledonia, Fiji, Marshal Islands, Solomon Islands, The Great Barrier and throughout the Indo-Pacific; the Regal Blue Tang is known by many mysterious names and has been witness to some of the great tales of our nautical history.

Palette surgeonfish, blue tang (somewhat confusing with Acanthurus coeruleus; a relative from the Atlantic Ocean), hippo tang, flagtail surgeonfish and the blue surgeonfish, its delicate blue body and yellow tail, bring to mind lost pirate treasures and sunken galleons from ages gone by, fueling our human imagination as well as our passion for the unknown.

The colorful underwater regions where the lone Regal Blue Tang will enjoy a peaceful life of hardy eating between all sorts of green algae and seaweed, is one filled with all sorts of other colorful fish and live rock that simply enchant us, making Paracanthurus hepatus so popular among saltwater aquarists young and old because of the lively aquascapes they thrive so well in.

Although generally a hardy fish, the Regal Blue Tang does need a stable environment with particularly high water quality and brisk circulation (as do most saltwater fish it will live with). But it also needs a varied diet as well as enough space, to keep it healthy, since they are susceptible to hole in the head disease (perhaps due to over-stress) and most parasitic outbreaks common among captive marine fish, lots of food, seem to keep it generally healthier.

The secret to the Regal Blue Tang (as well as with other tank species it lives with) is observation and good tank upkeep. Optimized environment, high water quality, brisk circulation, decent foods, daily greens, and the selection of only one single healthy specimen for the tank (they are territorial).

Connoisseurs of live rock, hiding spaces, swimming routes, ample room to swim in general, they can grow up to about 12 inches in the wild and about half that size while in captivity, the juvenile can support a 40 gallon tank, but the adult will need at least 150 gallons.

A healthy tank environment for the Regal Blue Tang include a steady temperature that should stay between 72-78° F, the degrees of carbonate hardness should be anywhere from 8-12 dKH (to keep the pH levels stable), specific gravity should be very precisely between 1.020-1.025 sg and the water should be rather acidic 8.1-8.4 pH, thus the carbonate hardness could mean the life or death of a Regal Blue Tang.

Feed the Regal Blue Tang well with veggie clips, seaweed and an ample supply of algae, as well as other varied food products for big eating herbivores, respect their stress levels and territorial behavior, provide them with an environment such as that which they would inhabit out on the reefs of the enchanting Indo-Pacific, observe them carefully and be a good tank steward, and they will provide an aesthetic window into a system of nature that inspires a thirst for knowledge among marine aquarists as well as the passion for those who dream.

The Threadfin Butterflyfish is generally a non-migratory species usually associated with reefs and will inhabit the ocean at a depth anywhere from 1-35 meters along the tropical environments at 30°N – 20°S, when in larger groups however, these will travel great distances in search of food.

An Indo-Pacific fish, the Threadfin Butterflyfish can be found along the pacific islands, off the coast of Eastern Africa and the Red Sea (where the name chaetodon seems to have come from).

The eye-sized black spot at the top soft portion of the dorsal fin was engineered by Mother Nature to avoid predators, but in the Red Sea, this characteristic seems to have disappeared.

This member of the chaetodontidae family is a timid, peaceful, yellow, black and white fish no bigger than eight or nine inches; found more commonly in Tonga, Papua New Guinea, Indo-Pacific, Hawaii and Fiji.

Enjoying a tank with at least 50 gallons, the Threadfin Butterflyfish prefers a highly acidic pH balance between 8.2-4, a range of 8 to 12 degrees of carbon hardness (dKH), while salt levels should maintain a specific gravity (sg) of between 1.021 and 1.023 and temperatures should remain between 72-8 degrees F.

Threadfin Butterflyfish are extremely shy, and need a lot of hiding places such as coral reefs, weedy places and rubble-covered areas.

Threadfin Butterflyfish like to tear the pieces from polychaetes, algae, coral polyps and sea anemones for food in the wild. They are oviparous and form pairs during breeding, able to double their population in just fifteen months within the proper tank conditions.

A beautiful, peace-loving marine fish, the Threadfin Butterflyfish adds a yellow, black and white contrast to any saltwater aquarium and with the hardiness to withstand beginners mistakes it is highly recommended to the first time marine aquarist.

Taking care of the zebra cichlid is easy. Zebra convict cichlids grow to be five to six inches long. The feminine expression in this species remains. The word remains is used because most species start out as female, until at various points in pre-birth, pre-hatch stages hormones change some females into males. This is true of most species with two generally separate sexes a few inches smaller in physical length.

These fish are considered very tough. Larger fish in your tank will have a hard time bullying or eating it.

If the pH is steady convict or zebra cichlid can live comfortably in the 6 8 range.

These creatures like temperatures between 60° to 80° F which equals to 20°to 27° C.

This naming issue is specially important since convicts no longer wear stripes. So, the visual reference is already being lost to antiquity to the current grade school generation. This is a generation who associate a full body suit or mechanics work wear that is primarily hunters orange with the idea of being imprisoned.

A necessary reminder is that hunters orange, and what now is also convicts orange is used as a color because it isn’t found naturally among the colors in nature on land.

In the case of the hunter, this means not being shot by other hunters. That is mistaken for game animals by other humans.

Zebra Convict Cichlids protecting their fry

For this same reason, this color that visually stands out is chosen for convicts so that they will be noticed easily in woods or any other terrain.

The species Archocentrus nigrofasciatus that is more commonly referred to as convict cichlid, and less commonly (although very common) referred to as Zebra Cichlid needs to hold with function over form. Since most people in the coming years will understand the zebra reference, and sooner than later the convict ref will be drawing on too vague of an icon from the past, the convict reference should be de-emphasized; and the zebra reference should be the focal point for visual reference.

If people from the 18^th century start time traveling and need to reference what they are seeing in contemporary reef tanks. We can add a side note for them.

But until then, making sure that common names of animals make sense to immediate future generations is part of the responsibility of chronographers in the present era.

For the sakeof search engines, the convict term is necessary until the term falls into iconographic irrelevance and the zebra nomenclature survives it.

It is important to suggest that the convict moniker is not just for the stripes alone. Since this fish is so able to take care of its own against fish twice its size; a poetic license is warranted in adding the convict moniker.

However, most prison violence is based on a need to be violent to make a point in order erecta border around ones personal space. Not unlike a reef tank at all.

Which context will carry into the next generation of reef tank enthusiast remains to be seen.

But one hopes no one names the next species of florescent self illuminating orange looking octopus squid still undiscovered in the deep the prison gang fish due to the coloration, self illumination, and the fact that they can withstand a lot of pressure in a hostile environment. :)

Imagine snorkeling after low tide several for miles with these long spine urchins beneath your belly, thighs and knees. Then finally be able to level off from the careful frog surface crawl, with hundreds, if not thousands of these lovelies rolling in the tide only three or four inches below your entire body as you also bob with the tide.

So many long spine urchins rolling about in fact; that walking is a sure way to get stung badly, numerous times.

And when you relax to tread water in the coral bowl, you find that the area is also occupied by a mama shark (stuck in the bowl until the tide rolls in) is already forming a warning crescent less that fifty or sixty feet away.

And now its time to go frog crawl back over the long spine urchin fields if you want to survive and leave the mama in peace.

This is when the aquarist or a house guest can appreciate these creatures for the dangerous and calm beings that they are. Appreciating them in the reef tank behind more glass than the eye covering of underwater goggles adds a sense of real appreciation for these interesting black and not so menacing creatures.

This fish looks like a colored rock and can grow roughly 15 inches. It gives the illusion of being unsymmetrical. As if the fish were some Detective Comic cross-over from Bizarro Superman’s world, into that of our own.

But these fish are not a doppelganger of an imaginary reality. They are apart of real reality. They share the Earth with us.

Looking at this fascinating creature move about is always eye catching. Looking at the peculiar natural form is relaxing and can take ones mind from thinking to hard about other stresses. Mostly because from the basic human sense of symmetry; this animal appears to not be balanced.

Giant Anglerfish A.K.A Frogfish Video

This fish will give you something to watch and wonder about for many peaceful hours.

The nature of the animals temperament is somewhat forceful: But not as much so as some other types of fish. They are carnivorous fish.

The smallest recommended environment for this species is 100 gallons.

These fish blend in so well, that even when photographed as the centered colorful subject of a snapshot, they look like floating coral chunks from various angles.
The Species is inspirational, an is the physical representation of the Asian American proverb: The strong imagination imagines the truth.

Pull up a chair, sit back, watch, and wonder. The Giant, Antennarius Commerson Angler Frogfish is as one of natures many exceptions to a rule.

Taking care of the sea horse is easy if you are responsible and ALWAYS aware of the optimal conditions that ensure their survival in your home aquarium.

They look like a horse, a dragon, a leviathan, a myth that is real every time we look into the tank again to be amazed by them.

They dance in the water, and in our marine aquariums this dance is more pronounced.

When we see two of them together as a couple we often imagine them kissing, and forming a romantic heart, or ringing giant land horse size versions through the underwater coral and seaweed labyrinths.

The hippocampus kuda is the most common seahorse in household aquariums.

Watch a some yellow hippocampus kudas dance in this video

Seahorses often die while being shipped from online providers; they will arrive in the store at around three inches long and will grow to about twelve inches while in your care.

Some of these amazing creatures are tank bred, while others are absconded from the oceans, or a sea. From any resource these creatures never cease to please.

Like all other aquamarine life, the sea horse hippocampus kuda need to not be overwhelmed with ammonia in a tank. Properly applying live sand, live rock, or both allows beneficial bacteria to colonize that create nitrite and nitrate out of the ammonia.

A protein skimmer will remove excess waste and food debris form the saltwater reef aquarium allowing your seahorse population to thrive.

King Neptune, Calypso, and Imaja will be grateful that you’re taking good care of their heard and in the night time the gods and goddesses of the deep, may choose your extension of the ocean, to come and joy ride these majestic horses of the sea.