Labor Day is usually a good time to find some good deals at your LFS (local fish store). The summer time is usually a slow period of the year, for these store, so Labor day is a good jump start for the fall season.

The best retailer around, Premium Aquatics, is offering 10% off everything this labor day weekend. Use promo code ‘LABOR’ at checkout. Premium Aquatics.

Oceans Gallery II, in NJ, is having a big Labor Day weekend sale. 25% off Fish & Coral and buckets of reef crystals can be had for $40. Great deal for locals. Deals.

Champion Lighting & Supply is having a sale until 9/8, 10% off everything. They’re located in Ambler, PA, so I usually just pickup my order there.  Link.

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Here’s a recent article on a major coral reef bleaching event occurring off the coast of Indonesia. We humans need to own up and do something about this. Very sad indeed.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38741347/ns/us_news-environment/

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I just found out about Avast Marine Works, formerly Grey Seas Aquatics. Looking at their website, it looks like they’re a US company building some pretty sweet acrylic items for our tanks. What stands out for me is the value in some of their products, such as their kalk reactor, ‘swabbie’ and some of their DIY kits. Their $189 kalk reactor looks and works like a Deltec kalk reactor, the km500, that sells for $500. Gee, let me see what I can do w/ the $310 I just saved! The swabbie is similar to a skim clean, but cost only$135 vs. $600(only lazy,’ don’t clean my collection cup once a week’ people need apply!). Finally, their DIY all acrylic media reactor sells for $49. I don’t know about you, but I’d rather use some elbow grease and spend a few bucks more to get a solid reactor over a flimsy tlf phosban reactor. I might just have to try out one of these reactors. I’ll update this post if I do.

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Although ORA claims that their mandarins eat frozen, pellet, etc…I haven’t seen mine eat any of these foods yet. So far, I’ve tried feeding cyclopeeze, frozen PE mysis (chopped up), blackworms, & Spectrum small pellets. I’ve noticed that my fish hangs out in the lowest flow area of my frag tank, where the most pods seem to be. Since I haven’t witnessed it eating anything I’ve given it; and it’s been 3 weeks; and it’s not dead yet; I can only guess that it’s eating my pods. On ReefCentral, there’s a thread were people have lost their fish due to starvation. It’s sad, but I think ORA may have over promised and under delivered on this one. My official stance is that when buying an ORA Mandarin, you’re getting a Captive Raised Fish period and it will be just as difficult to raise as a wild caught one.

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I recently picked up a ORA Canary Yellow Blenny. I wanted a yellow fish and a yellow tang was out of the question (my Sohal would eat it alive!). This fish is very lively and likes to swim all over the place. I haven’t seen it eat anything yet, but hopefully it will soon.

ORA Description below:

Canary Blenny – Meiacanthus ovalaunensis

The Canary Blenny’s striking yellow color makes it an excellent addition to a reef aquarium. This exotic fish is found in the currents of lagoons and reefs off Fiji and Tonga where it feeds on zooplankton.

The Canary Blenny is a natural choice for a reef tank because it mixes well with other fish, the only exception being similarly shaped blennies, and it will not disturb corals. This fish should be kept in a tank of at least 20 gallons with ample places to hide. It may act aggressively toward other fish if provoked but is generally peaceful in a large aquarium. The Canary Blenny reaches a maximum size of 4″-5″ (10 – 12 cm).

Picture below is my blenny getting acclimated in the overflow box.

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