yikai

terryz in that photo of the katherinae harem i posted, there's actually a nice alpha male that's hidden way back and covered by the females. i zoomed in and circled it. very nice!

an un-identified fairy wrasse from Cebu, Philippines. This photo belongs to Dr. Tanaka. It does not look like any of the temmincki variants, but look alomst identical to C. katherinae. It is not the one we found at iwarna last time. that one was actually a temmincki variant or the true temmincki. C. katherinae has only been reported to be found in the Marianas, Guam. It is found in Japan too, but not reported to be found in Cebu. So what wrasse is this. Neither a temmincki nor a katherinae? The colouration and finnage is that of katherinae and the pectoral fin base has a black spot too!

female katherinae is nice. ok snorvich does have a katherinae! a pair! here's some pictures i found in RC. submale and a female.

if it's not that red means it's balteatus. if it doesn't have the yellow band just below the dorsal fin, it's not katherinae also. female and male katherinae is very red. anyway katherinae now is unobtainable. It's found only in Japan and Guam. there's no more collection in Guam, so Japan is the only way you can get C. katherinae now. But forget it lah, none have been collected and i don't think they even bother about it. it's a very common fish and found in shallow water, 10-40m. Alot of people mix up katherinae with the temminckii complex and balteatus. but i've not seen a true katherinae yet, even in RC. Only the one LADD posted.. maybe someone still has one? Guam collection was still going on few years ago. Snorvich from RC has a katherinae but i've not seen a photo of it. so dunno if it's the real katherinae or some other temmincki complex.

don't keep any butterflies unless you have already decided what you want and post here. alot of butterflies are obligate coral eaters. this means they eat nothing but a certain type of coral in the wild. usually acropora. this means in your tank, they will eat nothing else and die. there are some hardy and easy butterflies. but before you decide to buy, post here first and we'll advice you if it's feasible or not. this was what terryz meant...

the fantastic and ultra rare japanese scooter blenny. i've posted a few pictures of them before. this fish is offered in Bluehabour's and other japanese stocklist. it's available if you want, and can be ordered in. but it's cold water species that will not do well in our tanks. Neosynchiropus ijimai

Parablennius laticlavius

anyway.. here's a v rare pipefish from japan. Maroubra yasudai

this is female katherinae. see the yellow dorsal area?

female balteatus is very very rare in the trade. females are very seldom brought in. but CF and iwarna bring in few times before. the picture posted by LADD is definitely NOT a female balteatus... female balteatus are just drab rusty red with a whitish belly with faint brown lines near the head. katherinae is red with a white belly and a thin green margin on the dorsal region. the picture by liveaquaria is a male katherinae, final!! NOT BALTEATUS!!! anyway katherinae and balteatus are very similar and closely related. this is male and female balteatus. doesnt look anything like katherinae. females of BOTH katherinae AND balteatus however, look similar. difference is female katherinae have yellow dorsal area.

rare blackfooted lionfish.

young male roseafascia on DD today.

the first wrasse is Oxycheilinus nigromarginatus from fiji and the 2nd one is an initial phase of Halichoeres hartzfeldii from indonesia. the katherinae looks like balteatus but there's clear differences too. balteatus is black top, white bottom with an orange patch.

LADD's P. guyanensis, trio of ventralis, tri of ventralis (1 changing), P. aya x P. guyanensis hybrid, SUPER RED L. carmabi, C. katherinae!! and a group of v rare A. townsendi.

LADD's choati wrasse pair. Males have a blue spot behind the operculum.

LADD's cook island helfrichi.

LADD's pair of P. aya.

LADD's pair of conspic angel.

LADD's izu cardinalfish.

one of LADD's first rusty flame. now it's so common

LADD's Interruptus angel

nice and seldom seen wrasses for sale at LADD today.

the white WS xenia very hard to hold colour. i have 2 colonies and only one remains as white as when i first got it. the other just turn brown.

haha ok thanks! miss mine so much. have been waiting for eternity for this particular variant, but too bad mine did not make it will wait for more next time.