yikai

i think you guys get the idea now. on what a complex is. So the next time you hear this word, don't need to get confused! learn something new everyday i realiesd that the family chaetodon (butterflyfish) is just too complicated with too many subgenus and complexes. if i were to do it here i no need to sleep at all. just take a look at how complicated it is

Fremblii complex! these are two of my favourites Chaeotodon fremblii and Chaetodon blackburnii

The "bennetti" complex. placed in subgenus Tetrachaetodon C. bennetti, C, andamanensis, C. speculum, C. plebius

Chaetodon sensu stricto, or the capistratus complex. C. capistratus, C. ocellatus and C. striatus.

And my favourite complex in butterflies, the "tinkeri" complex. comprising of C. tinkeri, C. declivis, C. mitratus, C. burgessi and C. flavocoronatus. this complex is placed in the subgenus "roaops"

Next in butterflies, we have the "quadrimaculatus" complex. a group of butterflies similar to Chaetodon quadrimaculatus. C. quadrimaculatus, C. pelewensis, C. punctatofasciatus, and multicinctus. possible candidate for this could be the lemon butterfly and milletseed butterfly. C. citrinellus and C. miliaris.

Butterflies, we have the "xanthurus" complex. Called the xanthurus complex because of a group of similar looking butterflies belonging to the family chaetodon, bearing very close resemblance to chaetodon xanthurus. it's debatable that this group of butterflies should be placed in the subgenus Exornator, or a distinct subgenus of Rhombochaetodon. here we have C. xanthurus, C, madagascariensis, C. paucifasciatus, C. mertensii, C. argentatus

We have here the "rubriventralis" complex. A group of fairy wrasses very similar to Cirrhilabrus rubriventralis. Members of this complex includes C. rubriventralis, C. naokoae, C. joanallenae, and C. morrisoni here are the pictures in order from left to right. i can't find a picture of C. morrisoni. As for the genus Cirrhilabrus (fairy wrasse), i'm not sure if the following are considered complexes C. rhomboidalis, C. pylei, and C. lineatus C. roseafascia, C. lanceolatus, C. cf. lanceolatus, C. blatteus

From the wrasse family, genus cirrhilabrus, we have the temminckii complex. A group of wrasses bearing very close resemblance to Cirrhilabrus temminckii. We have here, C. temminckii, C. balteatus and C. katherinae. there might be more within this complex that i'm unaware of All very closely related species. that said, even C. temminckii is highly variable and 1 species can look very different from each individual.

From the genus centropyge, we have the argi complex. A group of dwarf angels bearing very close resemblance to Centropyge argi. We have here, C. resplendent, C. aurantonotus, C. acanthops and C. argi there are other very closely similar species of dwarves but i don't know if they can be consider complexes. such as C. multicolour and C. nachyaki C. colini and C. narcosis C. multispinnis, C. bispinosa, C. nox and C. flavipectoralis

mm. salted shrimp he be

Ever wondered why a group of fishes within a genus look so similar? while they look so different from others in the genus? take for example the very popular dwarf angel fishes, genus centropyge. why do argi, flame backs, resplendent, all look so similar? while they look so different from flame, coral beauty etc. or take butterflies for example. pearl scale butterfly? there's at least 4 that look so similar. wrasses too. are these all coincidence? maybe not. We define these fishes as a complex. what is a complex and how is it formed? I'm not exactly sure too. many scientist believe these fishes within a complex are allopatric species. allopatric species? this means that many of the species within the complex only originated from 1 fish and then slowly evolved into many other closely related one due to intrinsic forces. Let us take centropyge argi for example. the cherub/argi angel. the other related fishes in the "argi complex" are C. aurantonotus, C. acanthops and C. resplendent. It could be that C. argi was the only one sole member of "argi complex". but because of forces like strong waves, shifting plates, these argi angels are separated into different locals in the world, and started evolving. from there we see the argi angel evolve into resplendent (in the ascension islands), flameback angels (in brazil) etc. that's how allopatric species originate. i'm still learning more about this so my post will lack some information, but i just find it too interesting so i will share it with you guys. (provided anyone is interested lol..) on a side note, a complex should not be confused with a genus. a complex is a group of fishes within a major family that bear striking resemblance. more information below. a genus or subgenus, is a collection of fishes with confirmed DNA evidence such that they can be classified in their own genus. in a way, a complex is an un-confirmed "genus" from the main family.

sure you can. provided you willing enough to spam phytocure everyday just to keep it alive

this forum's database is devoid of interesting livestock in the archives. the singaporean market is not adventurous that's why alot of interesting fish don't appear in our market. that said, not many ppl willing to try them and also corals. thats why not many articles on cauliflower. i'm trying to pump this forum with stuff like this to increase the content of forum archives, so that more useful search results appear. that's why the colini and golden angel log, as well as some other fishy articles. take for example lunate wrasse, pintail wrasse, etc. they all go to japan and US where people are willing to pay and try. it's ok, try them once and you will realise cauliflowers are next to impossible. unless you are very dedicated. nothing ventured nothing gain my friend on a side note, they need plenty of flow and as little light as possible. as for aggressiveness, i dunno. i'm unsure about the aggressiveness for cauliflowers.

you will need a dedicated tank for the cauliflower only and flood it with food everyday. because of this extreme feeding requirment, alot of corals cannot be kept. actually, chingchai from thailand (if you dunno him by now you've been living under a rock), the one with the very impressive huge tank, has a dedicated softy tank. and he has some cauliflowers inside. but dunno how long liao. very nice. u shud check out his thread in reef central.

new pomacentrus sp discovered. doesn't it bear a very uncanny resemblance to chromis abyssus? the abyssal chromis. 1st pic the new "tufi" damsel. 2nd is the C. abyssus

not necessarily need to hang upside down. it's just that in the wild, alot of them grow in alot of weird orientation. simply because they don't care how they grow because they are not-light dependant. they are 100% non-photosynthetic. need to be fed everyday live baby brine shrimp, phytoplankton, cyclopeeze etc. this is the hardest non-photosynthetic coral to maintain and will never survive past a few months. these corals live for decades and decades in the wild. last a few months in our tank is not considered surviving. it's just prolonged death. so far have not heard of anyone in the world to sustain this. wanna be the first? hehe

very exquisite rock scape. and well done on cycling for 8 weeks. the longer the better. there's no such thing as cycling for too long! well done and kudos on your patience!

sexy shrimps don't eat corals as far as i know... they are commensals.. they live near or with corals. don't need to worry about small things like this. as long as you feed your tank and fishes, your shrimps will get a share of food.

new pics of gramma dejongi. so nice

you can trade with him bright green notes too!

oh yes of course of course. get it through either razali, jireh or LCK first. proceed to BO only after the above three criteria are met. good on you for referring to the rules. momentarily forgot

there are a total of 3 distributors of bubble magnus in singapore. so you may consider any of the three. LaW, however if you're doing bulk order and it's a cheaper alternative, why not?

hmm.... always thought that venustus was the more fierce among the two.

agreed with terryz. get some macroalgae to tide over it's hunger strike while it learns to eat more. many people fail with this fish because they don't understand the captive requirements for it. dumping it in a big rowdy tank with lots of fish is only going to kill it. good on you dnsfpl for reading up and setting up a tank just for this fish. it will serve you very well.. in fact, you could put more rocks and dedicate this tank to golden, colini, multibar and venustus. these 4 have very similar requirements and are all very difficult. they will do well in a peaceful tank