Little advanced warning. Even after the heavy edit, (took out 10 mins of me drooling over this fish) I couldn't contain my reef geeking under control.
With that said, this fish has been on my list to see for very long time. This fish has been part of trade embargo and still to this day, you still can't import it to U.S. Years back, my good friend, Charles Ah-Ha Ron Steinfeld and I have been trying to bring this to stateside for years without any success and I honestly thought that we would never get to see it unless we travel outside of U.S.
Fast forward few years, my friend Jared Goldenberg of Fluid Dynamics International was able to bring this when the trade embargo was lifted. To my knowledge, to this day, he was the only one that was able to bring this specie of fish to the stateside legally. My another friend, amazing breeder and former MASNA Aquarist of the year, Todd Gardner was successful in breeding this amazing fish in captive conditions.
Then.... it went quiet. Nothing really came out from it and we all sort of forgot about it.
Few years passed on again and I randomly received a call from Jake Phillips from Biota Aquariums and to my surprise, they have partnered up with Todd to make efforts to make this this amazing fish commercially available! Can you just imagine my excitement?
Sit back and enjoy my interview with Jake and get ready to get excited with me. :)
Photo credit : my talented friend Lemon Tyk.