Storytime again for us fish nerds... Southern Japan and Guam dive/fish trip 2012 :)

[SDguy]

Nope... those are both on my bucket list but unfortunately both have been left to the birds... and there is no longer travel or people there... keep guessing!



Thanks so much... I love my family, fish, diving and travel (in that order)... much of my life is some combination of those... our daughter is four... going on eighteen... While most of my fish travels are an offshoot of business or speaking engagement travel, I travel quite a bit with the family too... last summer we visited and had hotel stays in all six New England states... this summer is coastal Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama... here's our little Isabella with our son Nicholas, my future dive buddy, in Cape Cod last summer... where we were unknowingly bathing with a growing population of great whites! Our son has already visited twenty states... and we hope to hit all 50 with the kids before they leave the nest!

Ted the AF-S replaced an old model of this lens that was already incredibly popular... this newer model is even more so... I got the port to shoot it underwater also, where it is equally popular.



In my computer... coming soon...



You're aware they are available Peter right?

Copps

I am, john.

 

[caribfan]

Newer to reefcentral, I'm going to really enjoy following this thread. From my small amount of time on this site, it's clear you've gained a lot of respect from this forum.

 

[rachenbrazil]

Wow... Amazing trip... Your insights about the food, the people and your family males the whole journey amazing. Really thanks for sharing.... Keep posting !

 

[SDguy]

Awww, awesome kid pics John... they didn't come up on my phone originally.

 

[bhsgk]

I always love seeing any thread that you start copps. I know that not only will I learn a tremendous amount, but I will see some of the greatest pictures in the industry. And I feel like I go on a mini vacation and can live vicariously through your stories. You couldnt pay me any amount of money to eat fugu, but I am glad you lived to tell us about it. I know its highly regulated, but I bet your blood pressure still rose when you were about to eat it.

 

[copps]

Took me a while, but that is Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands, right? It is gorgeous. Home of Rhomboids I believe. Should be great diving.

Yup... it's Kwaj... ironically one of the largest coral atolls in the world by area... despite having little landmass... the largest island you see in the photo and it's not much bigger than the runway... I'll be exploring many of the outer islands by sailboat... camping along the way on some of the outer islands... this is home to all of the amazing well known Marshall Island species including flame angels and rhomboid wrasses... and was the first and only place for a while amazing rarities from the deep like Belonoperca pylei... or Dr. Seuss, and Bodianus neopercularis were collected... it remains the only place to see and collect Cirrhilabrus johnsoni and Paracheilinus bellae... in addition to being some of the best diving in the world! This is an offshoot trip from some work I'll be doing in Pearl Harbor, HI then that I organized... with a pretty cool group of friends some of you know I'll be bringing along.

I always love seeing any thread that you start copps. I know that not only will I learn a tremendous amount, but I will see some of the greatest pictures in the industry. And I feel like I go on a mini vacation and can live vicariously through your stories. You couldnt pay me any amount of money to eat fugu, but I am glad you lived to tell us about it. I know its highly regulated, but I bet your blood pressure still rose when you were about to eat it.

Most of the fugu deaths are from "home preparation"... or at least that's what I tell myself when I eat it... aided and calmed by copious doses of sake...

 

[copps]

John, where are the pics of the Koji's customer tanks? =)

Okay... here was a trip we took one day to Nara Prefecture to see one of Koji's customer's systems... a doctor who keeps his collection in his office... this collection is top five in Japan in terms of rarity of his fish collection... excuse my French... but some of these specimens were FREAKING AMAZING!

Entering Nara...

Entering the office...

I'll start with two fish he had together in a small display in the back... Centropyge narcosis and Cirrhilabrus squirei... WOW! The narcosis was a result of the official discovery of peppermints and narcosis outside of the Cooks for the first time last year... you could read more here...

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2141796

Also, Kevin Kohen just wrote a wonderful article on narcosis that you could google.

Anyway, the numbers of both of these species in captivity throughout the world can be counted on one hand... that's rare...

Centropyge narcosis

Cirrhilabrus squirei

 

[copps]

Opposite that system was another one displaying another uber rarity... a true wild Centropyge resplendens from tiny Ascension Island on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge... I've owned this species and now have four argi/resplendens hybrids... but this wild specimen was just gorgeous and breathtaking...

The rarest by far of the Zebrasoma genus... the Holy Grail of tangs... Zebrasoma gemmatum...

Also in that tank was the equally rare flathead perch Rainfordia opercularis...

And getting along with the resplendens well was the local Centropyge star... another Centropyge interrupta...

 

[humaguy]

My mother was right, I should have been a doctor....WOW!! quite a tank...

 

[Yurivd]

Wow that is fish !

 

[copps]

Some shots of the narcosis/ squirei display...

And a few of the small system with the resplendens and others...

More coming...

 

[copps]

My mother was right, I should have been a doctor....WOW!! quite a tank...

Wow that is fish !

You're telling me... I'm happy just to see a saltwater system in a doctor's office that doesn't have an Aiptasia or algae outbreak or a tang with HLLE!

 

[SDguy]

What beauties!!!

Opposite that system was another one displaying another uber rarity... a true wild Centropyge resplendens from tiny Ascension Island on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge... I've owned this species and now have four argi/resplendens hybrids... but this wild specimen was just gorgeous and breathtaking...

The rarest by far of the Zebrasoma genus... the Holy Grail of tangs... Zebrasoma gemmatum...

Also in that tank was the equally rare flathead perch Rainfordia opercularis...

And getting along with the resplendens well was the local Centropyge star... another Centropyge interrupta...

 

[copps]

An all Montipora display in the office...

You could see two more interrupta in this shot...

One chunky Centropyge joculator...

And the closest relative of Centropyge narcosis... named in honor of Pat Colin... Centropyge colini...

And I haven't even gotten to the tank in the office with the rarest specimens in it yet...

 

[Tactics]

John - thanks for sharing! Such an amazing collection.

The only thing sucky about deep water treasures like the Narcosis is that they're usually housed in drabby, dimly lit tanks! (not that you can change that).

 

[GSMguy]

This thread delivers! thank you John for sharing your incredible nerdcation.
It is amazing (to me anyway) that all these super rare fish are in a doctors office. I would want them at home.

That is a well fed Joculator. I remember seeing a Coral Beuty at Salty Critter that had come out of a customers tank and it was so fat that it had trouble changing direction.

 

[orangegoby]

Hondori sugoi desu!!

 

[copps]

Thanks again guys... I'll update with some other incredible specimens from that doctor's house within the next couple of days... and incredibly rare!

I wanted to mention that for those interested in Centropyge interrupta, there will be an opportunity to buy one tonight... which is almost as rare as the fish itself. The Diver's Den will be posting a ~2" juvie... perfect size... small enough to still be cute yet large enough to handle the stress of shipping and adaptation... and I can say that hands down Kevin Kohen handles fish better than anyone in the country... is anyone seriously interested?:fun4:

orangegoby, thanks for the comment... I think?

Copps

 

[SDguy]

A nice vid of the little gal posted by LiveAquaria on YouTube:

 

[Poomba]

Copps, do you see the prices on Interruptus ever getting down to the 3-500 dollar range for a single fish?