ralphie16, SDguy,
The main reason why fish from the Red Sea have been hit and miss in the trade lately can be attributed to the closure of export of marine fish out of Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia was the Mecca for the majority of diversity in species such as dottybacks, bicinctus clowns, tangs, and angels coming into the US.
Yemen is still shipping to the states but only the larger fish such as Sohals, Semilavartus, and Purple Tangs.
Exports of marine fish out of Egypt are still trickling into the US as well, but these fish are very expensive and the quality and consistency is not up to the standards that we would like.
I hope this better explains the issues as of late with fish that are endemic to the Red Sea, and we are working diligently to correct this problem.
Cheers!
Kevin Kohen
Director of LiveAquaria
Drs. Foster and Smith