430gal., L-shaped display

["Umm fish?"]

Yep. There are actually two in there. I hate to put clowns in first as they get territorial but it's a big tank and these are pretty mild (aquacultured).

They are awfully cute in there, too.

 

[MatthewLaw]

wow look great!

 

["Umm fish?"]

Thanks, man.

The "pair" (they're still juveniles) finally found each other. From the living room side:

 

[FUA]

those two fish look nice and they have and "ocean" to stretch out their fins.....at least for now

 

[EnglishRebel]

Great looking tank Andy I love those clowns but no quarantine?

 

[MatthewLaw]

one of my favorite type of clowns!

 

["Umm fish?"]

Thanks, y'all!

Great looking tank Andy I love those clowns but no quarantine?

They've been down in the basement for weeks now. Never a sign of anything (as should be with aquacultured fish).

 

[murfman]

Looks great, Andy! They are like pods in a 29 though!

 

[EnglishRebel]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14593303#post14593303 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by "Umm, fish?"
They've been down in the basement for weeks now. Never a sign of anything (as should be with aquacultured fish).

Ah, I see. You think of everything. I didn't know that aquacultured (aka tank raised) weren't subject to ich and velvet.

 

["Umm fish?"]

Thanks, Murf!

Alan--I'm not saying that they aren't able to get ich and velvet. But, they are not subject to the stress of capture, being held in much too crowded facilities, having to acclimate to 5-6 different sets of water conditions, probably not fed the entire time, and exposed to every disease in all those systems. Aquacultured fish have never been out of aquariums, so that is not a source of stress. In addition, their travel times are usually far less and with far fewer changes in water chemistry on the way to you, so their immune systems are likely in much better shape. Also, it is probably also the case that most of the fish have never been exposed to some of the diseases in the first place.

So, there's the reasoning. I certainly don't think of everything and I'm not immune to fish diseases. In fact, the silly butterflies have just come down with a case of ich. Sigh. Their tank is isolated from the rest of the system, though I do have to get some shrimp out of there to treat the fish. And I did lose my wild-caught Akindynos pair to some sort of disease, but they were in a hospital tank. (Grrr.)

 

["Umm fish?"]

I took some more pictures a couple of days ago, 'cause I know how you guys are about photos.

I have a couple of these guys hanging out in the filefish tank. The files seem to eat a little better when they have some fishy neighbors.

I'm really enjoying how the file tank is turning out. They've now been in my care for 74 days and two entire weeks in a tank with _no_ live corals.

BTW, some bad news. I lost my two butterflies yesterday. We noticed some spots on them a few days ago, removed the cleaner shrimp (maybe a mistake?) and reduced the salinity. By the next day, they were covered. So, got them into a hospital tank with low salinity and copper, but they didn't make it. The banggai in that tank is still looking okay, but I need to get a hospital tank going for him, too, before it's too late. Also, I can't find one of the dang clowns this morning. I'm having the worst luck with clowns lately. They had found a place to host and looked like they were settling down. This morning, no sign. Hmpph.

 

[EnglishRebel]

Andy
Sorry about the butterflies. Hope that clown turns up soon.

 

[taziam10797@yah]

All I can say is WOW!! I'll be tagging along also!

 

["Umm fish?"]

Thanks, y'all! Alan, I fear the worst on the clown. I wish I knew where he went so--even if for nothing else--I can close that hole. Then again, he may just be swimming around the sump and I haven't seen him yet, but it's a long way down to there. Crazier things have happened.


----------

So, it sucks reporting the bad news and I hate to talk about my failures, but I don't think it's a realistic build thread if I don't talk about the down sides as well as the ups. That's why I fess up whenever I screw up. Hopefully there will be more ups than downs and I hope that whenever you guys see me doing something silly you'll let me know so I can keep learning.

 

["Umm fish?"]

Well, I hate to tell you all this, but I decided that it would be better as a planted tank.

Man, that's some crazy hair algae, huh? It went from nothing to this in two days flat.

So, I apparently have an herbivoury issue. Well, a non-herbivoury issue to be more precise. So, I placed an urchin into the tank yesterday. I didn't realize until later that it had brought a friend.

Maybe something along the lines of Zebrida adamsii? It's a very cool crab. It hides down in the urchin's mouth region when its afraid.

 

[reefdude420]

Wow! That's cool!

 

[dtech]

Very cool hitcher Andy, great colors on the urchin too.

 

[falesdk]

Thats really neat!

 

[EnglishRebel]

Isn't serendipity* wonderful.

* serendipity |ˌserənˈdipitē|
noun
the occurrence and development of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way : a fortunate stroke of serendipity | a series of small serendipities.
DERIVATIVES
serendipitous |-ˈdipitəs| |ˈsɛrənˈdɪpədəs| adjective
serendipitously |ˈsɛrənˈdɪpədəsli| adverb
ORIGIN 1754: coined by Horace Walpole, suggested by The Three Princes of Serendip, the title of a fairy tale in which the heroes “were always making discoveries, by accidents and sagacity, of things they were not in quest of.”

 

["Umm fish?"]

Thanks, you all! I wonder, if I get another urchin maybe I could find a mate for the crab...