430gal., L-shaped display

["Umm fish?"]

Hey, news! The dottybacks spawned again today. They were one day later than schedule, but a gramma kicked the male out of his hole yesterday and that seemed to through off the timing. Man, the female was huge!

 

["Umm fish?"]

File photo:

91 days in since they hit the LFS and 31 days in a tank with no corals.

 

[maxheadroom]

nice screen name ^^^^^^

 

["Umm fish?"]

Yeah, I'm pretty impressed that I managed to log in today. I guess the search-and-replace happens on the raw text on the way to the browser for formatting. Pretty cool.

 

[serenity]

Thank you for the photos, I just love your fish room, once you get the hair gone that thing is going to be amazing (more than it already is) I just about have her talked into it, can't wait to show her the pics tonight of your work room. Many thanks and best of luck, look forward to following this thread

 

["Umm fish?"]

Thanks so much! Good luck with the tank!

Threads do not live on snail pictures alone (from what I can tell). So, on to some coral photos?

Acanthastrea:

Oddly enough, I didn't use the Nightsea gear on that shot. Having actinics--though I hate them--helps with the photos.

Montipora:

Some of you may remember that I'm fairly Euphyllia-obsessed, especially reproductive strategies in the family. So, Euphyllia glabrescens, a known tentacle-brooder:

 

["Umm fish?"]

So, I'm running into some nasty microbubble issues (which you'll see in the photos). I think I've figured out most of the story--bubbles are getting through the baffles in the sump--so now I can deal with it. So, I apologize for the distracting bubbles in the photos.

I'm not the best with colorimetric tests but I busted out a couple yesterday: Nitrates = 0, Phosphates (or the ones the test can measure) = 0. The algae is definitely dying back, which is kind of a shame as the zebrasomas are having a good time with it.

I actually moved a couple of test corals to the display last night. It's a reef! They've been in the same water for weeks now, so it shouldn't be a horrible shock to the cnidarians.

I'm still working on the heat issues. I doubt the HVAC guy's first suggestion (re-wire the current fan to run all the time) is going to completely solve the issue, but we'll get it done. In the meantime, the temporary measures are keeping the tank solidly at 80-81, so the animals are doing much better.

FTS. I've added more rock as hiding places for all the fish:

One of the really fat purple tangs:

One of the still-skinny but on the way to fat yellow tangs:

And, I decided to finally believe the Germans that Labroides dimidiatus are actually easy cleaner wrasses to keep. I picked up two of very different sizes and they seem to get along pretty well. A few chase games, but that's it. I've seen them both take frozen mysis out of the water column, so I'm not too worried about them.

 

["Umm fish?"]

Woohoo! We have juveniles!!!!!!!!

Here's the opened egg case with the stragglers:

And a brand new snail already cleaning the glass:

 

[falesdk]

Thats really cool! Neat how their still clear(ish).

 

[graveyardworm]

I must've missed it somewhere Andy, what species of snails are they?

 

["Umm fish?"]

Thanks, that was a fun series, especially the part about laying on my belly on the fishroom floor.

---------------

I'm bad. I picked up a big new tang yesterday. It's in QT now waiting on the other Acanthurus tangs that I want to get so I can introduce them all together.

In other news, the male filefish was looking particularly photogenic:

 

[nchin3]

Really nice pics. Thanks keep them comin!

 

["Umm fish?"]

Thanks! My threads usually tax the limits of high-speed internet. It's easier to take pictures than to type....

Speaking of filefish, have you all seen the new Coral magazine yet? Keep an eye out for it....

 

[EBOLII]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14759047#post14759047 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by graveyardworm
I must've missed it somewhere Andy, what species of snails are they?

I missed that too

 

["Umm fish?"]

Sorry. I missed that question somewhere. The are certainly from a shipment of snails that I received from the Reef Stewardship Foundation (formerly DIBS). But, no one had documented these egg cases for the group yet, so it's not certain which snails they are from. That's one of the reasons that I kept on documenting the development. I think it's fairly likely that they are from a species of Nerite. So, that's the story.

 

[murfman]

Andy, where did you get the Dussumieri at? I have been looking for 3 months now and the only hit was on a show size for big $$.

 

[dtech]

Andy, very nice pics, it's cool to see the snails out and working already, pretty cool. TheFilefish is looking great too. You will have to let us all know when the Coral Magazine comes out so we don't miss it. The tank is coming along great too.

 

["Umm fish?"]

I got the dussumieri at Aqua Imports. It had been there for a little while and I don't know whether he had order from a wholesaler or had it come back from a tank. It's still pretty shy of me but eating like a horse.

I just got my copy of Coral yesterday but I'm on a subscription. I think Matt did a really good job on the article. He covered a lot of ground but in a thoughtful way. And his photos rock!

 

[paulthomas]

Nice updates Andy. And the Dussumieri is a beautiful looking fish. I'd like to get one someday, but am on the fence due to how large they get.

 

["Umm fish?"]

I know what you mean. I'm really nervous. But the whole point of the very long tank was to get a couple of bigger fish, so I just need to get over it....

Thanks!