August 2011 fish pics, etc

[MD Ocean Girl]

Since it's all rainy and cold in Syracuse due to Irene, I figured I'd take some pictures and share them. Sorry if the pics are not the best quality....taken with my cell phone. Enjoy!

FTS of my 10 gallon half moon nano tank. CPR CS 50 overflow, mag 2 return pump, HOB CPR bakpak skimmer on 5 gallon sump. 70W 22k metal halide from fishneedit, and an ecoxotic LED strip for lighting.

Black lined blenny in my nano tank.

Barnacle Blennies in the nano.

Emerald green crab and tube anemone.

Scarlet reef hermit crab.

Crazy frogspawn that keeps growing new heads but won't grow enough skeleton so I can frag it :headwally:

Purple torch with light purple tips and a green mouth from ABC Reefs.

Pearl colored trumpet coral.

 

[MD Ocean Girl]

My lady and her boyfriend, currently living in our frag tank until we get a larger tank up and running.

My boyfriend's (The J Man) clowns and RBTA chilling in our 100 gallon rubbermaid bin until we get the 75 gallon up and running.

And because I started out with freshwater fish, and love them greatly, here's a full tank shot of my 30 gallon planted community tank.

One of my favorite fish in my 30 gallon.....stingray loach.

My 55 gallon planted catfish tank. Ignore the plants floating at the top....my large gibbiceps pleco keeps uprooting them...he's going to find a home at ABC Reefs once the cichlid show tank is up and running.
This tank currently houses the gibbiceps, a bushynose pleco, two African glass catfish, a leopard ctenopoma, siamese algae eater, midnight catfish, two synodontis catfish, and an angelfish. I'll be adding an African butterflyfish at some point.

And, not to be outdone, two pics of my boyfriend's furry cats!!

Gaahl

Rosa

 

[Capt_Cully]

Nano is really cool!

 

[rjmayes34]

nice collection of tank!!!
Whats easier to maintain, the nano saltwater or larger freshwater?

 

[MD Ocean Girl]

Thanks guys! :spin3:

Currently, the nano saltwater is easier to maintain because it is WAY over skimmed for it's size. When I had the "proper" filter and skimmer on it, I had to do water changes every few days. Now, I can go two-three weeks before I do a water change as long as a add some RO daily.

Once my huge gibbiceps is rehomed at ABC, and my plants take root, the freshwater tank will be a piece of cake. I'll just have to pick out the dead leaves and do a water change maybe once a month. Once again, filtration is key. I have a 2217 eheim on my 55 gallon tank, which makes a HUGE difference. I had an aquaclear filter on it before I learned enough to know how amazing eheim filters are, and I was doing water changes at least once a week.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that although the nano saltwater tank is easier right now, they both are "easy" to maintain because all my tanks are way overfiltered. It was a very important but expensive lesson for me since I had no fish knowledge at all when I first started out. I went through many cheaper filters/protein skimmers, and spent a ton of money because of that, before I just sucked it up and spent the money to get good equipment that was rated for much larger tanks than what I have. It has made keeping up on 2 freshwater tanks and three saltwater tanks much easier while being a med school student :beer:

 

[MD Ocean Girl]

Nano is really cool!

Thanks so much! That really means a lot, since it's my baby. You should have seen what it first looked like when I started it last September. My boyfriend made sure I went slow with it though, and I really like how it turned out, and how easy it is to keep clean. Slow and thoughtful is definitely the key with saltwater. Now I'm just searching for awesome looking zoas (do not have to be uber special named ones, just nice looking ones) to cover my rock work, and waiting for the frogspawn to grow enough to frag so I can downsize it and add a plating monti, and it'll be perfect. :bounce1:

 

[Sophie10]

Beautiful tanks, Karen, all of them! My freshwater require more time and frequent water changes as the 'bioload' of 4 silver dollars is a challenge to keep up with! I wish you could skim freshwater!

 

[MD Ocean Girl]

Beautiful tanks, Karen, all of them! My freshwater require more time and frequent water changes as the 'bioload' of 4 silver dollars is a challenge to keep up with! I wish you could skim freshwater!

Thanks so much!

I totally agree with you, Sophie. I so wish they made a freshwater skimmer. I had goldfish before in the 55 gallon, and no amount of filtration would take care of their bioload!! I was doing water changes every few days with them. Needless to say, they found a nice home in a friend's pond this spring.

Silver dollars are awesome fish, and it's nice to see people keeping both freshwater and saltwater fish :thumbsup:

 

[solRNY]

great pictures, the barnacle blennie in the nano looks like it came straight from a cartoon

 

[Johnny C]

Awesome tanks... the planted is really cool! I have a really similar anemone (my avatar) and learned the hard way to keep it isolated from everything else. Thanks for sharing!

 

[toddmh]

Love them all..But that stingray loach is just awesome..

 

[MD Ocean Girl]

great pictures, the barnacle blennie in the nano looks like it came straight from a cartoon

Lol, they are awesome. I have 4 in there, and they just peep their heads out, roll their eyes at each other, and try to fit each other's heads in their mouths....they can open their mouths really really wide. Lightning fast at feeding time too.

Awesome tanks... the planted is really cool! I have a really similar anemone (my avatar) and learned the hard way to keep it isolated from everything else. Thanks for sharing!

Thanks! It's been in the front of my tank since I got it, and actually hasn't caused any problems. It gets quite a bit of flow, and doesn't seem to mind. And that emerald crab just LOVES to use the anemone as a hat and feeds it every so often lol.

Love them all..But that stingray loach is just awesome..

Thanks! It's really cool to see him scoot around the tank like an actual stingray....he also likes to boss around most of the other fish

 

[aguz1126]

Very nice tanks.

 

[pmemmer]

That nano is great. I thought of adding that same light to my Cadlights 12g nano, but went LED instead (and the jury's still out on that choice). How long have you kept the anemone in there?

 

[mr86mister]

Looks great Karen!!

 

[MD Ocean Girl]

That nano is great. I thought of adding that same light to my Cadlights 12g nano, but went LED instead (and the jury's still out on that choice). How long have you kept the anemone in there?

Thanks so much! I like the metal halide on the tank. It does a great job growing corals. I've found, however, that even with a 22k bulb, the color is too yellow. So I use blue led's as a supplement, and it gets the color just perfect. It really was a great price too. I've purchased a few different lights for that tank that did not work out well, and I'm really happy with this one (finally).

I purchased the tube anemone from DD last November I believe. It's been in the tank since then. Hasn't moved more than maybe half an inch since I placed it, and it's probably grown close to two inches in height since I got it. I don't target feed it at all. It just grabs whatever is in the water when I feed the rest of the fish, either the small spectrum pellets or cyclopeeze. Hasn't stung any corals, or eaten any fish. My emerald green crab loves to hang out under it....basically hugs the tube with his legs and crosses his claws in front of him and chills. lol. Honestly, it's the best anemone ever I feel for a small tank....won't move, won't eat fish or sting stuff (it retracts down into it's tube any time something even brushes it that's bigger than the spectrum pellets), and looks amazing, especially under leds. :celeb2:

Looks great Karen!!

Thanks Mike! It's been a long time and a lot of work to get the tanks the way they are now, but it's been so worth it. If you want any recommendations when you set up your freshwater tank, let me know. I like my freshies to be as low maintenance as possible. I don't run carbon dioxide because it's too much work, and it's way too expensive. Plus, I don't feel like trimming plants every few days. Carbon dioxide makes plants grow like they're on steroids. :bum:

 

[MD Ocean Girl]

Very nice tanks.

Thanks!!

 

[lcs]

Beautiful!! Love the 55, the stingray loach, and the barnacle blennies!!

Now that my son has decided he wants to go salt in his 10gal, I'm hoping to add a tube anemone as the lighting will be quite low for a while. I've been badly wanting to add one to my main tank, but was concerned about my mandarin's safety. In your opinion, do you think it would be a problem?

 

[MD Ocean Girl]

Beautiful!! Love the 55, the stingray loach, and the barnacle blennies!!

Now that my son has decided he wants to go salt in his 10gal, I'm hoping to add a tube anemone as the lighting will be quite low for a while. I've been badly wanting to add one to my main tank, but was concerned about my mandarin's safety. In your opinion, do you think it would be a problem?

Thanks for the compliments! I have really become a fan of small saltwater tanks, and I'm sure your son's tank will turn out amazing :spin3:

As for a tube anemone with a mandarin, I don't think it would be a problem. All the fish I have know not to go near the tentacles, and any time anything bigger than food brushes the base or the tentacles, it retracts down into it's tube. You can't ever be sure with anemones, but if you put it in a spot where it's not right next to rock work, I really can't see the mandarin getting too close or the anemone snatching it up. The tentacles are actually quite fragile.