critter count so far!

[redwarrior77]

Pictures! Ammonia is pretty much nil after the water change...everything looks great!

Shot of that same side of the tank today...looks a little sad missing Spongbob Round Ball.

Giant Feather Duster looking very cool...you can kind of see the flame scallop behind him. I always worry about him...is it normal for them to have their shells gaping open most of the time? He only closes if I touch him.

My beauty, the rock flower anemone. Is it normal for it to be so white or should I be worried about it? (Can you tell I worry a lot? :eek2: )

And another Full Tank Shot. :fish1:

 

[divemonster]

ok worrywort LOL!

ok worrywort LOL!

You're getting very good at taking tank shots even with a blackberry! Your liitle ecosystem is so colorful and beautiful. I like the way you have arranged your rock.

The flame scallop should have its mouth open, it's how they feed. I've read that they are tough to keep longterm. i'll try to find a link for you to read up on feeding them, unless HowardW or Denny the Geek of all Things has some good advice ready

Your flower anemone may develop more color soon, it's still acclimating to its new environment. I can't tell you what color mine was at first because it stuck itself to the front glass for 3 days where all I could see was the bottom of its foot. it has since moved down into the sandbed but does not really face the front of the tank. it is brownish tan with white. Have you named her yet?

 

[redwarrior77]

LOL...the 2 things I named died right away, so I'm thinking I'll wait until this cycle is done before naming anything else. Red the Lobster and Spongebob Round Ball might have lived if they'd remained anonymous!

 

[redwarrior77]

Oh...and one more question...my sea cucumbers are cuddled up together next to a rock and pretty much haven't moved today. They moved to that rock yesterday and are curled up beside and slightly underneath it...is this ok? How will I know if they aren't doing well?

 

[redwarrior77]

Oh...and one more question...my sea cucumbers are cuddled up together next to a rock and pretty much haven't moved today. They moved to that rock yesterday and are curled up beside and slightly underneath it...is this ok? How will I know if they aren't doing well?

 

[redwarrior77]

Good news...ammonia is down to 0.50ppm! I removed the red tree sponge, though, because it was shriveling up and failed a sniff test. I just don't think sponges like my little tank!

My coworkers are beginning to worry that I have homicidal tendencies! LOL! They are now saying that my tank is like a season of survivor in that every day a member gets voted off. The way I see it, though...the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. If it's gonna kill everything else, it must leave.

The orange tree sponge is starting to show the same signs...it's like they get "pores" and then start shriveling up and then they're pretty much gone. I'll give it tonight, though, and hope it perks up!

I'm just glad my ammonia seems to be staying under control better this time! YAY!!!!

 

[divemonster]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13007441#post13007441 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by redwarrior77
Oh...and one more question...my sea cucumbers are cuddled up together next to a rock and pretty much haven't moved today. They moved to that rock yesterday and are curled up beside and slightly underneath it...is this ok? How will I know if they aren't doing well?

They will disentegrate into a pile of white "snot." the ones I got moved to a spot and stayed there. They eventually began moving around. Although I did lose one to a nasty stone crab :furious: Husband removed the crab (mostly because he didn't want me ripping off its pincers and throwing in the refugium with the huge gorilla crab).

Give them some time, Richard says they are tough critters.

 

[divemonster]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13008533#post13008533 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by redwarrior77
Good news...ammonia is down to 0.50ppm! I removed the red tree sponge, though, because it was shriveling up and failed a sniff test. I just don't think sponges like my little tank!

My coworkers are beginning to worry that I have homicidal tendencies! LOL! They are now saying that my tank is like a season of survivor in that every day a member gets voted off. The way I see it, though...the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. If it's gonna kill everything else, it must leave.

The orange tree sponge is starting to show the same signs...it's like they get "pores" and then start shriveling up and then they're pretty much gone. I'll give it tonight, though, and hope it perks up!

I'm just glad my ammonia seems to be staying under control better this time! YAY!!!!

Sponges are tough to keep. I removed my red tree sponge for the same reason. It so failed the sniff test. (GAG) I am having better luck though 'cause that was the only one I've lost (fingers crossed) The Yellow ball and the orange trees are actually growing!

 

[divemonster]

Grats on the ammonia! YOU GO GIRL

 

[redwarrior77]

Ammonia is down to 0.25ppm! :celeb1: I think I'm going to hold off on today's water change and just watch things.

In sadder news, the decorator crab is now an amputee! I saw him sitting in the same old spot he was in last night, so I very gently touched his shell with a finger when I was changing my filter just to make sure he hadn't moved on to the great beyond. He moved, but he left an arm! I'm worried about him now. Will he grow it back? Will he survive a one-armed wonder? Will he ever dance again? :eek1:

Other than that, the tank seems content today. I'm going to bust out the seachem tests later on to check my nitrates and nitrites to see how those are doing. Everything's getting pretty hungry in there, so I'm hoping feeding time will come soon.

I got my reef chilli and I have freeze-dried mysis as well. I'll pick up some shrimps just to cut up tonight from the grocery store. When those levels drop, I'll have a nice little buffet for everyone to celebrate with.

 

[divemonster]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13012221#post13012221 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by redwarrior77
. . . In sadder news, the decorator crab is now an amputee! I saw him sitting in the same old spot he was in last night, so I very gently touched his shell with a finger when I was changing my filter just to make sure he hadn't moved on to the great beyond. He moved, but he left an arm! I'm worried about him now. Will he grow it back? Will he survive a one-armed wonder? Will he ever dance again? :eek1:

awwww! the poor thing! I don't know if it will grow back. I wonder why it fell off? maybe one of the experienced reefers has a theory.

 

[Acrophet]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13012221#post13012221 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by redwarrior77
Ammonia is down to 0.25ppm! :celeb1: I think I'm going to hold off on today's water change and just watch things.

In sadder news, the decorator crab is now an amputee! I saw him sitting in the same old spot he was in last night, so I very gently touched his shell with a finger when I was changing my filter just to make sure he hadn't moved on to the great beyond. He moved, but he left an arm! I'm worried about him now. Will he grow it back? Will he survive a one-armed wonder? Will he ever dance again? :eek1:

Other than that, the tank seems content today. I'm going to bust out the seachem tests later on to check my nitrates and nitrites to see how those are doing. Everything's getting pretty hungry in there, so I'm hoping feeding time will come soon.

I got my reef chilli and I have freeze-dried mysis as well. I'll pick up some shrimps just to cut up tonight from the grocery store. When those levels drop, I'll have a nice little buffet for everyone to celebrate with.

what do you have in your tank that you need to be feeding reef chili and mysis?

 

[redwarrior77]

I was assuming mysis would be good for the anemone and decorator crab as well as the serpent star. The reef chili would be for the flame scallop, giant feather duster, and eventually corals.

 

[HowardW]

As for the tree sponges, they are quite difficult to keep long term to begin with, but will do better in a mature tank with excellent water quality and very good flow.

Reef Chile is good but is a 'heavy' food and must be used very sparingly especially in a newer tank. Flame scallops are also hard to keep and are primarily plankton feeders and will maybe need to be target fed with DT's on a daily basis. Another very good commercial food is Rod's Food but should also be used sparingly.

 

[figuerres]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13012566#post13012566 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by divemonster
awwww! the poor thing! I don't know if it will grow back. I wonder why it fell off? maybe one of the experienced reefers has a theory.

well arms do not normaly "fall off" just as you are very attached to your parts, same for them -- must have had a run in with something ...

but the good news is that all crustacia (crabs,shrimp etc...) moult shells and will re-grow lost limbs.

will be a bit smaller the first moult, that's all.

 

[redwarrior77]

Whew...that is good news. I think I might have figured out what he had the run-in with, but I'm still no closer to catching the culprit!

I finally saw my mantis shrimp this morning. He came out of a hole in the larger rock and I could see the separate eye stalks and that he was long and skinny. He's very well-camouflaged! This, of course, led me to freak out and tear my tank apart. I took out the rock and put it in the bucket with my tank refill water, but then put it back after I found a pistol shrimp and one of my fish cowering in the rock. I'm thinking now that a better idea might be to put a trap in my tank and try to catch him that way. He is one tough bugger!

Of course this all led to a massive re-arrangement of my rockscape. I think it looks better now and now I should have room for a small trap. I think I'll try building one first.

In the meantime, everybody else in the tank seems to be doing good today. My red mithrax crabs are working hard to clean up my rocks. Unfortunately most of my snails that came with part 2 aren't moving. I caught my hermit crabs eating 2 of them! So, I removed those. Naughty boys! The orange tree sponge is questionable, but I'm giving it today before I do a sniff test. It still looks better than the red one did before it died.

So, to reward you for reading through all this...pictures!

 

[redwarrior77]

Picture of the side of the tank today...my beautiful anemone and my decorator crab who is still hanging in there...he's moved some since losing his arm, so hopefully he'll do well as an amputee!

Full Tank Shot with my new and improved rockscape.

 

[redwarrior77]

Howard - thanks for the advice...I certainly need it. Do you have any experience with Marine snow?

 

[HowardW]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13013986#post13013986 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by redwarrior77
Howard - thanks for the advice...I certainly need it. Do you have any experience with Marine snow?

Yes I do and I don't use it or any other of the preserved liquid bottled foods as I believe they do more to pollute the water quality then offer useful nutrition. The only foods I use are Rod's food (which has everything you can imagine) and DT's live Phytoplankon both sparingly. I would also move that top rock.

 

[redwarrior77]

Where to? I keep having problems with my rockscaping...it seems like I just have more rock than I know what to do with. (Good problem to have!) I was thinking of getting some reef epoxy to help hold things together because it seems like no matter how I stack them, it's rather precarious. :/