critter count so far!

[figuerres]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13014426#post13014426 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by 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. :/

Yeah it just looks like it wants to go somewhere

it's a bee; I spent hours one day trying to re-work part of my rocks ... I have a soft coral that normaly is found in a cave or other hanging place so I have it expoyed to a rock that has a flat side, I use that to make a "cave" for this coral and trying to balance it and not smash the coral and not bring down a stack of rock & break the glass of my 90 gallon tank.... very nerve wraking!

even then I did get a scratch on the glass from the process.

here is a link to a photo of some:
http://www.marinedepotlive.com/ps_ViewItem~idProduct~ML0606104-01.html

not a very good photo.

they open at night, when closed they shrink to a stub, when open they are like 5 times larger.
white polyops on a strwaberry red body.
I have had this for about 5 years, never really gets bigger for me but has not shrunk ither....

this is not one of the "imposible to keep" ones but looks almost like them.

 

[redwarrior77]

That's a really pretty one...I could see working to build a cave just for it! The entire time I was re-arranging my rockwork, I was terrified I would accidentally smash my anemone! She just kept rolling up into a ball and then rolling right over to where I wanted to set down a rock! It's a challenge to re-arrange things without crushing anyone or taking rock out of the water.

I'm considering either
A) Taking out the rock that I know the mantis is in entirely...I will probably buy a 10" mushroom rock off a fellow reef club member in a few weeks anyway and then I probably would have too much rock, particularly too much to have 1 with a mantis in it.
B) Try to trap the thing while leaving my tank alone.

These attempts to catch the bugger are just getting too stressful on both the tank inhabitants AND me. Any ideas? I can hear him clicking away right now. Bleh.

 

[redwarrior77]

And, sadly, I am down to only 2 of the snails left from the package. I don't think they were the victims of attacks because their shells were intact and their insides still, well, inside. I did find the hermit crabs feasting on a couple after the fact, but I think they were just doing their jobs as scavengers because the snails had not moved for some time.

One thought - there were near where I had placed the condy anemone before it died, so they may have fallen over and been stung by accident and it just took a while for them to finally perish?

 

[figuerres]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13015239#post13015239 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by redwarrior77
And, sadly, I am down to only 2 of the snails left from the package. I don't think they were the victims of attacks because their shells were intact and their insides still, well, inside. I did find the hermit crabs feasting on a couple after the fact, but I think they were just doing their jobs as scavengers because the snails had not moved for some time.

One thought - there were near where I had placed the condy anemone before it died, so they may have fallen over and been stung by accident and it just took a while for them to finally perish?

water quality.... I think most snails are very touchy about amonia levels. not sure about gravity and ph .... but all of them are things that if they swing to far stress out lot's of critters.

 

[divemonster]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13015353#post13015353 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by figuerres
water quality.... I think most snails are very touchy about amonia levels. not sure about gravity and ph .... but all of them are things that if they swing to far stress out lot's of critters.

the snails do seem to stress easily.

 

[redwarrior77]

Luckily, my most active cleaners seem to be doing fine. Mr. Limpet is a champ at cleaning and seems to be thrilled to have more rocks to scour. The hermits seem to clean in spurts and then be lazy for a bit. My red mithrax crabs are too much fun to watch as they pick their way along the rock like picky old ladies at a salad buffet. I can't wait until my cucumbers stop cuddling and get to work!

 

[divemonster]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13016536#post13016536 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by redwarrior77
. . . as they pick their way along the rock like picky old ladies at a salad buffet.

LOL! Crabs are so comical. The decorator spider crab in my tank seems to be experimenting with its wardrobe, but it has kept the single piece of feather caulerpa on top of its head, which makes it look like a flapper from the roaring 20s.

 

[redwarrior77]

How active is your decorator? Even before mine lost a limb he has been very still. He moves until he finds a comfy spot and then just sits. He's now the one I'm most worried about. Shame, because he's so cool!

 

[divemonster]

all of my decorator crabs are active now. It took them some time to reach their present level of activity. There are 3 different types in the tank. They get much more active once the tank lights go out, with the exception of the one little guy who is so well camo'd it's hard to find. it seems to park itself for long periods of time.

 

[redwarrior77]

Ammonia is down to 0.25ppm and everything seems happy except for the sea cucumber that started to float...the other one is slowly working his way along a rock, though, so I don't think he's mourning too heavily for his buddy.

I spot fed my anemone and decorator crab some tiny pieces of cut shrimp this morning and they eagerly took it. I couldn't get my serpent star to eat, mainly because I think he thought I was trying to skewer him with the bamboo skewer! Hopefully he'll catch on soon or at least find someone's leftovers. The fish were too shy to feed as well.

I think I have another anemoe in the tank, underneath a rock I see lots of tiny white tenticles...could be a baby condy? In any case, I have re-thought my love affair with clownfish after doing some research. Most of the things I love most in my tank are the types of things that might think an expensive, small fish was lunch. In the end, since they're already here, I think I might rather keep them and forgo the clownfish. If I do add another fish, I might add a clown goby, which would be less of an expense if it would fall prey but is still a great fish for a nano tank. In the meantime, though, I'm thinking I'll just enjoy the critters I already have and think about adding corals. Pretty much everything in there would do ok with most corals and they're my main interest anyhow. I have a line on a $25 mushroom rock through my reef club.

 

[redwarrior77]

More Pictures...this time no fts...just critters!
Atlantic Cup Corals -

Rock Flower Anemone after enjoying her shrimp -

Giant Feather Duster just moving in the flow -

Decorator Crab just hanging out on the orange tree sponge -

Everybody looks pretty happy today!

 

[divemonster]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13019759#post13019759 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by redwarrior77
Ammonia is down to 0.25ppm and everything seems happy except for the sea cucumber that started to float...the other one is slowly working his way along a rock, though, so I don't think he's mourning too heavily for his buddy.

I spot fed my anemone and decorator crab some tiny pieces of cut shrimp this morning and they eagerly took it. I couldn't get my serpent star to eat, mainly because I think he thought I was trying to skewer him with the bamboo skewer! Hopefully he'll catch on soon or at least find someone's leftovers. The fish were too shy to feed as well.

I think I have another anemoe in the tank, underneath a rock I see lots of tiny white tenticles...could be a baby condy? In any case, I have re-thought my love affair with clownfish after doing some research. Most of the things I love most in my tank are the types of things that might think an expensive, small fish was lunch. In the end, since they're already here, I think I might rather keep them and forgo the clownfish. If I do add another fish, I might add a clown goby, which would be less of an expense if it would fall prey but is still a great fish for a nano tank. In the meantime, though, I'm thinking I'll just enjoy the critters I already have and think about adding corals. Pretty much everything in there would do ok with most corals and they're my main interest anyhow. I have a line on a $25 mushroom rock through my reef club.

wow! look at that happy tank :thumbsup:

I waited 10 days before I fed anything in the tank. There was a total brawl between the maroon serpent star and the blenny over a piece of shrimp! When it comes to the fish question I have been telling people that it will be months before the reef is stable enough for the bioload of introduced fish.

RedWarrior, what did your reef club have to say about food for the reef tank?

 

[OgreMkV]

Awesome pics.

You might consider going fishless and getting some really interesting inverts.

 

[redwarrior77]

My babysitter fell through for the meeting...my first. (Teenagers!) They did have a rough recipe they shared...mostly fresh shellfish with garlic and plankton added.

 

[divemonster]

You need to change your Current Tank tag to: Got Reef . . . cycling . . . waiting . . .

Garlic seems to be a bit of a controversy. Some stuff I've read proclaims the virtues of how it increases the inhabitants' resistance to pests and diseases, other material states there is no benefit to adding garlic to your reef's diet.

Fishless, yes indeed. However, if you have a blenny and/or goby that was added with Part 2 then is your tank truly "fishless?"

 

[redwarrior77]

I've got 2 little fishes...not sure what they are, but nothing's eaten them yet! I guess I should change my tag!

I'm going to buy some tubing today and try to figure out how to siphon water out of my tank for my water changes. Up until now, I've just been bailing it out with a gallon water jug...ghetto, but it works! I'm also going to see if I can pick up some loc-line to split the flow from my mj1200, right now it's just pretty much hitting one spot really hard. Is there no end to tank tinkering?

 

[figuerres]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13025486#post13025486 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by redwarrior77
I've got 2 little fishes...not sure what they are, but nothing's eaten them yet! I guess I should change my tag!

I'm going to buy some tubing today and try to figure out how to siphon water out of my tank for my water changes. Up until now, I've just been bailing it out with a gallon water jug...ghetto, but it works! I'm also going to see if I can pick up some loc-line to split the flow from my mj1200, right now it's just pretty much hitting one spot really hard. Is there no end to tank tinkering?

just get another mj1200 and hookup some flex tube to the output from it put the inlet strainer on the inlet side and put the pump in the tank, have the flex tube / hose belong enough to go down to your water bucket...

plug in and water gets pumped out.

simple and cheap and you can roll up the hose when done and put it away.

that mj can't "push" water up more than a foot or two at most but if you can put the new make up water at close to the same level as the tank you can use the mj to fill the tank also.

for my 90 i have a sump and use a mag-drive 500 to do the same thing.

I wish I owned a home .... if I did I'd have built in plumbing to do water changes! then I'd just use valves to do it!

one big extenal pump to move the water around, a mag in a big tub to mix new salt up. some float valves, shutof switches and such....

 

[liverock]

fish

fish

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13025486#post13025486 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by redwarrior77
I've got 2 little fishes...not sure what they are, but nothing's eaten them yet! I guess I should change my tag!

I'm going to buy some tubing today and try to figure out how to siphon water out of my tank for my water changes. Up until now, I've just been bailing it out with a gallon water jug...ghetto, but it works! I'm also going to see if I can pick up some loc-line to split the flow from my mj1200, right now it's just pretty much hitting one spot really hard. Is there no end to tank tinkering?

You have a tiger Gobi...and a wrasse of some kind...not sure what he is....came in with the rock!
Look on the critter ID page for a pic....

sea ya
Richard TBS

 

[redwarrior77]

My ammonia is down to undetectable and I did my first normal weekly water change and cleaning today. Unfortunately, I found one of the fish wedged between a piece of plexi I have to block off my bottom intakes and the bottom intake missing his head. I can't tell if he met with foul play or if he just swam behind there and then got crushed. I removed him and the orange tree sponge which was starting to have a white spot on it. It's a shame because the hermits seemed to be having a good time hanging on it today.

The anemone is starting to darken up some and the decorator crab seems to be doing fine. My peppermit shrimp molted! I haven't seen him yet to check out his spiffy new carapace, but I'm sure he's looking sharp now.

 

[OgreMkV]

Sorry about the fish, but the shrimp molting sounds cool. That usually means that everything in the water is in good shape.