OCTOBER ROTM IS D-Nak! Congratulations and thank you for all your contributions to Reef Central.
First and foremost, I want to thank the Reef Central staff for bestowing the honor of being named ROTM. I don’t think I’m worthy of the title, as there are many other contributors with more knowledge and experience on this board, many of whom I seek for advice, but I am grateful nonetheless. But that’s what makes RC so special: the community as a whole makes it a success.
Like many of us on RC, I’ve had fish tanks since I was a kid. Towards the end of high school, I converted my 40 gallon tank into a reef. Later, I picked up a 125 gallon tank, and set up a predator tank in my apartment. I graduated college, moved into an apartment and converted the 125 into a reef. A couple years later, the week before I was to move into a townhouse that I purchased with my fiancé, and disaster struck. I woke up in the middle of the night to a fire alarm, jumping out of bed onto a wet carpet. My immediate thought was that I had left my RO/DI unit on in the kitchen, but I wasn’t so fortunate. What I later learned what that one of my halide bulbs had short-circuited, causing a fire that burned the cord that ran down the back of the tank – rupturing the tank in the process. I didn’t get my security deposit back.
My wife bought a 120 gallon tank for me as a wedding gift,. It sat in our townhouse, empty for two years. It moved with us to our current house, and it sat empty for another seven years. In December of 2010 -- three kids later -- my wife told me to either set up the tank or sell it. I never looked back.
Current full tank shot.
Obligatory top down shot.
When I initially set up my reef tank, my intention was always to have an anemone and clownfish. My interest in anemones, particularly S. gigantea, continues to grow. The biggest breakthrough with regards to anemone husbandry happened here on RC. The use of Ciprofloxacin changed the way we quarantine anemones, all due to the efforts of RC member OrionN (shout out to Dr. Minh), and has saved many anemones from certain death.
Purple S. gigantea and Onyx clowns.
I have to share a photo of a pair of anemones that I am currently babysitting for a friend of mine, since they are some of the nicest I’ve seen:
Flametip/sunburst and lemondrop BTAs.
The next step in my reef keeping foray came when my Onyx clowns began to breed.
Mom and dad with their eggs.
At the time, I was bothered by the fact that I saw a lot of inferior looking tank-bred clowns being sold without any disclosure of their defects (flat faces, deformed jaws, fins not proportional to body, etc). I wanted to see how hard it was to raise clowns with minimal defects, since my understanding is that these defects were due primarily to poor husbandry. I am definitely a newbie -- I only have two clutches at this point -- but I am happy to report that there were only a few culls. I’ve always been torn with culling in general, but I think I have a solution: my plan is to label all fish that are not perfect, yet do not show defects or abnormalities that will affect the fish’s quality of life, as “NSQ” or Not Show Quality. The proceeds of these fish will be donated to a charity that focuses on marine conservation. My goal is to bring awareness to the problem of selling captive bred fish that are sub-standard. I don’t think we’re even close to developing a clownfish rating system (like we have with koi) but I think acknowledging the problem is a step in the right direction. I am currently building a breeding rack with a centralized filtration system.
Thanks again to the RC staff and RC community as a whole. Without RC, I know I probably would’ve quit the hobby by now, since I’ve definitely encountered my share of challenges. I’ve always believed that hobbies should relieve stress, not cause it. The ability to share and gain knowledge about something we are so passionate about definitely puts my mind at ease, and that is what makes this hobby that much more enjoyable.
First and foremost, I want to thank the Reef Central staff for bestowing the honor of being named ROTM. I don’t think I’m worthy of the title, as there are many other contributors with more knowledge and experience on this board, many of whom I seek for advice, but I am grateful nonetheless. But that’s what makes RC so special: the community as a whole makes it a success.
Like many of us on RC, I’ve had fish tanks since I was a kid. Towards the end of high school, I converted my 40 gallon tank into a reef. Later, I picked up a 125 gallon tank, and set up a predator tank in my apartment. I graduated college, moved into an apartment and converted the 125 into a reef. A couple years later, the week before I was to move into a townhouse that I purchased with my fiancé, and disaster struck. I woke up in the middle of the night to a fire alarm, jumping out of bed onto a wet carpet. My immediate thought was that I had left my RO/DI unit on in the kitchen, but I wasn’t so fortunate. What I later learned what that one of my halide bulbs had short-circuited, causing a fire that burned the cord that ran down the back of the tank – rupturing the tank in the process. I didn’t get my security deposit back.
My wife bought a 120 gallon tank for me as a wedding gift,. It sat in our townhouse, empty for two years. It moved with us to our current house, and it sat empty for another seven years. In December of 2010 -- three kids later -- my wife told me to either set up the tank or sell it. I never looked back.
Current full tank shot.
Obligatory top down shot.
When I initially set up my reef tank, my intention was always to have an anemone and clownfish. My interest in anemones, particularly S. gigantea, continues to grow. The biggest breakthrough with regards to anemone husbandry happened here on RC. The use of Ciprofloxacin changed the way we quarantine anemones, all due to the efforts of RC member OrionN (shout out to Dr. Minh), and has saved many anemones from certain death.
Purple S. gigantea and Onyx clowns.
I have to share a photo of a pair of anemones that I am currently babysitting for a friend of mine, since they are some of the nicest I’ve seen:
Flametip/sunburst and lemondrop BTAs.
The next step in my reef keeping foray came when my Onyx clowns began to breed.
Mom and dad with their eggs.
At the time, I was bothered by the fact that I saw a lot of inferior looking tank-bred clowns being sold without any disclosure of their defects (flat faces, deformed jaws, fins not proportional to body, etc). I wanted to see how hard it was to raise clowns with minimal defects, since my understanding is that these defects were due primarily to poor husbandry. I am definitely a newbie -- I only have two clutches at this point -- but I am happy to report that there were only a few culls. I’ve always been torn with culling in general, but I think I have a solution: my plan is to label all fish that are not perfect, yet do not show defects or abnormalities that will affect the fish’s quality of life, as “NSQ” or Not Show Quality. The proceeds of these fish will be donated to a charity that focuses on marine conservation. My goal is to bring awareness to the problem of selling captive bred fish that are sub-standard. I don’t think we’re even close to developing a clownfish rating system (like we have with koi) but I think acknowledging the problem is a step in the right direction. I am currently building a breeding rack with a centralized filtration system.
Thanks again to the RC staff and RC community as a whole. Without RC, I know I probably would’ve quit the hobby by now, since I’ve definitely encountered my share of challenges. I’ve always believed that hobbies should relieve stress, not cause it. The ability to share and gain knowledge about something we are so passionate about definitely puts my mind at ease, and that is what makes this hobby that much more enjoyable.
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