Dawn's seahorse garden!

vlangel said:
Dave, my hubby took me to a nice lfs for my birthday. I was pleased that they had lots of captive bred fish. Its a risk adding fish to a seahorse tank but captive bred are less risky since they are more disease free. I came home with 2 mandarin gobies (male and female I hope), a yellow watchman goby and a pajama cardinalfish. And I asked them for some of their green grape caulerpa. I have lots of macros but did not have that one.

The fish are in QT now and will be for at least a week. I will take pics when they relax a bit.
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The fish seemed really stressed in the QT. I decided against my better judgement to add them to the establish seahorse display. All 4 immediately relaxed. The mandys are inseparable and hunting together. The yellow watchman is eating frozen mysis well and I have not seen the pajama cardinal eat yet but it looks really healthy. I am going to do extra WCs to offset not QT the new fish.
 
taricha said:
I love that photosynthetic sponge too!
It grows in a shape form like Monti Cap, but faster.
6d90e2457113be3cc14c9bf64581817a.jpg
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I like the plating formation that the sponge grows.
 
vlangel said:
The red titan attaches to everything, rock included. Not necessarily where you want it to however. Right now there is a piece attached to the overflow, and pieces attached to the clamp that holds the tunze powerhead. Ha ha, there is even red titan growing on one of my trocus snails. It is easily enough removed, not that it will stay gone! I have never seen it attached to the substrate however.

O wow Patrick, that is nothing like what I call dragon's breath but then maybe dragon's tongue and dragon's breath are 2 different algaes. My dragon's breath also does not attach, is red with orange tips where the light is strongest and is not slippery.
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Everything you described about Dragons Breath was spot on until you said not slippery. There are three species of Halymenia common to Florida, two are called Dragons Breath. I have found both to be delicate and did not have good results. Russ Kronwetter referred to the Pacific variety, as Dragons Tongue. For certain, it is more durable for mounting.
I think that Russ Kronwetter was incorrect in his naming Dragons Tongue, After some research and two other separate sources confirming the scientific name Halymenia dilatata. Also, with respect to the picture posted on Live Aquaria / ORA, one that I received did look like the picture. After less than 6 weeks in my systems, it opened up, instead of burgundy (indicating low light) it turned red with orange tips the way we like.
https://www.live-plants.com/redsealettuce.htm
 
Subsea said:
Everything you described about Dragons Breath was spot on until you said not slippery. There are three species of Halymenia common to Florida, two are called Dragons Breath. I have found both to be delicate and did not have good results. Russ Kronwetter referred to the Pacific variety, as Dragons Tongue. For certain, it is more durable for mounting.
I think that Russ Kronwetter was incorrect in his naming Dragons Tongue, After some research and two other separate sources confirming the scientific name Halymenia dilatata. Also, with respect to the picture posted on Live Aquaria / ORA, one that I received did look like the picture. After less than 6 weeks in my systems, it opened up, instead of burgundy (indicating low light) it turned red with orange tips the way we like.
https://www.live-plants.com/redsealettuce.htm
Click to expand...

Now that I am thinking of it, maybe my dragon's breath is slippery. I was thinking slippery as in rubbery or slimy and it is neither of those. It is difficult to keep it wrapped around anything because it is sort of 'slippery'.
 
vlangel said:
Now that I am thinking of it, maybe my dragon's breath is slippery. I was thinking slippery as in rubbery or slimy and it is neither of those. It is difficult to keep it wrapped around anything because it is sort of 'slippery'.
Click to expand...

Per Russ Kronwetter, Dragons Breath should feel, somewhat spongy.

With respect to Gracilaria Hayi, the blades should be flat and somewhat brittle with calcium.
 
Subsea said:
Per Russ Kronwetter, Dragons Breath should feel, somewhat spongy.

With respect to Gracilaria Hayi, the blades should be flat and somewhat brittle with calcium.
Click to expand...
I am not sure Patrick, bouncy spongy? It is kind of like that. What I was calling red titan is definitely flat blades and stiff-ish. I agree, I think it is gracilaria hayi.
 
I bought 4 new captive bred fish for this tank, a pair of mandarin gobies, a yellow watchman goby and a pajama cardinal. They are all calm, quiet fish so as to not stress the seahorses. They are captive bred so as to not bring pathogens from the ocean since my seahorses would not have any immune resistance to that.

All the fish settled in well. Originally I had them in a 10 gallon QT but they seemed very stressed. Probably too many fish in a small area. I moved them into the display and immediately they looked more relaxed. The watchman ate his first feeding. He has a white place on his back that looks very suspicious. I am keeping the water extra clean. The pajama took about 2-3 days to eat but now is eating like a champ. The mandys began hunting right away. I would really like to get them on frozen food but that will rquire a lot of patience since I can't just be dumping frozen food in the seahorse tank. I ordered 3 bottles of live tisbe pods, 1 for the sump and 2 for the display. Also I am hatching bbs for them.
 
I love the look of the xenia along with the macros. Even though some people consider xenia a bit of a pest species, I find them quite beautiful. I don't remember what forum I saw a post in someones tank, where they complained about them taking over the tank, and I thought, "Wow, that really looks like a beautiful tank!" I guess that I'm a bit weird in that way.

Good luck with the newbie fish!
 
Chasmodes said:
I love the look of the xenia along with the macros. Even though some people consider xenia a bit of a pest species, I find them quite beautiful. I don't remember what forum I saw a post in someones tank, where they complained about them taking over the tank, and I thought, "Wow, that really looks like a beautiful tank!" I guess that I'm a bit weird in that way.

Good luck with the newbie fish!
Click to expand...
I love xenia too. One man's junk is another man's treasure, sort of?

Well sadly the watchman goby did not make it. It had a white place on its back and even though it was eating really well, this morning it was dead. :( It was against my better judgement to buy it but we travelled quite a distance to get to that lfs.
Everybody else looks good but I am worried about the mandys getting enough to eat.
 
I love how xenia pulses and moves in the current. How often do you have to prune it? Do you have a good resident population of pods? You may want to supplement with monthly additions, for your mandarins (and horses).

How does everyone get along? I bet it's very entertaining with all the new guys.
 
Since we're on the topic of Xenia, I ran across this while looking at other stuff, and it kinda blew my mind.
https://reefs.com/2015/09/23/remarkable-community-fishes-found-xenia/
(scroll to the bottom. That xenia shrimp is incredible.)

It's a whole little cryptic world of fish and inverts that mimic xenia and live embedded in it.
I've had it stuck in my head since I saw it, and a small part of me has been thinking about reworking a hunk of my tank to devote to a xenia community.
 
taricha said:
Since we're on the topic of Xenia, I ran across this while looking at other stuff, and it kinda blew my mind.
https://reefs.com/2015/09/23/remarkable-community-fishes-found-xenia/
(scroll to the bottom. That xenia shrimp is incredible.)

It's a whole little cryptic world of fish and inverts that mimic xenia and live embedded in it.
I've had it stuck in my head since I saw it, and a small part of me has been thinking about reworking a hunk of my tank to devote to a xenia community.
Click to expand...
Wow, I had no idea. That is so cool and certainly could make a really neat corner in an aquarium. I had to really study the last photo to even see the shrimp! Thanks for sharing.
 
I also like those cardinals because of there peaceful nature, but much more so because of there tendency to swim in the open.
 
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Subsea said:
I also like those cardinals because of there peaceful nature, but much more so because of there tendency to swin in the open.
Click to expand...
I was wanting a grouping of fish that would occupy the top third of the tank and so these guys are perfect for that.
 
Dawn, your new fish look terrific, as does your tank!

Just so you know, that isn't a true blenny, not that it matters, because it's a very cool fish. But, I seem to remember that they can be pretty aggressive. After a quick search, I found a post from a fellow RC member about them:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showpost.php?p=11326492&postcount=20

So maybe just keep an eye on him. Hopefully, he'll be compatible with your fish. The fish referenced in the link isn't the same exact species, but same genus.

taricha said:
Since we're on the topic of Xenia, I ran across this while looking at other stuff, and it kinda blew my mind.
https://reefs.com/2015/09/23/remarkable-community-fishes-found-xenia/
(scroll to the bottom. That xenia shrimp is incredible.)

It's a whole little cryptic world of fish and inverts that mimic xenia and live embedded in it.
I've had it stuck in my head since I saw it, and a small part of me has been thinking about reworking a hunk of my tank to devote to a xenia community.
Click to expand...

Wow, that is amazing, and quite subtly beautiful! That would make for a fantastic biotope aquarium. If I only had the space and money :headwallblue:
 
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