Got Rock!

[AlaskaWolf]

Well, after a very long day of driving down to the airport to pick up a shipment that turned out to be an outgoing shipment of frozen fish, I finally got my rock and headed back home. Richard's packing handled everything the airline threw at it, and while the box of sand was pretty wet everything was A-ok. Got the sand into the tank and cleaned up the rock a bit as it had gotten a bit warm sitting in Phoenix for almost 24 hrs.

Managed to capture a 3/4" bright green mantis, 5 small stone crabs, 2 cirolanids and clean off some dying sponge before setting the rock in the tank for the night. Shortly after switching the tank to the moonlights I saw what looked to be a very small eel swiming around the rock. Thinking I was just overtired, I toddled off to bed.

Upon waking at 6 AM with a 100 lb Malamute attempting to pull me out of bed by the hand, I "decided" that I should get up and have some coffee. While slurping down my coffee, and trying to figure out how I wanted to arrange the rock, I saw the eel-thingy again. Using a couple of nets, I managed to capture the guy; was glad I hadn't arranged the rock yet though. I examined my little alien, decided that it really did look like some kind of baby 2" eel, and then placed it into the small tank I had set up for my other hitchhikers. Within 5 minutes, the alien had attacked and killed the little mantis, taking its head clean off and was busily chasing the little crabs.

I called a friend of mine to come over and look at this minuture terror of the deep; after examining it a bit he thought it did resemble a Gymnothorax, but wasn't sure because its small size. In looking over the rock, he did point out a Lace Murex that I had overlooked.

So far, so good!

 

[redwarrior77]

Very cool! I can't imagine a coral reef in AK, but at least you shouldn't have to worry about a chiller unless you crank the heat up high!

Umm...pictures?

 

[AlaskaWolf]

There's a lot of reef tanks in AK! I just wish I was back home right now. The tank ammonia spiked...bad; it went from 0.5 this morning to 2.5. Just got the water back down to under 1.0, so I'm checking ammonia every two hours now. Found another little crab hiding in the rock, kind of looks like a gorilla crab but he seems to be doing okay.

 

[redwarrior77]

Ahh...just saw that you're in CA. My tank had a bad ammonia spike this weekend, too.

 

[AlaskaWolf]

I'm a hoping that I just have the one bad spike, but I've got lots of water on standby just in case. I was kind of worried that the airline let it sit in Phoenix too long, so I was trying to "Be Prepared". Yeah, being in California is definitely kind of different than Alaska... Well, least the Malamutes seem to have forgiven me, but I did have to buy them a couple of air conditioners.

 

[AlaskaWolf]

Well, it's been a while since I posted, but things are still progressing. Life on the rock goes on, despite the continuous cycles that have been going on. The red tunicates are doing very well, and now I have an orange and yellow spotted tunicate growing. Red algae and caulerpa are growing well, and the feather dusters are spreading across the rocks. Orange sponges are reappearing along with numerous life forms I haven't id'ed yet. I do have what appears to be a small Paint Brush growing from the sand, but it's too small to tell for sure yet.

The Lace Murex has found a new home with the green moray, after it found, and ate, an oyster that was on the rock and went proceeded to go through the barnacles.

Despite the fact the the Red Sea MAX main lighting failed at the worst possible time, the tank seems to be finding it's natural balance. Now it Red Sea can only figure out why my lights won't work... They did send me a new ballast, and I got that changed out, only to have the same problem again.

 

[divemonster]

There you are!

There you are!

It's good to hear your tank is doing well despite the lighting issues. Did you do the wiring yourself?

So you did get a moray eel hitchhiker! How cool is that! (maybe not so cool in the long run, but still )

 

[AlaskaWolf]

Yep, it was definitely a green moray. I guess Richard is going to need to watch where he's putting his hands when he's diving now.

Yeah, I had to redo the ballast myself, I just wish it had worked.; right now I'm running an emergency light fixture, but even though its only a 24W Actinic/10K fixture, at least I have light back in the tank. Still, it says a lot about the quality of Richard's rock when it survives 18 hours of baking in 100+ heat in Phoenix, and a week with absolutely no lighting and still looks good and is biodiverse! Just makes me wonder how good it would have looked without all of the problems!

Still, in the last hour I've found some tiny shrimp (species undetermined yet, although I hope they're jumbo Gulf fantails) and what I think/hope is a serpent star. I just notice two gray tentacles with blue stripes sticking out of a hole in one of the rocks, but can't see what they're attached to.

 

[HowardW]

I wouldn't worry about the lights too much because most of the stuff does not require intense lighting at all and can easily survive several days or more without lights. In fact, much of the life actually does better in somewhat subdued lighting with a couple exceptions being the photosynthetic gorgs and anemones if you got any.

 

[HowardW]

This is also the first report I've heard of someone receiving a moray eel and I suppose it's possible as there are a few species native to the caribbean and they are strong shrimp and crab feeders. A pic would be great if you can get one. Remember they are escape artists and should be kept in a fully covered tank with lots of hiding places and several meals a week and they will prey on nearly anything they can get hold of. Good thing you got the stone crabs as they are quite nasty and I've seen even smaller ones rip hard coral clusters right off rocks.

On the lights, if it wasn't a bad ballast I would check for a pinched wire somewhere and also loose connections at the switches and connectors.

 

[AlaskaWolf]

The marine biologist that took "Alien" away confirmed that it was definitely a moray, suspected that it came up with the currents from the south. Both green and spotted moray are native to those waters, the greens are just uncommon due to lack of adequate habitat.

 

[AlaskaWolf]

Well, I think I'm ready to post some pictures...

But here's a shot of the rock in my tank, it looks a bit lonely.

And the same lonely rock again:

Here's one of my red tunicates lurking around the tank, there are several of them skulking about in there

Then there are a few little orange sponges (I think) that are slowly growing back along with a lot of duster

Finally, there's this little guy, not sure what it is, or where its' eyeballs are, but it can see me coming across the room and pops back down its' tube. I had to sit a while to get it to come back out so I could snap its' portrait.

 

[OgreMkV]

I've got two of those larger feather worms. You're so right, it's amazing that they can see you coming from across the room almost. They are pretty though.

Nice shots.

 

[redwarrior77]

Great pictures! It looks like you've got a lot of cool stuff in part 1!

 

[divemonster]

Nice!

Nice!

Gary,
Your rock looks great! How can you say it's lonely with all that life on it! Skulking tunicates, watchful dusters with their eyeballs peeled. . . so much going in that tank.

What did the marine biologist have to say about "Alien?" Recently, I found a baby one crawling across some coralline.

 

[AlaskaWolf]

Actually, he said "Alien" would grow to 6 to 8 ft long...just a tad too big for my tank. You found a moray as well? I have found another mantis in my tank but it seems to be pretty peaceable, it seems to be afraid of the 2 hermits and the serpent star. It appears to be grazing on algae when it s not busy attempting to build freeways through the rock.

 

[AlaskaWolf]

Well, the big day is almost here, 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, and 5 nitrates. I'll check it tomorrow and make sure the levels are still down there. But it looks like this tank is almost ready to rock. I did catch another mantis today, actually quite a nice little critter but he had someone waiting to adopt him so he's off to his new, private tank with all the snails he'll ever want for.

 

[redwarrior77]

LOL...after hearing some of the antics of mantis, I almost wish I had a second tank of my own for one. Luckily, though, my coworker has a tank waiting for mine once he's captured.

Be sure to get us some pictures when you get part 2!!!

 

[AlaskaWolf]

They are kind of fun! I'm hot on the trail of Mantis #3,but its taken up residence in a rock that appears to have a new baby condylactis growing on it. Sneaky little mantis...now I'm going to have to resort to a trap...

But, I did go buy it it's own little tank, so it will be a happy little mantis if I ever capture it. It's pretty funny to see its' little eyestalks bending around the corner of the rock to see if I'm still there!

 

[AlaskaWolf]

Well, mantis #3 is still running amok, but at least I did get to see it today. It's not red like #2, or even bright green like #1 (R.I.P.); it's almost a gold color with blue smashers. It's actually kind of pretty, and I finally got it to come out of its' hole long enough to grab a little shrimp and drag it back down into its hideout. Get it trained to eat shrimp, then I'll start introducing "The Trap" into the tank.