Haddoni Biotope

Pastey

New member
My wife has become frustrated with the haddoni in my 200 because "every fish I like, that stupid carpet eats". I try to keep her involved because the more excited I can make her about the tank, the more I can do without catching any crap.

Since I'm VERY reluctant to sell my green haddoni, I'm setting up a biotope/species tank just for it. The goal being a 3-4" sandbed, minimal rock and some macro with a nice pair of tank bred amphiprion clarkii.

My goal being something similar to:
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Maybe a little bit of rock to attach anchoring type macro.

My initial macro will likely be caulerpa prolifera and I'll branch out from there. I am currently researching laterite and other substrate composition for planted macros as I would like to add some taller shoal grass down the road. Bit of a learning curve to that.

Equipment:
Initially, I'll be using my old JBJ 28. Since my "advanced" stock LED power supply bit the dust and I'd rather not reuse it, I chunked it. I pulled the rim for a cleaner rimless look and picked up a Maxspect nano. This isn't the permanent solution but it will be more than sufficient for the time being. I've still got all my return pumps, skimmer, media tray and an unopened bag of TE Reeflakes laying around so this can go up almost immediately.

I picked up a 24x24x17 (~40g)shallow square tank from a local yesterday that will be the final home. It came drilled in the bottom with a stand pipe drain so I'm probably going to add a corner overflow and change out the drain type. Friend of mine builds cabinets for a living so I've touched base with him about building a custom stand to match my bedroom furniture because that's where I want it to eventually go. It'll be a simple build with nothing overly fancy. Once I have a stand to do inner measurements, I'll start shopping for a sump.

No pictures of the (little) progress that has been made but I'll snap a few tonight once I move the tank in.
 
LFS has a pair of spotted clarkii that I'll be picking up today. I'll keep them in my sump for a few days to allow me time to setup the 28. It's been so hot here lately that I REALLY didn't want to have to ship something and risk it being stuck on a truck in this heat. I normally wouldn't pull the trigger that quick but I also don't want to get stuck waiting or buying online/shipping.
 
Pair of ORA Pearl Eye Clarkiis:
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I'm told they're a confirmed mated pair which I'm hesitant to believe but I was told that after the sale so there doesn't seem to be much incentive to lie about it at that point. Either way...they're incredible looking and I can't wait to introduce them to the haddoni.
 
I agree and the size was my main reason for hesitation. The larger of the 2 is 3.5" and the smaller is 2.5". I haven't had them long enough to monitor so I can't say as to their mannerisms towards each other. Plus they're in a very unnatural setting (my sump). They were housed together and I was told they had been at the store for 3 weeks for a client that decided to go with a pair of maroons. For a pair of ORA, I got a solid deal so I'm happy all the way around regardless if they're a mated pair or not.
 
I ordered a chiller this morning. The room that the tank is in shares a wall with the garage and the home exterior so it gets a little warm; plus the door to the room is always shut to keep cats out. The tank was at 83 when I got home yesterday at 6pm so I know the tank probably saw 85ish which is not even close to acceptable. Ordered a 1/15 JBJ chiller that should be here middle of next week. So much for a simple build....
 
I agree and the size was my main reason for hesitation. The larger of the 2 is 3.5" and the smaller is 2.5". I haven't had them long enough to monitor so I can't say as to their mannerisms towards each other. Plus they're in a very unnatural setting (my sump). They were housed together and I was told they had been at the store for 3 weeks for a client that decided to go with a pair of maroons. For a pair of ORA, I got a solid deal so I'm happy all the way around regardless if they're a mated pair or not.


My Spotcictus spawn regularly and they are slightly smaller than that. So your fish are plenty big enough to be a mated pair, but as Minh pointed out, they need to spawn to be considered "mated". Otherwise they would just be a bonded pair.
 
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Haddoni went on the move in a show of anticipation for the new tank. That's what I'm calling it anyway. He has bulldozed his way in between that rock and overflow and knocked the rock over in the process. The good news is that it's foot is now on the bottom glass instead of a rock which should make him much easier to remove.
 
Moved a couple of smaller pieces of rock and a large cupful of sand from the 200 to the 28 late last week and noticed an interesting development by weekend's time. By Saturday, JUST the spot with the transferred sand had a light cyano-esque film to it and by the following day, the entire sandbed had that same film. Keep in mind, my 200 has never had cyano. I'm not sure where the bloom came from but I guess conditions were better in the 28 than the 200. Notable differences are less flow (key), different light (maybe?) and higher temp (maybe?). Either way, ammonia is in full swing so there won't be anything going in for a while. Chiller is set to arrive late this week. I need to order a MJ1200 to supply it so I'll do that today. Other than that, it's just a sit and wait game for now.
 
It does a solid job, for sure! Thanks again for getting it to me.

Chiller came in yesterday and after a quick game of pump-Tetris (fitting four Maxijets in the back compartments was a bit of a pain. One 1200 for the skimmer, one 1200 for the chiller and then the two stock Cobalts (600?) for the returns. Add a heater, media tray and hoses coming from pumps....let's just say it's crowded. Good news is, they all fit and it all works. The tank was at 85 when I plugged the chiller and in less than an hour, it was at my goal temp of 80. I ran out of outlets so I unplugged my heater but I wasn't sure if that was going to cause an issue since we cool the house pretty low at night but I woke up to 79.5 so it may be alright for the time being.

As it sits now:
A7BECD9B-6A36-4899-AE45-B60DA4747A99.jpg


Poorly lit picture of the JBJ 1/15hp chiller:
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It's only been running for about 10 days so I'm still giving the tank some time to settle before adding anything. With all those pumps, it really needs an ATO so I guess I'll be buying two of those since the 200 needs one after my Osmolator control unit crapped out. It's only been running for about 10 days so I'm still giving the tank some time to settle before adding anything. I want to bring the haddoni over first but I want to make sure the tank is stable enough before adding it.
 
Mother flipping haddoni decided to move....again and this time and it was wedged itself into the worst place possible. I wish I knew what it was searching for because it is certainly not in the best spot for light reception at ALL.
 
Mother flipping haddoni decided to move....again and this time and it was wedged itself into the worst place possible. I wish I knew what it was searching for because it is certainly not in the best spot for light reception at ALL.

Let it acclimate, it'll seek out light when ready.
 
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