I don't like the black tank at first too but its so unique specially when its flashing the blue streak is amazing.
The black tang is doing so well in my tank right now. He's such a darling. Very peaceful and model citizen. He even eats bubble algae! He brings a nice contrast to all of the color from the anthias and corals. Love him Love him Love him.
All I have to say is I adore this tank by far one of the top tanks I've followed I love all the anthies in that tank they really bring out the live in ur tank..
Thank you! I've done so much research and trial/error with raising anthias that I think I have it down now. I would love to try some of the more cold water species (like the ventralis), but that's just too much work/cost that I'm not willing to put in at this time.
And here's the topic of the day:
REEF AQUARIUM MYTHS THAT I HAVE BROKEN
Peppermint Shrimp can not eat large aiptasia. They can only handle the small ones.
This is so not true. After feeding the tank the way that I do, I accumulated quite a collection of aiptasia all over my rocks. Some were as large as a quarter. It was getting out of control when some of my zoas were not opening b/c of the aiptasia stinging. I bought 25 peppermints from Reeftopia (note: only buy peppermints from Florida!) and within 3 weeks, ALL OF THE AIPTASIA in my tank were gone. Even the huge quarter sized ones.
Peppermint Shrimp will eat your zoanthids once they are done with the aiptasia in your tank.
This was not my experience. Again, I'm talking about the peppermints from Florida. I had several rocks with both aiptasia and zoanthids. The aiptasia was mowed down, but the zoanthids survived untouched. This was also true in my zoa nano tank, where the peppermints had nothing to eat but zoas when all the aiptasia was gone, yet they left the zoas untouched. I had to move them out of the tank when the job was done to a tank I regularly feed to keep them from starving to death.
I honestly think that peppermints are THE BEST choice for aiptasia control. I've tried berghia, and although it was mighty fun seeing them multiply and I made a decent return in selling them once my aiptasia infestation was eradicated, they can not clear 100% of the stuff from a large reef tank, and eventually, the aiptasia will come back (long after the berghia have starved to death). With peppermints, they become part of my regular clean up crew after the aiptasia are "gone". They'll continue to scavenge for leftover food and are ready for any reappearance of aiptasia.
And here are more myths:
Emerald crabs are not effective in removing bubble algae since they will just propagate the spores.
I had a terrible bout of bubble algae in the last year. Again, this was due to heavy feedings. It got so bad that I had to take out one 6" piece of flat rock that was covered in at least a thousand algae bubbles. I wish I kept a pic of it just to remind me how bad the infestation got. So I made an effort to get rid of them once and for all and purchased 25 emerald crabs from reeftopia.com along with the peppermints. Yes, I said 25. All I can say is that after just 1 month with the emerald crabs, I am COMPLETELY bubble algae free. Maybe they do pop spores. Maybe they're floating around in my tank right now. But who cares? I don't see any bubble algae. If any more grow, I am confident that my 25 emerald buggers will take care of it.
Large emerald crabs will hunt and kill your smaller fishes at night.
My emerald crabs are pretty big now, after demolishing a tank full of bubble algae. They're so big that they scare me and I will not dare try to pick one up with my bare hands. Yet, I am not randomly missing my small fish (and believe me, I have A LOT of small fish in my tank). Maybe it's just a matter of time, but so far so good. I'll update this thread if in the future I'm proved wrong.
So there you have it. Peppermint shrimp and emerald crabs from Florida. Two things that I think every clean up crew should include.
And since I don't have that bubble algae infest rock photo to show, here's another one of those oh so popular growth shots:
Remember this random milli frag photo that I took in June?
This is where it is 6 months later:
I recently added a row of ultraviolet LEDs, and boy did it make this little gem pop! It's forming a nice plate, and is actually a lot bigger than the pic shows. Couldn't get a good angle. Wish I can take decent top down shots.