TheFishMan65
New member
Ok, let see you get out of this one:
Mountains of sawdust (360g plywood, LED, Arduino build)
- Thread starter der_wille_zur_macht
- Start date
XSiVE
New member
yeah kinda tough now that hes got clowns! :lol:
der_wille_zur_macht
Team RC
I'm not worried. It's a gigantic tank, they're probably not even an inch long. Other fish will have plenty of opportunity to become established. The sparse info I CAN find on the species seems to group them with the semi-aggressive clown species, so I doubt they'd be as bad as a gigantic maroon or other terrorist-clown.
Thanks for the info. I'm doing a double screen, but I got the "artists extra stiff" screen which is more robust than the typical plastic canvas people use. Two screens means I'll have staggered cleaning, so we'll see how it goes. And yes, lots of small water changes will be part of my approach as well!
All fish seem happy this morning. Everyone ate at breakfast time and there were some interesting antics. Once I get settled in for the morning I'll post the rest of the current stock list.
der_wille_zur_macht
Team RC
Oh cummon you guys aren't going to try to hang me for a confusion based on the common name "damselfish" are you? For the record, I subscribe to the same definition as Wikipedia and Fishbase:
:lol: Well played sir. :lol:
der_wille_zur_macht
Team RC
Ooohhh. . . that thur's a purdy fish!
der_wille_zur_macht
Team RC
SO, the next item on the stocklist. A mated pair of transparent cave gobies (Coryphopterus sp.) from the Diver's Den:
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TheFishMan65
New member
I think no tank is complete without clowns, but that is my opinion. I am not a person to follow fish classes, and it surprised me that clown were a a damsels in a book I read. I did double check on line and some web site agreed. You realize of course that you can't trust everything you read on wikipeida 
der_wille_zur_macht
Team RC
You realize of course that you can't trust everything you read on wikipeida
Of course, but in this case, that sentence in Wikipedia is quoted from Fishbase, which (IMHO) is about as reliable as it gets for this sort of thing. At any rate, it's a fun argument, but more or less meaningless, since we're talking about a common name that has many different interpretations.
And for the record, I agree - a marine reef aquarium without clowns is no fun!
XSiVE
New member
:lolspin: I couldnt resist splitting hairs on that one :lolspin: I also agree, some sort of clowns are necessary to add fun to any reef. I sold my pair of ocellaris due to agression issues and I already miss the action they gave to the tank.
Transparent cave gobies, those fall into the "wont ever see them again" list I take it?
XSiVE
New member
hey at least they were probably easy to catch like that.. :lol:
der_wille_zur_macht
Team RC
Next up: from Diver's Den, a mated pair of barred shrimp gobies (Amblyeleotris sp.) with their tiger snapping shrimp:
And now I can tell the funny tale of the skirmish that happened at lights-on this morning. The fish were all acclimated and released in the dark last night. Since I had the cave gobies and the shrimp gobies purchased distinctly as pairs, I was interested to see if they "found" each other quickly. The cave gobies found each other immediately last night, but the shrimp gobies remained a little confused - one of them took up residence under a rock at the right end of the tank with the shrimp (the female goby, I believe) and the other took up residence near the back of the main pile of rock. The cave gobies pretty much hung out on the same rock pile as the female shrimp goby and shrimp.
This morning at lights-on, I checked and everyone was accounted for. I was observing the female shrimp goby - she was deep in the burrow her and the shrimp had dug. She poked her head out just as a large hermit was wandering past. I dunno if the hermit was startled, or confused, or just REALLY hungry, because it ran over and smacked the goby in the face with it's claw.
The goby ducked back in to the rock, and the pistol shrimp flew out and smacked the hermit crab, hard enough to literally knock it over.
Then, one of the cave gobies spotted the pistol shrimp, and swooped over in an attempt to eat it.
The shrimp goby saw this, and darted out to scare off the cave goby.
Meanwhile, the large angry hermit had started smacking around a much smaller hermit. It got the smaller hermit turned over.
The cave goby, apparently upset that it didn't get a shrimp breakfast, spotted the upturned hermit and attempted to snag it, unsuccessfully.
So I had a hermit attack a fish, only to get attacked by a shrimlp, who was attacked by a fish that also attacked a hermit that the first hermit had flipped over. Phew! And I hadn't even made coffee yet.
I should lend some relevance to this story. The pistol shrimp is maybe an inch long. The shrimp goby is at least 4.5" long - they're the largest shrimp gobies I've ever seen, and currently the longest fish in the tank. The cave gobies are maybe an inch and a half or two inches, so pretty small. I'm not really worried about the pistol shrimp getting snatched by them, or any other real aggression. Other than that one little skirmish, none of these critters have shown any sign of attack, and the critters that were on the receiving end have defense mechanisms anyways. I'm going to chalk this little battle up to sorting out a new tank, rather than "uh oh, that thing's gonna get eaten!" but I guess we'll see! The only thing I'm a little worried about are the larger species of hermits I got from reefcleaners.org, as they DO seem rather aggressive (smacking a 4.5" fish in the face! If the hermit was out if it's shell, the shrimp goby could have swallowed it whole!) There were maybe 5 or 6 of these larger hermits in the order from reefcleaners, so I may just fish them out and banish them to the sump.
And now I can tell the funny tale of the skirmish that happened at lights-on this morning. The fish were all acclimated and released in the dark last night. Since I had the cave gobies and the shrimp gobies purchased distinctly as pairs, I was interested to see if they "found" each other quickly. The cave gobies found each other immediately last night, but the shrimp gobies remained a little confused - one of them took up residence under a rock at the right end of the tank with the shrimp (the female goby, I believe) and the other took up residence near the back of the main pile of rock. The cave gobies pretty much hung out on the same rock pile as the female shrimp goby and shrimp.
This morning at lights-on, I checked and everyone was accounted for. I was observing the female shrimp goby - she was deep in the burrow her and the shrimp had dug. She poked her head out just as a large hermit was wandering past. I dunno if the hermit was startled, or confused, or just REALLY hungry, because it ran over and smacked the goby in the face with it's claw.
The goby ducked back in to the rock, and the pistol shrimp flew out and smacked the hermit crab, hard enough to literally knock it over.
Then, one of the cave gobies spotted the pistol shrimp, and swooped over in an attempt to eat it.
The shrimp goby saw this, and darted out to scare off the cave goby.
Meanwhile, the large angry hermit had started smacking around a much smaller hermit. It got the smaller hermit turned over.
The cave goby, apparently upset that it didn't get a shrimp breakfast, spotted the upturned hermit and attempted to snag it, unsuccessfully.
So I had a hermit attack a fish, only to get attacked by a shrimlp, who was attacked by a fish that also attacked a hermit that the first hermit had flipped over. Phew! And I hadn't even made coffee yet.
I should lend some relevance to this story. The pistol shrimp is maybe an inch long. The shrimp goby is at least 4.5" long - they're the largest shrimp gobies I've ever seen, and currently the longest fish in the tank. The cave gobies are maybe an inch and a half or two inches, so pretty small. I'm not really worried about the pistol shrimp getting snatched by them, or any other real aggression. Other than that one little skirmish, none of these critters have shown any sign of attack, and the critters that were on the receiving end have defense mechanisms anyways. I'm going to chalk this little battle up to sorting out a new tank, rather than "uh oh, that thing's gonna get eaten!" but I guess we'll see!
The only thing I'm a little worried about are the larger species of hermits I got from reefcleaners.org, as they DO seem rather aggressive (smacking a 4.5" fish in the face! If the hermit was out if it's shell, the shrimp goby could have swallowed it whole!) There were maybe 5 or 6 of these larger hermits in the order from reefcleaners, so I may just fish them out and banish them to the sump.
der_wille_zur_macht
Team RC
I used to agree with you until my clowns started doing this (which subsequently killed my gigas clam) :lol:
Too bad for the clam, but that is freaking awesome. It's literally INSIDE the thing!
I used to agree with you until my clowns started doing this (which subsequently killed my gigas clam) :lol:
Wow! Did the clam ever close up with the clowns inside it?
TheFishMan65
New member
Here is an interesting thread that back up your algae scrubber idea.
How to FEED your reef tank so that your corals will really GROW, instead of ho-hum...
You may have seen it, but I found it interesting. Not sure any of it is new, but an interesting summary.
How to FEED your reef tank so that your corals will really GROW, instead of ho-hum...
You may have seen it, but I found it interesting. Not sure any of it is new, but an interesting summary.
der_wille_zur_macht
Team RC
I've seen that. IMHO there's a LOT of info in the reefkeeping community about feeding corals, what they eat, the best way to accomplish that in an aquarium, and so on, but very little SOLID real world evidence or results to make one path or another a clear winner. I'm doing what I want to do with my tank, and others should do the same with theirs.
On another note, I think it's high time for some photos!
On another note, I think it's high time for some photos!
der_wille_zur_macht
Team RC
Boxes!
The bigger one was from Divers Den, the smaller one right from Liveaquaria. Ironically the smaller one had more fish in it. The Liveaquaria stuff was packaged as I'd expect any internet-ordered livestock - 4 bags per fish, metal clips on the top, half-full of water, in packing peanuts in a disposable white foam cooler box.
The larger box, from Diver's Den, was insanely over-packed. Same general approach, but the bags were HUGE (like, much bigger than a typical gallon-sized ziplock), and there were maybe 8 - 10 bags on each fish!
Floating in the tank, lights out. Forgive the lack of focus - my camera was accidentally in manual focus mode and I didn't have my glasses on:
You'll notice they put the especially nervous livestock in half-black bags.
The bigger one was from Divers Den, the smaller one right from Liveaquaria. Ironically the smaller one had more fish in it. The Liveaquaria stuff was packaged as I'd expect any internet-ordered livestock - 4 bags per fish, metal clips on the top, half-full of water, in packing peanuts in a disposable white foam cooler box.
The larger box, from Diver's Den, was insanely over-packed. Same general approach, but the bags were HUGE (like, much bigger than a typical gallon-sized ziplock), and there were maybe 8 - 10 bags on each fish!
Floating in the tank, lights out. Forgive the lack of focus - my camera was accidentally in manual focus mode and I didn't have my glasses on:
You'll notice they put the especially nervous livestock in half-black bags.
der_wille_zur_macht
Team RC
Cardinals were the fist in the tank:
These were reasonably sized smaller cardinals. Clowns were next:
The clowns were very small, but I wanted them that way to reduce aggression and increase the odds of forming a pair.
These were reasonably sized smaller cardinals. Clowns were next:
The clowns were very small, but I wanted them that way to reduce aggression and increase the odds of forming a pair.
