My 500 + gallon system. Last 13 years to now. Build, Aquascaping & more. Lots of pics

[slief]

:sad1:

Sweet more new fish! Love those flame angels, that tank is large enough the three should be good I would think.

Yea, I was shooting for a harem of them. All fish are in the tank now and the flames, mandarin and new tangs are picking at the rocks. The original flame was jousting with one of the new ones and then the lemon peel would join in a bit. That lasted all of 5 minutes and now they are fine together. Nothing like what happened when I tried putting that tiny lemon peel in a week ago forcing me to put the tiny lemon peel into my refugium where he still resides. Fortunately, the new flames are larger than the old flame and the lemon peel so they can hold their own just fine.

I love Vlamingi's. While they are not the prettiest of the tangs, they have the best personality of all tangs and are so social. The new Vlamingi already follows me around the tank.

The new Bangai's are all schooled together. Hopefully most survive and school with the other Bangai's. I don't know what it is about Bangai's, but their survival rate in captivity is not great in the short term. I was down to two Bangai's before I put the 4 new ones in today. If they make it past a couple weeks, then your golden so I've got my fingers crossed. The PJ's on the other hand are really hardy and I've never had high mortality rates with those unlike the Bangai's which I much prefer.

 

[albano]

From the pic, it appears that at least 1 of the new flames is a male... Is your established one M or F?

 

[slief]

Is your established one M or F?

I believe a female based on the color and markings but I had never given it much thought.
This is the other one.

 

[slief]

From the pic, it appears that at least 1 of the new flames is a male...

Here are two shots that help you see both new flames. I'm thinking these are both males based on the purple on the rear fins and their striking bars on their sides. Also their size as they are both fairly large flame angels based on my experiences. The again, not knowing their age makes that speculation. There is a divider in the middle of this acclimation box so the fish on the left stay on the left.

 

[albano]

I believe a female based on the color and markings but I had never given it much thought.
This is the other one.

Not sure about color/markings theory, I always heard about the shape of anal fin... The pointed anal fin, often matching shape of bottom of tail fin is (supposed to be) male. Rounded anal fin is female.
Your first pic shows 1 angel with pointed anal fin, can't see the other one... The second pic of your established flame is hard to tell, but I'd guess female.

I just added 2 add'l small females to my pair of flames, yesterday after QT, and all 4 are doing great, with no problems! (So far)

Just saw new pics, looks like 1 M and 1 F

 

[slief]

Not sure about color/markings theory, I always heard about the shape of anal fin... The pointed anal fin, often matching shape of bottom of tail fin is (supposed to be) male. Rounded anal fin is female.
Your first pic shows 1 angel with pointed anal fin, can't see the other one... The second pic of your established flame is hard to tell, but I'd guess female.

I just added 2 add'l small females to my pair of flames, yesterday after QT, and all 4 are doing great, with no problems! (So far)

Just saw new pics, looks like 1 M and 1 F

Cool. I will take your word for it. I'm no expert when it comes to sexing fish. Good to know odds are good I've got at least one female. I will try to get some better pictures of them tomorrow after work when the lights are on and try to get good shots showing their anal fins. Sounds kind of funny.. Anal fins..... :lolspin:

 

[Noamurmac]

flame angels are one of my favorites they look awesome! such a great pop of color

 

[slief]

I'm pleased to say that all new fish are doing very well. All the Angels are getting along. No fighting at all and the 3 flames plus the lemon peel are regularly cruising around the tank together in a nice little pack.

I took some pictures a little bit ago. Timing could have been better as the diamond goby's were stirring stuff up a bit but the water is still pretty clear.

 

[slief]

 

[slief]

 

[slief]

 

[slief]

Here a couple videos I just shot with my iPhone. The first one is most of the cardinals schooling near a couple of my soft corals.
<iframe width="1280" height="720" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/KH055EhwABA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

This one is a walk around the tank showing all 3 sides.
<iframe width="1280" height="720" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/DaIPL1KzQPk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[slief]

One more walk around the tank. This time a little slower and a little longer.
<iframe width="1280" height="720" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/Mk5kEqTegpo" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[mhsmith]

glad to see all the additions. I followed you're thread and was sad to see the troubles that you have had. I too am a fish fan. I have a very large Vlamingi that is doing well in my tank. He recently was stung by my bubble tip anenome, that now is the reason why I am looking to upgrade my tank so he has a bigger home. Hopefully nothing bad happens during my upgrade. It is amazing how we can become so attached.

 

[slief]

I figured I would update my current fish stock list to include the latest additions.
My current fish and invertebrate stock list as of today:

1 Engineer Goby (sole survivor)
3 ocillarus clownfish
2 percula clownfish
1 Lemon Peel angel in the display
1 Lemon Peel angel in the fuge
3 Flame Angels
1 Naso tang
1 Lieutenant tang
1 Vlamingi tang
2 Sargent Major Damsels
2 yellow tail blue damsels
1 fox face
2 lawn mower blennies
7 PJ cardinals
6 bangai cardinal
2 royal grammas
2 diamond goby's
2 mandarin goby's
1 watchman goby
1 six line wrasse
1 sea hare
1 cleaner shrimp
1 coral bandit shrimp
1 harlequin shrimp
1 fire shrimp
1 giant RBTA
1 smaller RBTA
and several snails, hermit crabs and small starfish.

 

[maik1]

Feeding

Feeding

I have admired your tank for many years now, enjoy your videos on Lafishguys too. I would like to know how, what and how much you feed your tank (Corals and fish). How do you feed them if you're not home?

Maik1

 

[slief]

I have admired your tank for many years now, enjoy your videos on Lafishguys too. I would like to know how, what and how much you feed your tank (Corals and fish). How do you feed them if you're not home?

Maik1

Thank you very much!

I have a pretty good mix of food that I feed the fish. They get mysis a two to three times a week. They also get a Formula One and Formula Two flakes and Formula pellets along with Spectrum pellets which I switch out and mix up arbitrarily depending on the day. I also feed some Nori seaweed but the new fish have not developed a liking to it yet. I figure that is probably because they are a bit lazy due my daily feedings as well as the macro algae they forage on in the tank. I may have to skip a day or two of feeding to see if I can get them hungry enough to eat the nori or just give them more time.

When I travel, I mix up small individual bags of food for daily feedings. That way my wife or neighbors can feed without the risk of overfeeding. I also have a couple auto feeders but I've only used those a couple times.

I do not directly feed my corals at all.

 

[sh0ck]

Hi Slief,

I dont know where your PO4 posts went, but if I remember correctly u mentioned currently around 0.07 ppm.
I would not go lower for LPS/leather tank, it can slow your grow.

 

[slief]

Hi Slief,

I dont know where your PO4 posts went, but if I remember correctly u mentioned currently around 0.07 ppm.
I would not go lower for LPS/leather tank, it can slow your grow.

Funny you mention that. I just ran a test and was at .11

I just (a few minutes ago) started a follow up LaCl dose to bring it down a little bit more. With my daily feedings and the fact that my tank has been up and running with the same live rock and substrate for over 10 years now, the embedded PO4 in the rocks and substrate combined with the food, my PO4 levels don't stay at exceedingly low levels for long even after an LaCl dose.

After my disaster, I noticed some hair algae sprouting up which prompted me to test for PO4 a few weeks back only to find that I was at about .30 PO4. Since then, I've been trying to bring the levels down to stifle the hair algae growth so my tangs, fox face, angles and sea hare can eliminate it completely. I figure this should be my last dose for a while. I'm shooting for .03-.04 knowing that it will climb back up to .07ish after a couple weeks or so.

Heck, I just ran a test on my mixed salt water in my holding tanks to find it reads at .035 and I use 0 TDS RODI water for my salt water mixing. PO4 seems damn near unavoidable despite the fact that I run GFO!

Thank you for the feedback though. PO4 levels are not something I normally pay much attention too unless I start seeing nuisance algae. Other than those instances, I rarely even test for it and only change my GFO when I feel like it which is every month or two. I am pretty lazy when it comes to maintenance and testing.

 

[slief]

Some pictures taken tonight. Things are happy in the tank! It's looking better then ever. I'm seeing a lot of soft coral sprouts like leathers and fingers popping up on the rocks and bottom. Star polyps have nearly doubled in size since the disaster. Go figure. Fish are fat and happy and getting along. There might even be some courting going on between the flames.