My new Gig and other confessions...

[maoiwowie]

Just returned to the hobby i left 3 years ago. Before that i was keeping fish and reefs over 15 years. Needless to say I figured i know what i am doing...yeah right... Pictures first...

I confess...

The Electric Green Gig is quite small (2.5 in limp), too small to host my True Percs...Although I was worried my tank raised Percs would not take to the Gig...100k years of mother nature coding is a powerful force...Nothing is going to separate them now.

Spent the first day wallowing deflated unhappy. This is day 2 and i feel the Gig is just not inflating like it should...fingers on the outer portion are inflated, but the fingers near the mouth are a little limp. The mouth is tight however and the foot attaches quickly.

Has not taken food! Ive tried shrimp but no feeding response. I guess all i can do is wait and hopefully it acclimates? Try other foods?

The tank is only two months old but my cycle was short as i used cured live rock that i kept bubbling in tanks from my last tear down 3 years ago. Still against my better judgment...i rushed it.

And lastly...do you see that juve Goldflake in the second pic? Its been coming quite close to the Gig and neither Perc seems alarmed. I hope those percs will eventually defend the nem, but am i looking at two losers me and either the goldflake or the nem?

How does the Gig look in general?

 

[1fishkeeper]

Wow it has some great color to it. If you dont mind me asking where did you pick it up at? As for only being in your tank for 2 days I think its looking good.

 

[elegance coral]

Honestly...... The gig looks bleached. I seriously don't hold out much hope for this anemone. It has everything working against it. Bleached, deflating, young tank, won't eat, to small for clowns, butterfly fish. I don't see how it could survive.

 

[maoiwowie]

For what its worth...thats a Goldflake Angel. What color do you think it should be? How can one tell a bleached gig from a normal one? So I will know. I got this one from Blue Zoo.

 

[elegance coral]

For what its worth...thats a Goldflake Angel. What color do you think it should be? How can one tell a bleached gig from a normal one? So I will know. I got this one from Blue Zoo.

Ow shoot! I should start looking closer. Sorry about the angel/butterfly thing.:twitch:

Your anemone, when not bleached, is green and not so yellow looking. The oral disk and lower portion of the tentacles should be a darker color, kinda brownish. The white or pale oral disk is a sign of bleaching. With that said, it's hard to find a gig that isn't bleached to some extent. Here's a pic of one I had. I wouldn't call it bleached, but it's not as dark as I would like it to be either.

 

[maoiwowie]

Ah i see...mine is pale. Ill keep my fingers crossed and hope for the best. Thanks!

 

[maoiwowie]

The Gig ate a live Apogon sp. today...stoked! Showing some resilience!

 

[elegance coral]

SWEET!!!!!! I sure hope you can prove me wrong about this anemone. You got it eating. That's a big step in the right direction.:thumbsup:

 

[Jamie1210]

hey, congrats on the progress! I'm also trying to win the battle w/a sick gig, but the difference between mine and yours is that the mouth on mine was never tight when i got it

how long did it take you to finally get it to eat? and were you attempting to feed it every day? Please describe the feeding response more when you were trying to get it to eat--ie. did it eventually spit the food back out, did the food just stick to the tentacles but it never eat? etc.

thanks!

 

[Doe5ia14]

When did you order the gig from blue zoo? They seem to be all out of stock now. Did you will call the pick up?

 

[maoiwowie]

Yes...Blue Zoo will call at their facility. I tried to feed it when i first got it...small whole shrimp that the Gig turned down. The shrimp did not stick to the fingers, it just floated away. I didnt attempt any direct feeding until 5 days later. I know nems will eat small particles as well from regular feedings of the fish furthermore i didnt need to add to any stress when he clearly wasnt accepting food. On the fifth day i received a batch of apogons with several DOA/Dying in the bag...perfect Gig food. And a few hours later after aggressively grabbing the fish and swallowing...a perfect fish skeleton is spit back. Following that eating I fed another several hours later.

 

[maoiwowie]

So far so good...eating aggressively now...growing. Been stationary now for the past 2 weeks.

 

[1fishkeeper]

Wow its really starting to look really good.

 

[garygb]

What type of lighting do you have Maoi? Didn't see that info. in your post, sorry if I missed it. Gigantea are a shallow water species, sometimes exposed at low-tide, therefore, need bright light (MH or T-5s preferably).

 

[maoiwowie]

Thanks!!! The water is starting to really stabilize. Im using a 250 DE MH 14K with 2x24 T5 actinics. But the gig gets about 1.5 hours of natural sunlight a day as well.

 

[garygb]

Glad to hear you have intense lighting for it. And the sunlight is the best. Best of luck with it. It seems to be making a good rebound.

 

[maoiwowie]

Ive been in this hobby for awhile and many years ago i learned the difference between your stock surviving or thriving. So many new reefers on this site love to cut corners, get by, and think "this should do." I used to be that fool too!

 

[Johnny C]

Good God, that view is breathtaking... and in LA of all places? Let me know when I can move it!! Awesome tank! :eek2:

 

[Liu14]

Do you have any pictures of your drain/return?

 

[elegance coral]

Any updates on the gigantea?