So I've been doing freshwater for a while:
<img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7156/6566807979_5f510a6359.jpg" width="500" height="334" alt="DSC_7373">
But when my 8-year-old said he wanted a saltwater tank for his birthday, I had all the excuse I needed. I got an Elos System 70 (55 gals), and decided to go with TB Saltwater to get some interesting life off the bat. I read the threads from people complaining about bad hitchikers. Well, for me and my son, that actually sounded like part of the fun.
Here's where the tank is today, fully put together, almost a week after getting the second part of the package (looks bluer than reality, but I didn't feel like fiddling with the white balance):
<img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7020/6566807667_5c869638e3.jpg" width="500" height="334" alt="DSC_7371">
It's been a blast thus far.
Part one was loads of fun, particularly after looking at a tank full of water and nothing else for several weeks. Lots of sponges, an urchin, several red mithrax crabs ... and two wennerae mantis shrimp. It wasn't long before those supposed "pests" became the coolest pets ever. My son and I immersed ourselves in mantis shrimp info. We watched the NatGeo documentary that serendipitously aired shortly after getting the shrimp. Read up on their amazing eyesight, strength, and personalities. Hung out at the Mantis forum here at RC.
So we ended up making a detour and starting up yet another tank for one of the shrimp, an Innovative Marine Nuvo 16:
<img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7033/6566807345_24f3855a7a.jpg" width="500" height="334" alt="DSC_7370">
That aquarium comes with two sets of that LED light, but we don't need the second, so for now, one is enough. And let me tell you, these mantis shrimp are AWESOME:
<img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7020/6566922931_36c1706445.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="DSC_7384">
Those are LA Laker colors! We'd name him Kobe, but we're Bulls fans. The other wennerae is red, with pink arms. For now, I've decided to keep it in the main tank. Some people have been able to keep them in their DTs with minimal disruption by keeping them well fed. It's worth a shot. If I put both of the shrimp in this smaller 16 gallon, they won't last long together. And with four tanks now up and running (we also have a freshwater shrimp tank), I'm pretty much done. If red doesn't play nice in the DT, we'll have to find a new home for it. Maybe Dr. Roy will take it in return for giving my son a tour of his lab (he was excited to hear that Dr Roy, who is featured in that NatGeo documentary, was local to us).
So anyway, those mantis rock. We'll tap the glass and they'll come out to check us out. They're super curious, and pretty fearless. The 16 gallon mantis tank also gives me a place to throw all the gorilla crabs I catch from the DT.
Aside from those wennerae, there's a bunch of other critters flittering around, particularly at night. A couple of weeks ago, I saw two whelks (snails) corner a gorilla crab in a shallow pit in the rock, and eat it alive as it fruitlessly tried to escape. A third whelk joined in on the fun midway through the attack. Okay, that was awesome! I also made a mental note: take those suckers out before they kill and eat something I actually care about! They've been ending up in the mantis tank as well.
Now all that fun was from part one. So part two came, and as you can see in that picture above, it was more than rocks. I spent two nights moving rocks this way and that before I came to that scape. As you can see, several of the rocks ended up in the mantis tank. There's a smaller one in the DT's sump, while another big one is out in the backyard waiting to be chiseled into rubble. I simply ran out of room and wasn't keen on the "wall of rock" look. The rubble will come in handy for a refugium.
Richard threw in his famous freebies -- a bunch of corals and sponges. The two tree-like sponges don't seem to fit my scape very well, so I put them on the edges. Even Richard concedes they won't be around long anyway, so I didn't want to overthink it. But several of the sponges were REALLY cool, like this red ridge-like sponge:
<img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7171/6566921779_1cb86b44b2.jpg" width="500" height="379" alt="DSC_7381">
Now if you look really close, you'll see tiny brittle star-looking creatures. There's at least eight that I've counted. Do they get bigger? Are they commensal with the sponge? Are they potentially dangerous? Beats me, but they're cool.
Also, check out this sponge:
<img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7172/6566921451_090db08c20.jpg" width="500" height="334" alt="DSC_7380">
Those feeding tubes just came out, almost a week after receiving them. The sponge seemed so inert, originally, now it suddenly looks alive.
Another sponge in the package looked like it had gotten banged up pretty badly in transit, so I told my son to put it in the compost bin. As he was walking away, he stopped, rushed back and said it clicked, that there was a mantis in it. I looked at him skeptically. Our big tank DID sound like a construction zone, with the mantis and untold pistol shrimp clicking away. I thought that's what he had heard. But no, he put the sponge on a table, and out popped out an angry looking shrimp, no more than 8mm's long, but making popping sounds almost as loud as a finger snap. Woah! Digging around, it was one of <a href="http://alpheidae.lifedesks.org/pages/252">these</a>, a pistol shrimp commensal with sponges. I threw it into the DT, where it quickly dived for cover. Beats me if it drilled into one of the other sponges.
We also got some of these coral:
<img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7146/6566921139_a97e9c0a2a.jpg" width="500" height="312" alt="DSC_7379">
Borneman's Aquarium Corals tells me it could be Oculina Diffusa. Richard's site simply calls them Tube Corals.
I got this fist-sized coral:
<img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7025/6566805563_c46b394404.jpg" width="500" height="334" alt="DSC_7352">
That's a Siderastra Radians, which Borneman tells me is pretty much indestructible and the perfect newbie coral. Score! Not all the polyps have opened, but every day, more do so.
I have too many photos in this post, so I'll continue below.
<img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7156/6566807979_5f510a6359.jpg" width="500" height="334" alt="DSC_7373">
But when my 8-year-old said he wanted a saltwater tank for his birthday, I had all the excuse I needed. I got an Elos System 70 (55 gals), and decided to go with TB Saltwater to get some interesting life off the bat. I read the threads from people complaining about bad hitchikers. Well, for me and my son, that actually sounded like part of the fun.
Here's where the tank is today, fully put together, almost a week after getting the second part of the package (looks bluer than reality, but I didn't feel like fiddling with the white balance):
<img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7020/6566807667_5c869638e3.jpg" width="500" height="334" alt="DSC_7371">
It's been a blast thus far.
Part one was loads of fun, particularly after looking at a tank full of water and nothing else for several weeks. Lots of sponges, an urchin, several red mithrax crabs ... and two wennerae mantis shrimp. It wasn't long before those supposed "pests" became the coolest pets ever. My son and I immersed ourselves in mantis shrimp info. We watched the NatGeo documentary that serendipitously aired shortly after getting the shrimp. Read up on their amazing eyesight, strength, and personalities. Hung out at the Mantis forum here at RC.
So we ended up making a detour and starting up yet another tank for one of the shrimp, an Innovative Marine Nuvo 16:
<img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7033/6566807345_24f3855a7a.jpg" width="500" height="334" alt="DSC_7370">
That aquarium comes with two sets of that LED light, but we don't need the second, so for now, one is enough. And let me tell you, these mantis shrimp are AWESOME:
<img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7020/6566922931_36c1706445.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="DSC_7384">
Those are LA Laker colors! We'd name him Kobe, but we're Bulls fans. The other wennerae is red, with pink arms. For now, I've decided to keep it in the main tank. Some people have been able to keep them in their DTs with minimal disruption by keeping them well fed. It's worth a shot. If I put both of the shrimp in this smaller 16 gallon, they won't last long together. And with four tanks now up and running (we also have a freshwater shrimp tank), I'm pretty much done. If red doesn't play nice in the DT, we'll have to find a new home for it. Maybe Dr. Roy will take it in return for giving my son a tour of his lab (he was excited to hear that Dr Roy, who is featured in that NatGeo documentary, was local to us).
So anyway, those mantis rock. We'll tap the glass and they'll come out to check us out. They're super curious, and pretty fearless. The 16 gallon mantis tank also gives me a place to throw all the gorilla crabs I catch from the DT.
Aside from those wennerae, there's a bunch of other critters flittering around, particularly at night. A couple of weeks ago, I saw two whelks (snails) corner a gorilla crab in a shallow pit in the rock, and eat it alive as it fruitlessly tried to escape. A third whelk joined in on the fun midway through the attack. Okay, that was awesome! I also made a mental note: take those suckers out before they kill and eat something I actually care about! They've been ending up in the mantis tank as well.
Now all that fun was from part one. So part two came, and as you can see in that picture above, it was more than rocks. I spent two nights moving rocks this way and that before I came to that scape. As you can see, several of the rocks ended up in the mantis tank. There's a smaller one in the DT's sump, while another big one is out in the backyard waiting to be chiseled into rubble. I simply ran out of room and wasn't keen on the "wall of rock" look. The rubble will come in handy for a refugium.
Richard threw in his famous freebies -- a bunch of corals and sponges. The two tree-like sponges don't seem to fit my scape very well, so I put them on the edges. Even Richard concedes they won't be around long anyway, so I didn't want to overthink it. But several of the sponges were REALLY cool, like this red ridge-like sponge:
<img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7171/6566921779_1cb86b44b2.jpg" width="500" height="379" alt="DSC_7381">
Now if you look really close, you'll see tiny brittle star-looking creatures. There's at least eight that I've counted. Do they get bigger? Are they commensal with the sponge? Are they potentially dangerous? Beats me, but they're cool.
Also, check out this sponge:
<img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7172/6566921451_090db08c20.jpg" width="500" height="334" alt="DSC_7380">
Those feeding tubes just came out, almost a week after receiving them. The sponge seemed so inert, originally, now it suddenly looks alive.
Another sponge in the package looked like it had gotten banged up pretty badly in transit, so I told my son to put it in the compost bin. As he was walking away, he stopped, rushed back and said it clicked, that there was a mantis in it. I looked at him skeptically. Our big tank DID sound like a construction zone, with the mantis and untold pistol shrimp clicking away. I thought that's what he had heard. But no, he put the sponge on a table, and out popped out an angry looking shrimp, no more than 8mm's long, but making popping sounds almost as loud as a finger snap. Woah! Digging around, it was one of <a href="http://alpheidae.lifedesks.org/pages/252">these</a>, a pistol shrimp commensal with sponges. I threw it into the DT, where it quickly dived for cover. Beats me if it drilled into one of the other sponges.
We also got some of these coral:
<img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7146/6566921139_a97e9c0a2a.jpg" width="500" height="312" alt="DSC_7379">
Borneman's Aquarium Corals tells me it could be Oculina Diffusa. Richard's site simply calls them Tube Corals.
I got this fist-sized coral:
<img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7025/6566805563_c46b394404.jpg" width="500" height="334" alt="DSC_7352">
That's a Siderastra Radians, which Borneman tells me is pretty much indestructible and the perfect newbie coral. Score! Not all the polyps have opened, but every day, more do so.
I have too many photos in this post, so I'll continue below.
