Project 58!! (Image intense)

[maxxII]

Here are 3 pics of the left side. The main rock is a Lava rock I've had since I was 12 years old and keeping marine fish in Hawaii. It weighs about 35 lbs and has lots of crazy holes and caves. I tried drilling it.......friggin nightmare!
Drilling Lava Rock requires:
1....Patience, (It doesnt happen fast)
2....Time (see #1)
3... good masonry drill bits
4... a good drill, preferably not a cordless...sucks to change batteries out every 10 minutes, ( I was using a cordelss 18 volt dewalt. I had plenty of drill for the job, a corded drill would have been better

It actually didnt work very well and I wound up removing all but one dowel on top used to hold another Darren special homemmade rock on top.
I really dont like how this looks and will probably play with it some in the intervening months. As it is now, the rock is just balanced on top of the two legs....

this one shows the underhang...I have ablsolutely no idea how the camera flash made those crazy white squiggly squares in that pattern....obviously, the tank doesnt really have those in it.

different angle...shows that the arm from the twoer doesnt actually reach over that far.

Here is the final one... I think it looks better than this in person, but I'm still not real wild about it.

 

[maxxII]

Finally a full tank shot of the aquascaping.

Things left to do:

Hook up calcium reactor
hook up chiller and new sump return. This will involve a whole new sump return manifold. I want to use Loc-Line on the return in order to alleviate some dead spots in front of the overflow box. I may just order some eductors for better flow....
Set up Liter Meter 3 for top off stability.
Nick

 

[maxxII]

One of the guys on a different board pointed out some things about my aquascaping:

with the current state of your aquascape, how do you plan to place corals there??? It seems all the rocks are very vertical and you have not left much of any horizontal areas to put them on. The aquascape does look very open, but besides also looking very delicate (like it would all come down with just a snail moving over it) it doesn't have a lot of "shelving" for things to be attached to.

I can certainly see how that might seem to be the case with the crappy pics I posted up previously. Fortunately, I took some all new crappy pics to (hopefully) show how much horizontal space I really do have. The saguarro/tower looking rock structure on the right is actually 4 rocks connected together and has alot of horizontal space with several levels and ridges to place corals. I dont plan on stocking this incredibly full of corals anyway, as I want the reef to grow in as opposed to be crammed full of corals....(thats about all I can afford anyway so thats convienant).
I went pretty heavy on the acrylic rods holding the saguarro/tower, 6 in all. Anything that will cause that to fall apart will just about destroy the tank too. Its supported by a nice flat base. I used my power compound miter saw (not a fine wood 80 tooth finishing blade, just the regular old 40 tooth one that came with it) and cut the base of the rock smooth. No problems, no issues, it actually went ALOT easier than I thought it would after Mojoreef suggested it to me.
The lava rock structure on the left is balanced on top of those two rocks, but its really secure. An over zealous eel might pull that apart or an octo...but neither of those are going in here. I deliberately pushed, pulled, poked and messed with all of the rock to make sure it was stable and wouldnt come apart or fall easily. I even tried tipping both structures, and wasnt able to do it without using more force and strength than anything in the tank is going to possess.
I had a large turbo snail tear up my old 20 gallon because it was clumsy and some of my corals were just "stacked" on the rock as opposed to fixed. I made sure this wasnt going to happen this time.

Again these are just crappy pics the two "greenish" looking ones are when the MH's were kicking on....

Left side shot. This shows a side profile of the lava rock. I still dont like this side very much, but it does have room for at least two decent sized coral pieces on top.

Slightly angled down shot of the tower showing the different levels and platforms.

Side shot of right "arm" of the tower. The angle on this is kinda funny, cause it looks like its almost touching the front pane of glass on the tank when its really a good 2.5 inches away from it. But this shot does show the length of that arm...

Here is a top down shot of the tower with lightbox moved out of the way. Lots of room for frags and later decent sized corals there.

Finally, a top down shot of the lava rock again with the lightbox removed.

I was standing on a small step ladder when I took the top down shots....makes my 58 gallon look like a nano.... LOL
Again these are crappy shots, but the idea is to convey (a little better) the different shelves and platforms I have available for coral placement. I also plan on putting one or two LPS right down under the two "arms" of the tower. These are lower flow areas and the corals can expand to get more light or retract to get less if they desire. Thats just a tentative plan right now to be honest, I'll have to see how things develop later on.

I keep saying it, but its true....I'm just not wild about the lava rock side of the tank. I will be playing around with it abit, especially since I have some 50-60 lbs of live rock left over. I'm sure I can make something really cool out of that. But I do really like the tower side of the tank.

I do really appreciate the comments and constructive criticism from all, please continue. Your continued input and influence only help me improve my tank and make it a better environment for the critters I want to keep in it.

Nick

 

[maxxII]

1-19-2004,

Short update....no pics.
The tank looks like an algae farm right now. While drilling the rockwork, I must have killed off more stuff, because I had a short cycle. Combine that with all the plasticisers leaching out phosphates from my plumbing and you've got a great environment for algae. I hadnt expected the algae bloom since I had the rocks sitting in a 55 gallon tank with a protein skimmer for 6+ months...but all did was really cycle the rock. So basically this is a new tank.

Tank parameters currently are:
Temp 78-81 F
Ph 8.1 as per Sea-Test kit
Ammonia 0.0 as per Sea-Test kit
Nitrite 0.0 as per Sea-Test kit
Nitrate less than 10 ppm as per Sea Test kit
Salinity 1.026 as per refractometer

I need to get a Salifert Nitrate kit. I have their Calcium and Alkalinity test kits, but I'm really not worried about those levels just yet. These Sea Test kits are leftover from my FO days...where you dont need to be as precise. All of these parameters are good though, as long as I dont try and put anything too delicate in there for right now. The tank will be stable since Ive got a chiller holdiong down the temp, The Ph is right from my tapwater, (St Louis water is hard), and I have a Liter Meter taking care of the top off. My skimmer is running as wet as I can get it, (riser tube is extended as far as possible) and all I'm getting is dirty brown tea. Cause I really dont have anything in the tank...other than algae.

But, the tank was ready for fish and some hardy inverts, (clean up crew).
I bought two firefish, 5 turbo snails, and 4 scarlet hermits for the tank. The firefish pretty much got blown all over the tank, so I had to turn off the closed loop for a day or two until I could return them to the LFS where I bought them. They were healthy lil boogers...ate like pigs....didnt want to have to get rid of them. But, it was better for them in the long run.

I've been having to re-think my tank's stocking list, since I have so much flow going on through this tank. Ive always liked the Chevron tang, but they get to be a little big for my tank at a full grown size of about 12 inches. I dont like Kole tangs, but wanted to stay in the Ctenochaetus family of tang, (bristletooths) as they are really good at eating up detritus. I wound up deciding to go with the Tomini Tang:

Photo by RobZ

These are the smallest tangs, only reaching around 5 inches in the wild. They are kinda tough to find so I started looking around and called the Marine Center. I spoke with a very nice guy, who answered alot of questions, but said they didnt have any in stock. He told me they come in infrequently maybe one a month or so. Just loking around for any other vendors, I came across Liveaquaria.com. Generally I'm a little reluctant to order from online giants, as I wasnt sure of how they operated and what thier feedback was. Doing some research I saw that live aquaria has a very good reputation and was given the thumbs up from almost everyone who bought from them, except for those few people who didnt follow the instructions on acclimating or signing for the shipment. Under those circumstances Live Aquaria wont guarantee the animals and your own your own...these folks got annoyed when they werent given a refund after being told they wouldnt.....read the website folks...
So anyway Live Aquaria said they were out of stock on the Tomini tangs, but I could put myself on the waiting list for them when they got them back in. So I did. Yesterday.
This morning, I got an email that they had Tomini tangs in stock ranging in size between 2.5-3.5 inches in size. So I ordered one. Its sposed to arrive Saturday, (Will be shipped on Friday) and will be shipped to a local Fed-Ex center where I will pick it up. I'm really looking forward to getting it...Ive always loved the look of this fish, ya just dont see it very often...and like I said I have an algae problem.

The Tomini will share the tank with a Royal Gramma, a Black Cap Basslet, a pair of clowns of some sort (Still trying to figure that one out...clowns are notoriously poor swimmers, but they are better than firefish), a flame angel, and a smaller wrasse, (most likely a 6 line for pest control). And that should do me just fine.

Thats about all thats going on right now in the tank. More updates will follow as things develop.

Nick

 

[maxxII]

Well after an annoying experiance with Fed-Ex, I got the tang back home.

Heres a summary from Fed-Ex:


Jan 21, 2005.......2:16 pm Picked up by FedEx in HAWTHORNE CA
Jan 21, 2005.......6:28 pm Left FedEx Origin Location in HAWTHORNE CA
Jan 21, 2005.......7:40 pm Arrived at FedEx Sort Facility in LOS ANGELES CA
Jan 21, 2005.......7:45 pm Left Sort Facility in LOS ANGELES CA

Jan 22, 2005.......1:26 am Arrived at Sort Facility in MEMPHIS TN
Jan 22, 2005.......4:07 am Left FedEx Sort Facility in MEMPHIS TN
Jan 22, 2005.......5:52 am Arrived at FedEx Ramp BERKELEY MO
Jan 22, 2005.......7:30 am Held at FedEx location for recipient pickup in ST. LOUIS MO
Jan 22, 2005....... 7:36 am Arrived at FedEx Destination Location in ST. LOUIS MO
Jan 22, 2005.......8:16 am Held at FedEx location for recipient pickup in ST. LOUIS MO
Jan 22, 2005....... 9:01 am- Delivered


Looks pretty simple and straightforward huh?, Not so much....

I knew I was going to be working Thursday and Friday so I requested that the fish be kept at a Fed-Ex station for holding so I could pick it up. This way it wouldnt be out in the cold bouncing around in a truck for umteen bazillion hours until the driver found my house. I had had previous problems with Fed-Ex where some of my dry goods (ordered overnight-express-be-there-the-very-next-damn-day-pay-more-for-shipping-service) and gotten them 2 days later, and in one case it was delivered to a house on the OTHER FREAKIN END OF THE BLOCK!!! HELLO!!!! THIS IS WHY PEOPLE PUT NUMBERS IN FRONT OF THEIR HOUSES!!! ITS CALLED AN ADDRESS!!! (Thank God he didnt need an Oceans Motions 4 way unit...although he did wonder what the heck it was...I told him it was a morphine pump and let him wonder.) So, rather than hope the Fed-Ex driver was on the right combination of medication this week, I decided to have it held at a local Fed-Ex facility so I could pick it up when it arrived. This should have been fairly simple.

I got home from work this morning at 6:45 am, and immediately looked on the website to see if my fish had arrived. The web site stated that it had arrived at 5:52 am, at the airport which is 30 minutes away. I was excited at getting the fish, and since it had been in a bag since noon-ish the day before, I didnt mind driving out to the Airport to go get it. So I started to look for a phone number for the Fed-Ex facility at the Airport. I figured I'd give em a call, see if they could locate it fairly quickly, and go get it. This would be better for the fish since it would be starting to acclimate instead of sitting in a cold warehouse, and I might be able to get some sleep today. (My day was already planned out by my fiance....we had an appointment with a bakery to check out wedding cakes, and a close friend was hosting their daughters 1st birthday in the afternoon...so the sooner I could get this done, the sooner I could get some sleep...like maybe 3 hours. I was going to be required to be polite to people this afternoon. I needed some sleep!)

Unfortunately, I wasnt able to find a number for Fed-Ex......anywhere. Evidently they have a new policy. No phone numbers. Period. If you think I'm joking try and find a phone number. I did a google search. Found the Fed-Ex website...no number. Did a Yahoo search. Same results.
So I checked the Phone book. I figured it was pretty stupid not to have your phone numbers listed on a website, but hey, I'm a big boy and I remember how life was before the internet.
So I dug out the Phone book........no dice. 15 minutes later, I was cussing up a storm. Rocio woke up and was wondering what the heck was going on. I apologized for waking her up, and explained what was going on. Bless her heart, she tried to help. She couldnt find it either. She said she was tired and went back to bed.
I gave up and called information. I hate spending money for some one to give me a phone number that I should be able to find on my own. Its only a buck or two, but its the principle of the thing.
So Information gave me 1-800-463-3339. I called...got some annoying long convoluted automated directory...and finally got to speak to a human. All I wanted to do was to make sure the fish was still there. The site where the fish was originally scheduled to get picked up by me was closer to my house, (about 10 minutes if I caught every light wrong), and I didnt want to go to the Airport and find out the fish was waiting for me at the facility by my house. I got a representative on the phone who said they didnt even know if the fish had arrived yet. For all they knew it could still be in LA. I explained that the package was listed on the website as having landed in St Louis, and asked for the phone number for the Airport location of Fed-Ex so I could call and avoid passing it in transit. He told me that Fed-Ex no longer gave out phone numbers for their facilities, they ran everything through Call Centers like the one he was in...in Canada. I asked if there was a way to contact the Airport Facility and have them tell me if it was there or not. He said he would send them an email (***!!!!!) and make sure they called me when they got a chance. He said this was the way the company did things now and everything would be fine. Then he hung up. I waited for about 20 minutes. (I've mentioned I'm not real good at this patience thing.......right?) And then I called again. I got a woman this time who got a little hostile. (Keep in mind that Customer Service Reps often get kicked and spit on verbally by the people they talk to on the phones) So I took a step back...tried to calm down, and start over. I explained I hadnt had any sleep and what I was trying to find out...etc.....she also said there was no way I could get a phone number, and she would also email them.
Yay for my side. It was now about 7:30 and I was getting baffled by Fed-Ex's refusal to give out phone numbers for their facilities. I could understand if I was trying to get their home phone numbers, but just a freakin business contact number????
More time went on......

I got more psychotic and was getting convinced that Fed-Ex was the Anti-Christ...or at least really, really evil.

At 8:10 am, I called a third time, and finaly spoke to some one with a soul. This very polite man told me that the fish was at the city location near my house and I could go get it. He was very helpful and polite. I'm definately going to send his boss a letter, (or maybe an email. I dont know if they will give out a physical mailing addresses any more either.) telling him how helpful this guy was during all of this. Rocio is a customer service representative for a big health insurance company and works from home. I have heard some amazingly rude people on the phone with her, so I know how little appreciation or positive recognition these folks get.
I raced to the city location of Fed-Ex just wanting to get the fish, get it acclimated, and go to bed. I got there at 8:32 am. I know this becuase the guy behind the counter wouldnt open the door until 9 am....which is when they were regularly scheduled to open. Why didnt any of the 3 people I spoke with on the phone tell me this wasnt a 24 hour facility??? I wound up sitting in the parking lot of Fed-Ex for 30 minutes waiting for them to open.....and putting a curse on all Fed-Ex employees that causes it to burn when they pee.
At 9:00, they opened, I went in and picked up the fish. 20 minutes later it was floating in the bag in my tank.
THE MORAL OF ALL OF THIS IS:
If you elect to have an animal or any other perishable item held for you to pick up at a facility of any sort, Fed-Ex or not, MAKE SURE ITS OPEN 24 HOURS OR LEARN WHAT THE HOURS OF OPERATION ARE!!

I'm going to be thinking long and hard about using Fed-Ex ever again.

I was hoping for a small tang. IME, smaller, (Juvenile), fish adapt better to captivity than the larger ,(adults). And I had heard that Live Aquaria usually shipped these fish slightly larger than the advertised 2-1/2" to 3-1/2" in size.
What I got was roughly the size of a quarter, with fins!! This little critter was swimming along just fine. I floated it the bag in the tank for about 20 minutes. Then I poured it into a pitcher, and placed the pitcher in my sump. This would keep the fish away from curious dogs, and keep the temp relatively stable. I used some airline tubing, tied two knots in it to slow the water flow through to a couple drips a second and chilled out for about half an hour. At 9:50 am I removed about half the water in the pitcher and discarded it. At 10:25 I did it again. At 10:45 I was amazingly tired, (been up since 11:30 am the day before) and pulled the tang out of the sump. I discarded 3/4 of the water in the pitcher and poured the rest of it, and the tang, into the tank. Then I went to bed.

I'll spare everyone the horrific details of the wedding cake tasting and selection, (Just in case anyone was wondering....if your fiance ever asks what kind of cake you want for the wedding, she really doesnt care what you want. She's just being polite. Its also not funny to anyone but you, if you answer that question with:
"Whatever is big enough for a stripper to pop out of."

I told her the little voice that was sposed to keep that thought inside was still sleeping....but I dont think she bought it.)

Nick

 

[maxxII]

Here are the pics of the Tiny Tomini Tang:

I know it looks like I have the worlds largest Loc-Line segments in my tank, but I swear they are only 3/4 of an inch in diameter.

BTW he's already picking on the algea and rocks. I can see several spots he's completely cleaned out on the cutting board bottom. It kinda looks like a shotgun went off in those areas....little round BB sized mouth prints.

I gotta say...it was worth it and I would order from Live Aquaria again. But Fed-Ex.......
Well......
I still hope it burns when they pee.

Nick

 

[Lunchbucket]

maxx- buddy!! glad to hear that you got your fish a-ok. hmm a tomini tang!! sweet...i need an algae eater in my tank as i got rid of my HUGE foxface taht was picking at my clam. dang they are SPENDY buddy! very cool fish though. i have thought about a yellow eye kole tang instead...they are probably close to the tomini tang...correct me if i am wrong.

a 6-2 ER skimmer...sweet! i think i am getting a 6-2+ w/in the next couple weeks.

also i just ripped out ALL my LR and replaced it w/ some new rock that is nutrient free...had problem w/ my tank (as you know) and figured this is a good way to clear them up.

keep the pics and post coming. that fish is a TINY little guy. hope he works out for you

later
Lunchbucket

 

[maxxII]

Eric,
Thanks for stopping by man!! The kind words are just a bonus IMO!! Your 20 gallon was a major influence on my desire to set this tank up. Your tank was the first nano I'd seen that looked that good. I was sorry to hear about your problems with your 58 gallon tank. Hopefully they will be resolved here shortly.

The Kole tang is very similar to the Tomini...same family etc, just gets a little larger and doesnt look as pretty IMO. I used to work in LFS where Kole, yellow, and Nazo tangs were a dime a dozen...so I kinda got sick of looking at those fish...I wanted something different for my tank. But your right...it is spendy. Not quite as bad as a resplendant angel or an interruptus, but still spendy for me.
I did a lot of research before buying this fish, even though I knew a fair amount just from the family behaviour from keeping Chevron's in the past. But here is a neat article about keeping them. Its a little dated and the hobby has gotten more advanced since this came out, (Overskimming is a problem, can cause problems for fish too...etc),but I think the basic ibnformation about this fish is pretty good. The article also mentions the water currents prevelant where this fish is found usually...which is interesting. When I first put the tang in the tank, I turned of the OM unit, but left the Iwaki on. This turned it from a wave maker to a constant flow from one outlet. I had it running through the bottom left outlet so the current wouldnt be roiling through the entire tank. After I woke up, I turned the OM unit back on just long enough to move the current to another port. The tang moved from his little hiding spot to where the current was now strongest, and started to graze. Once I saw that, I just turned the OM unit back on and stopped worrying about him being overwhelmed by the flow. I havent had this little fish for 24 hours and I already dig it alot.

I would definately go with a CS6-2+ if you can. My only concern was the footprint that was listed. I found out (when they finally returned my calls, but after I had already ordered) that ER will make custom skimmers for something like 10% more than list price. For 10% more I could have had one with the pump mounted directly on the body of the skimmer which would make it more efficient, and give it a smaller foot print. I'm told I could probably squeeze the next size larger pump on my skimmer and basically turn it into a 6-2+.....but I need to wait abit for that to happen.

I cant wait til your tank is rockin again! I'm needing more inspiration while I deal with my hair algae explosion.

Nick

 

[Lunchbucket]

Nick - thanks buddy. that article was pretty good. so you feel a tomini or a yellow eye kole is a-ok for a 58gal? i really want an algae eater and don't want anything big and not a BIG swimmer like a yellow tang. i am sure for my use a yellow eye kole would be fine but having a unique fish is definately cool..glad you got one

oh the days of the 20gallon just saddens me now. i have only one sps frag (new as of 1 wk ago) just depressing man. oh well i ahve done it before i will do it again!

yeah a 6-2+ should fit ok..i have been talking w/ Jeff at ER and he is double checking my measurements and MAKING it work so i guess i did get a custom made. hope to get it w/in a week or 2. i had a 5-2 on it at first and now a recirc skimmer about the size of a 6-2.

yeah i can't wait till the tank is rocking again either...just a matter of time. hey i need inspiration too. i just had all my SPS die in 04 and i have had phosphate, fish, and bubble algae problems

keep you head up buddy. we will soon be competing over who has the best 58gal

Lunchbucket

 

[maxxII]

I think a Kole or Tomini is fine in a 58 that isnt too crowded and has alot of open area to swim. Its kind of a balancing act IMO...you need a fair amount of rock to just to give them something to graze off of until you can switch them over to Nori, but you also want to give them room to swim. If your aquascaping is similar to what you had before you got new rock (Island/bommie in the middle is I remember right), you should be fine. The Kole only gets to marginally larger than the Tomini from what I've been able to read.
Something else...I posted this up on a different board where someone lost a tang and couldnt figure out why...the response kinda surprised me...people kinda freaked...they'd never heard it before so I wanted to pass it on here too...

Tangs can really stress themselves out pretty bad. If they get frightened, they can almost "stroke out". Basically, they looklike they are in the middle of a seizure, stop swimming, stiffen up and extend all their fins to the max, and the drift slowly down to the bottom of the tank and quiver. I have only rarely seen a tang survive this without some sort of intervention. Tangs are constantly active fish, so oxygen levels are important to them. When they stop moving, they are not getting the O2 levels they need and will die. So what you do is basically " walk them through the tank". Gently hold the fish by the sides of the body, (be careful not to cover the gill plates or touch the caudal spine...cause thats usually extended too) and move it forward through the water as if it were swimming. You're basically forcing water past the fishes gills and giving it the necessary oxygen it needs to survive. Usually, after a minute or two, the fish begins to revive and tries to swim on its own. Let it go and watch it carefully. It will most likely be breathing hard still, but if you've got it at this stage, you should be fine...just dont stress it out any further.
People on the other board freaked...I must not have been very clear when I explained it the first time cause one guy asked how long he was sposed to dunk the fish....Its not a tea bag man!

The only reason I'm mentioning this at all is because IME, Koles are the ones who stroke out the most easily.....followed by Sailfins, Naso, and Yellows, about in that order. Once you get one acclimated you should be fine...its just when they first get introduced that you have to watch it.

I'm really looking forward to your new set up....And competition to se who has the nicest looking 58 sounds good. Its always cool to see who does what with basically the same system you have. You're running an Iwaki 55 RLT on an OM 4 way, youve got a monster ER skimmer, going heavy on the lighting, (Dual 400's for you) pretty much the only difference I can see for right now is the mine is BB and yours is DSB. This oughta be fun.

Nick

 

[maxxII]

I went to the LFS Monday 24 Jan 05, looking to see if there was anything cool to add, (The tang's so tiny, its not really anything to add to the bio load). I was hoping for a black cap basslet and a royal gramma....but they didnt have them. They did get a tiny bellus angel in who ate like a pig, but it appeared aas if he might have had a swim bladder problem as he was swimming in a slightly head down position after watching it for a few minutes. Its too bad cause it was a nice, small, (about 2 inches) angel that is reef safe and was eating ANYTHING they threw into the tank. ON my way out the door, I did see a smaller Lawn Mower blenny that had a nice fat (round) belly. I watched him for a bit and saw him nibbling on everything he passed by, so I got him. I know Lawnmowers are difficult, despite being sold at almost every LFS as a means of algae control. I had one about 2 years ago, and it straved to death, I couldnt get him to eat anything. However this place I bought him from has return policy and a guarrantee as well. But the deciding factor in this case was the condition of the fish. Bright eyes, constantly moving, constantly nibbling on rocks and sides of the tank, and a nice fat belly. I will post up a pic later. MY little digi cam is crap. I really need to buy/borrow a better camera for tank pics.

I really want to emphasize the fact that I spent about 10 minutes observing the two fish I talked about in this post. Whenever possible, this is the way to go. By observing the behaviour and appearance of these fish, I avoided buying a fish that appeared very healthy initially, but would have had problems eventually. And wound up buying a healthy little fish that can be problematic to keep long term in reef tanks......who started eating within 30 minutes of being introduced to the tank. Pay close attention to what you're buying folks. Are its fins clamped tightly by its sides? Is it active? Does it have problems swimming? Is it eating? Is it curious? Does it have a healthy layer of body fat or is it emaciated and scrawny/sunken in? All of these things taken together can help you pick only healthy live stock that will do well in your system.

Nick

 

[maxxII]

The Lawn Mower's already munching on the diatoms and algae throughout the tank. Here are some pics. I REALLY need a better camera. This one is auto-focus only and I have no control over the settings. I might have to bust out my film camera and then scan the photos to get some decent ones.

here are some slightly out of focus pics of the Tomini. You can sorta see the "freckles" on his face and head, and the thin yellow ring around his eye's.

And here are some pics of new Lawn Mower Blenny (Salarias fasciatus)

Peekaboo!!

Nick

 

[maxxII]

1-26-05,

When I woke up around noon (I'm on nightshift until tomorrow), I noticed my Tomini was swimming around with its dorsal fin clamped, and it had two scrapes along either side of its body. One high on the right near the dorsal fin, and one low on the abdomen behind the pectoral fin on the left. Both of these marks look suspiciously about the size of a Lawn Mower blenny mouth.

Anybody ever heard of Lawn Mowers getting aggressive with other species? Cause if its a choice between him and the Tomini, I can bring the Lawn Mower back.

I've just put in a handful of bioballs into my sump, just in case I need to start up a hospital tank. A friend of mine found this awesome website that has plans for a simple DIY biological filter, for situations just like this.
DIY Bio- Filter

hopefully it wont be necessary. I just bought some Nori from the local international market place, and added that to the tank. I think things should be okay...especially if I can get the Tomini eating Nori.

Nick

 

[Lunchbucket]

wierd...didn't know that a lawnmower blenny would do that...maybe it wan't him

that tomini is sweet looking

Lunchbucket

 

[maxxII]

01-27-05,
I woke up this morning and found the Tomini swimming poorly. I wasnt using its caudal fin at all, just kinda paddling weakly with its pectoral fins, and having a difficult time moving against the current. It quickly fell to the bottom of the tank and just lay flat, breathing heavily. I've never seen a tang recover from this behavior. The scrape on the side has healed up to a brown mark the perfect size and shape of the Lawn Mower blenny's mouth. I dont know what caused this, but it shouldnt be because of the lawn mower blenny if the wound healed. The tang was eating and swimming normally...so I have no idea's. I'm dissappointed and annoyed to say the least. Water parameters are fine....so I have nothing to point fingers at or get problems that are fixable.

Sigh.

Nick

 

[reefeater]

Nick,
Don't forget that Liveaquaria.com has a 14 day guarantee on their fish. Just call them up or e-mail them and they will credit your card for the ammount of the fish.

 

[maxxII]

Reefeater, Thanks for the reminder. Their guarrantee and the feedback from people about their customer service is the major reason I bought from them.

The tang died a few minutes ago.

I contacted Live Aquaria immediately and explained the situation to them. The were very polite and their customer service was fantastic. They still have the Tomini's instock, so I requested that they send me another one. It should arrive here on Saturday. Live Aquaria is not charging me anything to replace the fish, and they are not requiring me to ship the dead one back to them, (They state in the instructions that come with all their critters that you need to save the bodies of anything that dies within their two week guarrantee or they will not honor it).
I will be working, but Rocio has agreed to go get the tang, and acclimate it for me. She's already said she'd be calling me on the phone for directions..even if I write detailed instructions for her.

I'm not happy about my Tomini dying, but I am very happy with the way Live Aquaria has handled this. Hopefully, this one will do better.

Nick

 

[Lunchbucket]

sorry to hear about the tang dying. ist aways sucks loosing a fish but i guess it is nice to have a GOOD gaurrantee

please post pics of the new one and what happens

Lunchbucket

 

[maxxII]

Annoying update.
I havent received a an email confirmation about the replacement Tomini tang as of yet. So I called Live Aquaria. They said the order had been delayed, and evidently they no longer had any Tomini Tangs in stock. The person on the phone said that the tangs might not be in condition to ship any more, which leads me to really wonder about the collection issue. He said he wasnt sure, but that he would call the fish facility (I want a fish room...these guys have awhole freakin facility....thats just wrong.) and have them call me back and tell what was going on. The Tang is now scheduled for next Friday...if they have any in stock.
So I went back to the LFS today where I bought the Lawn Mower blenny. They still have that gorgeous little female Bellus angel in stock. I watched her for about 20 minutes and saw no indications that she might be suffering from swim bladder problems. I wasnt entirely sure I saw them in the first place, I was just kinda uneasy about it because I saw her swimming in a slightly head down position twice, and I know they are a deep water angel.
I had the LFS hold the fish for me, the soonest I can pick it up is Tuesday. I will definately be watching her for a while before I buy her. She is definately curious about everything in the tank, and is eating everything they throw in the tank for food.

On a good note, my Phosban Reactor showed up today. I ordered the Phosban Reactor Combo from Long Island Reef Exotics. Theie prices were great, ($90.00 for the reactor combo, the maxi jet 400, and an extra thing of phosban..they included a free thing of iodine by Sprung....I dont know why, but I didnt pay for it and the invoice said it was included...so I've got that going for me..) but their Shopping cart was kinda weird. When I added things to my cart it updated on a seperate PayPal web page since they use Paypal for payment. Not bad, just different than what I was used to. SO if anyone else orders from them, dont freak out at the strange shopping cart dealie. Of course having warned everyone about it, nobody will have those issues and y'all will think I'm an idiot.
Nick

 

[Lunchbucket]

maxxII - sorry to hear about your go around w/ the tomini. i saw THREE yellow eye kole tangs this weekend at one of my LFS....man i had to hold myself back from buying one. two were only about the size of a silver dollar...perfect size for me. but i WANT/need to let my tank settle out again after switching the rock out...and this LFS isn't very good at ALL...lost of deaths. so i passed. i asked my other fairly responsible LFS to order me one but i have to call the head guy on monday. will take a couple weeks before i get him i bet. i bought a crocea clam and got a free blue rim dersa from my bro-in-law so i wan't too unhappy

what maxi you running your reactor on? i used a BUNCH of 90* hose fittings and i have to have a mayjet 1200 on mine.. it needs a little more umph than i can give it too. i run about 50g or phosban at a time also. i try to keep it moving weel so it doesn't channel

keep us posted on the tang.
Lunchbucket