this system has undergone several changes since its inception. initially designed to support several heteractis magnifica anemones and coming up with a structured method of sexual or asexual reproduction, after a rapid deterioration of the several specimens i was housing, it then shifted its purpose towards working with antibiotics and said anemones. from there, the system ended up housing animals and corals i couldnt keep in my main display until finally it has become a collection of all my favorite clownfish species. almost all of them anyways. from here it will no doubt evolve into attempts at spawning each of these fish and then the rabbit hole just continues...
i have added a calcium reactor, biopellets and a 57w UV sterilizer. i feed extremely heavily in this system, and figured the biopellets can help shoulder the burden the skimmer and refugium share. the UV sterilizer was given to me, so i would use it and see what happens.
the refugium houses four or five different types of naughty crabs, from big shiny black ones to fuzzy teddy bear crabs. i have a lone allardi female in there as well as a pair of kelloggi seahorses.
the system currently houses the following clownfish:
akindynos
chrysopterus
allardi
latezonatus
occellaris
because i couldn't let winwood get away with his beautiful trio, i acquired a quad of chrysopterus. with a fairly interesting story as well.
after waiting for months and months for more chrysopterus to become available, i finally received an email that two were ready. i also was ready to pull the trigger on two captive bred latz as well. so, i placed the order, took the morning off work and waited for them to arrive.
the box finally arrived, my QT tanks were ready…..but instead of a four clownfish, there was a large bandit angel and some other tiny little fish. wow. first time id actually ever seen that fish in real life. pretty awesome…but…not mine. i received an email from the shipper. there were two packages going out at the same time. the last names on the labeling were only one letter different. the other guy received my clowns, i received his angel. i was told it was extremely important to get the fish re oxygenated, repackaged and sent back out. whatever it cost, whatever i wanted, just get them back in the mail alive. so, i did. deoxygenated. reheat packed. resealed up and dropped off at the local UPS less than an hour after opening the box. unfortunately, the guy who received my clowns was not in a position to mail me back my clowns.
according to the supplier, this was a shame because they were the nicest pair of chrysopterus he had ever seen. naturally.
so, to make sure i was satisfied, the supplier offered to refund my money, ship my my original order with an additional pair for helping him out. it wasn't until later in the afternoon when i was tooling through reef builders that i saw the fish that had been in my garage just that morning. potentially a new species of randalls anthias! the whole time i thought the bandit angel was the reason the supplier was in such a panic. but no, the other, nondescript fish was the real prize. it was on its way to a genetics lab to figure out its true identity.
pretty crazy huh? anyways, a month later and four chrysopterus and two latezonatus clowns show up and….well here they are.
