I'll try and catch up to some responses from a few days ago...
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13864518#post13864518
target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by khanb31
Absolutely stunning.
Ive been a very large angelfish lover since I entered the hobby. I knew
that I would eventually have a lot of angels and to see your tanks copps
is just pure inspiration. I love the fish I have and im glad im not the
only one that thinks that is the most important part of this hobby.
I was very curious actually on your quarantine procedures as there are
so many people that have different views on this part of the hobby. How
do you go about acquiring new live stock? Even corals?
Here is my pride and joy. She spent a long time in QT being treated for
every thing I could think of and then went into my 35 gallon bowfront.
She is about 2.75 inches.
My avatar is also a picture of her.
Thanks,
Slim Jim
Beautiful fish first off Jim... queens are clearly one of the most
beautiful fish in the ocean... I plan on collecting my own in February
... it will be that much more special...
a common fish I've seen alot of but collecting my own will excite me,
and we know how I feel about fish that excite me
... oh and by the way
for you South Florida guys I'll be speaking for your club then too, the
Florida Marine Aquaium Society (FMAS).
I could write quite a bit about QT... many people have differing views
about it... there seems to be two prevalent views... one is people who
QT, and the other is people who do not, either as a result of never
trying or a result of failing at it. If I was given the choice between
an improperly setup QT and one of my displays, I would too choose one of
my displays.
However, I absolutely do QT every one of my fish. When properly done,
you have the MOST control over the life of your fish. Many people think
the primary purpose of QT is to keep some foreign disease out of your
display. That is up there on the list, but there are so many other
important reasons. My tanks are more of an "adaption tank". So many fish
that we receive have been through weeks of transit with little to no
feeding. When we receive them, our primary purpose should be to give
them as little stress as possible. Using what I call the "dump and hope
approach" is the wrong way to go, throwing these new weak fish into our
displays where food lasts about 10 seconds and many fish are territorial
to newcomers. This sets many fish over the edge... especially some of
the fish that are harder to adapt that you see in some of my displays...
Why do so many people not QT? Well, for one, it's very misunderstood.
For many that try it, they set it up hastily and kill the fish they're
QTing, usually a result of an improperly functioning biological filter,
where ammonia will quickly rise and take out the new fish. So, again as
I mentioned before, you'd have a better shot trying it out in your
display... Proper QT is however, not that hard... it's like riding a
bike... hard to figure out the nuances at first, but after you know you
do it without thinking...
Why is it so important? Well, we've all experienced getting a new fish,
throwing it in our display, and watching it swim around happily. Many
times you then see that new fish after a day or two or ten go south and
die. We've all had this happen... well guess what? There's a reason it
died... and more often than not that would have been preventable had you
QTed the fish. By the time we receive fish they are often very stressed
from the whole collection and transport process... they are VERY
susceptible to disease. When we place these fish in our display directly
it is bad for a few reasons. They receive more stress from the existing
fish... bad. If they go into a reef tank, they are in full salinity
untreated saltwater... potentially bad. Even if we see something wrong,
we many times cannot get them out for treatment... bad.
Some basics of how I QT? I usually use cupramine (an excellent copper
product made by Seachem) and Nitrofurazone (an excellent antibiotic)
concurrently, and a salinity of between 1.015 and 1.020... these days
more at 1.020 as I don't notice a difference. The copper will take care
of both ich (cryptocaryon) and marine velvet (amyloodinium), while the
NF will take care of any secondary infections... I generally QT for at
least a month, and use other treatments if necessary... like praziquantel... but those two
above will take care of quite a bit... velvet sucks... much more than
ich to me, and can kill much faster... I do 100% water changes about
once a week with new water mixed for at least 24 hours, depending on the conditions... and I clean the sponge in the HOB (hang on the back) filters I use...
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13865159#post13865159
target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by tony varrell
Originally posted by tony varrell
I forgot to ask what I wanted to ask you. My concern at this point is
not the health of the fish they are bullet proof at this point but the
increasing bioload on my system which could have a negitave effect on my
SPS. My sps are healthy but do not pop like what is in the picture. That
is the impressive part of your display to me. The ability to have a
heavy bioload and still maintane that impressive coral collection.I am
curious to know your feeding habits and filteration on board your
system. Also your water change schedule. Thank You for sharing
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Ah yes... hard core reefers will appreciate this the most as it's THE
biggest challenge... keeping popping colors on growing sps long term in
an aquarium is a challenge in itself, but with a tank of fish it is that
much more so! I'll elaborate later as this is one of those simple
questions that could have a BOOK as an answer...
Ok John, I will patiently wait for your comments. Thanks
Hey Tony, first off, you need to obviously have the ability to keep colorful sps with a low bioload system... a challenge itself. Once you could do that, you could try upping your bioload... I feed twice a day... sometimes three, and do 50 gallon water changes a week on my ~ 400 gallon sps system... I skim heavily with a 12 diameter large Euroreef... I use filter socks... I have a large refugium with chaeto... and I keep detritus from building up everywhere in the system... which is a very important part that is so often overlooked... everyone can keep a colorful sps system for a little while, and eventually that begins to degrade as things build up in your sandbed and in other places... keep your system young and develop a protocol that will work indefinately...
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13881584#post13881584
target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by HomeSlizzice
Hey copps in your 65 gallon tank you have a Regal Angel and I was
wondering if you think a Regal Angel would work well in a 65 gallon tank
I am thinking about getting in about a year?
Most important with a regal is that you have experience in the hobby and with adapting fish before you try them... I believe a four foot tank is suffiecient long term for a regal, but not a 65... I knew that we would be soon moving as we were having a house built and my larger systems would be ready for him... regals do not grow anywhere near full size in our systems...
