The grouper you've all been waiting for (and more)

Yeah, those fins don't look too bad at all. I think with some water changes, vitamin enriched feedings, etc. it should heal up in little time. Groupers are about as indestructable as a fish can get, they can survive most anything. Your tank is absolutely phenomenal Justin. I'm very impressed.
 
Great looking tank I'm sure you said it at one point but is that a strawberry grouper. I used to be big into groupers a while back, and that is an awesome fish you have.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13500812#post13500812 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Angler02
Great looking tank I'm sure you said it at one point but is that a strawberry grouper. I used to be big into groupers a while back, and that is an awesome fish you have.
Click to expand...

White Edged Lyretail Grouper but there seems to be so many names that Strawberry grouper could be one for sure. I kind of like that because he does look like a strawberry!!!

So I have finally found a huge selection of photosynthetic gorgonians and sea fans!!!!! I am so excited. I basically felt like my tank was fully stocked besides them and a few more mushrooms. Hopefully I can have them shipped by the end of the week or early next week.
 
AquaKnight great looking gorgs! Are the ones in the bottom right Purple Frilly's? If so, I have a few of them coming. Those are my favorite!

Hey do you know if any of the sea fans are photosynthetic? The supplier I am getting them from says yes but I thought they were all non photosynthetic. I know thats very vague without a scientific name but they just called them Fan Gorgonia. I may not order this one though because I think it needs to be fed. The polyps do not look white which is a good sign but I still wonder.
 
Thanks guys!

Yep, the monster one (over 12" tall, over 10 nice stalks) and the one to it's left, are purple frilly's... I think. The big one is a nice rich pruple, but the smaller one is more a gray purple and it's stalks have tiny bumps were the polyps are, vs. almost smooth on the big one. Thinking maybe it's maybe a different species.

Good general article on photo gorgs.
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/mar2004/invert.htm

For the sea fans, 100% there are both photosynthetic and non-photosynthetic sea fans. I collected the gorgs myself (minus the two purple whips), and since sea fans are a no-no for collection in Florida, haven't looked too much. Played around a bit on wetwebmedia.com though.

I might have missed it on the previous pages, but what are your flow and light like? These photo-gorgs love LOTS of both.
 
Justin,

The fin damage doesn't look very bad at all. Since you say it hasn't gotten any worse, just keep doing what your doing and I'll bet they grow back in a few weeks time ;)
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13501761#post13501761 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by billsreef
Justin,

The fin damage doesn't look very bad at all. Since you say it hasn't gotten any worse, just keep doing what your doing and I'll bet they grow back in a few weeks time ;)
Click to expand...

Ok, thanks! Sounds like everyone agrees to leave him for now. Im happy about that because he just seems to be so happy in the tank and I didn't want to bother him with QT again so soon.

Thanks for taking a look!
 
I am really really liking that grouper too, but it gets too big for me.

How comparable does anyone think the V-tail grouper might be? From WWM:

Cephalopholis urodeta (Forster 1801), the Darkfin Hind to science is the V-Tailed Grouper in the aquarium interest. Indo-Pacific, down to South Africa, over to French Polynesia. To eleven inches in length. Aquarium and Malaysian photographs. A rightfully popular species for our use.

curodetes2.jpg


Anyone ever kept one? How was temperament/personality, aggression, color? Don't mean to hijack, but who knows when we'll get all these grouper lovers in one thread together. I want a "mini-me" of what justin has!
 
AquaKnight, I hadn't seen it, thanks! I already have a blacktip grouper in my 210, but would love to find room for a V tail or similar size/color grouper.

BTW, I've had my blacktip grouper ~2 years, it looks like this picture:

Blacktip-Grouper.jpg
 
My personal choice for a hind would be the Blueline (the V-tail for a 'red' one, with my tank size eliminating a Strawberry as a possible choice). Would love to find room for a Blueline for myself, as well. The only thing holding me back is my clownfish (a mixed percula pair). Judging by Justin's photos, the ratio of a modest size Blueline Hind (4" or so) to his White Edged Lyretail, would be the equivalent of the female clown, to what would be about his Coral Beauty, and the male clown, to about his blue damsel. I am very curious to see how everything works out and if anything 'turns up missing.' My definite hope is that good feeding will keep the mouth happy ;).
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13501605#post13501605 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by AquaKnight407
Thanks guys!

Yep, the monster one (over 12" tall, over 10 nice stalks) and the one to it's left, are purple frilly's... I think. The big one is a nice rich pruple, but the smaller one is more a gray purple and it's stalks have tiny bumps were the polyps are, vs. almost smooth on the big one. Thinking maybe it's maybe a different species.

Good general article on photo gorgs.
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/mar2004/invert.htm

For the sea fans, 100% there are both photosynthetic and non-photosynthetic sea fans. I collected the gorgs myself (minus the two purple whips), and since sea fans are a no-no for collection in Florida, haven't looked too much. Played around a bit on wetwebmedia.com though.

I might have missed it on the previous pages, but what are your flow and light like? These photo-gorgs love LOTS of both.
Click to expand...

All my gorgs and fans are coming from Cuba...something not really available to you guys I guess :) Although should be the same as the species you have native to Florida. I used to live in Miami actually.

My lights are 250 watts MH supplemented by T5 actinics. The tank has only a 18" waterline, so no worries about light. Its pretty shallow and the MH is only about 5 inches off the water line.

I have some very high flow areas. The two gorgs I have now are doing great. A friend gave me a non-photosynthetic gorg (bright red with white polyps) that I have no idea how its still alive and not only that has doubled in size. It was just a little 1.5" frag and now its at least 3". Thats been in my tank about 6 months. I have no idea what its feeding off of because I do not feed it!
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13504351#post13504351 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by elecbzerk
Justin,
I keep looking at your grouper, he is awesome!! have you named him?
Click to expand...

No...Im stuck on that one! Any ideas???
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13505151#post13505151 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by AquaKnight407
My personal choice for a hind would be the Blueline (the V-tail for a 'red' one, with my tank size eliminating a Strawberry as a possible choice). Would love to find room for a Blueline for myself, as well. The only thing holding me back is my clownfish (a mixed percula pair). Judging by Justin's photos, the ratio of a modest size Blueline Hind (4" or so) to his White Edged Lyretail, would be the equivalent of the female clown, to what would be about his Coral Beauty, and the male clown, to about his blue damsel. I am very curious to see how everything works out and if anything 'turns up missing.' My definite hope is that good feeding will keep the mouth happy ;).
Click to expand...

Mine has eaten 5 damsels in less than two weeks. One of the largest blue damsels was eaten last night. I have not seen him eat any of them but my fiance saw one get eaten and said the grouper just gulped it down and kept swimming. About 30 seconds later coughed some of it up and ate it again. She said it was amazing how easily he swallowed the damsel.
 
Lisa-Your Blacktip must be gorgeous! How big is he now? How much does he eat?

Im still just so amazed at how much mine eats. He alone makes my tank so over-stocked. The weekly water changes are totally worth it though! Turns out I am actually changing about 120G a month. I don't think I actually need to do this but I hate seeing my nitrates even at 15. I have always been very proud to keep them at 5 or below. This guy has made that impossible without the weekly 30G changes.

My brother has suggested dosing a carbon source to take care of some of the nitrates. I guess he has done this for a few years now on his big tank because water changes get way too expensive for him. A 25% change for him is 150G! Jeez I can't even imagine that. Apparently the vodka dosing has been great for him but I don't think I want to give it a shot. I have read the incredibly long thread here on RC about it and it seems like a half decent method but something is still holding me back. Especially since I have all the corals.

Anyone dosing a carbon source for nitrates?
 
I had been too lazy to get out the tripod and take some proper pictures of the fish but this morning I finally decided to do it! I really wanted to try to capture the groupers real colors. In most of the pics so far he as been kind of dull compared to seeing him in person. He really is a nice deep red.

Anyways, these are much more accurate I think :D

Love how this one turned out...

Digi024.jpg


Some shots from the morning meeting...

Digi035.jpg


Digi036-1.jpg


Digi031.jpg


This one is my favorite...

Digi040.jpg
 
Do you have devil's hand corals in there with the fish? If so, have you found them easy to maintain?
 
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