Trip to Ithaca Reef

[drbronx]

Nate and I took a trip to visit Jarek at Ithaca Reef. What and incredible operation he has developed there. Scores of tanks hosting multiple species of clowns at all stages of development from eggs to fry, to juvies, to adult breeder pairs. Some tanks contained hundreds of baby clowns. nate of course got excited learning about the plumbing, rotifer aquaculture and all the incredible technical stuff that goes into developing such a facility. he also had two large displays with some of the hugest softies I have ever seen with some gigantic tangs and blue throat triggers. And he gave us Ocellaris clowns, and two striped clowns the scientific name of which currently escapes me. Also a couple of softies for the zoo tank as well. He is possibly the most knowledgeable aquarist reefer I have met (along with Steve Lowe of course) and enthusiastically and patiently answered our myriad questions. There is so much to know and learn in this hobby. nate and I are beginners next to this guy. Of course he is a Cornell chemistry professor which also helps

 

[nwrogers]

Yes I agree! Wow does Jarek know a lot!! I felt like a sponge soaking up knowledge as fast as I could. It was really a great experience to learn from such an intelligent and well-informed reef keeper like Jarek. It is times like that I am thankful to have such a good memory! The two yellow clowns he gave us are called Two Banded Clownfish
(Amphiprion bicinctus). They are really cool looking! Of course so are the Ocellaris Clownfish!

So on the way back Jerry and I were talking about what other fish would make good inhabitants for the zoo tank and I spent a little time putting together the following list. This list is based on a few things that Jerry wanted and a bunch of stuff I thought would be cool. We both agreed that all of the fish in the tank need to eat flake food (except possible a mandarin fish) and need to be relatively inexpensive. If you have any suggestions please let us know. Also if there are any fish you will like to see added to the tank that is not on this list post it here. Feel free to discuss this fish list and we will add and remove from it if need be…

1 - Royal Gramma Basslet
http://liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?pCatId=53

1 - Midas Blenny
http://liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?pCatId=83

7 - Blue/Green Reef Chromis
http://liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?pCatId=115

2 - Firefish
http://liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?pCatId=168

1 - Green Mandarin
http://liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?pCatId=551

1 - Foxface Lo
http://liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?pCatId=687

2 - Neon Blue Goby - Tank-Bred
http://liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?pCatId=194

2 - Engineer Goby
http://liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?pCatId=165

1 - Naso Blonde Tang
http://liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?pCatId=754

1 - Blue Tang
http://liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?pCatId=330

1 - Yellow Tang - Hawaii
http://liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?pCatId=392

1 - Carpenter's Flasher Wrasse
http://liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?pCatId=329

1 - Radiant Wrasse
http://liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?pCatId=361

1 - Ruby Head Fairy Wrasse
http://liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=1153&N=0

1 - Multicolor Lubbock's Wrasse
http://liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=376&N=0

1 - Fine Spotted Fairy Wrasse
http://liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=1967&N=0

Now keep in mind we don’t need to add all of this fish. These are just what we could get depending on availability when you place the order. We may only get 2 out of the 5 wrasses I listed but we could get which ever two or three are available the day we place the order. Thoughts?

PS I know there are people that haven’t been able to make it down or members of URS that visit this forum. I want to make sure they also feel free to contribute to this conversation so consider this your personal invitation to contribute…

 

[drbronx]

Excellent list Nate: A few thoughts and possible substitutions: I never thought of a foxface. I think that would be good instead of the yellow tang/ It would add diversity in addition to the two tangs and help control certain nuisance algae eg. bubble.

I might suggest a black sailfin since they have incredible personality and are more peaceful than midas or bicolor blennies. they are great algae eaters plus eat flake and all prepared foods. I'm concerned that the Midas might mess with the smaller clowns, chromis and mandarin.

Like Nate stated it all might come down to price and availability. We can see what Mac and son has and then go from their. I'd definitely hope to have the two tangs, some chromis and our clowns in the tank by Aug 18 and perhaps a couple of others. the foxface should also probably be introduced at that time as well.

 

[nwrogers]

Those should like good suggestions to me. So we will go for a black sailfin and the foxface instead of the yellow tang. Sounds good! I can’t wait for the dr. macs trip. I don’t know if they carry a lot of fish but they do have a few. It is mostly a coral aquaculture facility. Here is what fish they have now…

http://pacificeastaquaculture.com/ShowProductCategory.aspx?CategoryId=80

 

[drbronx]

Not a huge selection. Amazing price for the Hippo Tang. I hope that is in effect when we go there. Boy, I guess we got a good deaL from Jarek They get a lot for perculia pairs. By the way our clowns are all doing well (so far).

 

[St.james of reefdom]

I always enjoy my trip to Jarek's. He is an incredible wealth of knowledge.That is where my Bicinctus clowns came from. Amphiprion Bicintus I believe is there latin nomemclature. Going to his place reminds me of my place when I had the african cichlid business running.
FWIW, my suggestion on livestock would be leave the Naso out and go with the yellow tang, my chocolate has never caused any problems. And his color varies depending what mood he is in.
I think Blue regals are nice but I am not sure of the longevity nor health of the fish since they seem to enjoy a quieter existence and with the people stopping and watching them would they adjust well enough without getting Amylodinium or something similar like ich.
Maybe a pearly jawfish might be a good suggestion and a blue diamond goby.
My concern with Wrasses,... it is a trick to mixing them I think. otherwise most all of them carpet surf and you are left with the dominant instigator .
I agree with black sailfin much more personality and safer as well.
A train of thought when it comes to selection of the livestock might be to put the fish that will show excellent behaviours and life on the reef. I am not saying what I mean but ,I think we select differently when it is a home reef versus a reef for educational purposes. just my 5 cents.

 

[drbronx]

Thanks for the input J ames.The reason for the blue regal tang is the Dory factor. Kids will really relate to that. i have seen many regals (hippos) in public reef displays and they do great. As do nasos plus they are oo9zing with personality. What is you concern with the Naso Jim. tank size?

 

[St.james of reefdom]

Health is part of the concern with the regal, but they tend to be a shy fish ..
Nasos are great. I swam with them when we were in Hawaii very accomodating fish....Tank size is my main concern. That said, I have a
Naso which was a rescue, if you are sure that you want to have a Naso then I would donate him to the zoo.
Because the size they get as well.

 

[nwrogers]

That mix of wrasses will be fine together. I have almost the same mix in my tank and they get along great I don’t think we should get all of them on the list just maybe 2 or 3. Paracheilinus, Halichores, and Cirrhilabrus mix well IMO and IME. The other reason I thought it would be cool to have some wrasses is because they are always out in the open and swimming around. They add a lot of movement, color, and, wow factor that a public display needs. Just my opinion of course…

 

[Piazzon12]

Dr. Mac had a school of juve blue hippos (about 2") in the greenhouse. They all looked really healthy and active.
I don't know how well the gobies on the list do, but I know the diamond gobies are great at keeping the sand clean and white. Zanclus's is constantly sifting sand keeping his bed really nice.
Also, are we planning to get a blue or orange star, (fromia or linkia) once we arebetter established? I always like those.
Also what softies did Jarek provide?

 

[Szwalla]

I have the same mix of wrasses (3) and they get along well. The colors are nice and they will swim out in the open with the chromis.

The christmas wrasse from Pacific East was my last addition and he looks/acts great. Plus only 29 bucks.

 

[Dave VG]

I agree we should get a Hippo tang. It is a must have just like the clowns. That said I also think we should quarantine it or any other fish that are known to have health issues like ich. We all know hippos are ich magnets. That is one problem we don’t need at this point in the game. How many fish do you estimate the system will support? I know there are many factures to figure into this equation that’s why I’m asking. How long will it be before we can even add fish? I’m sure there will be a mini cycle of some sort with the addition of the live rock.

 

[drbronx]

Shouldn't be a cycle since the live rock has already been cured in my home tank but it is possible. Given our huge skimmer and sump we could carry a pretty good bioload. We just won't add a ton at once. I would add the clowns as soon as zoo is ready to care for them This is going to be a tough week for me since I will be heading out of town Thursday through the weekend. That next week I will add the clowns then soon after order two tangs and a pod of chromis and probably the black blenny.

 

[drbronx]

St. james, that would be great? How big is he? Blond Naso?

Adam, jarek gave us sarcophyton and a greenish lobophyton.

I can qt the hippo if need be.

Can anybody stop by the zoo any times this week to check on the system. my main concern is to monitor the temp. I had to place the big fan directly over the sump to keep the temp down during this hot/humid spell. Temp dropped to 84 from 87. Also, can anybody start adding some two part caclium or any other calcium/alk additive. It may need a healthy dose to bring calcium up since our IO salt only contains about 300 ppm calcium. Nate and Vince will set up a two part additive system. I have a large bag of dow flake for the zoo. But i'd like to boost calcium while thats getting set up.

I added more live rock this am. I had to redirect the inflows from the panworld and knock down the vortechs since there were huge bald spots on the substrate.

Just give the zoo (mike Janis) a call if any one plans on after hour visits.