brandoniscool
New member
Our mated pair of saddle back clownfish have also begun to regularly spawn. I'm working myself up to rearing the larva and got Cornelius and Isiah to start a stable rotifer culture to feed them.
updates from my school's coral reef project
- Thread starter brandoniscool
- Start date
Our mated pair of saddle back clownfish have also begun to regularly spawn. I'm working myself up to rearing the larva and got Cornelius and Isiah to start a stable rotifer culture to feed them.
brandoniscool
New member
My friend Henry donated a dwarf puffer that was nipping at his coral and I put in the first grade nano tank. One night I was worrying about failing heaters and went into my classroom at 3am. I turned on the lights and was able to catch the fish sleeping cuddled up to a pair of clownfish.
brandoniscool
New member
One of my most favorite corals, a huge plating chalice, started to get infected patches and I was at wits end trying to figure out what was causing it to loose tissue. Eventually I figured out that a lawnmower blenny was nipping at it.
After cutting off pieces and giving it daily baths in disinfectant, I eventually had to remove and kill the coral after it was starting to affect the water chemistry of the entire tank.
After cutting off pieces and giving it daily baths in disinfectant, I eventually had to remove and kill the coral after it was starting to affect the water chemistry of the entire tank.
brandoniscool
New member
My 60 gallon cube is doing well and I'm getting lots of little rose anemones splitting off
brandoniscool
New member
At the end of November I helped CARE (Cincinnati Area Reef Enthusiasts) secure a tank donation for a school in their area. They couldn't take the rock, some soft coral and several fish so I I had an excuse to scrape together another tank for a neighboring third grade classroom.
The livestock included an emperor angle fish with lateral line disease that some of my friends thought wouldn't make it through the first week.
With a diet of LRS Reef Frenzy and some time in a clean tank the angle fish as been doing great and soon I hope to move him to the 180 in my room (hope he doesn't eat my corals). His current care taker, Mrs Wilson has been been taking good care of him and her new tank.
The livestock included an emperor angle fish with lateral line disease that some of my friends thought wouldn't make it through the first week.
With a diet of LRS Reef Frenzy and some time in a clean tank the angle fish as been doing great and soon I hope to move him to the 180 in my room (hope he doesn't eat my corals). His current care taker, Mrs Wilson has been been taking good care of him and her new tank.
brandoniscool
New member
I also wanted to give a shout out to one of my most generous supporters, LRS Reef Frenzy. I had been hoarding his food in the lounge freezer and using it sparingly whenever I sensed that my fish needed some extra health. When Larry heard that I had to resort to less quality food, he sent me a generous supply of food for all of my tanks.
One of the things I like most about his product is that it takes the guess work (and stress) out of feeding. It contains such a diverse blend of food that it works for all of my different fish and invertebrates. It is easy to portion but also holds together so that my kids can use tweezers to target feed my picky eaters.
I've also had great luck with his new LRS Fertility Frenzy blend. I'm excited about rearing my clownfish larva and his food had kept my fish spawning like clockwork.
One of the things I like most about his product is that it takes the guess work (and stress) out of feeding. It contains such a diverse blend of food that it works for all of my different fish and invertebrates. It is easy to portion but also holds together so that my kids can use tweezers to target feed my picky eaters.
I've also had great luck with his new LRS Fertility Frenzy blend. I'm excited about rearing my clownfish larva and his food had kept my fish spawning like clockwork.
brandoniscool
New member
I'm hoping to get help raising fish from my friend Justin Rhodes. His lab at the University of Illinois has been a support for the last couple of years.
He has a whole breeding setup for his research and my after school kids and their parents frequently pop over for visits
He has a whole breeding setup for his research and my after school kids and their parents frequently pop over for visits
brandoniscool
New member
I'm continually surprised by how easy it is to keep jellyfish. I've been able to leave this tank in the care of a second grade class and cleaned it recently after not checking on it for weeks. With daily micro water changes and feeding of live artemia there's almost nothing for the kids to mess up. The kids have been adding little inverts to clean up the tank and they seem be doing fine in the filter material.
Brandon and Dontae pick copepods out of dirty filter felt
Brandon and Dontae pick copepods out of dirty filter felt
brandoniscool
New member
The 180 gallon tank in my classroom has a number of rose bubble anemones that haven't been super happy recently. The area of the tank they picked to colonize was hard hit by my cyano outbreak and I had to increase flow, causing them to retract more into the rock. The upside is that the stress seems to prompt them to divide. Earlier this week I found this little nickel sized baby anemone.
Cute!
Cute!
brandoniscool
New member
With the goal of keeping my 180 cyano free, I also drained and clean the large refugium in my sump. It was a super messy job, glad I had some kiddos to do the dirty work.
Forgot how much rock I had in there, over 7 five gallon buckets full. I threw out a ton of chaeto as well.
Forgot how much rock I had in there, over 7 five gallon buckets full. I threw out a ton of chaeto as well.
brandoniscool
New member
I also wanted to give a shoutout to my local fish store, Sailfin Pet Shop. They are the best pet store in Central Illinois. Their manager Rachel was the person who helped me with my first tank and they've been continual source of technical support for me and my kids for a number of year. The owner, John, has been in the hobby for decades and is a wealth of knowledge. One of their store tanks was looking pretty and I wanted to post a pic.
brandoniscool
New member
Yesterday I spilled about a liter of skimmate down the front of my pants. My co-worker Monty snapped this pick as I stood grimacing. It was gross and started to smell pretty bad by the end of the day. Luckily many of the people I work with regularly pee and poop their pants so they're pretty forgiving of such accidents.
brandoniscool
New member
Some of my after school kids have taken up painting and our aquariums are their favorite muse. We have an number of paintings that we've saved for people interested in our project. PM me your address and I'll send you one for free 
Mrs. Music
New member
Hi Brandon and class,
I would really love to see more details about your rotifer culter set up. The spawning clowns is pretty exciting stuff.
I would really love to see more details about your rotifer culter set up. The spawning clowns is pretty exciting stuff.
moatdaddy
New member
Hi Brandon and class, wanted to say thank you for sharing your experiences. These stories are the kind that I think have true impacts on growing minds. I had cyano and used an algae turf scrubber. I could donate the funds to do the project. Pm me. Unfortunately I cannot travel to your school, as a disabled veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan I have plenty of time though. The kids have more knowledge than I do with 20 years experience. Never grown brine, may have to set up a station and try it out.
Brandon Moat.
Brandon Moat.
