Red Sea S-650 - Dave's marine adventure

DaveR11

Well-Known Member
Hot gossip in the tank this week. New goby has moved in with Mr Grumpy! Since I introduced the second Wheeler's Shrimp goby I've seen Mr Grumpy occasionally leave the left hand side of the tank where he had set up home with Clint the pistol shrimp and spend a few minutes over on the right side of the tank where the new goby was living. In the last few days the new fish has moved over to the left and the two seem to be living happily together in Clint's tunnel network..... Is love blossoming in the 650? What will happen to the now deserted pistol shrimp on the right - watch this space!

 
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SPR

Well-Known Member
Hi Dave

How do you get on with your Wheelers Shrimp Goby. I am looking for a goby to keep my sand clean but the last Diamond one threw sand everywhere before going carpet surfing from my old 260.

You have the same set up as me as well as corals etc so Is it a case of you just have to live with their sand throwing antics if you want a clean sand bed ? I have tried a sea hare but he only lasted overnight despite my a water being spot on so I'm going to mention it to the LFS today.
 

DaveR11

Well-Known Member
Hi Shaun,

The Wheeler's shrimp gobies are great but they don't sift through the sand like your diamond goby did so they won't keep your sand clean. The pistol shrimps that Wheeler's are symbiotic with do all the digging for the gobies. The shrimps aren't sorting through the sand just digging burrows but they are constantly on the go. If you are looking for something to keep your sand cleaned then you need to look elsewhere - syphoning with a gravel cleaner, get some fight conch snails, hermit crabs (all of which I do/have) or maybe a sand sifting starfish (which I've not tried). My nassarius snails burrow so help turn the sand over.

I hope this helps. My gobies are brilliant characters.

I hope this helps.

Dave
 

SPR

Well-Known Member
Hi Shaun,

The Wheeler's shrimp gobies are great but they don't sift through the sand like your diamond goby did so they won't keep your sand clean. The pistol shrimps that Wheeler's are symbiotic with do all the digging for the gobies. The shrimps aren't sorting through the sand just digging burrows but they are constantly on the go. If you are looking for something to keep your sand cleaned then you need to look elsewhere - syphoning with a gravel cleaner, get some fight conch snails, hermit crabs (all of which I do/have) or maybe a sand sifting starfish (which I've not tried). My nassarius snails burrow so help turn the sand over.

I hope this helps. My gobies are brilliant characters.

I hope this helps.

Dave
Thanks Dave

I have the crabs and I also have the starfish but they aren't doing a very good job at keeping the top layer clean It's not to bad but brown bits around in bits. I have loads of snails and also a large conch snail who I actually saw for the first time last night!
 

DaveR11

Well-Known Member
It has been a while since the last update. So here goes.

All the fish are fine. One of the Anthias is getting bigger than the others and has developed a longer front section to its dorsal fin so I'm wondering if she will change sex to a male. The gobies don't seem to be permanently co-habiting. Some days they are sharing a burrow and some days they are in their own burrows at either end of the tank. The new, smaller one has grown and is now the same size as Mr Grumpy. I think Mr Grumpy has a brighter red patch on its anal fin but it is getting difficult to tell them apart.



I went shopping last weekend to my favourite long distance LFS. They had some great stock as usual but I came away with an anemone crab, a tuxedo urchin and a new clam. Here are the first two.


The crab has taken up home in my red bubble-tip anemone but comes out when the food goes in.


The urchin has stayed on the right hand rock pile so far. It is doing a job on the coraline alage but not sure it is touching the green 'macro' algae I have there.

The clam is in a protective cage at the moment as my copperband showed too much interest in it when I put it in the tank. We will have to see how that goes.....

Happy reefing,

Dave
 
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Wrangy

Acropora Nut
RS STAFF
PREMIUM
Damn you take some absolutely gorgeous photos Dave :) Glad to hear everything is doing so well though mate :)
 

DaveR11

Well-Known Member
Damn you take some absolutely gorgeous photos Dave :) Glad to hear everything is doing so well though mate :)

Thanks Dom!

The fish are fine and I seem to have beaten the Zoanthid slugs with the Zoas looking much better (now there is tempting fate....). The montipora slugs are still at large and are really decimating the Montis. It seems like I might have to frag the remaining bits and quarantine them....
 

DaveR11

Well-Known Member
I think I am going to have to ditch the iPhone camera and get my Cannon SLR out!!

Stunning photos Dave.

Cheers Shaun.

With aquarium lights and LED in particular it can be really difficult to get the white balance right so my suggestion would be to shoot RAW rather than JPEG with your SLR and then adjust to give the right colour to your shots later when you edit the pictures in what ever software you have.
 

mr_tap_water

Well-Known Member
I found with the iPhone by turning the whites down on the LEDs or using a brown filter works really well.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Wrangy

Acropora Nut
RS STAFF
PREMIUM
Thanks Dom!

The fish are fine and I seem to have beaten the Zoanthid slugs with the Zoas looking much better (now there is tempting fate....). The montipora slugs are still at large and are really decimating the Montis. It seems like I might have to frag the remaining bits and quarantine them....
I will keep my fingers crossed for you then! :)
I think a frag and quarantine effort might be in order to save your monti's
 

SPR

Well-Known Member
I found with the iPhone by turning the whites down on the LEDs or using a brown filter works really well.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Thanks - I will try that. Always had white on max and turned everything else off

I would sooner use iPhone as easier to transfer but unfortunately the bar has been raised on here these days!! Will have a go with my Cannon SLR and see how I get on.
 

SPR

Well-Known Member
Cheers Shaun.

With aquarium lights and LED in particular it can be really difficult to get the white balance right so my suggestion would be to shoot RAW rather than JPEG with your SLR and then adjust to give the right colour to your shots later when you edit the pictures in what ever software you have.

So marine biologist and now wildlife photographer! My talents will be endless! Thanks for tip Dave will try that
 

SPR

Well-Known Member
Hi Dave

How are you and your tank getting on? No posts for ages?

It was your tank that inspired me as I started out with my 650

Any updates ?
 
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