Silver97's Official tank chronicle
- Thread starter silver97
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silver97
Active Member
Update
The new clown is fitting in amazingly with my other one!
Got up the morning after i bought her and they were swimming together. Didn't take long for that friendship to start.
One of the stupid zebra turbos died because I didn't notice it fell over. Oh well, free hermit crab shell!
Speaking of crab, the emerald is also fitting in nicely. He stays in his little cave system that my clown also hides in sometimes and is loving it there. I have seen him eating bubble and hair algae, so I like him already.
Also out of nowhere the turbos actually started trying to take a chunk out of the hair algae! Both species too, zebras and astreas. The spots where they did were some of the thinner ones, tho, but regardless it looks better.
Did a 15% water change yesterday and decided to finally manually remove the cyano from my sandbed. I just used the airline tubing as a siphon and it came off like wet tissue paper. The tube was also rigid enough to remove the bubble algae, so I got a bunch more removed than if I would have tried with just my hands. Also found a small starfish when I was vacuuming the bubble algae off some rocks. I'm not sure if I went over it before and didn't notice, but it only had 3 legs so I may have. But I saw where it went to hide and it's chilling out in a little hole, so I think he's ok.
When I tested the water params yeasterday, everything was ok, ph was at 7.9 so I added some buffer and nitrates were at 20, so I added some Amquel+ to bring those down. I came back from school today to find my water a bit cloudy and the majority of corals closed or clinched up. I tested the water and my ph dropped down to 7.4! So I added some more buffer and may check before tonight to see if it stabilized. Nothing died from it, and the fish seemed to be fine, so I'm not too worried.
I messed up the flow in my tank by accident yesterday. When I took the powerhead out to clean it I guess I didn't place it back in the same direction and when I came back home it looked like christmas on my rocks, so much sand everywhere. I really regret not getting a less fine sand for that reason.
Now I need to think about ideas for what my last 2 fish are going to be. I may look into a royal gramma, they look pretty cool. It would also add some much needed color to my tank. Ever since I saw it in Finding Nemo I've wanted one. Any other suggestions would be appreciated!
The new clown is fitting in amazingly with my other one!
Got up the morning after i bought her and they were swimming together. Didn't take long for that friendship to start.
One of the stupid zebra turbos died because I didn't notice it fell over. Oh well, free hermit crab shell!
Speaking of crab, the emerald is also fitting in nicely. He stays in his little cave system that my clown also hides in sometimes and is loving it there. I have seen him eating bubble and hair algae, so I like him already.
Also out of nowhere the turbos actually started trying to take a chunk out of the hair algae! Both species too, zebras and astreas. The spots where they did were some of the thinner ones, tho, but regardless it looks better.
Did a 15% water change yesterday and decided to finally manually remove the cyano from my sandbed. I just used the airline tubing as a siphon and it came off like wet tissue paper. The tube was also rigid enough to remove the bubble algae, so I got a bunch more removed than if I would have tried with just my hands. Also found a small starfish when I was vacuuming the bubble algae off some rocks. I'm not sure if I went over it before and didn't notice, but it only had 3 legs so I may have. But I saw where it went to hide and it's chilling out in a little hole, so I think he's ok.
When I tested the water params yeasterday, everything was ok, ph was at 7.9 so I added some buffer and nitrates were at 20, so I added some Amquel+ to bring those down. I came back from school today to find my water a bit cloudy and the majority of corals closed or clinched up. I tested the water and my ph dropped down to 7.4! So I added some more buffer and may check before tonight to see if it stabilized. Nothing died from it, and the fish seemed to be fine, so I'm not too worried.
I messed up the flow in my tank by accident yesterday. When I took the powerhead out to clean it I guess I didn't place it back in the same direction and when I came back home it looked like christmas on my rocks, so much sand everywhere. I really regret not getting a less fine sand for that reason.
Now I need to think about ideas for what my last 2 fish are going to be. I may look into a royal gramma, they look pretty cool. It would also add some much needed color to my tank. Ever since I saw it in Finding Nemo I've wanted one. Any other suggestions would be appreciated!
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-05/rhf/
great read ^ your ph is fine 7.8-8.5 I would not add buffer... hope this helps
great read ^ your ph is fine 7.8-8.5 I would not add buffer... hope this helps
silver97
Active Member
That is some good info, I will remember to come back to this when I need help figuring technical things like this out. Thanks Glenn
Now it's a few hours later, but the tank seems clearer, so maybe it got sorted out. I only got freaked out because I like my ph to stay at above 8, but I thought the buffer would probably throw it out more than it was already, which it did. Probably not a good call on my half. I didn't notice anything different in the following hours with my fish other than my bicolor blenny breathing a little faster than usual. I'm going to test it in the morning just to make sure its safe. The xenia frag has been closed up all day, not that I'm necessarily worried about it but I don't want to lose my money I spent on it. And I don't have any friends into saltwater fish, only fresh, so I can't get someone's excess.
I realized something today too. I didn't have m hermit crabs die- they just molted! Such an idiot, I knew crabs molted but wasn't 100% sure on hermits because they switch shells. I thought I was down to 4 but found 5 huddled in a group. I think my other red one definitely died though, there aren't any other shells around.
I was so busy with things today I even forgot to feed them... I know they can go a few days without food but I need to start leaving reminders for me to do so. Oh well, other than that everything is fine. Definitely looked into the royal gramma a lot more over the past few hours and I think I am hooked.
Now it's a few hours later, but the tank seems clearer, so maybe it got sorted out. I only got freaked out because I like my ph to stay at above 8, but I thought the buffer would probably throw it out more than it was already, which it did. Probably not a good call on my half. I didn't notice anything different in the following hours with my fish other than my bicolor blenny breathing a little faster than usual. I'm going to test it in the morning just to make sure its safe. The xenia frag has been closed up all day, not that I'm necessarily worried about it but I don't want to lose my money I spent on it. And I don't have any friends into saltwater fish, only fresh, so I can't get someone's excess.
I realized something today too. I didn't have m hermit crabs die- they just molted! Such an idiot, I knew crabs molted but wasn't 100% sure on hermits because they switch shells. I thought I was down to 4 but found 5 huddled in a group. I think my other red one definitely died though, there aren't any other shells around.
I was so busy with things today I even forgot to feed them... I know they can go a few days without food but I need to start leaving reminders for me to do so. Oh well, other than that everything is fine. Definitely looked into the royal gramma a lot more over the past few hours and I think I am hooked.
silver97
Active Member
I've searched before and I did again a couple days ago but there are none that are close to me. The closest one is a 45 minute drive away, I don't really have the time to do anything extra right now with my classes getting hectic as we are coming closer to break.
I had another zebra turbo die, this time just for no reason. I think another one may have also, it hasn't moved in a day. I hate them, wish I'd of been paying attention at the store
Ever since I did the last water change the flow from my powerhead has been messed up. Not that it's malfunctioning, but it is blowing on my sandbed somehow and clearing areas of sand completely. I just took it out to clean the bad algae off it and put it back in what I thought was the right direction/position. I had it fixed perfectly before, because I also had this issue when I first started out. I dont know whats up with it, but i'm going to wait till later this week to play around with it to see if I can get it back to normal.
My emerald crab seemed to be feeling adventurous and actually went to the other side of the tank in search of food. I guess he had been eating nothing but algae from the rocks, so he wanted some shrimp. When I was feeding my tank the one day I saw him under the one rock sticking his claws out to try and catch the flakes. I did him one better and gave him a whole brine shrimp. He was scared at first, but quickly realized it was food and he took it and ate almost all of it. Pretty fun to watch.
Ok, i'm only writing now because I'm procrastinating writing an outline for a paper I have to write. I think I need to get started on it though.
Til next time
I had another zebra turbo die, this time just for no reason. I think another one may have also, it hasn't moved in a day. I hate them, wish I'd of been paying attention at the store
Ever since I did the last water change the flow from my powerhead has been messed up. Not that it's malfunctioning, but it is blowing on my sandbed somehow and clearing areas of sand completely. I just took it out to clean the bad algae off it and put it back in what I thought was the right direction/position. I had it fixed perfectly before, because I also had this issue when I first started out. I dont know whats up with it, but i'm going to wait till later this week to play around with it to see if I can get it back to normal.
My emerald crab seemed to be feeling adventurous and actually went to the other side of the tank in search of food. I guess he had been eating nothing but algae from the rocks, so he wanted some shrimp. When I was feeding my tank the one day I saw him under the one rock sticking his claws out to try and catch the flakes. I did him one better and gave him a whole brine shrimp. He was scared at first, but quickly realized it was food and he took it and ate almost all of it. Pretty fun to watch.
Ok, i'm only writing now because I'm procrastinating writing an outline for a paper I have to write. I think I need to get started on it though.
Til next time
silver97
Active Member
Update
Everything has been going fine with the tank... just some minor problems
I had that same hermit eat another snail, and on top of that another one died, so now I'm down to 4 of the 7 zebra turbos. At least I'm getting more hermit crab shells out of this.
Emerald crab has gotten a little more adventurous moving around the tank and in the open now.
My clowns are getting along really well, it's so fun to see them swimming next to each other. They even follow my face when I go looking around the tank...So cool
I think I figured out what is up with my flow. My output pump on my filter is facing towards the flow of my powerhead, and i think its strong enough and close enough to be screwing up the overall current. I'm going to do a big water change in the next day or so and I'll fix it and see if that's what is up.
Hair algae is somewhat diminishing.... That bundle of eggs my emerald discovered hatched and I think they were a bunch of cerith.. which is amazing considering I need them to clean my sandbed. They seem to be on it often but they are too small to make any kind of a noticeable impact. Either way, I now have a bunch of baby snails in my tank and may not have to buy more in the future...lets hope.
And the cyano is back.. not as bad as before but its regrown in the same area of the tank and now in the front corner too...I might buy some product that helps get rid of it but i'll see how it goes
I think I'm at that point where i need to buy a skimmer now. I've been noticing bubbles that will stay at the top of the water and make foam basically. And a light film on the top of the water if I look up at the tank. I might buy a hang on one. Either way I definitely need to look into it.
And as a general question, has anyone had any problems keeping a royal gramma in the same tank as a bicolor blenny? I know they are both generally peaceful, but they look to be the same shape sort of, and I don't want to have any conflict if I get one. Plus the same-ish color scheme, wondering if this raises any red flags
Everything has been going fine with the tank... just some minor problems
I had that same hermit eat another snail, and on top of that another one died, so now I'm down to 4 of the 7 zebra turbos. At least I'm getting more hermit crab shells out of this.
Emerald crab has gotten a little more adventurous moving around the tank and in the open now.
My clowns are getting along really well, it's so fun to see them swimming next to each other. They even follow my face when I go looking around the tank...So cool
I think I figured out what is up with my flow. My output pump on my filter is facing towards the flow of my powerhead, and i think its strong enough and close enough to be screwing up the overall current. I'm going to do a big water change in the next day or so and I'll fix it and see if that's what is up.
Hair algae is somewhat diminishing.... That bundle of eggs my emerald discovered hatched and I think they were a bunch of cerith.. which is amazing considering I need them to clean my sandbed. They seem to be on it often but they are too small to make any kind of a noticeable impact. Either way, I now have a bunch of baby snails in my tank and may not have to buy more in the future...lets hope.
And the cyano is back.. not as bad as before but its regrown in the same area of the tank and now in the front corner too...I might buy some product that helps get rid of it but i'll see how it goes
I think I'm at that point where i need to buy a skimmer now. I've been noticing bubbles that will stay at the top of the water and make foam basically. And a light film on the top of the water if I look up at the tank. I might buy a hang on one. Either way I definitely need to look into it.
And as a general question, has anyone had any problems keeping a royal gramma in the same tank as a bicolor blenny? I know they are both generally peaceful, but they look to be the same shape sort of, and I don't want to have any conflict if I get one. Plus the same-ish color scheme, wondering if this raises any red flags
Oxylebius
Well-Known Member
Apparently, fish can recognize your face. Here are two articles to read on it:
Advanced Aquarist - Your fish can recognize faces
National Geographic - Fish Can Recognize Faces, a Surprisingly Human Skill
Congrats! Try to capture a pic if you can.
Skimmers are very helpful
Royal grammas can be semi-aggressive b/c they are territorial. Best, to keep this in mind. That bi-color blenny might get beat-up a bit. What you can do is to make sure there are a lot of little holes and smallish caves in your rock-work. This will allow each fish to choose a territory.
My Ecsenius blenny defends its little territory against all my fish, big or small. So even though it is a peaceful fish, it does get it hackles up when it comes to its territory. It will also happily stick around it's part of the tank all day long.
silver97
Active Member
Thats cool about the face recognition, did not know that!
I'll upload pics in a few, haven't done that in a while.
So I get the territory thing, but does the royal gramma also go into small holes likes blennies do? There are plenty of holes in my rocks they would be able to find, but just in case I found some cool barnacles from the beach I took a few years back that I'm thinking of putting in the tank. It's a really nice looking group of them, just may have to clean them up a bit and get the dirt off them. Also I might rearrange the rockwork a bit to fit them in nicely.
I'll upload pics in a few, haven't done that in a while.
silver97
Active Member
These are all the newer snails. There are so many more on the sandbed but my ipad can't focus in on them much. In the second pick you can also see my growing cyano problem.
These are the barnacles, first pic is together, next two are separate. They were originally one, but when I went to clean them a while back they were so fragile they broke apart. But they would be like little condo's for my blenny and any other fish that likes to dart into hole. They are surprisingly spacious on the inside too. Only problems I foresee is extra food getting stuck in there and having to move my rockwork to accommodate them. I may use some putty or super glue to make them one again and set it in. Not sure yet.
Oxylebius
Well-Known Member
Yes I'd put the barnacles in the tank. I'd keep them separate and not glue them together. Place each on opposite sides of the tank, having the entrances of the barnacles slighting facing away from each other. Both the gramma and blenny will really like them. Yes, the gramma will also choose a hole or barnacle to live in.
silver97
Active Member
Ok, after looking at my tank I think I have enough room to actually fit them in without moving my rocks!
They wont spike any levels or anything, right? I know sometimes if you add new rock to the tank it could have a quick spike in ammonia or nitrites or mess up the ph or something. I think it would fall under the same line, so I might just throw some Amquel in the water change I'm doing later today to help ease it in.
They wont spike any levels or anything, right? I know sometimes if you add new rock to the tank it could have a quick spike in ammonia or nitrites or mess up the ph or something. I think it would fall under the same line, so I might just throw some Amquel in the water change I'm doing later today to help ease it in.
silver97
Active Member
Update
After a week of the barnacles being added, the consensus is generally good. The crabs and snails are climbing all over them and the blenny found a few holes he likes.
Nothing big has happened in the past week tank wise. Everything has grown well and nothing has died! I guess that's as good a week as any. And the cyano has seemingly died down a bit, not sure if thats due to the fact that the barnacles took some of the growing area up but either way I'm happy and will have to siphon out less cyano next water change.
On a non saltwater note, I won a goldfish in a contest today! Nothing to brag about, I know, but I felt like I was the most equipped to take care of one and keep it healthy. But I'm finding I may be wrong. I looked into a bunch of things on goldfish care and they are just as complex as other fish. Most shockingly I learned that I can't keep them in a regular fish bowl for long as a healthy life. If he survives the week I am going to start my old 10 gallon tank back up and turn it into a small goldfish only tank. They are really beautiful, mine is a fantail. I've always wanted a pop eyed one too. Might be a bit easier to take care of also. I figure if he does live past a week I will get him his own food too, he is just eating the tropical flakes I give my saltwater fish right now. He ate them, but considering he isnt a tropical fish I dont want to make him sick. Worst part was I couldn't find the old caves or gravel from my old freshwater tank, so he is going to be a bit bored for a while. I hope he lives
I am now 50/50 on my decision for a royal gramma. I don't necessarily want a copy of my blenny, which I know it isnt, but its similar and I dont want fighting. I may just go with some type of damsel I find and look at some other options. Maybe some firefish gobies. Not sure, but open to suggestions.
After a week of the barnacles being added, the consensus is generally good. The crabs and snails are climbing all over them and the blenny found a few holes he likes.
Nothing big has happened in the past week tank wise. Everything has grown well and nothing has died! I guess that's as good a week as any. And the cyano has seemingly died down a bit, not sure if thats due to the fact that the barnacles took some of the growing area up but either way I'm happy and will have to siphon out less cyano next water change.
On a non saltwater note, I won a goldfish in a contest today! Nothing to brag about, I know, but I felt like I was the most equipped to take care of one and keep it healthy. But I'm finding I may be wrong. I looked into a bunch of things on goldfish care and they are just as complex as other fish. Most shockingly I learned that I can't keep them in a regular fish bowl for long as a healthy life. If he survives the week I am going to start my old 10 gallon tank back up and turn it into a small goldfish only tank. They are really beautiful, mine is a fantail. I've always wanted a pop eyed one too. Might be a bit easier to take care of also. I figure if he does live past a week I will get him his own food too, he is just eating the tropical flakes I give my saltwater fish right now. He ate them, but considering he isnt a tropical fish I dont want to make him sick. Worst part was I couldn't find the old caves or gravel from my old freshwater tank, so he is going to be a bit bored for a while. I hope he lives
I am now 50/50 on my decision for a royal gramma. I don't necessarily want a copy of my blenny, which I know it isnt, but its similar and I dont want fighting. I may just go with some type of damsel I find and look at some other options. Maybe some firefish gobies. Not sure, but open to suggestions.
silver97
Active Member
Small update
Tank hasn't changed much. The good outbreak of snails is seemingly trying to keep the cyano under check, there are a lot of patches with holes from it being eaten so I guess thats good. I may try and clear some hair algae manually, there is a different kind growing on another rock that is noticeably easier to pull off, so I figure I will try to pull it off with my next water change later today.
My emerald crab molted this week. Kind of freaky, just saw a pure white version of him on the back of my rocks. I knew he was molting, but I didn't know how they did it, so when I found him on another rock later and still saw the white version I found out it was the molting.
My dragons breath algae also randomly detached a large portion of itself from the main stem. I don't know why it happened, but the snails and crabs have been near it a lot lately so I wouldn't be surprised to learn they were the reason. I found it before it drifted into the powerhead or intake pump thank God, and instead of just rubber banding it to a rock and setting it back in, I set it in one of the barnacle holes and it has stayed there. Looks nicer there anyway. Plus there is still a good amount on the original rock, so it just fragged itself I guess.
Goldfish is still alive. True to my word if it lives till Sunday I am starting my own tank for it. To keep he water clean i have just been siphoning all of the waste out of the tank, along with half the water, and replacing it with conditioned tap water. Using Seachem prime seemed like the safest option for the time being, and I also had some, so a win win there. I figure I will get a 20 gallon long tank for him, my goal is just to see how big I can get him to grow. Goldfish can get ridiculously big sometimes, so I think it would be cool to see how big it can live till. I also found a relatively cheap canister filter for it online, it has more good reviews than bad, but its backed by the one site Dr. Fosters and Smith, so I figure it should be good, and if it isn't ill try another. Yes I'm aware that the tank still has to cycle, so I might use one of those bacteria start up bottles to get it kick started. And a few other things, but I have it under control
Tank hasn't changed much. The good outbreak of snails is seemingly trying to keep the cyano under check, there are a lot of patches with holes from it being eaten so I guess thats good. I may try and clear some hair algae manually, there is a different kind growing on another rock that is noticeably easier to pull off, so I figure I will try to pull it off with my next water change later today.
My emerald crab molted this week. Kind of freaky, just saw a pure white version of him on the back of my rocks. I knew he was molting, but I didn't know how they did it, so when I found him on another rock later and still saw the white version I found out it was the molting.
My dragons breath algae also randomly detached a large portion of itself from the main stem. I don't know why it happened, but the snails and crabs have been near it a lot lately so I wouldn't be surprised to learn they were the reason. I found it before it drifted into the powerhead or intake pump thank God, and instead of just rubber banding it to a rock and setting it back in, I set it in one of the barnacle holes and it has stayed there. Looks nicer there anyway. Plus there is still a good amount on the original rock, so it just fragged itself I guess.
Goldfish is still alive. True to my word if it lives till Sunday I am starting my own tank for it. To keep he water clean i have just been siphoning all of the waste out of the tank, along with half the water, and replacing it with conditioned tap water. Using Seachem prime seemed like the safest option for the time being, and I also had some, so a win win there. I figure I will get a 20 gallon long tank for him, my goal is just to see how big I can get him to grow. Goldfish can get ridiculously big sometimes, so I think it would be cool to see how big it can live till. I also found a relatively cheap canister filter for it online, it has more good reviews than bad, but its backed by the one site Dr. Fosters and Smith, so I figure it should be good, and if it isn't ill try another. Yes I'm aware that the tank still has to cycle, so I might use one of those bacteria start up bottles to get it kick started. And a few other things, but I have it under control
silver97
Active Member
Quick update
Goldfish is still alive after 1 week, not sure if I really have the room for a 2nd tank though th more i think about it. Or the money. Or the patience. He may just live in the bowl for a while. Maybe by Christmas if he's still alive....
And this really weird but cool-scary thing happened yesterday. I was watching my fish eat yesterday when I saw my one hermit crab duck back into his shell very suddenly and pop right back out. I looked for a little longer and nothing happened. Then he crawled entirely out of his shell, but without using his legs. So I thought that was a bit odd, but didn't think much of it. I left the room and came back and now he was out on the rock but completely out of his shell. He was moving but not using his leg. Then it turned around and out from the hermit crabs butt was this parasite! IT had crab like legs, but also kind of looked like squid legs. Didn't really get that good a look at it for that part at least. It crawled off the rock and onto the sand and just started going around the tank. Seeing an opportunity for food, my blenny came up to it, studied it, and ate it! Well, he ate the flesh part at least. The blue legs and head were still there. The my clowns started to pick at it and they were in a feeding frenzy. At one point it fell to the sandbed, and a nassassarius snail came up in one swift motion and covered the whole thing and ate it! It kind of reminded me of the ending of jurassic world with the mosasoraus.
Do I have to worry about my blenny growing a parasite out of his butt now? Or will he be fine? And would it be possible for it to spread to my other hermits as well?
Goldfish is still alive after 1 week, not sure if I really have the room for a 2nd tank though th more i think about it. Or the money. Or the patience. He may just live in the bowl for a while. Maybe by Christmas if he's still alive....
And this really weird but cool-scary thing happened yesterday. I was watching my fish eat yesterday when I saw my one hermit crab duck back into his shell very suddenly and pop right back out. I looked for a little longer and nothing happened. Then he crawled entirely out of his shell, but without using his legs. So I thought that was a bit odd, but didn't think much of it. I left the room and came back and now he was out on the rock but completely out of his shell. He was moving but not using his leg. Then it turned around and out from the hermit crabs butt was this parasite! IT had crab like legs, but also kind of looked like squid legs. Didn't really get that good a look at it for that part at least. It crawled off the rock and onto the sand and just started going around the tank. Seeing an opportunity for food, my blenny came up to it, studied it, and ate it! Well, he ate the flesh part at least. The blue legs and head were still there. The my clowns started to pick at it and they were in a feeding frenzy. At one point it fell to the sandbed, and a nassassarius snail came up in one swift motion and covered the whole thing and ate it! It kind of reminded me of the ending of jurassic world with the mosasoraus.
Do I have to worry about my blenny growing a parasite out of his butt now? Or will he be fine? And would it be possible for it to spread to my other hermits as well?
silver97
Active Member
Update
Nothing new has happened in a while. No other crabs died due to parasites and my blenny as ok from eating the crab with one. Yay!
The cyano has stopped growing, thank God!! II think it's due to the fact that I stopped feeding frozen food because I ran out. And I havent been feeding coral frenzy either. I think what I may do is start feeding the coral food again, but only once a week. The corals seem to be doing fine without it, so I guess I'm just experimenting right now.
I noticed the other day when I was feeding I have about 20 baby nassassarius snails. They are really small right now but are getting bigger noticeably. And the baby ceriths are growing too. Soon the tank will be full of just snails. Gosh I hope not
Im just glad I dont have to go buy any of those variety anymore. I am going to buy some nerites next time I see them, just because i only have one and he can go into a bunch of different places others cant.
When I did my water change last week, I cleaned the hair algae off the one rock and I was surprised how much I got to come off. When I looked in the bucket it was siphoning into I thought I would have way less than I did. If I compacted it together, I could have probably gotten to a golfball size amount of hair algae .
Im putting off my next wc because I have to get a bunch of new things for my filter to replace. I know at the very least I need new cotton pads for the media baskets, and possibly new foam for another part. Those and a few other things.
Still haven't decided on a new fish yet. royal gramma is out, don't want it anymore. I want something red, but I dont know If I want fire goby's or something with a little more red. I may just look into somm damsels.
Nothing new has happened in a while. No other crabs died due to parasites and my blenny as ok from eating the crab with one. Yay!
The cyano has stopped growing, thank God!! II think it's due to the fact that I stopped feeding frozen food because I ran out. And I havent been feeding coral frenzy either. I think what I may do is start feeding the coral food again, but only once a week. The corals seem to be doing fine without it, so I guess I'm just experimenting right now.
I noticed the other day when I was feeding I have about 20 baby nassassarius snails. They are really small right now but are getting bigger noticeably. And the baby ceriths are growing too. Soon the tank will be full of just snails. Gosh I hope not
Im just glad I dont have to go buy any of those variety anymore. I am going to buy some nerites next time I see them, just because i only have one and he can go into a bunch of different places others cant.
When I did my water change last week, I cleaned the hair algae off the one rock and I was surprised how much I got to come off. When I looked in the bucket it was siphoning into I thought I would have way less than I did. If I compacted it together, I could have probably gotten to a golfball size amount of hair algae .
Im putting off my next wc because I have to get a bunch of new things for my filter to replace. I know at the very least I need new cotton pads for the media baskets, and possibly new foam for another part. Those and a few other things.
Still haven't decided on a new fish yet. royal gramma is out, don't want it anymore. I want something red, but I dont know If I want fire goby's or something with a little more red. I may just look into somm damsels.
silver97
Active Member
Update Time
I have been busy the last few weeks and haven't had much free time, so thereare a few things to update on
Goldfish died over the Thanksgiving break. Oh well, now I'm kind of out of the 2nd tank phase for a while.
Overall the health of the main tank is very good. I finally picked up new cleaner pads for my filter and the tank is WAY more clear than I thought it would be. Not that it was foggy or anything before, but I do see a major difference. I bought extra by mistake, but at least I have more now so I can change when they get disgusting.
The 3 fish have done well. All have grown well and no sicknesses, so that's good! The clowns have kind of been fighting, but it isn't really fighting. They just will chase each other and somewhat nip at each other a bit every now and then. No fin damage, but I think it's just their way of establishing authority. The blenny is doing good too. He loves the barnacles so much that he practically uses only them for hiding. He got ousted from one of his main holes by my emerald crab, who is being more social and actually showing his face. But he did steal the one hole, so the blenny won't go in it anymore. I dont think he minds as much now that he has 5 more.
Funny thing with the emerald crab. I feed him brine shrimp about once a week, just so he doesn't go crazy from eating just hair algae. I dip it in water first to get most of the salt out of it, or at least whats on the outside off. Then I use Vita-chem and throw a few drops on. I stick it on the end of a toothpick and he just takes it right off! It's so cool to watch him take it. I also throw another shrimp in for the nassassarius snails, doing the same thing with the vitamins.
Speaking of snails, they have gotten bigger. The baby ceriths are getting close to a quarter of an inch to half an inch. There are about 30 of them, maybe more. The nass are still very small, but a few are bigger, which makes me think there was a second wave of eggs. I think there are literally about 40 baby nass in my tank. Which is why I put in the extra shrimp. They do a great job cleaning up the flake food tho too. I havent seen the bigger ones lately, but I think they are still alive. I dont necessarily have a problem where I need more of them now, so I don't mind if a few die.
Corals are doing great! Zoas are spreading slowly, but definitely. GSP is definitely growing, I can see it encrusting on the rock I attached it to. It looks so cool!
Xenia has not grown to crazy proportions yet. It has grown new 'feathers', but hasnt spread outwards much. Upwards, yes. I like it the way it is right now.
Gorgonian has grown a little more, it is definitely taller and has more polyps. No new branches. But I have seen it starting to get so tall that it is swaying in the current a little bit.
Mushrooms have stayed the same. The little one is a little bigger, maybe the bigger one is bigger too, but I don't necessarily pay attention to them much. They arent holding up to what I thought they were going to be,mostly because they don't glow like I thought they would. Oh well
That's that for now. I may get some cool damsels soon, just some blue ones and a few black and white ones. They had them at Petco for like $5 per fish, so I may take advantage of that. Any idea on number I could get? I was thinking max getting 6, but over time so I dont stress them out much.
I have been busy the last few weeks and haven't had much free time, so thereare a few things to update on
Goldfish died over the Thanksgiving break. Oh well, now I'm kind of out of the 2nd tank phase for a while.
Overall the health of the main tank is very good. I finally picked up new cleaner pads for my filter and the tank is WAY more clear than I thought it would be. Not that it was foggy or anything before, but I do see a major difference. I bought extra by mistake, but at least I have more now so I can change when they get disgusting.
The 3 fish have done well. All have grown well and no sicknesses, so that's good! The clowns have kind of been fighting, but it isn't really fighting. They just will chase each other and somewhat nip at each other a bit every now and then. No fin damage, but I think it's just their way of establishing authority. The blenny is doing good too. He loves the barnacles so much that he practically uses only them for hiding. He got ousted from one of his main holes by my emerald crab, who is being more social and actually showing his face. But he did steal the one hole, so the blenny won't go in it anymore. I dont think he minds as much now that he has 5 more.
Funny thing with the emerald crab. I feed him brine shrimp about once a week, just so he doesn't go crazy from eating just hair algae. I dip it in water first to get most of the salt out of it, or at least whats on the outside off. Then I use Vita-chem and throw a few drops on. I stick it on the end of a toothpick and he just takes it right off! It's so cool to watch him take it. I also throw another shrimp in for the nassassarius snails, doing the same thing with the vitamins.
Speaking of snails, they have gotten bigger. The baby ceriths are getting close to a quarter of an inch to half an inch. There are about 30 of them, maybe more. The nass are still very small, but a few are bigger, which makes me think there was a second wave of eggs. I think there are literally about 40 baby nass in my tank. Which is why I put in the extra shrimp. They do a great job cleaning up the flake food tho too. I havent seen the bigger ones lately, but I think they are still alive. I dont necessarily have a problem where I need more of them now, so I don't mind if a few die.
Corals are doing great! Zoas are spreading slowly, but definitely. GSP is definitely growing, I can see it encrusting on the rock I attached it to. It looks so cool!
Xenia has not grown to crazy proportions yet. It has grown new 'feathers', but hasnt spread outwards much. Upwards, yes. I like it the way it is right now.
Gorgonian has grown a little more, it is definitely taller and has more polyps. No new branches. But I have seen it starting to get so tall that it is swaying in the current a little bit.
Mushrooms have stayed the same. The little one is a little bigger, maybe the bigger one is bigger too, but I don't necessarily pay attention to them much. They arent holding up to what I thought they were going to be,mostly because they don't glow like I thought they would. Oh well
That's that for now. I may get some cool damsels soon, just some blue ones and a few black and white ones. They had them at Petco for like $5 per fish, so I may take advantage of that. Any idea on number I could get? I was thinking max getting 6, but over time so I dont stress them out much.
Oxylebius
Well-Known Member
Sounds like normal behavior. They will go at each other to establish authority.
The barnacles have proved to be great secure homes and hiding places for a lot of your critters. Glad the blenny found a different barnacle after it was ousted.
Algae is a normal diet for them. Algae won't make your crab crazy.
All my crabs take food off of long wooden BBQ skewers. It is fun to feed them that way. Even my 5 yr old nephew loves to feed the crabs that way. Glad it is working for you as well. Adding vitamins will keep you crabs and snail healthy.
I'd stay away from damsels - they can get big and they will get super aggressive!
silver97
Active Member
Good note on the damsels, can't get them now anyway because there was only 1 left and it was halfway to heaven. Dang Petco
But I did see a neon dottyback. They look really neat, but I think there would be some fighting there with the blenny potentially. Any insight on this would be appreciated
I may start looking for a 6 line wrasse also. They seem to be even tempered and can fit in my tank. I just want a new fish, it's been a while and not that I'm getting bored with my 3 right now, but I think the tank needs something new. Just to keep things interesting.
And any other suggestions on fish I should get would be appreciated, I am very indecisive on this matter and want some input. Maybe I will get both the wrasse and dottyback?!
But I did see a neon dottyback. They look really neat, but I think there would be some fighting there with the blenny potentially. Any insight on this would be appreciated
I may start looking for a 6 line wrasse also. They seem to be even tempered and can fit in my tank. I just want a new fish, it's been a while and not that I'm getting bored with my 3 right now, but I think the tank needs something new. Just to keep things interesting.
And any other suggestions on fish I should get would be appreciated, I am very indecisive on this matter and want some input. Maybe I will get both the wrasse and dottyback?!