The Bluespot Club

[Basser1]

WOW!! Just on LA and they have 3 BSJF's in the Divers Den section!!

[michael_cb_125]

THREE!!! I SAW THEM.
I am so tempted to get Megan one, but her tank is not quite ready>

SOON THOUGH.

[Jen]

[Basser1]

Jen, My Bad! I wasn't thinkin'!

michael - LA seems to be getting these in fairly regularly lately. But they do go fast though!

[bluespotjawfish]

Jen I am so sorry for your loss.

[lcstorc]

Well I am now worried about Sparkles. He didn't eat dinner last night. I thought maybe he didn't like my mush so I tried some pellets this morning. The same pellets I saw him eat at the lfs. The reason I tried pellets is it is very easy for me to direct where they fall so I could be sure they were very close to him. Several bounced off of his head with no reaction and the ones that went into his burrow he promptly removed and spit out. He was still activey working on his home so hopefully he just was not hungry. No heavy breathing and no white spots on his side. In fact he acted very normally except for the not eating. I may be able to get some live brine and/or ghost shrimp tonight. I know it has little nutrition but I want to see him eat something.

[Jen]

Lynn,
Maybe Sparkles is just busy working on his project. Sometimes when I'm really interested in a project I don't stop to eat or cook dinner . Let's hope so!

[lcstorc]

That is exactly what I am hoping. All other signs are good at this point so I am just watching carefully and trying to temp him with food of any kind I think he will eat.

[Dentoid]

Lynn, I don't know how much rock rubble and shells you have given Sparkles, but 2-3 handfuls is for starters. If he doesn't have enough building materials he can not build a proper burrow. They use the rock rubble to fortify the walls of the burrow so that they don't cave-in. If he can not do this and the sand keeps falling into his burrow he will constantly by digging and burrowing or he'll search for a new site. This has got to be stressful! Eventually when they get their burrow just right, the building stops and the regular maintenance begins.

Their natural habitat is rock rubble flats, not sugar fine argonite. They need a lot of rock rubble! I'm beginning to think that the reason they move around so much is because their burrows are not adequately fortified or they can not build it properly with what's available.

I get the rock rubble out of the bottom of the LR tank at my LFS. Then I boil it in RO/DI water for a half hour or so a let it cool. Then I drop it down next to the burrow. Within a half a day it is all gone! Down the burrow. Which reminds me, I need to get more for Spotty.

[vdituri]

That is a good point Scott.
If a building site is deemed unacceptable they would undoubtably keep moving around.
In the long run this too could have a detrimental affect on their general health and well being.

[lcstorc]

I've got plenty of crushed coral in there since that is the substrate in the 125. He has used quite a bit but only what is right by him. I put it in several locations so he could choose where he wanted to be. So far he has stayed on the one side of the tank but seems to have a tunnel system with several entrances/exits. There are 2 up front that he uses the most and 1 that is his back door. Actually though he doesn't need to build very much. Maybe that is a problem. He is under an arch in a rock so there is not really sand to fall down around him. I do see him spit sand out so I assume he is expanding the tunnels or something.
I'll try adding some bigger pieces tonight. Maybe he is tired of the crushed coral. I have quite a few empty snail shells around (because snails are stupid) so I'll just break them up a bit and give him some bigger pieces to work with.

[Dentoid]

What do you mean by crushed coral? I'm talking about rocks and pieces that are 1/2-3/4" maybe even an inch! Clam shells, snail shells, oyster shells, rocks, broken coral skeleton pieces. They can carry pieces that are 1-3 times their width. Crushed coral is what you have in the 90 gallon as substrate!

[lcstorc]

I have sand as substrate in the 90. I have crushed coral in the 125. (I hate it but hubby loves it.) I have been putting crushed coral from the 125 into the 90 for him to use and he has used quite a bit of it. I am going to give him some bigger stuff tonight. Perhaps that is why he was spitting sand in my face this morning. It would have been funny if I wasn't so worried about him eating. He did once try to use a nassarius snail but obviously the snail did not like that,

[Dentoid]

Sorry, I meant the 125, you have CC in the 125. That's not the right building material. They need pieces that will create walls along the burrow and keep the sand from caving in on their burrow.

[lcstorc]

He has certainly been using it but I'll give him some bigger stuff tonight and see what he thinks of it.
I just didn't want to you think I put him in a tank with CC substrate. He is in sand.