12g goby paradise

[RandomTabby]

Welcome one and all to my 12 gallon nano-cube deluxe goby paradise! Maybe I am a bit late (the tank was set up in January) but I'll get you updated.

 

Jan 06 2009 – filled ‘er up, added salt!

Jan 07 – Added 9 lbs of Fiji live rock, 10lbs Carib Sea Fiji Pink live sand, ~ 7lbs crushed coral. Also 3 tiny crabs, 2 brown and 1 purple red. Also 1 big dark snail, 1 brown hermit, 1 giant blue hermit (blue knuckle), 2 blue and orange hermit, 1 zebra hermit. Also 3 or 4 tiny white feather dusters. (later I learned most people consider them pests, but I liked them! Anyway, within a week or two I think the crabs had eaten them all anyway)

Have been staring at the tank for hours after lights out with just moon lights on. I count two peanut worms and one baby serpent star sticking out of the big rock.

Jan 12 - picked up a deionizer unit for new water! Added 2 margarita snails and 1 scarlet red hermit

Jan 13 – h2o change. Squeezed out filter sponges in tank water for the first time- water very brown. Squeezed each one in new water three times. Siphoned out poop bits- there are always lots of these.

Topped up water with new DI salt water!

Discovered that my original snail from live rock turned out to be a predatory welk! I found it opening to opening with one of my margarita snails. Took the welk right out, and a few hours later margarita was cruising around, and is completely fine. Saved in the nick of time!

Jan 14 – Started adding Phyto feast. Noticed on big rock there is a brown feather duster!! It is getting bigger all the time.

Jan 16 – Noticed some green algae growing on front and side panes of glass! Brown algae on gravel. I noticed a few days ago that there is a little red slime algae on right side of tank, but it doesn’t appear to be getting any worse.

Jan 19 – Saw lots of tiny white specs (amphipods?) crawling around on the glass! Wooo! Wiped the glass a bit and took pictures. Red algae keeps floating away so I put it back where I want it to stay. One blue and orange hermit molted and scared me, I thought it had died!! Added one more margarita snail.

Jan 20 morning- added 18 drops phyto feast and ¾ of a 6oz bottle of tigger pods!!! Woo they are fun. In the evening… noticed hair algae starting!!!!

I think the red macro algae is Gracilaria tikvahiae? Botryocladia spp. ?

Jan 26 – added 2 astrea snails. Added a small piece of pulsing xenia! It even likes to pulse while in the bag, it’s a good one ^^.

Jan 29 – h20 change. Xenia curled up for a few hours after but then opened up lots. Snails are doing a bang up job on the algae! One astrea in particular is keeping the back wall free of green algae, and I notice less red slime on the bottom!

Feb 2 – Xenia has been pretty happy most times I look at it!

Feb 4? Added a white nassarius snail.

Feb 8 – added a few clove polyps in a betta cage – these came from the display Red Sea at work which was sold. A few pink with green centers, and ONE all pink… all pink seems to be doing the best!! Will let these grow bigger before I put them in the tank, or else they will surely blow away! (a few weeks later these all died... I still quest for the rare all pink cloves...)

Feb 9 – put some meaty food in for the first time. Nasarius snail loved it as did all hermits! …saw a big bristle worm right where I want a hi fin goby/shrimp pair to live… tried to get it out but it’s fast. Will try again soon. Big copepods are everywhere!!!

I think the filter feeding crab I have seen is a porcelain crab? It also has (a) big claw(s) and white stripes on walking legs. Very cool! There are two of them!

Feb 15- brought home a glass goby! This guy is tough, lived in live rock bin for probably months, dusty conditions, moved to a regular tank, stayed there a while and then brought home! Put in 5gal quarantine. After about 3 days he is happier and eating well.

Feb 22 - Introduced one more Nassarius snail, this one is darker.

Feb 24 – Added on Hydor wave maker!!!!

Mar 3 – 30% h20 change, light siphon (not much to get) and washed sponges. Put some more shells for crabs. Xenia starting to grow on a small rock next to it? Doing very well.

Mar 8- Xenia split into two! Brought home some kinda big zoanthid, orange and awesome. (later I learnt this is called a red people eater) Put glass goby in 12g! in his little rock house (a small peice of rock with a nice cave he hides in). He seems a little less shy already. Mushrooms keep falling all over. Brought home two little “micro gobys” which look different. (trimma sp.) One looks almost like glass goby and one has a nice skunk stripe and black spot before caudal fin. Put them both in 3g Qt.

Mar 10 – brought home two tiny baby red antennae (hi fin) gobies and one candy cane shrimp! Put them in the 6gal Q tank. The gobies do not seem to want to be next to each other.. in the bucket, the shrimp walked from one fish to the other and liked them both. Put them in the 3 gal with a pile of crushed coral, a pile of cheato algae and a rock. The shrimp went straight under the algae and dug a hole. Small goby (an inch long at most) found it first and they lived together for a while. Then the big goby found them and went under the algae also… they quarreled a bit and opened mouths at each other… (I could see them under the algae). Shrimp ignored them and went about its business. Later that evening I saw the smaller goby was kicked out and lived under the rock. That was all the first night. He lived under the rock a few days (always more outgoing than the big goby, which was very shy and took a few days to come out to eat much). On March 14th it was living on the bare tank floor near the filter.

(my goal is to have a pair of gobies and a pair of shrimp)

March 14 – brought home 2 yellow clown gobies from work. Put in 3gal Q tank w trimma govies. They came from the same tank at work, and seemed to be slowly warming up to each other. When put in 3gal they seemed fine, then had a little fight for a second, then settled down away from each other.

Cleaned 6gal, moved shrimp into a breeder box. While cleaning, fish seemed to not mind each other as much. Big fish sat still and little one “danced” around its head for a bit. Then they sat just 2-3” apart. After water change done, they then sat beside each other! They put their tails together and face outwards from each other.

March 17. Brought home another “candy cane pistol shrimp”. This one is larger and has more yellow than the current shrimp. I later learned they are actually different species... the larger one is the typical Alpheus randalli most people keep with small gobies, the other is a bit smaller with pink not red and no yellow (looks like the picture on http://www.wetwebmedia.com/alpheidshrpfaqs.htm possibly Alpheus ochrostriatus?). whatever it's species, it did also pair with the gobies, smashing the idea that hi fin gobies only pair with Randal's.

March 24 – RPE (Red people eater) zoa has fungus! Will add Vit C.

h20 change and rinsed filter sponges. Replaced protein skimmer wood airstone.

pH - 8.3

KH – 9 dKH

Added 1/16th tsp buffered vit C powder.rpe look a bit better but xenia is closed up a lot.

Mar 31 – put two yellow clown gobies in 12g! One has ripped fins from the other, it got aggressive in the 2gal Q tank. Aggressiveness is less in larger tank but still a bit of chasing.

April 17 – moved RPEs to 2gal tank and begin Vit C treatment there. Xenia and red macro algae have turned yellow from the treatment and look sucky...

April 20 – well it’s been a while. Ripped up yellow clown goby is healed up and doing great. Still gets chased a bit by the other but no more injuries. They sit on the glass close to each other often. Chased clown goby and glass goby eat flakes! As does yellow stripped pink trimma goby. The other white stripped pink trimma died last week… I accidently killed it during a water change. Thinking about taking home a dragonett from work… one came in and has been eating frozen food from day one...

Had to stop Vit C in main tank after 2 weeks because all other corals looked awful! RPEs looked better for a while then got much worse… so they are now in 2gal tank being treated with Vit C there.

A few weeks ago lost the smaller, out going red antennae goby….. I think a big h2o change was too much for him… sigh, I liked him a lot… (I am now thinking that it was not the water change, as other fish and inverts are fine... I have a theory that these fish may die of stress if not provided with hiding places to their liking. I had provided only one hiding place for the two fish, which of course the big fish took for himself. I thought that because it was then night time they would just go to sleep, but the next day the small fish was missing and found on the following day to be dead.)

Oh I also brought home a small colt coral… it looks to be doing great! Put in 12g.

April 22 – brought home a Mandarin dragonet! It had taken to captivity at the store very well, didn’t loose any weight and eating frozen food right away! I thought if any dragonet would be good for my tank it would be this individual. Put it in a 12g quarantine for three days but it refused food there. Was very scared and stuck near the filter.

April 26 – morning, put Mandarin in 12g nano-cube. Hid behind the big rock most of the day.

April 27 – morning, I’m pretty sure Mandarin ate some frozen mysis! He looks so huge compared to the other fish in the tank. He does cruse around the tank some times.

April 27 evening- brought home a PAIR of red antenai goby and a PAIR of candycane pistol shrimp… one shrimp is holding EGGS!!! Put them all in the 2g, the shrimp in a holding box.

Begun Furan-2 treatment for rpe’s. they have really bad fungus and possibly zoa pox. 1 cup water, 1 pkg furan-2 for 20min then a rinse off and back in the tank. Did this for 3 days.

In 12g one xenia is looking white and melty, spreading FAST… colt is the same but not spreading that quickly, mostly just on the base.

Took out that xenia that night, tried to save some by using scalpel to cut good parts off, but it all died. All other xenias look fine. Colt looks fine a few days later, I think the white areas are where it grows a new branch.

May 1 – brought home a candy cane pistol shrimp and two new hi fin gobies from work… the other two gobies died, one the 2nd day and the next the day after. Put the pair of shrimp (no more eggs) into 12g, along with the new gobies (no quarentine for these, I am sick of loosing them). Pretty sure the shrimp found each other, and at least one goby is with them under the big rock. Both shrimp only had their big claw left, and on one it was damaged. After 1st day I only saw the intact shrimp, and it is re-growing it’s lost claw quickly. After lights out, one shrimp started wandering around the tank, even though it had a burrow… so I shooed it back towards it’s home and where I last saw the other shrimp. I think they are together now. I see one goby every few days, on May 4th it ate one piece of food.

Something I have learned about hi fin gobies… when it quarantine they should be provided with GOOD hiding places, or they may die of stress, even if they are eating, even while other fish or inverts in the tank survive. I have had this happen twice now. Even if I think they have sufficient hiding places, or if it is night time and there isn’t anywhere to go, they will not just rest or go to sleep… they will die of stress. Give them new sand, and hose bits, rocks, etc etc.

May 3 – brought home a heliofungia (long tenticle plate coral), it is doing great in 12g. Also some star polyps.

May 5th - hydrogen peroxide dip for rpe’s (still very brown with fungus, though maybe growing a little?) 25% hp 75% tank water for 7 minutes. (should be 10 but I couldn’t bear to watch them be full of bubbles). Yes the polyps became full of bubbles and when put back in tank after a rinse, they float!! Tied them onto bits of reef plug with elastic bands. Closed up tightly, but fungus is peeling away in sheets!! Was able to suck some of it up. Will do this dip every 2nd day for a week.

 

 

So tank inhabitants atm: 1 glass/masked goby, 2 yellow clown gobies, 1 mandarin dragonett, 2 hi fin gobies, 2 Randal's pistol shrimp, 1 big feather duster, custodians. lots of xenia, 1 plate coral, 1 colt coral, some star polyps.

 

Everything is doing GREAT except for the rpes (getting better?) and hi fin gobies which are still very shy. I hope the hi fins start coming out and eating more soon. They are tucked away with their shrimp in the elaborate burrows being built.

 

Yes, I know mandarins are recommended only for tanks 50g or larger, but I observed this one VERY carefully in the store every day. It was eating frozen food at every meal time, and gorges itself two or three times a day on frozen mysis in my 12g tank. At any sign of starvation I will take it back to the store, but since it comes to the glass when I approach and knows where I always drop the food and will sit there and eat until it is all gone, I do not think this will be a problem. For anyone else with a small tank, DO NOT purchase a dragonett, especially a mandarin, without first observing it for several days in the store and speaking with the staff. Most stores will hold an animal for you for at least a few days so you can observe it. Most dragonetts will unfortunately only eat LIVE food, even in captivity. By the time they realize to eat frozen food they are already too weak to survive. This is why they should be in large tanks.

[plainrt]

NO PICS?? AND WAY TOO MANY FISH

[Nanobuds]

we need pics or the thread is useless!!!

also good mandarin advice!! hopefully noobs wont just read that you have a mandarin in a 12 gallon and assume it will do good.

 

oh and u kinda overstocked on fish imo

[plainrt]

6 fish is overkill lol.

[RandomTabby]

12g nano reef

 

 

20g fresh

 

Yeah, I'm done on fish. All water perams are perfect though, even nitrate is undetectable! I do a 20% wc every week, and added an oceanic skimmer right at the start.

[plainrt]

Looks good except the fish count.Nice fw tank also.

[RandomTabby]

the tank 5min ago

I will be making some of the stray small rocks into an arch for the right side for all xenia, and put the colt up on the big rock.

 

Thanks for all the comments!

[Pablo]

I would defently take back some of the fish because you should really only have 2-4 fish in that size of a tank if they are small.

[got2envy]

Looks great! I can't believe you typed all that!

Make sure ya keep up the water changes with your bio load

[RandomTabby]

Yup I do a 20% wc every week, and have an oceanic skimmer. All that text is from my journal I keep for the tank, I just copied and pasted it all, minus the days which were just a wc, that is boring to read about

plus I work at a lfs so I have access to the best of everything

[lakshwadeep]

Do more research before you add livestock, especially on the heliofungia. Gobies should be hardy and disease-resistant. You shouldn't have much need to quarantine them, as that can be stressful for small fish. What are your other water parameters (i.e. ammonia/nitrite/nitrate)?

[got2envy]

I had a large bio load in my 10g contest tank..1x firefish, 2x red head gobies, 1x yellow watchman and at one time I had a yellow clown goby too but he didn't make it...no skimmer just 2g water changes a week

The mandy is really the one that will muck up the water since you have to feed frozen

 

It's cool that ya kept a Journal!

[ajmckay]

Holy $$$$....

[RandomTabby]

sg 1.025

temp stays between 77-81F

ph 8.3

ammonia 0

nitrite 0

nitrate 0

ca 400 (will be bumping it up a bit, got a new bottle of kent ca)

48watt cf light

 

 

yeah, 90% of the food that goes into the tank is for the mandy (that sounds so cute ^.^ ) I will be keeping a close eye on nitrates for sure. Oh and one of the hi fins came out for some supper tonight! I have yet to see both at the same time

[RandomTabby]

I am now seeing both hi fin gobies at every meal time! I still can't get over what huge appetites those fish have. They are staying out a little longer now, and popping out of holes in the boulder, too. As soon as I get a pic of both I will post it.

[RandomTabby]

You like pictures, you got 'em

 

 

"The neighbors are at it again..."

oh yeah and a few times I have seen both shrimp (briefly!)

[MGDMIRAGE]

cool little tank, lotta fish, but you must be doing something right

[danktank]

mandy looks deathly skinny

[RandomTabby]

Mandy is continuing to be a good eater, and is no longer intimidated by the smaller fish buzzing around for scraps (it used to swim away when they came close) now everyone is comfortable with each other. I think it is putting on a little chub in the cheek area. Yes it is a bit thin but very active and responsive. I'll mention my new "refugium" below. The first time I saw mandy going to the bathroom it looked like bits of carapaces, which I thought must be normal. The second time it was a white string, but I was rushing out for the day so I couldn't see any more than that. It didn't look like a worm to me, but I wonder if that's why it's having trouble gaining more weight. I wonder about putting metrodazinole on its food. Anyone ever used metro in a reef tank? I have spoken to a vet and was told it is very mild for fish, difficult to overdose, but might it kill off a lot in a reef?

 

 

I have been noticing something strange in the tank. There are these things that look like... pineapples. I first noticed one a few days ago as I removed the heater (summer is here and now I am finding tactics for keeping the tank cool instead of hot). It was stuck on the heater. I looked in the back compartments and saw a big one stuck on the far side. The next morning I noticed two more sticking out of the filter output... The main round part looks bumpy, and the other end is a feathery tuft. My only guess is that they are either egg sacs of some sort or sponges?? I saw one tonight on the sand near the plate coral, which was curled up, possibly a coincidence. I'm guessing (hoping) one of the pineapples on the filter output got dislodged and landed there. Anyone know what they are?

 

 

Oh yeah, one tactic I have been using to cool down the tank by 0.5F is to put about a liter of tank water in the fridge for a bit, then slowly pouring it into the filter. No freezer packs bumping into things, or excess fresh water from ice!

 

I also have been noticing a bit of hair algae so I put 2 tiny cowery snails into the 12gal. Man those things are cool! Oh and I have moved the colt up on the boulder so there is much more room on the sand.

 

So my refugium is a 6gal tank with a stingray 5 filter, at least 10 lbs of oolite live sand, lots and lots of macro algae and a few rocks. I tossed in 4 cerith snails and a bunch of tiny serpent/brittle stars I found in the sand at work. Also tons and tons of COPEPODS! (I find dozens of them in the filters at work, it is easy to pick them off the floss, and I feed them with phytofeast). But how will they ever get into the main tank if the tanks are not connected? Well, I have found that copepods love to hang onto aquaclear filter media bags (or probably anything similar). So I have put a few of those inside the tank via a veggie clip, and once the tank is crawling with the little buggers I will simply shake off a bag into the 12gal! This is mainly to help out the fish when I go away for a day or two this summer, but I think I will be able to grow enough of them to feed quite often. I also attached a cheesecloth cover over the stingray input just to keep them from getting stuck in there. It's night now but I will have more pics later.

 

 

[Quick]

Tank looks good.. That's quite the stocking list you have there.. But if you can make it work then it makes for a fun tank.. And yea those pineapple looking things are sponges. They will usually grow in darker areas such as plumbing.. I have quite a few in my tank as well. They are harmless filter feeders. You can google pineapple sponge and find out some more info on them..

[RandomTabby]

Tank looks good.. That's quite the stocking list you have there.. But if you can make it work then it makes for a fun tank.. And yea those pineapple looking things are sponges. They will usually grow in darker areas such as plumbing.. I have quite a few in my tank as well. They are harmless filter feeders. You can google pineapple sponge and find out some more info on them..

 

Cool, thanks! I feel quite relieved now, and happy to have a new addition to the tank!

[RandomTabby]

Finally did a water change yesterday, I have been sick with mono for the past week and am just now starting to recover. Found a little bubble algae hiding in a hole but I got it out easily. I also got a picture of this weird thing that has been growing for a few weeks now, probably some type of macro algae. In fact there have been a lot of tiny little things (algae and polyps) that I can't yet identify popping up all over the place.

 

 

I also replaced the air stone in my oceanic skimmer again, let me tell you if you have one of these, use the 1/2" stones, not the larger size that comes with it, they work just as good and changing the small ones is SO much easier!!

 

I am also wanting to submit for this month's photo contest; symbiosis, but am still debating which picture to submit... one of these two. The first better suits the theme but I think the second is a better picture overall. What do you think?

 

 

[highonfumes]

Mono is a nasty thing. I had it and never felt so crappy in my life. I vote the first pic. Those pistols are rad.

[RandomTabby]

Truer words have never been spoken.

Thanks for the input!

[lilredneckman]

Amazing tank! It makes me wish i still had my Hi fin goby