HighEndOfTheLow Posted December 26, 2011 Share Posted December 26, 2011 Hi everyone. Firstly welcome to my tank thread! So, let me (Liz) tell you a bit about myself. I am a Physics and Biology Student at University with plans to become a Medical Physicist.I have been interested in conservation since I was a little girl, with a keen interest in moths, birds and fish. I had the typical goldfish in a plastic tank. The year before I started University I worked with Loggerhead Turtles Caretta caretta in Greece for a month. It was an amazing experience with memories that will never be forgotten. At the end of my First Year me and Luke met through our university course field trip. I will always remember him knee deep in water with a hermit crab in his hand whilst we were all rock pooling. He is the reason I got into reef keeping. My current setup: 30L mixed Reef set up, 1' cube 1x Azoo 1000 Hang on Back Filter (Containing Cheatomorphia) 1x Azoo 125 Hang on back Filter (Containg Bag of RowaPhos and KZ active carbon) 1x 100W Heater 1x Tunze Univerisal Mini Pump 5024.040 1x Genuine Evilc66 PAR38 12K LED Bulb 1x DIY 3 Cree Royal Blues and Heatsink moonlight 5kg Live Rock Stocklist 5x Zoa Morph colonies 2x Paly Morph frags (including Red People eaters) 1x Small Toadstool Leather 1x Kenya Bush Coral 1x Red Montipora capricornis Various mushrooms 1x Pink Spotted Mandarin (Synchriopus picturatus) 1x Gold Banded Possum Wrasse (Wetmorella nigropinnata) 1x Halloween Hermit Crab 2x Turbo Snails (one is a True Mexican Turbo) The tank has been set up since february 2011. I am fully aware of the fact some people may not agree with the mandarin being in a tank so small. That is your opinion but personally I am having good success. The mandarin (male) has been in since 17th May 2011. If anyone has any questions in regards to keeping a mandarin etc, I am more than happy to answer them, although if you are just going to tell me I am wrong, I am not going to argue with you, I think I've done enough to prove I can do it. Pictures to follow Link to comment
.Newman. Posted December 26, 2011 Share Posted December 26, 2011 is he(mandarin) eating frozen and prepared dry foods? also how big is he and was he wild caught or tank bred? looking forward to pictures Link to comment
HighEndOfTheLow Posted December 26, 2011 Author Share Posted December 26, 2011 is he(mandarin) eating frozen and prepared dry foods?also how big is he and was he wild caught or tank bred? looking forward to pictures He eats frozen foods, I have never tried with other prepared foods. I also supplement with copepods and rotifers. As far as I am aware he is wild caught, he was purchased from a fish shop that buys from a wholesaler, therefore I presume that he is wild caught. I was told that he ate frozen cyclopeneze when I purchased, Im not 100% that he was, but he now eats frozen mysis, lobster eggs, frozen cyclopeneze, frozen rotifers and TMC "marine quartet". My Boyfriend has a pair of green mandarins spawning in his 4'x2'x2' SPS dominated system, and we hope to try and raise these when we have more time. Link to comment
HighEndOfTheLow Posted December 26, 2011 Author Share Posted December 26, 2011 I havent got any very recent photos, but these are them from the beginning. This was taken over the summer- the tank was at my parents, so July or August- Please excuse the Bryopsis T_T Old FTS- the scape has changed (will get new photos when back at university!) I am currently at my Parents, but I will get some photos up when I get home. Link to comment
.Newman. Posted December 27, 2011 Share Posted December 27, 2011 that's great. I was interested in doing something similar in the future with wild caught mandarins(in a 20+ gal though). just trying to get an idea of how frequently its possible to see fish who learn to eat frozen foods in captivity Link to comment
duoc9119 Posted December 27, 2011 Share Posted December 27, 2011 Good to hear people are taking the plunge to pushing limits. Its looking great and I would like to see the progression of the tank! I thought about trying a mandarin in a small tank but it was close to the holiday break so I threw out the idea until I got back to campus. I'm going to try my hand at a pygmy cherub in a similar sized tank pretty soon. Link to comment
HighEndOfTheLow Posted December 27, 2011 Author Share Posted December 27, 2011 TBH it sounds terrible, but I don't understand why it seems so difficult. If you are willing to feed everyday/every 2 days, and you run low nutrient systems then its not a problem. I run 0 nitrates (tested via salifert) and 0.08-0.16 Phosphates (tested via D+D) it has run lower phosphates but I only feed frozen so I expect higher! The SPS are doing ok so I'm not too concerned. I normally do a water change..... every 3 weeks - monthly. I know.... not the normal weekly/fortnightly. In regards to mandarins, It is possible to keep them happy in small tanks. There is a report of a pair of spawning mandarins in a 10 gal tank- thats good enough for me. My little boy (my cousins called him Toby btw!) is always active, more so since adding the possum wrasse. I hope to get more pictures as soon as I'm home.... Link to comment
duoc9119 Posted December 28, 2011 Share Posted December 28, 2011 Everyone seems to go nuts when you mention a pico because of nitrates this, evaporation that. In my opinion, a small tank isn't as difficult as a large tank if you are doing things right. I'm pretty ocd about things so I haven't had any major parameter swings or any sort besides the initial cycle. My water changes are about the same as yours also. Why change anything if it is working well. I'd like to see some pictures just because I hardly see mandarin pictures on the forums. Link to comment
HighEndOfTheLow Posted December 28, 2011 Author Share Posted December 28, 2011 To be honest I do more maintanance on the 4'x2'x2' SPS dominated tank than the pico, I get no evaporation because I have well fitting cover glasses. Nitrates run at 0, I only have live rock and cheato for filtration. Before I left we added some zeo stones in a bag- the tiny stones that we didnt put in the reactor on the 4'x2'x2'. We will see what the phosphate is reading when I get back. I have some pictures of the spawning greens in the big tank somewhere, will try get them up later. Link to comment
HVani Posted December 28, 2011 Share Posted December 28, 2011 This is a really interesting tank. I've been wanting a scooter blenn for my 25 gallon. It have. Even worried about the feeding. But if a meandering can be kept in a 7.5 gallon a scooter in a 25 seems more possible. I would love to hear more about your set up. Link to comment
HighEndOfTheLow Posted December 28, 2011 Author Share Posted December 28, 2011 The setup is very simple really. All the filtration is live rock and cheato! I do run Rowa and Active carbon. As for a scooter in a 25 gallon, I can see it in there fine as long as you double check its feeding and ensure that its tank mates are quite docile. This is why they do so well in seahorse tanks etc as the seahorses are not as competitive as say a tang or a gramma. Its definitely a case of careful planning and if you build the tank with that in mind its easy enough to do. So for example with my tank (it was built in mind that I wanted blue stripe pipefish) I got a lot of live rock, (5kg for 30 litres is quite a lot) I made a scape with caves in to allow safe places for them. I was aware that I was going to be feeding a lot of frozen and so might have issues with nitrate and phosphates, hence the cheato and rowa phos. I knew I would need good clean up crew. (unfortunately the bristleworms came in HUGE numbers hence the wrasse!). With scooters and Mandarins, they dont like a huge amount of flow, they arent the strongest swimmers, hence the lower flow. This also helps the food settle on the substrate. This is important as both mandarins and scooters seem to want to stare at the food for a few minutes before eating it- this is another reason that it is important to have less competitive tank mates. I have read it is important to have a looser substrate, as scooters like to partially bury themselves to sleep. This is apparently not as much the case with mandarins, however I have noticed this with my mandarin on several occassions. (He also snuggled up with the wrasse one night.... I wish I had my camera at that time!) The current Coral magazine is a dragonet special and is really worth a read! Link to comment
HVani Posted December 28, 2011 Share Posted December 28, 2011 Thanks for all the info. It's been really helpful. Link to comment
duoc9119 Posted December 29, 2011 Share Posted December 29, 2011 I can't wait to get back to campus after the break to finish what I started. Lol I left the tank with just base rock in it. Pygmy Cherub here I come! I'd love to do maybe a pair of Kuda seahorses and a Mandarin tank. Possibly around 10 gallon custom tank. Link to comment
HighEndOfTheLow Posted December 29, 2011 Author Share Posted December 29, 2011 I can't wait to get back to campus after the break to finish what I started. Lol I left the tank with just base rock in it. Pygmy Cherub here I come! I'd love to do maybe a pair of Kuda seahorses and a Mandarin tank. Possibly around 10 gallon custom tank. I nearly went for dwarf seahorses in my tank but in the UK they are £65 each ($100 each), and being a student I cant afford it! so instead I said i'd wait. With seahorses it is important to have a tank 3x the adult length as your height. I cant wait to get back to see my tank, its in the excellent care of the boyfriend. Also have some store credit for some corals so I cant wait to find some nice LPS for the tank- I lost all my LPS to a heat spike, so it will be great to find a couple of nice pieces. I find LPS to wonderfully in the little tank because there is always lots of particulate food! I always get good P.E. Link to comment
duoc9119 Posted December 29, 2011 Share Posted December 29, 2011 $100 is a bit steep for dwarfs. Around here I can only find them for like $60 a pop and I find that steep as well, seeing I could get a pair of Kudas for $120. Link to comment
HighEndOfTheLow Posted December 29, 2011 Author Share Posted December 29, 2011 That the reason I didnt get them. Its a real problem in the UK because there is only one importer of dwarves in the UK- and they can charge what they want! I mean, I can buy Tank Breed kuda pair for £90 so thats about $140. If I get seahorses (which I will at some point in the future) I want Barbouri Seahorses (Hippocampus barbouri Because they can deal with higher flow levels and live on SPS reefs in the wild. (Im trying to get around the boyfriend because it would make a great frag system for his SPS! I will have seahorses.... its more a case of time! Link to comment
duoc9119 Posted December 30, 2011 Share Posted December 30, 2011 Haha you are not the only one adamant about seahorses. In due time we will have seahorses! I wonder if I can get the LFS to order Barbouri's. Very uncommon around here, just the occasional dwarfs and the rarely seen kudas Link to comment
HighEndOfTheLow Posted January 2, 2012 Author Share Posted January 2, 2012 I was just about to write a post about how im missing the tank, its at the boyfriends whilst i'm at the parents.... Only 2 days till im back with my babies.... However I will share you a video of me target feeding over the summer- please excuse the bryopsis! And this is the possum wrasse I boyfriend has found a recent video so you will see it with me for the first time! (Pod chasing!) Enjoy Link to comment
Spencer7 Posted January 3, 2012 Share Posted January 3, 2012 oooh, a vid, even better man that was a pretty big pod, its good to see them running around in the open like that, b/c like cockroaches, it means that there are plenty more... Everyone seems happy which is all that matters! Keep It Up Link to comment
HighEndOfTheLow Posted January 3, 2012 Author Share Posted January 3, 2012 oooh, a vid, even better man that was a pretty big pod, its good to see them running around in the open like that, b/c like cockroaches, it means that there are plenty more... Everyone seems happy which is all that matters! Keep It Up Indeed! pods are a bit prolific! its all good, they soon get eaten though! Link to comment
HighEndOfTheLow Posted January 5, 2012 Author Share Posted January 5, 2012 I promised you lot pictures so I guess I'll put them up! As you can see its not in the best of conditions at the moment, but Im overdue a water change and deep clean.... Will get some more up as and when Link to comment
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