Really cool tank!

Hey Guys.
I'm so psyched. I found a couple of books that gave the species most likely to be found in our area, so I'm not at the mercy of whatever I happen so see when I go diving. I know that it's a never-ending parade of creatures there, you never know what you'll see. So I think I can keep in the spirit of this tank by adding things I've bought that have been found here, not just seen by me.
I've ordered a collection of stuff from SeaLife that will arrive tomorrow. I've got gorgonians, sponges, crabs, and a mated pair of rusty gobies on the way. I managed to trick the Beau Gregory into a bottle trap so he now resides in my Chaeto tank. I was inspired by Diane and her gobies and hope I'll see spawning behavior too. I've trimmed lots of halimeda and am rooting it in some sand filled plastic containers for trading. Added a powerhead to help the gorgonians and add a few more pieces of rock to hide it.
By the way Diane, you asked what temperature I maintain the tank at. The jetties here have temperature fluctuations of as high as 90 degrees, and as low as 45, so I am not trying to moderate the temperature too much. No heater, but I do use a fan in the summer, as it could get over 90 with the lights on. It's running about 74 now, but I saw gorgonians and sponges last week at the jetties and the temp is 58. I've been to the Keys in January and the Bay side had gorgonians and coral surviving in water at 54 (Brrrrr, that's cold when you're diving in a wetsuit)
For an interesting website of a collector of marine organisms from this area, look here

Wow, what an interesting website! Wouldn't it be great to run an operation like that? I hate it that they only sell to scientific and educational entities and then describe such fascinating things. I was especially taken with the "Fouling Assemblages."

As far as I'm concerned your tank just keeps getting more and more intriguing. SUCH a great idea. Imagine being able to keep a tank at essentially ambient temperatures!

Oooh, new additions coming--that's exciting! I, too, have been intrigued by SeaLife's offer of mated rusty gobies and wondered why no one I know is snapping them up...no one whose threads I manage to read, anyway. I sure hope you get successful breeding! For one thing, I'd like to compare notes! For instance, I'd never heard that the male would actually collect the hatching larvae in his mouth and spit them out...now that I've observed this in my tank, I'm wondering if other spp do it? (No doubt some do...) 'Course, gobies are a huge group and no doubt have tons of different reproductive patterns...

Gee, I'm almost as excited to see your new additions as you are!

--Diane

This is seriously one of the most lovely tanks I think I've ever seen. The variety of things which exist in a single locality is absolutely astounding to me.

It's making me want to take a lot more time on my setup, and let the rock and sand just do it's thing and see what comes of it.

That is SO intelligent. It took me quite a while before I was able to walk out of an lfs empty-handed...to learn not to "talk myself into" something when I didn't find the sort of thing I'd come in to look for...

And I agree, there's something very satisfying about a biotope.

--Diane

I grew up near the sea. When my children were young, we lived near a river and had a fishing pond on our property. Summers saw us swimming and fishing often, and I instilled the same love of water into my kids that I had. I moved back to the sea when the kids were still young, on a bayou which opened out into the Gulf. We had a dock where we'd go for fishing and boating and I one day told the kids how "while a road on land would take you only so far, the sea is connected to the whole world, and you could go anywhere from right here and anything from the rest of the world could come here to this dock".
Maybe a little exaggeration for the benefit of a child, but when we'd be there and a porpoise would suddenly surface and blow at them, or they'd toss out their bait and pull in a big redfish or even a little sea robin, it was easy to understand and believe.
The jetties here are just an extension of that idea. Not only do large ships pass through the channel daily, but you just never know what you'll see when you go there. Those talks on the dock came back to me this summer when my now 18yr daughter and I went down for some snorkeling and she came face to face with a manatee and screamed "We really are connected to the rest of the world Dad!" That idea had lingered in her mind for all those years.
While not as obviously fecund as a tropical coral reef, there are many species of creatures routinely present at the jetties. Hopefully I'll be able to develop this nano into a suitable rendition of what we see there. If (well, when really) we move away from here, we'll bring away something maybe a little more attractive than the tourists with their buckets of hermit crabs and starfish
Thanks for looking and for your comments. There will be pictures as soon as I've gotten everything acclimated and positioned!

So my shipment came in, very professionally packed by Ken at Sea Life, Inc. out of Tavernier, Florida Keys.
I received:
Purple (bipinnate) Sea Plume gorgonia, Pseudopterogorgia bipinnata
Red Tree Sponge, Ptilocaulis sp.
Yellow Sea Whip gorgonia, Pterogorgia citrina
Purple Sea Rod, Plexaura flexuosa
Rusty Gobies, Priolepis hipoliti, mated pair
Here are the gobies temperature acclimating
There were also a couple of frags of gorgonians added to the bags and a nice black and grey brittle star, a different color than the ones I already have. Thanks Ken!


Here are the gorgonians and sponge acclimating



And here is the fts, with the gorgonians and sponge in place. Of course, as soon as I released the gobies into the tank they disappeared. Hopefully they will reappear soon.

Cool tank, Ken's a good guy I have ordered a couple times from him.

That new FTS looks AWESOME. So glad you pushed through the alae problems!

Nice looking fish as well.

Congrats! All the new inhabitants look wonderful. Man, I love the shapes of gorgs...

BTW, I greatly enjoyed post # 56. You are quite the philosopher of water, esp. oceans. Much of that is going to stay lodged in the back of my mind.

--Diane

Would you mind telling me just what it is you are doing?




Oh. Nice hat.

Haha, thats funny, he wanted a sponge hat to cool his head.

I lOVE this tank. It has its own kind of feel to it, distinct from a tropical reef tank. I think the recent new additions add some nice color to the mix. The tank really "pops" now. I like the aquascaping especially. I hope your gobies mate for you, they are a really neat species.

Someday, I will live by the ocean and keep a tank full of indigenous species. I imagine that it has a special meaning for you, since the critters inside aren't from some far away place, but just a few miles away. I would love to be able to hand-collect all my own specemins, but I live in eastern Pennsylvania, hours from the nearest ocean. The Jersey shore is the closest body of saltwater, but its fairly polluted and totally overrun with human development. That, and I really love corals, even more than the fish, and so, tropical reef is the way to go for me.

Must....Stop....Myself..... From......Naming.....Him.....Bob......

Hey, cute vignette! (What a beautiful sponge!)





Too late!


--Diane

Another fantastic and informative thread Sir.

Will be following along from here.

Best of luck for continued success with this beautiful tank Yardboy!

Great news. First, the gobies eat flake, and the female is pregnant. She's swollen up like a christmas turkey. I haven't even begun to study how to go about trying to raise up the babies.
Thanks so much for the links Diane. Got to get serious now!

i just have to say that this tank is awesome yardboy. fewskillz and I may have to get together on a local biotope one day.

SWEET!!!

--Diane

I don't even know what to say. This is simply one of the most amazing things I have ever seen/read and several times throughout your thread I found myself day dreaming of myself in those jetties. You bring so much real life marvel into a hobby that is all too often nothing more than trips to local fish stores where you are so limited. You should seriously write a book about your adventures, I would gladly buy a copy. Reading this thread could restore lost passion to anyone who has ever had an interest in reef keeping. Tagging along for sure.

Great tank, great idea, great pics. I am along for the ride now. It is inspiring, keep up all the good work.

I just read this whole thread and wonder how i missed it to begin with...you are giving me crazy ideas yardboy! I love this tank..that crab pic was grat!

Hey Guys!
JN has been quite stable over the last month, even though I made some major stocking additions. Mostly the algae are gone. Water changes have decreased to one a week, and any cyano that appears is usually on top of spaghetti worm mounds. I'm not sure if they collect it or if the detritus they gather up causes it to grow. Could be a research paper there, as there isn't a lot on the everyday lifestyles of spaghetti worms out there that I know of.
I've spent a lot of time watching this tank, as it still holds mysteries that none of my other tanks does. I should interject here that I've gotten into several discussions lately about the relative merits of Florida aquacultured rock versus rock from the South Pacific. A surprising number think that Florida rock is harmful and dangerous to use. I earlier stated in this thread how I'd obtained my rock, which in my opinion puts it in the same category as Florida aquacultured. I find it to be rich in "biomaterial", a challenge to use, but much more diverse in the organisms that provide the interest I have in this tank. What's been most fascinating aobut this tank is the concept of "cycling". We've all heard of folks buying "cycled rock" and after a few days of measuring ammonia and not seeing any, deciding that they won't have a cycle and can begin to stock the tank. I collected this rock underwater, brought it home in buckets of water, and the only moment it was exposed was between the bucket and the tank. I still saw a very distinct cycle, with quite a bit of dieoff and classic cycling nutrient problems. Surprisingly though, after about 4 months, the things I'd thought were dead have begun to reappear. Sponges, corals, invertebrates, I haven't even begun to identify what all there is. The mystery even extends to when I'm watching the tank, sudden curious flashes across the back of the tank. Accidental bumping of the tank or stand causes sudden movement all over. Fascinating! Hopefully I'll be patient enough to digitally record what all is going on there. Funny too, because there was a time when I wasn't sure if I'd be able to maintain this tank. My opinions about no sump, skimmerless, hob filtered tanks weren't very favorable. I've since changed my mind, and am very enthusiastic about the long term prospects of this tank. I even have plans for some more organisms, as I am able to locate them. To also confess, I extended the photoperiod of the tank from 10 to 14 hours, and everything has seemed to prefer the change.
Anyway, enough jabber. Here are some things I've not shown before, first up is my little rusty goby, what I assume is the male. When I first started seeing them, it was only the male who would come dashing out to grab food. I was afraid the female had died. Then one day, they were both upside down on a rock together, with the female quite swollen in the belly. Her bellies gone now, but they don't hang out together. The female is much shyer, and hangs out in the left rock pile. the male under the overhang with the purple gorgonian on it. Maybe they'll get back together when the "mood" strikes them!


Next is the Pederson's anemone shrimp. Sadly, he hasn't begun to host any of the anemones, but hangs on the bottom or on the purple sea rod. The spaghetti worms hassle him a bit, wrapping tentacles around his legs and making him jump!


The curley-cue anemone which hung out near the bottom on the left rockpile moved up a bit into a gap between two rocks, exposing this oyster it'd been leaning against. It appears to be your basic Crassostrea virginica, the "eating type" which I've never heard of anyone growing, though I'm sure there must be some.


Sponges are beginning to reappear over all the rock. This one seems to be growing the fastest, but before summer comes there will be pics of purple, white and yellow. They're just real small right now!

The yellow sea whip, a flat bladed species of gorgonian, is in the flow path of a small Hydor powerhead, and seems to enjoy it there, with it's polyps extended nearly all the time.



Here is a somewhat poor shot of the purple sea plume. It's polyps are extended constantly too. When I first received this specimen, it had a fire coral beginning to encrust around it's base, having extended up an inch or so on the stalks. If left in the wild, this gorgonian would have likely been overcome by the fire coral. The coral didn't like the conditions in the tank and has died, and it's skeleton disintegrated, and the gorg has begun reencrusting its old skeleton. From past experience I've found that if left alone, gorgonians will encrust their old stem much faster than they will regrow it. I found it out the hard way, after carefully trimming old stem off gorgs that had died back. Live and learn!


Finally, here is a FTS on 01/19/08. Doing quite well. Hope you like it!

Great update!

Very interesting observations about the cycle you've experienced, and one that makes quite a bit of sense (the stress from any environment change should cause die off and a cycle). Looks like your coralline algae is growing nicely as well, now that the "nuisance" algae has receded.

Great pics as well, your goby is quite nice, and that shrimp...WOW!

Looks more and more like the jetty I'm used to swimming around!

Yardboy......

Nice job!

Fantastic tank! It's great to see another biotope tank on here, I only wish I could've found this thread sooner!

So if the temperature where you are gets alll the way down to the forties/fiftees in the winter, I could get a pederson's anemone shrimp (or any of the other amazing organizms you have in your tank) for my coldwater tank? I think I have some purchases to contemplate.

-Jamie

You bring up an interesting question Jamie. I guess I need to psyche myself into going snorkeling to see what kind of things are apparent this time of year. Possibility that many of these things go dormant somehow so you'd not see them in your tank. Just last week the air temperature got to 25 degrees here, and the next day the shore was littered with brown sea slugs and carrier urchins. Not sure what caused them to die, we assumed that they'd gotten caught in shallow water which may have gotten colder than the water a bit deeper. I'll wait until we get a bit warmer day and I'll try snorkeling at the jetties. Not tomorrow as it's going to be 31 tonight. Brrrrr!

What a welcome update!

Interesting observation about the spaghetti worms and cyano. I, too, think of phenomena I witness as potential research projects.

Your cycling insights are also most interesting. Isn't it wonderful to have things that you thought you'd lost reappear?! Congrats on the thriving sponges! I'm eagerly awaiting more info on what's "scurrying around" in there. And here's to successful "simple" set-ups!

I just love the goby & shrimp pics, and congrats on the oyster! (Do you think it looks a little emaciated?)

Nice info about the gorgs, and that fts shot is just captivating. I could stare at that tank for hours and hours.

KUDOS!

--Diane

Does it typically get that cold in Florida? It's been a really cold year here. It's supposed to be 22 tomorrow night, which is unusually cold for Oregon west of the Cascades.

I understand your hesitation, I've surfed here, in 50 degree water, and I have to wear at least a 5mm wetsuit to keep from freezing to death. If you go and don't see anything, at least you'll know you never have to go again!

-Jamie

Honestly one of the sweetest nanos on the site.

Florida is like California and is quite extended North to South. PCB is in the Panhandle and at the Northern end of the Gulf of Mexico. Shallow water can get quite cold here. The bays are already down to 52 degrees, but the Gulf is 63 degrees. Every time the tide changes there is that temperature change also. We don't get the same degree of tidal change you do in Oregon, only around 2 feet, though when a North wind blows (and brings cold weather) on a low tide, it can be more like 5 feet.
he next week is bringing another wave of cold weather, so it'll be awhile before I venture into the water!

A couple of shots I took after Green bay got beat in the playoffs.
This piece of knobby sea rod came from a wreck site offshore of Panama City this past summer. Kinda pushing the jetties tank, but the site was only about 20 miles South of the jetties.


I thought of putting the title of "Slow Rider" on this shot of the shrimp on the cucumber. I was trying to get a good shot of the mouthparts of the cuke, to show its radial symmetry, which is why it's in the same family as starfish (yes, I am learning something from the book Diane!). Looking at it feed I thought I could show it, but somehow the small shell got in the way, and didn't feel that disturbing it's meal would be nice to the cuke!

I visited the lfs yesterday, they had a few gorgonians but nothing spectacular. I was looking to buy some snails for my frac tank, and noticed that there was a small "stick" of some purple gorgonian laying off in the corner. When I asked how much the clerk just laughed and dropped it in the bag with the snails. Thank you maam!
I thought I'd show a picture of it and later compare any growth it might put on. While gorgonians are generally slower growing, one thing I've noted is that if the outer tissue is damaged but the central chord is still intact, the animal will quite quickly overgrow the damaged section. In the past I'd prune the "dead" parts of the chord off to make the gorg "look nicer". Now I just leave it.
This photo was taken today, 2/14/08. I'll take other shots when I see the rind start growing again.

I'm afraid I may have contaminated the tank. I thought I was careful when aquascaping this tank, to only use the rock I "aquacultured" at the jetties. Today, I pruned back a halimeda and found on a rock behind it some unknown coral. The rock may have been a piece I used to space apart a bigger rock, not sure. Anyway, this looks kinda like a montipora and it is definitely growing. There is a slight purple tint to it, maybe a purple monti cap, but I'm just not sure. I started to cut it off, but decided to watch how it grows. Darn it, it's been all I could do to resist putting zoanthids in the tank, to keep it "pure".
On the other hand, who knows, it might be some caribbean coral. Many tropical fish are swept up here by the currents, living here until it gets cold, then either dying or migrating away. Wouldn't it be cool if it was something that attached itself to the rock last spring and would have normally died, but was "rescued" by my putting the rock in my tank? We'll see.

Fascinating tank thread. I'll follow intently from here on out. My wife thinks I'm crazy for sitting in front of my tank and 'just watching", but it's amazing how often you'll get rewarded for your patience. Sometimes it can be hard to slow down and just look, but good things usually happen.

Tank is looking great. What do you mean that you may have contaminated the tank?

That sure looks like it is some sort of montipora. Should be cool to see what it develops into.

check out sealifeflordia for different gorg also. Did u check out gulfcoast ecosystems for their plants?

Looks like it may be a monti, but could also be some type of encrusting gorg?
http://www.thatpetplace.com/pet/prod/239458/product.web

Thanks for the comment! What I mean is that this tank was set up as a "biotope" of the Jetties at St. Andrew's State Park in Panama City Beach, Florida. I've tried to only include creatures that might reasonably be expected to live there. I've collected some livestock from there, and have purchased other animals, crabs and gorgonians, that might be found there. Unfortunately, if a monitpora is in the tank, then the tank is "contaminated" with something that would never be found at the jetties. If I determine that it is a montipora, then I'll remove it. On a side note, if it is a montipora, surprise, it's growing under 2-36W PC's, which I would not have expected to happen.

Divecj5, I have purchased extensively from Ken at Sealife. Very cool stuff. Most of the gorgonians came from there. I've also purchase stuff from Reef Scavengers.
Thanks spanko for the link, but It seems to have a hard skeleton. Time will tell.
dtfleming, thanks for the link to Gulf Coast Ecosystems. I've checked out their site and right now most of what they have I can collect right here. This spring I will try again some Ulva. They may also have greater stock later too, so I'll check them again. Sounds like a really cool place though!

Well, both the possible monti and the new gorg will be fun stories to follow!

That "rescue" scenario would definitely be cool. But how would you ever know?

--Diane

Quote : That "rescue" scenario would definitely be cool. But how would you ever know?

Well, if it was identified as a South Florida or Caribbean coral there would have been no way to have purchased it. I've not gotten any Tampa Bay Liverock that might carry in something and that'd be the only other way anything "Carribbean" would have gotten in there. Time and my weak id skills will tell.

Ahhh...gotcha now on "contaminated." If it does turn out to be a monti....I would at least let it grow for a bit and see how it turns out. Then you could always have it for another tank or for trading/selling purposes

Love the update
This is the most interesting tank thread on N-R. I wish I could start a tank like that, but I'm sadly land locked for the most part.

I can't wait to see what happens to the monti you found.

Oh, I see!

--D

Well this is odd, a similar coral that looks exactly the same as the one you have pictured, appeared in my Florida biotope also. It literally appeared out of nowhere and so far has been doing great. At first I though it was a type of porites but the polyps are way too small for it to be that (I have a terrible sense of scale from looking at photos and pictures) so my money is on an encrusting montipora now.

sweet girl!

She says Thanks!
I collected her up and put her in my habitat. Prettier than a Tubastrea but a lot more work to feed and take care of.

Haven't posted on the jetties nano for awhile, though it's doing well. I even went for three weeks without a WC and it didn't crash, but I'll try not to do that again, as it looked so happy when I did do a change.
The codium is doing it's "fur coat" routine, not sure if it's just algae growing on it's surface, or some sort of spawning thing. It did it last year also so I wonder.


The hitchhiker montipora (or whatever it is, you are welcome to offer your thoughts on it's family background) is still growing well, and I'm still surprised that it is growing so well under these PC's. Go figure.



I previously talked about not pruning dead core from dieback on gorgonians. I had a weird thing happen. Some filamentous algae got established on the end of the cores, and as the rind of the gorgonian grew to the end it started growing over the algae. as the filaments swayed in the current, the gorgonian just followed it along, until it developed these corkscrew appearances. I finally got too embaressed and snipped the algae strand off and the gorgonian stopped growing out. It reminds me of a suggestion made by Anthony Calfo to put trimmings of gorgonians when you frag them onto pieces of plstic or wire line and have it grow over them. At the time I read that I thought he was full of bull, but now I'm thinking of trying it myself!



Many sponges growing at the jetties aren't interested in light, and avoid it, likely to keep algae from growing on it's surface. I spotted this purple one growing in a little cave behind the halimeda, interesting that it's almost camouflaged, growing around that purple corraline.

Glad to see this tank is still doing well!