Nano Sapiens 12g - Ye Olde Mixed Reef

[cindyp]

Woke up this morning to this:

 

 

 

 

shrooms: WTF MAN!

[gena]

Yeah, these Scolly's and Lobos are something else, and this Scolly beats the tar out of Lobos. It's kind of like having a pitbull in with a bunch of poodles

 

I've seen it spread it's filiments 5" away up the live rock when nothing was even there to kill...(these attacks are triggered by sensory ques in the water, so sometimes they don't quite get it right).

 

That scoly attacking is horrific but so cool looking!!!! I just picked up 2 lobos....now I'm concerned LOL.

[cindyp]

 

That scoly attacking is horrific but so cool looking!!!! I just picked up 2 lobos....now I'm concerned LOL.

 

we're a bunch of looky loos! ha

[Nano sapiens]

gorgeous tank!

 

i hadn't seen a cadlights like this before.

 

crazy warfare foto to. whoa! poor shrooms!

 

Thanks. Unfortunately, Cadlights doesn't make this little 12g anymore.

 

The orange Yuma is recovering nicely, but the purple one was mostly destroyed. Luckily I have two of these purples in the tank, so I won't loose the type (I try to keep at least two polyps 'just in case').

[cindyp]

Thanks. Unfortunately, Cadlights doesn't make this little 12g anymore.

 

The orange Yuma is recovering nicely, but the purple one was mostly destroyed. Luckily I have two of these purples in the tank, so I won't loose the type (I try to keep at least two polyps 'just in case').

 

that is a real bummer.

 

i love yumas too.

 

i got a soul dragon favia as a freebie

yesterday and have been googling a little.

erm. does it do what your scoly does?

 

aiiiiii

 

what happens when noob gets freebie

and has no clue. i've got my favia next to

some nice zoas right now.

[Nano sapiens]

i got a soul dragon favia as a freebie

yesterday and have been googling a little.

erm. does it do what your scoly does?

 

aiiiiii

 

what happens when noob gets freebie

and has no clue. i've got my favia next to

some nice zoas right now.

 

Nearly all species in the Favia/Favities have some type of sweeper tentacle. Some can be quite long, others shorter.

 

A quick search and I found this: http://www.tidalgardens.com/dragon-s-soul-favia-wysiwyg9.html

 

"Word of Warning - Favia are one of the corals that extends long sweeper tentacles. Sweeper tentacles are often used as a means of defense against other encroaching coral colonies. Their white tips contain a concentration of nematcysts that can damage more delicate tank mates. Most of the time, this is not a major problem but to be safe, we recommend placing it in a location far from other corals initially. "

 

The only 'Favia' type I have is the related Leptostrea. They don't have sweeper tentacles, but can extend their polyps a bit to sting very close-by neighbors.

[cindyp]

Nearly all species in the Favia/Favities have some type of sweeper tentacle. Some can be quite long, others shorter.

 

A quick search and I found this: http://www.tidalgardens.com/dragon-s-soul-favia-wysiwyg9.html

 

"Word of Warning - Favia are one of the corals that extends long sweeper tentacles. Sweeper tentacles are often used as a means of defense against other encroaching coral colonies. Their white tips contain a concentration of nematcysts that can damage more delicate tank mates. Most of the time, this is not a major problem but to be safe, we recommend placing it in a location far from other corals initially. "

 

The only 'Favia' type I have is the related Leptostrea. They don't have sweeper tentacles, but can extend their polyps a bit to sting very close-by neighbors.

 

thank you! i had no idea! i was googling the

favia as far as care, but none of those articles

mentioned it's killer tendencies. i'll be moving my little

dragon soul favia to somewhere with more breathing

room today.

[Nano sapiens]

You are welcome. Better to be safe than sorry as these interactions often happen over night and in the morning it's a mess ;(

[Nano sapiens]

 

That scoly attacking is horrific but so cool looking!!!! I just picked up 2 lobos....now I'm concerned LOL.

 

...you should be!

 

Hope you have a space to keep them on their own.

[owenj]

Apologies since I'm betting this is mentioned somewhere else in the thread, but I'm going to ask instead of surf through 40+ pages are your rics attached to a single rock or are they a bunch of rics that were placed next to each other?

[gena]

 

...you should be!

 

Hope you have a space to keep them on their own.

Unfortunately they are within striking distance in both tanks . Praying for no surprises one morning .

[Nano sapiens]

Apologies since I'm betting this is mentioned somewhere else in the thread, but I'm going to ask instead of surf through 40+ pages are your rics attached to a single rock or are they a bunch of rics that were placed next to each other?

 

Don't blame you for not wanting go through so many pages

 

Originally, I glued the individual Rics from my 10-pack onto the rocks. They all came with a smalll piece of rubble attached which made this easy. As time went on they moved, split and genreally do what 'Mushies do. The ones that got clobbered recently by the Scolly are all attached to a large Astrea snail shell. I tend to throw an detached Rics into the middle calmer area of the tank and let them attached to whatever snails and rubble that I have there.

 

Unfortunately they are within striking distance in both tanks . Praying for no surprises one morning .

 

Alrighty, good luck!

[owenj]

Don't blame you for not wanting go through so many pages

 

Originally, I glued the individual Rics from my 10-pack onto the rocks. They all came with a smalll piece of rubble attached which made this easy. As time went on they moved, split and genreally do what 'Mushies do. The ones that got clobbered recently by the Scolly are all attached to a large Astrea snail shell. I tend to throw an detached Rics into the middle calmer area of the tank and let them attached to whatever snails and rubble that I have there.

 

 

Alrighty, good luck!

Good to know. My first rics for the tank arrived today and one of them is already making a break for it from the rubble it came attached to. I tucked it onto a small rock so hopefully it'll decide to stay there. The other one looks like they went after it with a ton of superglue we'll see if decides to stay on the frag plug glue blob or slimes off.

[Nano sapiens]

If some take off on you, another trick is to take a small clear plastic cup, cut it down to maybe 2" high and fill the bottom with rubble. Place it in a calm area and add the detached Ric(s). In 2-3 weeks they usually attach.

[Nano sapiens]

Comparison of orange Yuma 'Before' and 'After' the Scolly attack one week ago:

 

 

 

Not a bad comeback, I'd say. That's a tremendous amount of healing for only one week. Interesting to see the mouth inverted in this way over the last couple days, but I am not sure what benefit this has to the Yuma (increased oxygen uptake, perhaps?)

[Nano sapiens]

Current PAR #s (+15% compensation factor, front LED strip at 50%, rear at 60%)

 

Purple M. digitata: 350

Orange M. setosa: 265

Copper-Orange P. maldivensis: 275

'Red Planet' Acropora: 247

'Northern Lights' A. granulosa: 220

Acanthastrea lordhowensis: 220

Ricordia yuma ('Pink'): 200

Green/Yellow Rhodactis: 195

Blood Red Rhodactis: 180

Rusty Rhodactis: 200

Tonga Purple Rhodactis: 138

Highlighter Green Rhodactis: 253

Orange R. yuma (recovering): 150

Sunny D Zoanthids: 247

Green P. varians: 242

 

By decreasing the length of 'full lighting' from 6.5 to 5 hrs. I can still use just Kalkwasser and a small amount of RO/DI in my ATOs (~90%/10%). My preference is to reduce duration vs. reducing intensity since intensity is required to maintain certain coral pigments. Coral coloration has remained consistent and while overall growth has slowed (as evidenced by the now stable Kalk useage), one species in particular is actually growing faster, the purple M. digitata. Looking at the higher PAR level that this species is subjected to (350), it's possible that it was previously photoinhibited when receiving 6.5 hrs. of full intensity lighting which can cause reduced calcification rates.

[Nano sapiens]

The carnage continues...

 

'Red Planet' Acropora sweeper tentacle taking out a Nuke Green Paly:

 

 

Of an original (4) Palys, only two are left. The sweepers are highly potent and can extend up to 3/4". It only uses the sweepers for large polyps like Acans and Palys, but it uses a toxic chemical blast instead of sweepers for other Acros and encrusting corals like Montipora. It seems likely that it can detect the chemical signature of different types of organisms and determine it's 'weapon of choice'. Impressive!

[TigerLily]

You have a very violent tank! Great photography skills to capture it all!

[Nano sapiens]

You have a very violent tank! Great photography skills to capture it all!

 

Something to look forward to once your tank grows in

 

Thanks. Had to use a magnifying lens in front of my old digital camera to get this close...

[cindyp]

Comparison of orange Yuma 'Before' and 'After' the Scolly attack one week ago:

 

 

 

Not a bad comeback, I'd say. That's a tremendous amount of healing for only one week. Interesting to see the mouth inverted in this way over the last couple days, but I am not sure what benefit this has to the Yuma (increased oxygen uptake, perhaps?)

 

very impressive come back! i had always thought

the filament was part of coral guts? splurt out when

upset or perhaps to try and gather food?

 

we need a Game of Thrones equivalent title for

your tank, man. ha! Tank of Toxins?

[Nano sapiens]

very impressive come back! i had always thought

the filament was part of coral guts? splurt out when

upset or perhaps to try and gather food?

 

we need a Game of Thrones equivalent title for

your tank, man. ha! Tank of Toxins?

 

I believe that the structures coming out of the mouth are 'Mesenteries'. This is a very stable organized structure, unlike the mesentary filaments that come and go from the mouth or other parts of the polyp when the 'Shroom is really pissed. It's all part of the same system and it's interesting to see the mesenteries stay outside the mouth cavity for days on end like this. My guess is that once everything is fuly healed internally they'll return back to the normal position.

 

A lot of folks think that Ricordia are 'toxic', but there is no evidence of this. I have cut Rics right in the tank and have not seen any negative reactions from any soft or hard corals whatsoever.

[cindyp]

I believe that the structures coming out of the mouth are 'Mesenteries'. This is a very stable organized structure, unlike the mesentary filaments that come and go from the mouth or other parts of the polyp when the 'Shroom is really pissed. It's all part of the same system and it's interesting to see the mesenteries stay outside the mouth cavity for days on end like this. My guess is that once everything is fuly healed internally they'll return back to the normal position.

 

A lot of folks think that Ricordia are 'toxic', but there is no evidence of this. I have cut Rics right in the tank and have not seen any negative reactions from any soft or hard corals whatsoever.

 

it does look a lot neater than the guts my

shroom dispels when i upset them.

and i hadn't even heard about rics being

toxic! mine is doing very well and eats anything,

it seems. also growing like a weed. i hope yours

continue to improve!

[markalot]

I love the way acros can attack corals around them. My slimer slimed / attacked an aptasia growing too close which forced it to move (I'm guessing didn't kill it). For some reason this surprised me as I'd always thought of SPS as delicate corals.

[Nano sapiens]

I love the way acros can attack corals around them. My slimer slimed / attacked an aptasia growing too close which forced it to move (I'm guessing didn't kill it). For some reason this surprised me as I'd always thought of SPS as delicate corals.

 

Yeah, so did I...until I got this RP Acro. This and very fast growth are main reasons why they can be so successful in the wild.

[Nano sapiens]

For those who know Yumas, here's the gamble:

 

 

It's been quite a while since I've even seen a wild Yuma in person and it's really clear how different this Yuma type is from the majority of the typical aquacutured Yumas. In its morphology it is most similar to the 'Rose' Yuma I acquired a while back. I find the rich color combination very pleasing without being gaudy.

 

As many know, wild Yumas have a reputation for melting even in the best of tanks so they are always a risk. In this case, the specimen was held for a month under T5s and moderate/strong indirect flow and the 'Shroom obviously looks healthy. However, looks are no guarantee and success with such a specimen should only be measured after many, many months in a tank.

 

For the best chance of success (less stress on the coral) I ordered this one at a time when the general temperature was in the 70's - low 80's. As a result, the bag water was only ~5 degrees cooler than my tank's 78. When received at my door my main priority was to get the coral out of the shipping water as soon as possible and into a bowl of clean aquarium water. From there, I did a quick search for goodies and badies with a white and then blue beam flashlight (the blue beam uncovered a very small speck of coral tissue that under magnification appears to be from a stony coral seleton...which I am growing out). During this process I was very surprised to see the Yuma open up as if to say "Ahhh...new water!". Next step was a dunk of the LR base (only) into a tapwater/iodine solution for around a minute to eliminate Amphipods and worms, mostly. After that, into the tank it went to a predetermined location providing partial moderate light/partial shade and medium/low flow. Within 30 seconds the coral had opened up fully, so that was encouraging

 

Interestingly, my black misbar Clown has decided that he likes the spot occupied by this Yuma. On the plus side, the waste products from the gills (ammonia) and excrement will provide nourishment for the coral. On the negative side, the coral has to deal with a bit of physical contact.