halfpint Posted August 10, 2011 Share Posted August 10, 2011 He is a cool little bugger. Can I haz? Link to comment
Alkamist Posted August 10, 2011 Share Posted August 10, 2011 nice tank its very clean and full of life! Link to comment
NewZealandReefie Posted August 10, 2011 Author Share Posted August 10, 2011 Heh, he is indeed HP He's doing a really awesome job of sifting the sand bed and is looking so much fatter and healthier, even after just 4 days. The other fish pretty much ignore him and for the most part he seems to like them, although when Asgard (tang) swims too close he acts a bit freaked out. Thanks heaps Alkamist, we really value the tank being clean, there's a sense of achievement in spotless sand and crystal clear water. I just won't post any photos after the meaty feed and calk dosing days lol. We're expecting a new shipment in at our LFS either today or tomorrow with a gold maxima clam and some exciting SPS. Yes, yes I did say exciting, I am excited for colourful sticks Link to comment
NewZealandReefie Posted August 13, 2011 Author Share Posted August 13, 2011 Before: After: Maui: Random SPS we found sitting in some cold salty water, turned out to be something quite special, Green, purple, blue, and white. Link to comment
NewZealandReefie Posted August 18, 2011 Author Share Posted August 18, 2011 The Leviathan - Now with clam. Link to comment
NewZealandReefie Posted August 22, 2011 Author Share Posted August 22, 2011 Heh, will do. I'll try and get a photo tonight! Link to comment
Spencer7 Posted August 24, 2011 Share Posted August 24, 2011 First time seeing this thread, read it all, and im JEALOUS! I love Tomini Tangs and Anthias. Also good names especially Spock, i have a Ocellaris clown pair named Biggy Smallz lol. Very nice lighting. I suggest a few more anthias and maybe a UV sterolizer. Anthias look amazing in groups and in general, square anthias r cool. THEN AGAIN... my LFS has a good motto, "if your aquarium is thriving, for whatever reason, even if u dont understand, go with the flow and let it be." But a UV couldn't hurt especially with tangs http://s1116.photobucket.com/albums/k563/SpenceDaFence/ Link to comment
NewZealandReefie Posted August 24, 2011 Author Share Posted August 24, 2011 Cheers Spencer. Thanks for the constructive comments We are looking at getting a couple of female anthias at some stage. The problem we have is seeing the fish before we buy it so we can be 100% sure it IS female and hasn't stated to morph to male, don't really want them murdering each other. We do own a tiny UV sterilizer but haven't had any kind of issues that make us think it's worth running for this tank. It's not a piece of equipment we consider vital to a reef tank, in face quite the opposite, they kill beneficial bacteria. We have used it when quarantining fish before, it was originally purchased for our fresh water tank (that didn't last long lol). We're picking up a new Orchid Dottyback tonight. We plan to call it Sly. Originally we were going to have two, Slinky and Sly but Slinky is one of the fish we lost to Brooklynella earlier this year EDIT: WTF is with the spamming of your photobucket dude? Make a tank thread then people can see your photos... if they want to. Link to comment
Boomboy Posted August 24, 2011 Share Posted August 24, 2011 you take good photos. cant wait to see the updates. thats sad about slinky Link to comment
NewZealandReefie Posted August 25, 2011 Author Share Posted August 25, 2011 My partner Ciedre is responsible for most of the photos. I tried to get some top down shots of the clam and some of the SPS last night with the water level a bit lower during the water change but I wasn't happy with how they came out so I'll not be showin' them around lol. Yeah, I was pretty gutted to loose Slinky, she was a fantastic fish. Sly went into the tank well enough last night. He shot straight into the front corner and was assaulted by Jaffa, Asgard & Maui straight away... he looked terrified and disappeared into the rocks (which we expected from the outset). We think we may have seen a couple of purple flashes in the rock work ... but it's hard to tell heh, he's pretty tiny. Link to comment
NewZealandReefie Posted August 25, 2011 Author Share Posted August 25, 2011 As I already know, orchid dottybacks are VERY hard to photograph. This has once again proved to be true, not helped by how itty bitty and FAST Sly is. Orchids appear almost iridescent, especially under metal halides. Their scales have a sort of 'shimmery' look caused by the light hitting the scale pattern. For anyone that doesn't know, orchid scales have black borders and pink/purple centers. As the fish swims and the light reflects off the black and pink they sort of appear to shimmer. All that stuff ads up to it being incredibly difficult, for me, to focus on the dottyback for a photo. Here are two fail attempts, it's entirely possible I will never get a better photo of Sly. I'll leave that challenge up to ciedre. I'm backing down on saying I'd never show those top down photos of the clam, they're as good as its got and I don't want to wait days and days just to get the 'perfect' pic. At least it'll give anyone who cares an idea of the colours and pattern of the mantle. That said, the blue balance is out, the clam is copper, buff and cream coloured. Ciedre and I have both taken a week off work (yay 9 days of no work, I can't remember the last time I took so much time off)! We're thinking of taking a trip up to a fish store in Napier which is about 4 hours drive from home. They usually have some pretty neat stuff in stock. One of the importers in NZ is moving to a new quarantine facility and in the process has collected up all the odds and ends that he's ended up with in his tanks over the years. We've been told to expect a shipment of totally random frags at our LFS in time for Saturday... I know where I'll be Saturday morning. /massive update... Link to comment
NewZealandReefie Posted September 2, 2011 Author Share Posted September 2, 2011 The now chubby spock! 24 day growth comparison. Link to comment
NewZealandReefie Posted September 3, 2011 Author Share Posted September 3, 2011 A few new additions over the week this week. Ciedre and I have both had 9 days off work and during that time we've had many spare hours to watch the tank and frag/ship/buy/receive corals. We sold the brown with blue tip staghorn and a massive piece of the chalice to a guy in Christchurch. Purchased 4 sps frags off another guy in Auckland and a couple of other things from an LFS. Some photos of the SPS will come when there's time. Orange fungia: Red & teal lobo: Twice in the last week, Asgard the tomini tang has swum out of a hole in the rock all in a hurry for something and gone face first into an urchin spine. When he gets stung a section of his skin around the puncture turns bright white and swells up. Both stings have gone down now and his skin is back to being grey but he's still got two little stab holes in his face. Link to comment
NewZealandReefie Posted September 5, 2011 Author Share Posted September 5, 2011 I really need a new FTS! Shall put that on my to do list for tonight. Link to comment
NewZealandReefie Posted September 5, 2011 Author Share Posted September 5, 2011 Some photos... FTS New coral SPS garden Link to comment
NewZealandReefie Posted September 7, 2011 Author Share Posted September 7, 2011 ATO arrived yesterday got a Tunze 5017. Having glanced at the set up instructions, I think I'll leave that till the weekend! Link to comment
NewZealandReefie Posted September 18, 2011 Author Share Posted September 18, 2011 Ciedre has set the ATO up and all has been running smoothly over the weekend Our clam has been looking a bit upset for a few days now, our first thought was that it didn't like where it was. We thought the clam was supporting this theory when it pulled up its foot and moved a bit...but nope, it turns out there are pyramid snails all over it. Ciedre removed it to a tub of aquarium water and has scrubbed off what snails and eggs he could, for now we'll keep an eye on it. We are pleased to note that it's opening up again today. We're going to keep trying to battle the population manually for now but if need be we will get a wrasse. Although we'd far prefer not to. Any other suggestions of methods of murder on pyramid snails would be appreciated Link to comment
halfpint Posted September 22, 2011 Share Posted September 22, 2011 Some photos... FTS Looking good! Link to comment
NewZealandReefie Posted September 22, 2011 Author Share Posted September 22, 2011 Cheers HP. Ciedre re-scaped the left hand side a bit the other day so it looks a little different now. When I can drag myself away from Gears 3 I'll get a new photo Link to comment
NewZealandReefie Posted September 22, 2011 Author Share Posted September 22, 2011 Thanks dan Can't wait for all my acros to grow out! They're all so puny at the moment but I know I've just got to be patient, don't want to overstock with coral and end up with it looking a mess. Link to comment
NewZealandReefie Posted September 23, 2011 Author Share Posted September 23, 2011 FTS taken tonight by Ciedre Spock! He's looking so great now he's fat and healthy again. His colours have changed so much as he's gained condition. From a bland pale grey to a deep charcoal colour with blue and brown patterns and yellow tinted fins. We think he's pretty neat. And just for a bit of fun, these three photos of our birds nest were each taken 24 days apart. The clam is looking much better, it's still refusing to put its foot down but it is extending its mantle again properly and regaining some of its lost colour... ####ing pyramid snails, nasty little bastards. Oh and the back wall? The one that was covered in algae? Yeah we haven't touched that... how sparkling clean it is, is all due to the fish and urchin Link to comment
NewZealandReefie Posted September 25, 2011 Author Share Posted September 25, 2011 Latest shots by Ciedre - Top down. SPS garden Hydnophora & some zoas Frogspawn More of the SPS Tell me what ya think! NZR Link to comment
Aquanist Posted October 3, 2011 Share Posted October 3, 2011 Tell me what ya think! Exquisite! Link to comment
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