msscha's 24 gallon office cube

[msscha]

Portrait of a Fish Alone

 

Poor Bozette! The trimma goby isn't much for company and the damned GBC shrimp constantly snaps at her every time she swims past. It's out. No more waffling on that one. The LFS claims he's having an awesome frag sale this weekend -- and there is still one little sweet-faced clown I may bring as a companion for Bozette -- provided she doesn't kill it, of course! They also have a purple firefish...

 

All by myself

 

 

In other parts of the tank...

 

Red Grape Caulerpa is doing well

 

Hungry Brittle Star

 

Yellow Feather Duster through 10x magnifying glass -- and still not a great shot!

Edited April 27, 2012 by msscha

[msscha]

I re-scaped yesterday -- haven't taken pictures, but stopped by the office quickly to dose some microbacter and despite having messed with stuff, everyone looked happy and healthy -- woo hoo! I liked the design, too. Though like the other, there are some drawbacks -- the cave is very dark, so seeing the shrimp is nearly impossible and the trimma goby is hiding in the back where little to no food is going to get to. In a few days, I think they'll all adjust fine. I'll post pics on Monday when I am back at work.

 

The May/June issue of Coral came today and there is this whole spread on pygmy gobies -- OMG! I am in love. I would love a tank full of those. There are some neon gobies at the LFS -- may do that with a YWG or maybe a light blue chromis for some extra motion in the tank. But those pygmy gobies are just so cute !!

[gena]

Portrait of a Fish Alone

 

Red Grape Caulerpa is doing well

That is such a nice looking macro! We should do a macro trade when they grow more. Good to hear the tank responded well to the rescaping. Looking forward to seeing what you did

[jgpico]

You have some really sweet stuff in here. I love all the life on your live rock.

[ScubaEthan]

Bozette is a perfect clownfish specimen. I want some red grape caulerpa!

[msscha]

New FTS

 

Hmm. I do like the new rock scape though it certainly has its faults. I'm not sure the rocks so close to the back wall are a good thing -- I want water flow to be present throughout the tank. I don't like the angle on the acan rock, nor should the toadstool leather be so close to the one. That's a simple fix, though -- I can just move the toadstool down a bit or move the rock that the acans' rock is sitting on down a bit so that the acans have a flatter surface. The cave is now pretty dark b/c the rock is so close to the wall. I am not happy about that. I may move the center low piece down at a slant, too. Having rock up against the glass means spots I cannot clean. Don't know if this is good or bad, since having a bit of algae on the glass also seems to encourage different kinds of life. I have no idea where the 2 really beautiful feather dusters are. I'll have to see if they come out and are in view; if not, that is something to think about. I'd love to have the blue one out in the open again. Right now, I think it's facing the back. Finally, the trimma goby is hanging out in the back even though there are plenty of spots up front that are covered. This bums me out, and I hope that it will come out more once it's more comfortable with the new arrangement.

 

On the good side: There is an open part in the back now which is free from the sand bottom all the way to the top. I am looking at getting a gorgonian or some kind of branching, tallish coral for that spot! I do like the zoas in front instead of in the back. I was going to use that rock elsewhere and take the zoa colony off to place up front, but when I tried to move it, it wouldn't budge! I hadn't glued it, so I am assuming that the zoas like the surface well enough to have attached, so they get to stay. It means halimeda up front, which isn't ideal, but if I had a cool pink or orange coral branching out behind, then the contrast would be lovely. There are two more open-ish spots where something like a brain coral could go, and there are lots of the lfs to choose from. The hidden cup coral that has been so irritated by the giant pink mushroom is in a new spot a couple inches "up" from where it was before. The pink shroom hasn't decided what to think and hasn't opened up, but even if it does at its current spot, it will be further away and less of a bother. The micromussa seems happy in its new spot, but blends so well with the rock that it isn't very noticeable. The blasto is tucked into a crevice and is quite plump looking. It definitely is happier off the sand. My other bit of blasto still doesn't like the rock -- so, it's on the sand where it seems quite pleased to be! And, the moving things about revealed a second pink shroom! I have no idea where it came from...something's been propagating in my tank!

 

I am actually thinking I have too much LR in the tank. If I returned the piece where the rics are sitting and moved the zoa chunk to that middle spot, it would open up a tract of sand and rock for corals or a happier sand-oriented fish. What do you all think of that?

 

FTS -- 4/30/2012

 

Sideview 1

 

Sideview 2

 

Newly discovered pink shroom

 

Zoas

 

Blasto in sand

 

Micromussa

 

Acan Rock (I flipped it around so that the bigger acan would not be in contact with toadstool)

 

Brown Shrooms (tucked behind zoas)

 

Sad Trimma

Edited April 30, 2012 by msscha

[msscha]

You have some really sweet stuff in here. I love all the life on your live rock.

Thank you! That was one advantage to starting off with freshly harvested LR. The disadvantage was weeks spent hunting down unwelcome hitchhikers! A lot of the early color has been lost, especially some very cool sponge life, but all in all, I'm pretty happy with where it's at .

 

Bozette is a perfect clownfish specimen. I want some red grape caulerpa!

Why, Bozette is blushing ! She is also convinced of her worthiness. I just don't know if I should get her a companion of her own kind. She was awfully mean the last time I tried it. I like the red grape caulerpa, too! I have no idea where it comes from -- but I will look up how to propagate it and send some your way when it gets a bit bigger!!

[RedStang]

Was the previous clown of similar size? Make sure you get a small one. Also, even though I added both of mine at once it took a few months of the bigger one proving her dominance before things settled down. My female never actually bit the other but just chased him around.

[msscha]

Was the previous clown of similar size? Make sure you get a small one. Also, even though I added both of mine at once it took a few months of the bigger one proving her dominance before things settled down. My female never actually bit the other but just chased him around.

Yeah -- I messed up by adding a clown that was too close in size. Bozette did more than chase, though. She shook that think like a dog shakes a chew toy -- by the 5th round of it, I was so freaked out I returned the black clown where it found a good home within a few days!

 

They do have a baby one in stock right now. I have read conflicting reports of the ocellaris' life as a solo, with some people saying it's no problem, though there might be individual variation, and others (mostly breeders), saying that a happy clownfish is a mated clownfish. Bozette doesn't strike me as depressed! But other than hanging out in a single place and not moving, I wouldn't know what a depressed clown looks like. She swims sweetly all around, pretty much everywhere, though she is partial to "her" half of the tank.

[phoenix91]

Sorry about Rain. I agree that if you go for another clown make sure he's smaller. Even though i added mine within a week of each other Darcy got ripped up something crazy, things have settled down now i've done a tank move and rock re-scape. If they do fight (if you get 1) try moving some of the rocks again so Bozette doesn't have such a defined territory, that helped mine loads.

 

Having said that, i love the new 'scape, you have some really nice macro algae and everything looks great.

[msscha]

Sorry about Rain. I agree that if you go for another clown make sure he's smaller. Even though i added mine within a week of each other Darcy got ripped up something crazy, things have settled down now i've done a tank move and rock re-scape. If they do fight (if you get 1) try moving some of the rocks again so Bozette doesn't have such a defined territory, that helped mine loads.

 

Having said that, i love the new 'scape, you have some really nice macro algae and everything looks great.

Thank you! I think your advice is good, and if I was going to add another clown, should've done it when I re-scaped! Bozette did have a couple of hours where she was a bit fritzy -- that would've been an ideal time to add a baby clown. Still need to think about it a bit.

[gena]

Pick up a baby clown, and while it's acclimating, mess with the scape again!

 

I really like how the zoa/macro/sponge rock looks on the sand. Are the ricordeas stuck to the rock they are on? If not, what about placing them on the sand and then maybe flipping that rock so that it rests more naturally on the underside of the flat large macro rock that is now at an angle? Or under the acan rock and then moving the flat macro rock where the acan rock is now? It's hard to tell the total shapes of the rocks in a picture so those ideas may not even work. From the looks of it, this rearranging might give you a ledge at the top. That might be interesting. I hate rock-scaping!!!!! Especially with critters in the tank.

[ScubaEthan]

I like the red grape caulerpa, too! I have no idea where it comes from -- but I will look up how to propagate it and send some your way when it gets a bit bigger!!

You can go window shopping through my photos and we'll exchange. We aren't that far for shipping.

 

Sorry about rain

 

I guess I got lucky when I just replaced my clown. The one I got is younger, but larger. Go figure. It's so hard to tell the size when there's a million in a large tank vs. one in a 12g tank. There hasn't been any rough housing but I can't quite tell who is going to become dominant. The new, larger one is more shy. But she's black and the same size of the one I lost, so maybe Bozo just thinks she's back from the dead... ha.

 

Tank looks bright and beautiful as always.

[msscha]

Pick up a baby clown, and while it's acclimating, mess with the scape again!

 

I really like how the zoa/macro/sponge rock looks on the sand. Are the ricordeas stuck to the rock they are on? If not, what about placing them on the sand and then maybe flipping that rock so that it rests more naturally on the underside of the flat large macro rock that is now at an angle? Or under the acan rock and then moving the flat macro rock where the acan rock is now? It's hard to tell the total shapes of the rocks in a picture so those ideas may not even work. From the looks of it, this rearranging might give you a ledge at the top. That might be interesting. I hate rock-scaping!!!!! Especially with critters in the tank.

Now, you've got me thinking...the only things attached to rocks are the zoas, acans, and macro. Everything else is sitting on its own plug. What can't be seen in the picture is how much rock is actually under the cave -- pretty much the entire back is covered by large, flat pieces. There's some great sponge growth that I am trying to protect, but the idea of ledges has got me thinking. I shall continue to do so for a few more days. This week is turning into something of a scheduling snafu!

 

Hope your son feels better soon. Sometimes, I like it when the kids are just a little sick -- gives me the chance to stay home .

[pbjelly]

I'm so sorry to hear about Rain.

 

Your tank is looking lovely. I haven't checked in in a while and you've had so much growth. That hairy toadstool is looking fabulous.

 

I don't know if clownfish 'need' a clownfish friend, but I do enjoy seeing mine interact with each other, and I found that when I changed my lighting, they started using more of the tank real estate - one following the other's example. Now they swim all over and under and around.

[~LadyBug~]

the new scape looks really nice!

the first clown i got was by itself, because it was my first marine fish and coming from FW-land, even the clowns seemed really expensive(my go-to fish had been $.99-$2 danios ), so i got one to try my luck for a few weeks, thinking i'd get another later maybe. that was kinda a long way to introduce this thought-when i went to get her a friend, everyone i talked to told me that since she'd been alone for a few weeks she would have become a girl and adding another could be problematic. so if that one baby at your LFS has been solo for a while it might already be a 'she', and you might have better luck getting one from a tankful of babies.

my second round of clowns were siblings, and stressed me out for months with the chasing, but one is noticeably larger now and they've settled down. i don't know that they're any happier-acting than my singleton, though.

[msscha]

the new scape looks really nice!

Thank you!

 

the first clown i got was by itself, because it was my first marine fish and coming from FW-land, even the clowns seemed really expensive(my go-to fish had been $.99-$2 danios )

Yep -- me, too! The main reason I didn't go SW for so long was the price of the fish. The most expensive FW fish I'd purchased was a clown loach for $18, and it died within a few days. Never again!

 

, so i got one to try my luck for a few weeks, thinking i'd get another later maybe. that was kinda a long way to introduce this thought-when i went to get her a friend, everyone i talked to told me that since she'd been alone for a few weeks she would have become a girl and adding another could be problematic. so if that one baby at your LFS has been solo for a while it might already be a 'she', and you might have better luck getting one from a tankful of babies.

This little one has been a round a while, but it's still part of a group and has stayed small and somewhat shy. I don't think Bozette looks depressed, but I do know she liked having Rain around. The trimma simply isn't much of a companion. I've considered a blue chromis b/c they might actually hang out being fairly closely related. I'd also like sexies, so am thinking about this, too. So many options! Nothing this week, though. I'm going out of town this weekend -- it's graduation, and this place is a mad house.

 

 

Things that make you go "hmm"--

 

There is a molted shell of a small pistol shrimp attached to a piece of coral this morning. Hmmm.

[phoenix91]

This little one has been a round a while, but it's still part of a group and has stayed small and somewhat shy. I don't think Bozette looks depressed, but I do know she liked having Rain around. The trimma simply isn't much of a companion. I've considered a blue chromis b/c they might actually hang out being fairly closely related. I'd also like sexies, so am thinking about this, too. So many options! Nothing this week, though. I'm going out of town this weekend -- it's graduation, and this place is a mad house.

 

 

Things that make you go "hmm"--

 

There is a molted shell of a small pistol shrimp attached to a piece of coral this morning. Hmmm.

 

My little blue fish (can't quite remember what he is) loves my bigger clown to the point that him and the clown twitch at each other and swim side by side. I think little Bingley actually thinks he's a clown. There was no chasing at all and he's not aggressive, not even towards the more timid clown. Plus, he's always visible and is very curious.

[~LadyBug~]

maybe a blue damsel, phoenix? i broke down and got one(damsel) in between my first clown and the clown pair i've got now because they're so cheap, and i was afraid i'd have to rehome her when i got the baby clowns, but they're all friends

[phoenix91]

maybe a blue damsel, phoenix? i broke down and got one(damsel) in between my first clown and the clown pair i've got now because they're so cheap, and i was afraid i'd have to rehome her when i got the baby clowns, but they're all friends

 

Yeah i think so, mine are all buddies together. And yes, very cheap, i thought that he might get aggressive but he's been fine so far.

[msscha]

Yeah i think so, mine are all buddies together. And yes, very cheap, i thought that he might get aggressive but he's been fine so far.

Blue chromis is what lfs-guy said -- gentler in temperament than the damsel. I think I will give it a try, along with a neon goby if they are still there.

[gena]

My one clowfish is perfectly happy and content being alone. I see no difference in her behavior from the clown pairs I've had in the past.

 

The blue chromis and neon goby sound like great new additions. I hope they are still there

[msscha]

@Gena: Me, too! I am heading over there now to look. I won't return until tomorrow afternoon...

 

And I made a decision: I removed a largish clump of LR. It is nicely purpled and has one living mollusk and some red macro, but no other "large" life. Suddenly, the tank looks open! I angled the one rock down a bit so the acan rocks sits flat, like I wanted. This allowed me to flip the acan rock back around so the "better" side of the corals are showing, and doing so nudged it into crevices like a missing puzzle piece that found home. Bozette is swimming around checking out corals like she's never seen them before! There's still space for a gorgonian in the back, and the flow was adjusted for better all-around movement. I am quite pleased! The trimma goby began peeking out of her hiding place today -- now, it'll probably be another week before she comes out!

 

[gena]

That looks PERFECT!!!! Awesome scape you came up with. Fingers crossed for you

[~LadyBug~]

that looks really nice!!!