Mr. Microscope's Cube 2.1

[FlowerMama]

Looking forward to your new arrivals. I loved my tsb, so low maintenance. And the royal gramma I have is a scaredy cat. He still runs away when I walk up to the tank but he and Gertie are friends.

[Mr. Microscope]

You'd be surprised - one they get ~2.5" or so, they grow very slowly. This is actually about the only time of year that they're found this small, usually they're collected around 3-4", but there are itty bitty tiny ones to be had. Even in your 25g it will look tiny, smaller than a fully grown ocellaris clownfish

I love really small fish! Thanks for the insight. That is tempting.

 

Looking forward to your new arrivals. I loved my tsb, so low maintenance. And the royal gramma I have is a scaredy cat. He still runs away when I walk up to the tank but he and Gertie are friends.

 

Yeah, my gramma has really tucked herself into the rocks. I hope she comes out tomorrow.

[Mr. Microscope]

Got some pics of my UC order last night. Again, I'm very very happy with my order.

 

To start, here's my UC Ice Tenuis.

 

Okay, so they advertise the stock frag as 3/4" to 1" and I suppose I would agree with this height, but goddamn this is a FAT FRAG! UC comes through again!

 

Here are some images of how the tenuis looks top down under a couple of different lighting conditions:

 

I hope I can hold this blue color. It's really striking!

 

I also picked up a stock frag of ORA Mint Pavona. I've had my eye on this coral for a while now. Again, UC advertises 1.5 inches, but the piece I got was easily 2+ inches and fully encrusted on the ORA plug. This thing is Uber green and very fluorescent. The image on the left is lit only white light (no blue LED's), and the image on the right is lit with all of my LED channels on.

 

I grabbed a macro shot of it with my moonlight on here:

 

And just as exciting as the corals, but not nearly as well photographed are the fish! Here they are during acclimation.

 

After floating the bags for 20 minutes, I transferred the fish into these plastic tubs and attached them to the wall of my tank. During acclimation, only my one moonlight (1 watt 455 LED) was on so that I didn't startle them. I used a graduated cylinder and replaced about 20mL of water once every 5 minutes over the course of about two hours before releasing them into the tank (with all pumps turned off). I gave my clowns a few pellets to occupy them while I added them to the tank. The clowns not only ignored them, but seemed completely oblivious to their presence.

 

They were both very shy yesterday. The blenny is still in the striped hiding mode, but I believe this one will make a complete transition fairly fast. The royal gramma (which my 3 year old named Apple , I have no idea where he came up with this name which makes it all the more cuter ) immediately tucked herself into the rocks and I haven't seen her since. I really hope to see them both swimming about (or at least see them both) when I get home today.

[FlowerMama]

Man!! That mint pavona! Didn't know they had such a striking pattern on them.

[metrokat]

Nice haul Mr Scope!

[Mr. Microscope]

Man!! That mint pavona! Didn't know they had such a striking pattern on them.

Yeah! It's a stunning texture. I really dig the growth pattern too. I can't wait for it to grow out so I have a big twisty lettucey looking colony.

 

Nice haul Mr Scope!

Thank you Kat! This was my third UC order and I continue to be blown away by their service and quality.

 

On the plus side, my blenny is out and about a little more today. 'Still hiding a little, but its definitely starting to dip its toe in the water, so to speak.

I also found the gramma today. I shot a little cyclope-eze in it's little hiding spot and I'm pretty sure I saw it nibbling away at some. Later tonight, I'll try to shoot a little mysis in there for it along with more cyclope-eze.

[Mr. Microscope]

So, I put way too much food (cyclope-eze and PE Mysis) in my tank yesterday in an attempt to get my new fish to eat. I'm pretty sure each one got at least a couple bites in though. So, plus 1 reefing points for me.

 

I even saw my gramma pop out for a brief second to check out what was going on before going back to her hollow in the rocks. I didn't realize how huge of a cavety I have in my pukani structure. She's got herself an upscale loft in there! Anyways, during the quick second I saw her, she looked pretty fat. So, I guess I don't have to worry too much. It looks like UC took really good care of her.

[FlowerMama]

Looking forward to seeing pics of your new babies, skinny or fat!. I called my tsb Slim for obvious reasons.

[thecoralbeauty]

oh my gosh, such pretty frags!!! I've always been interested in pavona, but have never seen a large colony of it in person. your photos of yours are beautiful!

[Mr. Microscope]

Looking forward to seeing pics of your new babies, skinny or fat!. I called my tsb Slim for obvious reasons.

Me too, lol. They sure are shy at the moment.

Cute name. My new one is called Tail-spot-two because I lost my first one after an incident where he jumped into my overflow and into my sump.

 

oh my gosh, such pretty frags!!! I've always been interested in pavona, but have never seen a large colony of it in person. your photos of yours are beautiful!

Thank you M! Most pavona have a more encrusting growth pattern. This one from ORA is the only stuff available that I know of that grows in such a delicate cactus-like pattern.

Thank you for the photography compliment. My cheap P&S seems to do the job.

[markalot]

Nice new corals and fish. If the blenny doesn't find a nice hole in the rock try adding an empty turbo shell or similar in size, mine loves them. In my experience once the blenny gets acclimated he will eat anything.

 

And I know you know this, but keep an eye on the pumps.

[owenj]

Ooooh nice new additions, Mr. M! Hope the blenny comes out more so you can get some pics

[Felicia]

New arrivals look great! The texture on that pavona is amazing. Thanks for sharing a macro of it! Glad to hear the blenny and gramma are getting settled in.

[Mr. Microscope]

Nice new corals and fish. If the blenny doesn't find a nice hole in the rock try adding an empty turbo shell or similar in size, mine loves them. In my experience once the blenny gets acclimated he will eat anything.

 

And I know you know this, but keep an eye on the pumps.

Cool idea! Thank you for that tip.

Yeah, my last TSB always shot right inside my MP10 every time I turned it off. Never chopped him up. I hope my new one never tries for it.

 

Ooooh nice new additions, Mr. M! Hope the blenny comes out more so you can get some pics

Thank you Jaime! It's out at the moment, but extremely timid right now. Always hugged against a rock crevice. I hope he settles in and starts displaying beautiful colors and personality.

 

New arrivals look great! The texture on that pavona is amazing. Thanks for sharing a macro of it! Glad to hear the blenny and gramma are getting settled in.

Thank you Felicia! Yeah, it's a really funky coral. I hope I can get some better shots of the fish by the end of the weekend.

[Mr. Microscope]

Fish update!

My TSB is continuing to improve. I still haven't really gotten it to eat too much, but it has nibbled on some PE mysis and it seems interested in the Hikari seaweed pellets I've been offering him. It's been swimming around a little, and picking at the rocks. He still hasn't figured out that I'm to food god and hides instead of begging for food when I walk by and/or turn off the pumps. So, I haven't gotten a good pic of this guy yet.

 

 

As for the Royal Gramma.....sigh

I hope I can get some better shots of the fish by the end of the weekend.

Well..as hoped for, I got a better picture of my fish this weekend.

 

Unfortunately, my royal gramma didn't make it. This was the first pic I was really able to get of it because it was hiding in my rocks pretty much the whole time. I saw it swimming around in it's hollow last night. Today, this was all that was left of it after my CUC and cleaner shrimp got to it.

 

I really don't want to go through this again. I'm going to order an acclimation box so I can carefully monitor my next one in a controlled environment where I can really help to get it eating and happy before releasing it into my tank. I hope this pic is good enough for UC to send me a replacement.

[uwdanno]

Sorry to hear about the fish loss. Always defeating.

 

Awesome tank and amazing photos. Thanks for being a pioneer in the micro photography here!

[Mr. Microscope]

Sorry to hear about the fish loss. Always defeating.

 

Awesome tank and amazing photos. Thanks for being a pioneer in the micro photography here!

Thank you danno. I'm not ready to give up yet.

 

I'm glad you're enjoying my tank and Microscopy thread. I hope I can post some more pics to it soon.

[HarryPotter]

Thank you danno. I'm not ready to give up yet.

 

I'm glad you're enjoying my tank and Microscopy thread. I hope I can post some more pics to it soon.

 

I am really curious how Dinoflagletts appear under a microscope. I hope you don't have any, but if you find one please post photos! Your "microscopy" is amazing!

[FlowerMama]

 

I am really curious how Dinoflagletts appear under a microscope. I hope you don't have any, but if you find one please post photos! Your "microscopy" is amazing!

 

OH yeah, he'll have one alright! Mine no doubt! Have MORE fear, Annette's Dino is here!!!! Looking forward to see what you find.

 

SO sorry about your royal gramma. But your tsb, he'll get more brave. Mine learned to eat quick and mimicked the 6line I got, later he was stealing from my acans too. But they're so self supporting I rarely fed it purposefully.

[Mr. Microscope]

 

I am really curious how Dinoflagletts appear under a microscope. I hope you don't have any, but if you find one please post photos! Your "microscopy" is amazing!

Thank you Harry! I'm glad you're enjoying it.

I did have some a little more than a year ago, but I managed to eliminate them. I got some pics or though. It was way too tempting to pass up.

Here's a few links for you from my microscopy thread:

http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/280413-mr-ms-microscopy-of-the-reef-keyence-284/?p=4672890

http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/280413-mr-ms-microscopy-of-the-reef-keyence-284/?p=4733288

 

Member Mr. Pants is actually an expert on them. Check him out.

 

Also, Annette (FlowerMama) is sending me some of hers to verify. They're in the mail as I type. I'll be adding pics of them when I get a chance.

[neuwave]

Sorry to hear about your gramma. Are going for anther gramma or other fish?

[friar1]

Oh Sorry Mr M!

My gramma hid for so many days I thought he was sick, but he came out after a while. Hope you get a replacement

[Felicia]

Oh no! I always hate the stress of getting new fish. Sorry to hear about the gramma. I wouldn't worry too much about the blenny not eating yet since it can live off of the algae it picks off the rocks. My current starry blenny only ate the algae off the rocks for a while before he realized the frozen food was good and now he's a pig at feeding time.

[kimberbee]

Those bones...

 

Poor fish!

[Mr. Microscope]

OH yeah, he'll have one alright! Mine no doubt! Have MORE fear, Annette's Dino is here!!!! Looking forward to see what you find.

 

SO sorry about your royal gramma. But your tsb, he'll get more brave. Mine learned to eat quick and mimicked the 6line I got, later he was stealing from my acans too. But they're so self supporting I rarely fed it purposefully.

I hope mine doesn't become a theif. lol

 

Sorry to hear about your gramma. Are going for anther gramma or other fish?

Oh Sorry Mr M!

My gramma hid for so many days I thought he was sick, but he came out after a while. Hope you get a replacement

Yes, I really would like to give this fish another try.

 

Oh no! I always hate the stress of getting new fish. Sorry to hear about the gramma. I wouldn't worry too much about the blenny not eating yet since it can live off of the algae it picks off the rocks. My current starry blenny only ate the algae off the rocks for a while before he realized the frozen food was good and now he's a pig at feeding time.

That's quite the span of time. I remember my first TSB being rather picky about factory food for the first few weeks too. There's plenty for my blenny to pick at in my tank at the moment, flm.

Those bones...

 

Poor fish!

I guess if any other fish die, it won't be causing a crash anytime soon. They made short order of him. I actually saw quite a bit more of him before he got down to the bones, but my cleaner shrimp took his carcase under the rocks to nom him down.