Hypo's Underwater Garden - I am alive!

[Kiwi]

wonderful tank…. just a little question: how long diti it take our seagrass to start growing?

[hypostatic]

when its happy it grows really fast. like, a new stem would pop up every day or two

[hypostatic]

That star grass is just amazing. floridapets took it off their website right when I was going to order some more

 

Oh, so I contacted them about the star grass, and this is what they said:

 

I haven't seen it for about two weeks or so. I believe their is a seasonal influence on it. I will keep checking throughout the winter. I will send out a newsletter or list some on ebay when it is available. If you have "liked" us on facebook, all our listing to ebay get posted to the facebook page and you will be notified that way also.

Thank you for contacting us. Please feel free to use our Hard to find Fish finder service also. We have become experts at shipping fish all over the country. We can likely get whatever it is you may be looking for.

 

So it could be that my star grass deteriorated for some seasonal reason. Although I'd gamble it's most likely to do with my vacation and stress from the move lol

[ninjamyst]

your goni is gorgeous.

[hypostatic]

My sun coral was looking quite happy, so I decided to snap a macro pic. I don't take many good pics, but I think this one is pretty nice

[hypostatic]

Elegance coral, soon after being fed

[andi.rahl]

I really love this tank...

Oh wow, that's unfortunate. Speaking of which, I recently moved and had to take apart the tank for the move. And then I went on vacation for a week lol. The star grass can be quite fragile, so most of it didn't survive the ordeal

oh no! I'm sorry to hear that. I hope enough of it survived that it can be like it used to...then you should propagate and sell it

 

Very nice,
I think this forum needs a Dart Frog or Natural Vivarium section soon. I have darts and enclosures I'd like to post up haha.

I post pics of my other pets and things I do in my thread xD It feels more like an online diary than it does just about my nano tank

 

oh and star grass IS seasonal if I remember reading correctly when I attempted to find some not too long ago. :/ I just don't know how much of an effect you'd see in a tank because it's not being directly affected by weather and so on like it would be in the wild. Just my thoughts anyways...

[hypostatic]

Thanks for the kind words!

 

The star grass just might make a comeback. There were only 2 stalks left of like, 20+ stalks I had before the move. Those two are pretty much dead, BUT, one of the stalks seems it had a healthy root system, and there are 2 more stalks growing out of it! Good thing it grows so quickly!

 

In related news my pipe organs are pretty much dead =(. I bought another one from LiveAquaria, and when it arrived it looked like some of the polyps were missing, but I didn't think much of it. Long story short, some pest that came hidden finished off the new piece I got from LiveAquaria, and also ate my other pipe organ. I did several dips in CoralRX after I noticed what was happening, but it didn't save my old pipe organ. I have maybe 4-5 polyps of the new pipe organ remaining. Sigh.

[andi.rahl]

Thanks for the kind words!

 

The star grass just might make a comeback. There were only 2 stalks left of like, 20+ stalks I had before the move. Those two are pretty much dead, BUT, one of the stalks seems it had a healthy root system, and there are 2 more stalks growing out of it! Good thing it grows so quickly!

 

In related news my pipe organs are pretty much dead =(. I bought another one from LiveAquaria, and when it arrived it looked like some of the polyps were missing, but I didn't think much of it. Long story short, some pest that came hidden finished off the new piece I got from LiveAquaria, and also ate my other pipe organ. I did several dips in CoralRX after I noticed what was happening, but it didn't save my old pipe organ. I have maybe 4-5 polyps of the new pipe organ remaining. Sigh.

oh my good god, I'd have cried. T_T I think with roots and new stalks, you should be okay!

 

did you figure out what's eating them? :'(

[hypostatic]

No. I have no clue as to the possibilities either. I searched online and I couldn't find any specific pipe organ-only predators. And my tank is mostly soft corals, and none of the other octocorals or softies were affected, so it HAD to had been something specific. After/during the coralRX dips a bunch of bristleworms like the ones I have in my tank fell off, but it didn't look like there was anything weird in the die-off. Of course, I think it's completely possible that whatever it was could have gotten stuck in the pipe organ skeleton matrix... so I might never know

[hypostatic]

Another shot of my beautiful goni:

 

And the totality of my star grass. You can see the being shot out/down on the far right

[andi.rahl]

cute goni

[jedimasterben]

Holy bajeezus, the star grass! BUT - rest easy knowing that it will all come back for ya, and probably better than ever!

[GHill762]

Elegance coral, soon after being fed

 

IDK much about elegance corals, but as fat as this thing is it looks like you fed it a hamster

[gena]

This cutie should be in a fitness ad. He looks like he's doing pushups!

 

Gorgeous garden you have here. I think I need to get some star grass for my garden!

[jedimasterben]

Gorgeous garden you have here. I think I need to get some star grass for my garden!

You have a kole tang now, though, right? He'll make short work of it, most likely

[gena]

You have a kole tang now, though, right? He'll make short work of it, most likely

No...no kole in my tank. I've just been thinking about it. Anyways...I'd put the star grass in my pico.

[hypostatic]

cute goni

 

Thanks! That frag gets amazing polyp extension for the size of the skeleton (maybe the size of a quarter?). It's super low maintenance too -- it's been growing noticeably and doesn't need any special feeding I think. I've tried feeding it goniopowder; the polyps will close around the food, but it doesn't seem to be ingesting it --they'll open up later and the food will look like it's just slime-ing out. It's a great coral, I hope one day it gets big enough so I can send out some more frags into the hobby

 

Holy bajeezus, the star grass! BUT - rest easy knowing that it will all come back for ya, and probably better than ever!

 

Yeah, the feels -- I haz them. I like, wanna move those two stems to a place where there's more lighting sooooo bad, but it seems to be stable where it is, and I'm hesitant that moving it might damage it or something...

 

IDK much about elegance corals, but as fat as this thing is it looks like you fed it a hamster

 

 

well, I did feed it like 1/4 cube of brine shrimp, which i guess might be a lot for a coral like this. Maybe also a bristleworm or two... those bastards have stung me more than a couple times, so now it's war! The size is from swelling up with water for digestion.

 

This cutie should be in a fitness ad. He looks like he's doing pushups!

 

Gorgeous garden you have here. I think I need to get some star grass for my garden!

 

Sigh, the great move of '12 ruined a lot a plans, but hopefully the grass will make a comeback!

[andi.rahl]

I'd love a frag if that happens.

[gena]

Sigh, the great move of '12 ruined a lot a plans, but hopefully the grass will make a comeback!

Sounds like it will!

[Tamberav]

beautiful tank, I love the sun coral and that star grass!

[hypostatic]

ASTERINA!

 

 

I think they're really cool, though I've only had a few of these guys in my tank over the life of the tank. I had the LFS scrape some off their glass when I was there so I'd have some more

[miskitty]

If I knew how to ship coral safely, I could send you all the pipe organ you could ever want from my friend's tank.

[hypostatic]

okay, the star grass is now at 3 stems haha.

 

It's super moody. I gave in to temptation, and moved it back to its original spot. I guess one of the two root systems did not like this, because it became unattached and died off. Even though I took the UTMOST of care and delicacy in the process. Again, the root system is super delicate. I'm positive this is why most star grass hasn't survived shipping; even if they appear to be in good shape.

 

EDIT:

 

Update -- back to 2 stems. The oldest stem is a goner.

[hypostatic]

More pics!

 

This pipe organ has basically died. Twice. Or three times maybe. I think I've read that even if the polyps die, the skeleton is still alive and you can regrow new coral from the skeleton. And as such, there are a few polyps popping out here and there.

 

another pic of one of my gonis

 

New peppermint shrimp. Using a paper I found on live aquaria, it seems the species is Lysmata ankeri. The paper says "Lysmata ankeri n. sp. is one of the most widespread tropical species ranging from southern Florida and the Caribbean to Brazil".

This guy was purchased to combat some nasty horrible aiptasia that appeared in my tank .

 

This is the make-shift in-tank QT container I have him in while I train him to eat the aiptasia. He definitely eats the stuff, but only if he's hungry enough. He's also in there because I also got some berghia for control, which I've read the peppermint shrimp can eat. He's pretty good about it when he's in the QT -- he'll eat aiptasia not touching coral or anything if I drop a plug in the QT.

 

Another asterina pic

 

An updated pic of my red/green goni. Here's a pic from July, around when I got it so you can see how much it's grown. I'd say it's doubled or tripled in size.