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Shadow's 16G Disaster. Fumigation Poisoned the Tank and Crashed It.


Snow_Phoenix

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Snow_Phoenix

I kept it. I kept the starfish, crabs, snails, urchin, YCG and the little blenny. The shrimp was unfortunately found dried up on my glass top lid this morning - I think he wiggled into the gap between the glass lid and mesh lid and stranded himself at the top. I lowered the water level by an inch immediately to prevent anyone else from getting any ideas.

 

But I had to leave these guys at the store:

 

 

 

Wiped away a stray tear when it especially came to leaving my Mandarin. I truly wish I could keep him, but he'll starve in a 5G, trained or not trained.

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Snow_Phoenix

Dang shadow, sorry to hear about the news.. Sadly we are both backing out from reefing

 

Is it because of a health-related issue as well? I'm basically fighting off seizures almost everyday, even under tons of prescribed drugs. And then there's all the additional complications, which does not help. Stress makes it worse as well, and running around keeping five tanks up and going puts a bit of a strain on things. :(

 

 

That is good you are keeping the pico. What shrimp was it?

 

It was my beloved Blood Fire, Winston. :tears:

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Snow_Phoenix

This is the 5G desktop Pico. The only thing I have in there is an oversized Powerhead that's 4 inches long (it's a Resun-4000 with a 4000lph output), one huge chunk of LR, some LS and all my critters. Please excuse the hideous sticker on the front of the tank. I tried peeling it off with zero success. <_<

 

 

 

Few random shots of whoever's left:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And this is especially for Tam. :lol:

 

 

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Snow_Phoenix

What a gorgeous starfish.

 

Thank you. His name is Sir Raj and he has been with me for exactly 1 year 8 months (almost two years). He was with me since my very first marine tank in Jan 2013, has been through countless moves, is a shy guy during daytime, but super active at night, doesn't hurt anything in the tank and his central disc has doubled in size since I first got him. :)

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:scarry:

 

I thought about getting a baby red one to see if Ivy would leave it alone so I would have something to eat leftover foods but idk... I'm scared of it getting bigger.

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Snow_Phoenix

:scarry:

 

I thought about getting a baby red one to see if Ivy would leave it alone so I would have something to eat leftover foods but idk... I'm scared of it getting bigger.

 

I think the red ones are okay. Of course, it'd help if you know their exact species to find out if they're truly reef-compatible/predatory. Any animal can flip a switch and go crazy in a tank, but I've been lucky so far. You could try a small one, based on my experience, they don't grow as quickly as I'd originally anticipated, even with regular feedings. ;)

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I think the red ones are okay. Of course, it'd help if you know their exact species to find out if they're truly reef-compatible/predatory. Any animal can flip a switch and go crazy in a tank, but I've been lucky so far. You could try a small one, based on my experience, they don't grow as quickly as I'd originally anticipated, even with regular feedings. ;)

 

The one I was thinking of is Ophiocoma wendti but they also have Ophioderma appressum.

 

How fast did yours grow? I also thought about trading it in when it got large.

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Oh that is a beautiful royal green star. I can see why you kept the items you did. You put so much learning and yourself into this hobby.

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Snow_Phoenix

The one I was thinking of is Ophiocoma wendti but they also have Ophioderma appressum.

 

How fast did yours grow? I also thought about trading it in when it got large.

 

I think I'd go with the appressum. Seems more common and beautiful - I remember having a few tiny ones when I tore down the 30G. Mine doubled in size within 1 year 8 months. This is with weekly feedings of chopped shrimp/squid. Otherwise he does grab pellets or bits of mysis that stick to the sandbed.

 

Oh that is a beautiful royal green star. I can see why you kept the items you did. You put so much learning and yourself into this hobby.

 

Yes, he's gorgeous. My dad has put a claim on it. He told me to keep him no matter what happens - and if he grows big, we'll just shift him to a larger tank (as long as we keep him).

 

I love all my animals. I treasure them the most. Today I visited my LFS to pick up some money because a buyer bought several pieces of my corals as well as my caulerpa-rock. I noticed one of my baby clowns was missing, so I asked if he was sold. The LFS worker was a bit skittish and hesitant, and that sent a warning bell. She said he was quite tiny so he slipped out of their holding baskets and got sucked up one of the outflow pipes. It reminded me of how my YCG went missing last time, and I couldn't believe these guys didn't cover their outflows after what had happened before. Took me an hour to find him hiding under an industrial skimmer - but as soon as he saw me, he darted upwards and pecked me on the fingertips. He was swimming a bit weirdly, so I told the girl I'll take him back home, heal him up, and put him back on sale again. She agreed and apologized.

 

I was a bit annoyed at the whole thing - it could have been avoided if you asked me. So I now have a 0.5" baby Occy (Aries II) with me as well. I'll give him a week to heal up. Maybe even find him a good local reefer that is willing to help nurse him back to health for me. I don't think the Pico can handle such a bioload, let alone three fish, even though each of those three are under 1" long.

 

Also, the blenny will outgrow the Pico one day as well, am I correct? When will I need to rehome him (at what size)?

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Snow_Phoenix

The lawnmower will definitely outgrow the tank, no idea how fast they grow though.

 

Ok, I'll take note of that. Once he hits around 2.5", I'll trade him off. If I'm lucky and my LFS agrees to haul in some new shipment, I might be even able to secure a Pictus Blenny again, which only maxes out at 2".

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Snow_Phoenix

I've decided I'll most likely be posting more about my freshwater stuff on here rather than my saltwater pico. (Hope anyone who's reading this won't mind too much).

 

Anyways, here's a golden/yellow baby fire eel that I picked up few days ago. He's around 7" to 8" long, quite friendly and interactive, and overall incredibly amazing. He lives under a giant Java fern in my 30G.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Admittedly, his coloration is incredibly odd for a fire eel. Several sites suggest that this could be due to shipping stress or possible malnourishment at the store or simply harboring a recessive allele which makes him look unattractive compared to the standard coloration of a fire eel. Another post simply said he hasn't grown into his full coloring yet since he's a baby (think Ugly Duckling turned Beautiful Swan), but either way, I love him. The shopkeeper wanted to get rid of him because he considered Cedric terrible-looking, and I've always had a soft spot for broken or rejected things, so I took him in.

 

Since I acquired Cedric, I actively began to approach my regular marine LFS and plan out a bigger tank, since Cedric can reach up to 4' long if kept healthy enough (although this is a rare achievement in standard aquaria). I've opted to buy a 4' x 1.5' x 1.5' standard with a 3' sump and metal stand, which is roughly 85G. Initially I'd planned to go with a 4' x 2' x 2' standard, but the cost was simply too high and space became a big issue. Even now, I have to throw out two cupboards and I haven't consulted the parental units yet about this.

 

Nevertheless, I'm merging both my 12G planted and 30G planted Cichlid tanks into one big tank, selling off my 15G Kamfa tank and keeping my marine Pico in the dining room. :)

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Snow_Phoenix

So sorry to hear all you've been through lately! I know you'll pull through!

 

Thank you 1.0. I honestly hope I'll defeat the odds and surpass the doctors' expectations. I still feel that I haven't accomplished much in life just yet, and I'd love to have the same chance to do so as everybody else.

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Dr.Brain Coral

That is a gorgeous eel. When I was planning a freshwater a fire eel was on my list. Same with bichirs, rope fish, African butterfly fish and other prehistoric looking fish.

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Snow_Phoenix
On 8/30/2014 at 12:40 AM, Dr.Brain Coral said:

That is a gorgeous eel. When I was planning a freshwater a fire eel was on my list. Same with bichirs, rope fish, African butterfly fish and other prehistoric looking fish.

 

Fire eels are definitely beautiful, and they have wonderful personality. Mine has already started to recognize me, and now allows me to handfeed him. :) I have four bichirs with me right now:

 

 

 

 

 

My 6" Senegal Bichir.

 

 

 

My 6.5" Albino Senegal Bichir.

 

 

 

My 8" Ornate Bichir.

 

 

 

 

My 8.5" Endlecheri Bichir.

 

 

 

My once-upon-a-time 4" Teugelsi Bichir. R.I.P. little fella. :tears:

 

I've considered adding a Rope Fish, but first off, they get too almost 3' long; secondly, most of them suffer from severe shipping stress and die in captivity early; thirdly, they find the tiniest gaps or holes between covers to jump out off. I love their personable and bouncy nature, but the risk of keeping one is simply too high. Perhaps tonight, I'll spam this thread with a few pics of my 12G Cichlid setup. ;)

 

On 8/30/2014 at 12:47 AM, Tamberav said:

Well... I looked at the pictures for awhile but I couldn't find anything ugly about that eel.

 

Neither could I. I don't know why the store thought he was ugly. Yes, he didn't have the typical red markings and spots, but he was still healthy to me. My family is particularly fond of him now. :) I just hope he learns to accept something other than bloodworms soon - I tried brine, pellets and even -mysis!- with zero luck. I haven't spotted him hunting the ghost shrimp in my tank either, or snacking on the guppy fry that I occasionally buy and toss in, but he's plump for an eel, so he must be eating something. I just don't know what yet.

 

 

Also, swung by my LFS again yesterday - they sold off my clam, so I got some extra $$, and I even picked up three Banded Trochus Snails. They're currently cleaning off the microalgae on my giant rock island. I'm thinking of adding some interesting inverts to my Pico - is that alright? I'm looking at simple inverts: Skunk Shrimp, Pom Pom Crab, White Spotted Nem Shrimp, Porcelain Crab, Camelback Shrimp etc. Do inverts carry a heavy bioload as fish?

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Angel<3Nanos

 

Thank you! And I'll take a peek at that thread ASAP. Thanks for the link. :)

Yes! Comment on it please! I misshh yeee!! :)
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Snow_Phoenix

I wouldn't worry about the bioload of small inverts.

 

You probably won't like this, but I stole my Red Lobo and my mini maxi carpet back. Used my old, crusty aquazonic LED light (triple modes available - 16.8W) to supplement them. They were suffering at the LFS - the anemone shrunk quite badly and looked like something pecked on him repeatedly. They put him in a mega display tank with 10 Yellow Coris Wrasses, so I'm not sure if the fish did it, or the water at the LFS had an issue. He perked up as soon as I acclimated him and stuffed him with some mysis. Hmph. :ninja:

 

Also had to go over to the shop to target feed my Mandarin. Had the pleasure of feeding another two skinny green Mandarins in the store (they both arrived last night during a shipment, and are quite thin) - one of which went ballistic for my food mix, and the other which looked suspiciously all the time, like she's on to me. I spent an hour chatting with the LFS worker there and talking about how to plump up their Mandarins. They have the exact food I use, they just didn't know how to blend them and use a pipette to feed the fish. My poor Michael looked so happy to see me though - apparently he refused all frozen food by the LFS for the past few days and went on a complete starvation diet until I showed up. He kept eyeballing me from the bottom of his holding basket, and once he was sure it was me me, he floated up and pecked me on the fingers gently. I then spent close to twenty minutes feeding him my food mix and apologizing. Left the store in tears afterwards. Not really a good day in a way for me. :tears:

 

Never thought a fish (of all things) would grow on me. I really wish I could keep them all, really, I do. But I know I can't. I can't handled too much stress right now, and running around doing WCs every few days while measuring params constantly was exerting more tension than pleasure.

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