Jaime's IM Fusion 20- June update

[owenj]

Tug looks so young compared to my PSW. I swear...it's my favorite all-time fish. I will always have one in my tanks if they are big enough for one .

 

Your diablos look so much prettier than the ones I saw at Vivid. I wish they sold them by the head. I totally would have bought one. I have that orange and green too...it's a stunning one .

 

Thanks for posting some pictures .

Tug is smaller than the diablos . Tug isn't as vividly colored as yours so I'm wondering if he is really a she, or still just young. Definitely cool. I'm ogling the white banded one on Diver's Den right now, but am zeroed in on a clown pair and a shirmp goby/shrimp pair for the cube. Still...they're cute! It's the googly eyes

Yea, it's too bad they didn't sell smaller frags of the diablos, or maybe they did and they sold already . I'm hoping the colors pop a bit more once I dial the lights up a little bit and fiddle with the blue setting.

 

Yay, you have orange/greens too! They're gorgeous. Everyone needs blastos in their tanks.

[Simone]

The helfrichi is so not like what I was expecting lol. I was prepared for it to be super shy and maybe I'd see it in a week or two to tempt it for food but he's been out and about from day one. He eats like a pro when he actually sees the food flakes, frozen, Repashy gel food if the particles are small enough--but not too small because then he misses them . Still debating a name.

 

"Tug" the PSW is much braver now, but ran as soon as the camera came out . Good eater, is out a bit more now that he's feeling safer. I was going to move the rock on the right but he has several hidey holes in it and I don't want to screw that up.

 

The blasto on the right is one of the "Diablo" blastos from Vivid. There's another frag on their website right now. They're blood-orangeish in color, starting to show some of the lighter variation around the rim now that they've been in the tank a few days.

 

Ahhh, the pull for tank #2 is strong. I've already gotten a quote for a custom 16" AIO cube . But, I'm weird and like to have my tanks on my desk so that I can see them more (I'm at my desk probably 80% of my waking day lol), so I need to move the 20gal freshwater tank on my left-hand side. It's Beth's fancy drinking fountain since she doesn't like to drink out of anything else .

 

I'm trying to leave the middle section of the tank open for my future clam. Still fussing with final rock placement to give the blastos a little bit of a break from the flow. Maybe take the merlettis off their current rock and move them to the right, slide their current rock towards the middle and make it a designated zoa/paly rock?

 

Love this picture, Beth is adorable, wish her a happy birthday for me. I have a special place in my heart for older animals. I have a 12 year old french bulldog; sometimes I think she resents the time I spend on my fish lol.

 

Your tank is looking lovely and exciting to hear you are starting another. Do you have something particular planned for the new one?

[owenj]

Love this picture, Beth is adorable, wish her a happy birthday for me. I have a special place in my heart for older animals. I have a 12 year old french bulldog; sometimes I think she resents the time I spend on my fish lol.

 

Your tank is looking lovely and exciting to hear you are starting another. Do you have something particular planned for the new one?

Hehe will do, hard to believe she's been around that long. I couldn't wait for our kittens to grow up! Babies are cute, but I like the slightly more sedate characters they have now. Beth is completely unflappable. Comes from growing up in a household full of teenagers , especially my younger brother.

 

A friend of mine keeps teetering on the edge of getting a Frenchie! 12yrs, going strong still I hope? Does she snore?

 

New tank will be RFA and acans is the thought right now. Have a few weeks still to go.

[Simone]

Hehe will do, hard to believe she's been around that long. I couldn't wait for our kittens to grow up! Babies are cute, but I like the slightly more sedate characters they have now. Beth is completely unflappable. Comes from growing up in a household full of teenagers , especially my younger brother.

 

A friend of mine keeps teetering on the edge of getting a Frenchie! 12yrs, going strong still I hope? Does she snore?

 

New tank will be RFA and acans is the thought right now. Have a few weeks still to go.

 

Yeah she is healthy for the most part except for one key thing, she has a neurological problem and has very limited use of her back legs. She has a custom wheelchair though and still loves to walk and chase things. She snores but just in a cute way, not annoying, but I have heard other frenchies that have much louder breathing in general. They are wonderful dogs I think, like whimsical teddy bear Buddhas but do have a tendency towards breathing and back problems.

 

I don't have any RFAs yet, I'd like to try them. Those ones at VIP Reef are out of hand.

 

I started a second tank too and am finding it hard not to play favorites with whichever one is doing better at any given moment and neglect the other a bit. Think I will combine them together when I get a bigger tank, whichI wish I could do already lol.

 

Have any fish plans for the new tank?

[owenj]

Yeah she is healthy for the most part except for one key thing, she has a neurological problem and has very limited use of her back legs. She has a custom wheelchair though and still loves to walk and chase things. She snores but just in a cute way, not annoying, but I have heard other frenchies that have much louder breathing in general. They are wonderful dogs I think, like whimsical teddy bear Buddhas but do have a tendency towards breathing and back problems.

 

I don't have any RFAs yet, I'd like to try them. Those ones at VIP Reef are out of hand.

 

I started a second tank too and am finding it hard not to play favorites with whichever one is doing better at any given moment and neglect the other a bit. Think I will combine them together when I get a bigger tank, whichI wish I could do already lol.

 

Have any fish plans for the new tank?

I'm glad she's getting around so well in her wheelchair. I love Frenchies, a family friend has one with huge bat ears and he is the sweetest thing. Apparently he snores quite loudly . It's too bad those cute faces are what contributes to the respiratory problems though .

 

Definitely give RFAs a shot if you have some room for them. Gorgeous and a great feeding response. And they come in just about every color you could ever want.

 

Big tanks just don't work out for me. It's my weird need for them to be on my desk so I can just turn my head and see them . That and the easy, little water changes. It's going to be hard not to play favorites with the new tank, but I'm planning to keep mostly separate things between the two so I can love them equally . I know I want a pair of clowns again, but still dithering on which color morph. And I'm envious of Mirya's pisol/goby pair so I'll probably have those too. Leaning towards a YWG and a tiger pistol.

[Simone]

I'm glad she's getting around so well in her wheelchair. I love Frenchies, a family friend has one with huge bat ears and he is the sweetest thing. Apparently he snores quite loudly . It's too bad those cute faces are what contributes to the respiratory problems though .

 

Definitely give RFAs a shot if you have some room for them. Gorgeous and a great feeding response. And they come in just about every color you could ever want.

 

Big tanks just don't work out for me. It's my weird need for them to be on my desk so I can just turn my head and see them . That and the easy, little water changes. It's going to be hard not to play favorites with the new tank, but I'm planning to keep mostly separate things between the two so I can love them equally . I know I want a pair of clowns again, but still dithering on which color morph. And I'm envious of Mirya's pisol/goby pair so I'll probably have those too. Leaning towards a YWG and a tiger pistol.

 

Sounds good, I'll definitely be following along

[gena]

Tug is smaller than the diablos . Tug isn't as vividly colored as yours so I'm wondering if he is really a she, or still just young. Definitely cool. I'm ogling the white banded one on Diver's Den right now, but am zeroed in on a clown pair and a shirmp goby/shrimp pair for the cube. Still...they're cute! It's the googly eyes

Yea, it's too bad they didn't sell smaller frags of the diablos, or maybe they did and they sold already . I'm hoping the colors pop a bit more once I dial the lights up a little bit and fiddle with the blue setting.

 

Yay, you have orange/greens too! They're gorgeous. Everyone needs blastos in their tanks.

I can't remember if mine was colorful from the get-go. I bet with the good foods you feed he/she will brighten up. Plus I'm going along with your thinking that it may be because it's very young . Bright or not bright, they are cuties .

[Polarcollision]

Picked up New Life Spectrum pellets a few weeks ago. Everyone was raving about how fish colors improve. It's hard to tell, but I think there's some truth to it. Also I hear cyclopeze is good for color. What are you all feeding?

 

Love your new helfritchi!! Did not know they're bolder than the others. Always loved them but my previous purple ff hid in the rocks all the time. I guess helfritchi is back in the running. Can't decide between a leopard wrasse, green mandarin, or the ff. Did you pick it up locally?

[owenj]

Picked up New Life Spectrum pellets a few weeks ago. Everyone was raving about how fish colors improve. It's hard to tell, but I think there's some truth to it. Also I hear cyclopeze is good for color. What are you all feeding?

 

Love your new helfritchi!! Did not know they're bolder than the others. Always loved them but my previous purple ff hid in the rocks all the time. I guess helfritchi is back in the running. Can't decide between a leopard wrasse, green mandarin, or the ff. Did you pick it up locally?

I had NLS pellets in the past and neither my clowns nor gobies went for them compared to how they went after flakes ( ) or frozen food. Maybe I got too small of ones? I've seen in my freshwater fish that their colors improve and chalked it up to diet and just feeling more secure in their home. I've done some tank rearranging and Tug explores the whole tank now so I'm thinking that in time he'll color up a bit. If not, oh well, the corals/nems can be the eye-catchers . I feed home-made (not by me) flakes or Repashy gel food every day, and 2-3x a week frozen food to the corals and the fish get some (mysis, spirulina brine, R.O.E.).

 

The helfrichi is from Diver's Den, though I probably could've gotten one from Barrier Reef since they seem to get them in consistently. He's super brave and has been from the get go. He was shipped in a bag with dark mylar-like plastic keeping his bag dark except for a thing strip around the center and he kept peeking out through it during acclimation. Highly recommend them! Tug hid in the corner of his bag

 

Got several new blastos, a plate, and some RFAs in and am a bit worried because the corals' water felt really cold when they got here despite overnight shipping from two separate sellers. Only two blastos are showing signs of opening tonight, and it's the barest amount of tissue extension . The plate is sort of extending some tissue around its rim, but I can definitely still see skeleton near the mouth. The others are still fully receded. I've had them in dimmed lighting all day, and will keep it reduced in the morning depending on what they look like after a night in the tank.

 

The RFAs are from KP Aquatics, shipped 2-day priority, and they opened and attached within minutes .

[gena]

Got several new blastos, a plate, and some RFAs in and am a bit worried because the corals' water felt really cold when they got here despite overnight shipping from two separate sellers. Only two blastos are showing signs of opening tonight, and it's the barest amount of tissue extension . The plate is sort of extending some tissue around its rim, but I can definitely still see skeleton near the mouth. The others are still fully receded. I've had them in dimmed lighting all day, and will keep it reduced in the morning depending on what they look like after a night in the tank.

 

The RFAs are from KP Aquatics, shipped 2-day priority, and they opened and attached within minutes .

"several new"

 

How's everything doing today?

[owenj]

"several new"

 

How's everything doing today?

Much better today. Not everyone is fully open, but most of the blastos are extended pretty well.

 

New FTS

 

Some before & afters. The "befores" are from last night, the "afters" are this evening.

Before

After

Before

After

Before

After

 

The RFAs: The little middle one was a freebie. I was worried about it because the foot had some "owie" looking red spots but it hasn't moved from it's initial spot and is attached well.

Orange RFA decided to take a hike under the rock hopefully it'll come back up to the light.

 

The Diablos don't have as distinctive a yellow rim as the picture on Vivid's site, but it's starting to color up. I'm bumping up the blues on my Razor to enhance the colors.

 

Helfrichi

Tug the PSW

 

 

Not a saltie pic, but I saw an otocinculus riding my bamboo shrimp in the 20g freshwater tank so I took a quick picture with my phone.

 

Moved the 20 to our entryway table and now have a nice blank spot on my desk awaiting the cube

[Curry02]

nice! those new pics look awesome. That helfrichi looks super chill.

[owenj]

nice! those new pics look awesome. That helfrichi looks super chill.

Thanks. Finally started trying out the macro lens. Still need to work on color correcting and figuring out better settings though.

 

The helfrichi is very curious. He has his hidey hole in the bottom rock on the right so whenever he gets spooked (sudden movement by me, cats jumping up on the desk, etc) he darts into there instead of jumping at the surface or anything like that, and then he's back out within two seconds to see what's up. He's so personable I don't regret passing on getting clowns. They'll be in the next tank

[gena]

Oh yeah...looks like everything is going to be just fine!!!!! I think these are my favorite . What color is the plate?

[owenj]

Oh yeah...looks like everything is going to be just fine!!!!! I think these are my favorite . What color is the plate?

Hold off on picking favorites til end of next week . Yea, the yellowish ones are open even more today so I think they're all out of the woods.

 

The plate is blueish with some green strips and the tentacles have a dark green tint. I'm worried it might be getting too much flow since I can see the tentacles and flesh sort of billowing about, but I thought plates could move if unhappy with placement? Love the look of the plate. I may need an orange one in the future.

[ninjamyst]

What color RFA did you pick from KP Aquatic? I been eyeing their yellow one but since it;s not WYSIWG, I am hesitant.

[owenj]

What color RFA did you pick from KP Aquatic? I been eyeing their yellow one but since it;s not WYSIWG, I am hesitant.

A white stripe and an orange one, and the cream/brown with a yellow circle was the freebie (I saw cream/brown, a friend referred to it as pinkish). The white stripe is exactly what I was hoping for . The orange one looks pretty, but can't get a great look at it in the light based on where it's set up shop .

 

Given their prices and the low priced shipping I'd say go for it.

[gena]

Hold off on picking favorites til end of next week . Yea, the yellowish ones are open even more today so I think they're all out of the woods.

 

The plate is blueish with some green strips and the tentacles have a dark green tint. I'm worried it might be getting too much flow since I can see the tentacles and flesh sort of billowing about, but I thought plates could move if unhappy with placement? Love the look of the plate. I may need an orange one in the future.

Ok, sounds good.... .

 

Yep, a plate will move on it's own. My orange one moves a lot. The green one not so much .

[wildbill79]

Your tank looks awesome! Love the Blastos!

[owenj]

Ok, sounds good.... .

 

Yep, a plate will move on it's own. My orange one moves a lot. The green one not so much .

Mmk, I guess it doesn't mind where it is then I'll leave it to decide at its own discretion.

 

Your tank looks awesome! Love the Blastos!

Thanks! I <3 me some blastos.

[frankdr]

It's my weird need for them to be on my desk so I can just turn my head and see them..

 

I feel ya.. My Nuvo 8 is on my nightstand and I'm often staring into there to help put me to sleep. One of the things I love about my new AI Nano is that it has a lunar mode, so the tank is just barely lit. It's a $200 nightlight

[owenj]

I feel ya.. My Nuvo 8 is on my nightstand and I'm often staring into there to help put me to sleep. One of the things I love about my new AI Nano is that it has a lunar mode, so the tank is just barely lit. It's a $200 nightlight

Had fish tanks as my nightlight growing up was so much better than the fish light mobile thing (like a lava lamp but was pictures of fish that lit up and went in a circle).

 

I'd love to have a tank in the bedroom but the husbeast has a fairly low tolerance for light when it comes to falling asleep. Plus, the RODI system and my water mixing setup is downstairs and the thought of lugging water upstairs is enough of a deterrent .

 

Nice that the Nano has a lunar mode. My one gripe with the Razor is that even with the B channel at 1% it's still too bright to really work as a moonlight.

[gena]

Nice that the Nano has a lunar mode. My one gripe with the Razor is that even with the B channel at 1% it's still too bright to really work as a moonlight.

It is pretty bright, but I've been using that 1% as the moonlight for a year now and seems to be working out just fine.

 

Is it the end of the week yet????

[owenj]

It is pretty bright, but I've been using that 1% as the moonlight for a year now and seems to be working out just fine.

 

Is it the end of the week yet????

It's weird how I'm carrying on three separate conversations with you

 

Hmm, good to know it hasn't upset your tank. I changed my light setting to go off at 10 now instead of 11, more as a reminder to me that I should be considering bed when the tank does . It's downstairs anyway so it's not like I'll be benefiting from the moonlight in the wee hours.

 

I do and don't want it to be the end of the week. The yays are that I'll have my new corals, the cube supposedly should be shipping out around the end of the week, and we have some family stuff going on this weekend that'll be fun. But, that means I'm that much closer to having class start up again since first day of class is next Monday .

[gena]

It's weird how I'm carrying on three separate conversations with you

 

Hmm, good to know it hasn't upset your tank. I changed my light setting to go off at 10 now instead of 11, more as a reminder to me that I should be considering bed when the tank does . It's downstairs anyway so it's not like I'll be benefiting from the moonlight in the wee hours.

 

I do and don't want it to be the end of the week. The yays are that I'll have my new corals, the cube supposedly should be shipping out around the end of the week, and we have some family stuff going on this weekend that'll be fun. But, that means I'm that much closer to having class start up again since first day of class is next Monday .

Three separate conversations???? I didn't even know LOL.

 

I leave my moonlight (1%) going all night long. It's never pitch black in my tank.

 

I'd say the good outweighs the bad .