Guits Posted December 20, 2014 Author Share Posted December 20, 2014 Great Spec V tank, i have a freshwater spec V, seeing this tank makes me wanna go buy another one and set it up as a nano reef Thanks! I really like the display length of the Spec V, and it fits perfectly in my tiny Manhattan apartment. Link to comment
Guits Posted December 21, 2014 Author Share Posted December 21, 2014 Updates! No major changes - I think this tank is about stocked to capacity! Unfortunately the Pederson's cleaner shrimp jumped out of the tank - she will be tough to replace since I've never seen them offered for sale locally and I don't need anything else for my tanks to justify the $$$ shipping costs of getting livestock online. I really love anemone shrimp though! I also did a major macroalgae trim, so once I have some proper regrowth I'll take another picture. Link to comment
Guits Posted January 1, 2015 Author Share Posted January 1, 2015 Happy New Year! I added 2 tiger gobies (Elacatinus macrodon) in the last 2 weeks. I've been looking for them for a while. From the online research I've done, I'm fairly certain that this species is actually found in the Tampa area where the live rock is from (as opposed to areas further south like the Florida Keys). Aggression has been minimal, and they are fairly active for bottom dwelling fish which is great for viewing. They are small at 1 inch each and stay small, which is a good size for the tank. My concern is that the increased bioload will result in unwanted algae growth. If it gets to be a problem, I have 2 other nanos that the fish could potentially go. Â In the interest of having the tiger gobies acclimate well, I started feeding the fish heavily last week. I believe that the increased feedings may have contributed to my masked gobies spawning! I have no illusions of being able to raise the fry. I used to raise Apistogramma cichlids and sell them locally, so one day I'd like to be able to raise saltwater fish! The masked goby that I think is the female occasional swims right up to the eggs, but doesn't guard the eggs like I've been used to with cichlids. The male seems to stay on the other side of the tank. Â Enjoy the pics. Â Â Link to comment
gena Posted January 1, 2015 Share Posted January 1, 2015 Very cool! I have a masked goby...great fish . Link to comment
Guits Posted January 2, 2015 Author Share Posted January 2, 2015 Very cool! I have a masked goby...great fish . I agree I'm very happy with the masked gobies. I think they are great for a nano tank. Link to comment
Mirya Posted January 2, 2015 Share Posted January 2, 2015 I love the shot of the rose coral that your tiger goby is parked next to. ANd fantastic to hear how happy your masked gobies are! Link to comment
hypostatic Posted January 2, 2015 Share Posted January 2, 2015 Wow, looks really nice. This is actually what I had in mind when I started my tank, but I failed miserably lol. Good job! Link to comment
Guits Posted January 3, 2015 Author Share Posted January 3, 2015 I love the shot of the rose coral that your tiger goby is parked next to. ANd fantastic to hear how happy your masked gobies are! I agree - I really like the details of the tentacles that you can see in the photo. Wow, looks really nice. This is actually what I had in mind when I started my tank, but I failed miserably lol. Good job! Thanks! I looked at your tank thread and I think it looks pretty amazing. Link to comment
Guits Posted January 8, 2015 Author Share Posted January 8, 2015 The eggs pictured in the previous post were gone after the first night and I didn't think much of it. Today I was post-call and hanging out in my apartment and noticed the pair of masked gobies courting each other. Rather, it seemed like the fish that I think is the female was flashing her fins and puffing up her mouth and also rubbing her pelvic pins against the side of the tank. It started around 10am and I tried to film the actual spawning event, however I gave up and went to take a nap. When I got up at 2pm, there was a new brood, with the female guarding the eggs and the male on the other side of the tank. I did get several videos of the fish courting and what I believe to be simulation of spawning activity. I posted one of the videos on YouTube. You can also see videos I've captured of spawning fish from my days keeping planted tanks on that YouTube channel. I also took a picture of the new nest that you can see below. Enjoy! Â Link to comment
reefernanoman Posted January 8, 2015 Share Posted January 8, 2015 Nice clean look. Congrats. Link to comment
teenyreef Posted January 8, 2015 Share Posted January 8, 2015 Awww, they are so cute! True love Link to comment
Guits Posted January 10, 2015 Author Share Posted January 10, 2015 Nice clean look. Congrats. Thanks! Awww, they are so cute! True love They are! Normally they hang out on opposite sides of the tank and occasionally bicker with each other, so I suspected something was going when they started hanging out together on the same side of the tank. The tiger gobies don't bicker with each other much at all - hopefully they might be compatible as well? Since adding the tiger gobies I definitely have to clean the glass of algae more frequently. I'm pushing the limits of how many fish I can have in such a small tank vs nutrient export especially since I rely on water changes and macroalgae. If it looks like algae will be an issue, I'll probably move one of the pairs of gobies to another tank. Link to comment
Guits Posted February 8, 2015 Author Share Posted February 8, 2015 I was on vacation with my college friends in Cambodia, Taiwan and Hong Kong the past 2 weeks, and my significant other who couldn't come on the trip did a wonderful job taking care of my tanks, including learning how to hand pipette spot-feed (!!!) my lined seahorse in my gorgonian/seahorse tank and tending to some black mangrove seeds I am trying to grow. The rose coral tank did fine, except the larger tiger goby now has visible ich!!! Last year, I had a royal gramma in the tank which succumbed to ich in less than a week, and I left the tank fishless for over a month to allow the ich to disappear. Since then, none of the fish which were subsequently added have shown ich, and I thought the tank was fine. I guess there was subclinical ich all along, or perhaps one of the fish introduced after the royal gramma died reintroduced ich. I'm not very optimistic and think that I may lose all the fish, given my past bad experiences with ich. I really don't have space in my tiny apartment for a treatment tank (my significant other is already awesome in allowing me to keep 3 tanks!), and my other tanks are all filled with coral so I can't remove the gobies and medicate in my other tanks either. I think I'll try to keep the gobies well fed and the water quality high. Maybe I'll see if there are any medicated foods like garlic at the LFS. It's a shame especially since the system really seemed to be maturing! I just remembered - I added some cerinth snails about 1 week before I went to Cambodia. Maybe they reintroduced the ich? Although it doesn't really matter where it came from - ich is ich is ich Link to comment
JLynn Posted March 5, 2015 Share Posted March 5, 2015 I don't know how much good it will do - or if you have a chiller to do it - but bacteria reproduce exponentially more slowly once you get tank temperatures down to 74 or lower. 70-74 F is fine for tropical creatures, as long as you lower the temperatures slowly. Anyways, lowering tank temperatures to 68 F (another drastic decrease in bacterial reproduction) is a tactic that seahorse keepers use to buy time for their fish to try to fight off the infection. It could certainly help your fish, too. Good luck! Link to comment
Guits Posted March 5, 2015 Author Share Posted March 5, 2015 I don't know how much good it will do - or if you have a chiller to do it - but bacteria reproduce exponentially more slowly once you get tank temperatures down to 74 or lower. 70-74 F is fine for tropical creatures, as long as you lower the temperatures slowly. Anyways, lowering tank temperatures to 68 F (another drastic decrease in bacterial reproduction) is a tactic that seahorse keepers use to buy time for their fish to try to fight off the infection. It could certainly help your fish, too. Good luck! Thanks for the suggestion. I don't have a chiller to try lowering the temperature. I'm a little embarassed to say this, but I've tried several "reef-safe" remedies that from my internet research I know will almost likely not work - such as soaking food in garlic, Ruby Reef Kick-Ich, and New Life Spectrum Ick Shield (the fish ate it the first day, and now barely touch it I think it must have a bad taste). As expected, the fish still have ich, and I'm still very doubtful the fish will make it, especially the rusty goby and the tiger goby. Interestingly, the pair of masked gobies laid a new clutch of eggs even though they had visible ich. I would have very much preferred that they save their energy! I'm still very bummed about the ich as the tank has matured really well and I quite enjoy the tank, and I was very happy with the fish Link to comment
markalot Posted March 5, 2015 Share Posted March 5, 2015 Keep feeding them heavily, make sure they eat, and I think they will all be fine. I have ich in my tank, it's manageable as long as you can keep the fish eating. In my experience anyway. Just remember it will keep showing up every week or two weeks for a while. When you see ich it's in the last stage on the fish before falling off to start the cycle over again. Link to comment
JLynn Posted March 5, 2015 Share Posted March 5, 2015 That's a shame. Your masked gobies are real troopers, though! Laying eggs may be good sign for them - either they had enough extra energy to do so safely, or it was like a last-ditch effort to spread their genes. I know that some corals will spawn before dying, so it may be that some fish do it, too. I will choose to remain optimistic, though, and believe that your masked gobies are just exceptionally hardy. I'll be praying for your fish, for sure. You could use a miracle; it would be such a shame to see them go! Link to comment
gena Posted March 5, 2015 Share Posted March 5, 2015 Still laying eggs has to be a good sign! I hope they can pull through . Link to comment
Guits Posted March 7, 2015 Author Share Posted March 7, 2015 Thanks for the encouragement and happy thoughts! Sadly, just like I expected the fish are looking worse. Only the masked gobies are left, and they are looking beat up with more visible ich than ever. This is despite them eating fairly normally and water changes. They've been hanging on for 3 weeks but can't seem to get over it Still very bummed because I had found exactly the fish I wanted for this tank! Link to comment
teenyreef Posted March 16, 2015 Share Posted March 16, 2015 I'm so sorry to hear about the gobies Any update? Are they still hanging in? Link to comment
Guits Posted March 17, 2015 Author Share Posted March 17, 2015 I'm so sorry to hear about the gobies Any update? Are they still hanging in? The pair of masked gobies are still hanging on. One of them was looking really bad a week ago, but looks a bit better this week. Both of them are also more active than last week. Hopefully they can hang on for a bit longer and get over it completely, or at least gain some prolonged immunity. Link to comment
gena Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 The pair of masked gobies are still hanging on. One of them was looking really bad a week ago, but looks a bit better this week. Both of them are also more active than last week. Hopefully they can hang on for a bit longer and get over it completely, or at least gain some prolonged immunity.I bet they pull through it! My masked goby was looking really rough one day and I was sure I was going to lose it. But that sick look went away. I'm not sure what it was exactly...maybe it got into some coral? But it definitely had an issue. I think they are hardy and can survive things other fish wouldn't be able to. Still crossing the fingers for you . Link to comment
Guits Posted March 17, 2015 Author Share Posted March 17, 2015 I bet they pull through it! My masked goby was looking really rough one day and I was sure I was going to lose it. But that sick look went away. I'm not sure what it was exactly...maybe it got into some coral? But it definitely had an issue. I think they are hardy and can survive things other fish wouldn't be able to. Still crossing the fingers for you . Thanks gena! They are the ones that weathered the storm so far and I hope the worst has passed! Link to comment
teenyreef Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 I'm so glad to hear they're doing better! It's good to know that they are tough Link to comment
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