Baby's aBode! 5.5g Macro Aquarium!

[ReefWeeds]

Dawn - I ordered the 250 feeder shrimp I'm planning on putting a bunch in my 12 long as a cleaning crew of sorts and as food for the crouchers and then a bunch in my fuge. how do you go about acclimating them?

This morning i fed omega enriched brine shrimp to the inhabitants of Baby's aBode and they all came out at once to partake. To be honest i didn't really even know how many fish were in there since as i would find them in the feeder shrimp tank i would move them to Baby's tank. There are at least 8 fish packed into that little 5.5 gallon tank! They all seem fat, healthy without skirmishes over real estate, and the tank is not over run with algae, so i am going to assume with the 50% WCs weekly that they are fine. It is definitely preferable to a feeder tank!

 

You'll have to take some photos of your little rescue fish!!!

[vlangel]

Dawn - I ordered the 250 feeder shrimp I'm planning on putting a bunch in my 12 long as a cleaning crew of sorts and as food for the crouchers and then a bunch in my fuge. how do you go about acclimating them?

 

 

You'll have to take some photos of your little rescue fish!!!

They are pretty sturdy little creatures as far as the acclimation. Basically i leave them in their bag until i think they are close to room temperature, (since that is what my feeder tank is). I have my salinity around .017 which is usually what they come in. Then i just net them out of the smelly, gross water they are in and move them to the feeder tank. Of course there are always some that perish in transport or the next day or 2 from the stress of transport. I always remove those but the ones that live beyond the 2nd day are generally with me for months and even with the losses i always feel i get my 250 ct or more.

 

I try to get pics of the rescue fish but they are fast, especially the basselet type. The gobies are bridled gobies i believe and they are darling. The pipefish are not easily kept as i think they only eat live food. I already decided that i was not hatching and enriching live bbs for them. Eventually when the shrimp population goes down as i feed them to the seahorses, the pipefish starve. I think they feed on larvae shrimp while the ghost shrimp are producing.

[ReefWeeds]

They are pretty sturdy little creatures as far as the acclimation. Basically i leave them in their bag until i think they are close to room temperature, (since that is what my feeder tank is). I have my salinity around .017 which is usually what they come in. Then i just net them out of the smelly, gross water they are in and move them to the feeder tank. Of course there are always some that perish in transport or the next day or 2 from the stress of transport. I always remove those but the ones that live beyond the 2nd day are generally with me for months and even with the losses i always feel i get my 250 ct or more.

 

I try to get pics of the rescue fish but they are fast, especially the basselet type. The gobies are bridled gobies i believe and they are darling. The pipefish are not easily kept as i think they only eat live food. I already decided that i was not hatching and enriching live bbs for them. Eventually when the shrimp population goes down as i feed them to the seahorses, the pipefish starve. I think they feed on larvae shrimp while the ghost shrimp are producing.

 

ok cool! Thanks Dawn! I think I will acclimate them to the higher salinity then. I'm worried that I won't see dead ones in the fuge but there are bristle worms in there that I hope would make quick work of the ones that kick the bucket I think I'll put them all in there first and then move some eventually to the 12.

 

yeah that water is definitely kinda gross There are a lot of them moving around though. Holy instant shrimp population!

[vlangel]

ok cool! Thanks Dawn! I think I will acclimate them to the higher salinity then. I'm worried that I won't see dead ones in the fuge but there are bristle worms in there that I hope would make quick work of the ones that kick the bucket I think I'll put them all in there first and then move some eventually to the 12.

 

yeah that water is definitely kinda gross There are a lot of them moving around though. Holy instant shrimp population!

Let me know if you see any freebie fish or pipefish?

[ReefWeeds]

Let me know if you see any freebie fish or pipefish?

 

A pipefish! And I think a goby. But I didn't see the goby until I put it in the sump and I think it was dead The pipe I thought was dead, but it put it in the fuge anyway and boom. It swam off. It was a good 4-5" long! I was shocked! So cool.

And a couple hermits, a cute little crab and a snail

[vlangel]

A pipefish! And I think a goby. But I didn't see the goby until I put it in the sump and I think it was dead The pipe I thought was dead, but it put it in the fuge anyway and boom. It swam off. It was a good 4-5" long! I was shocked! So cool.And a couple hermits, a cute little crab and a snail

Cool, maybe your fuge will have pods that the pipefish can feed on and be sustained. I looked up what kind of pipe it probably was but i can not remember now.

[ReefWeeds]

Cool, maybe your fuge will have pods that the pipefish can feed on and be sustained. I looked up what kind of pipe it probably was but i can not remember now.

 

There are pods in there, hopefully enough! i'll have to put more in. He's pretty cool looking, dark grey/black.

[yoshii]

Dawn, can you get a picture of one of the pipefish? Are they are brackish or marine species? They sound cute

[vlangel]

Dawn, can you get a picture of one of the pipefish? Are they are brackish or marine species? They sound cute

There are pods in there, hopefully enough! i'll have to put more in. He's pretty cool looking, dark grey/black.

Dawn, can you get a picture of one of the pipefish? Are they are brackish or marine species? They sound cute

Mine just died but i believe they are a brackish specie. Maybe stella can get a pic. I do have pics of them in my seahorse thread. I 'll see if i can find it.

I found one although you have to look hard to see it on the right side.

[vlangel]

I found the name of what i thought they might be: syngnathus scovelli. They are a brackish marine specie that do best if you alternate 25% WCs with fresh, then next time with salt and the 3rd time brackish. I was doing that in my feeder tank.

[Felicia]

How did I not realize you had a thread for this tank? Belatedly following along now

[vlangel]

How did I not realize you had a thread for this tank? Belatedly following along now

O its ok, this thread kind of only happens in spurts. I am not really trying to make a beautiful reef as much as making an easy tank to care for that Baby, my hand raised clownfish can live in.

[NathanC]

where did you order these feeder shrimp. I am in the process of setting up a 30-gallon sea horse tank with a pair of Erectus (thanks vlangel for the recommendation) what is the best most sustainable process to feed them. and is there a possibility I could wean them on to frozen?

[vlangel]

My husband orders them for me on ebay: at_your_door_fishstore. I keep the ghost shrimp in a 5-10 gallon tank with cycled rock. I feed the shrimp Dans Feed when i am offering them to the seahorses so they are gut loaded with something very nutritional. Otherwise i just feed the ghost shrimp crushed flakes until i am ready to gut load.

where did you order these feeder shrimp. I am in the process of setting up a 30-gallon sea horse tank with a pair of Erectus (thanks vlangel for the recommendation) what is the best most sustainable process to feed them. and is there a possibility I could wean them on to frozen?

[pgrVII]

Dang Dawn,this is awesome too! What a neat side tank

[NathanC]

My husband orders them for me on ebay: at_your_door_fishstore. I keep the ghost shrimp in a 5-10 gallon tank with cycled rock. I feed the shrimp Dans Feed when i am offering them to the seahorses so they are gut loaded with something very nutritional. Otherwise i just feed the ghost shrimp crushed flakes until i am ready to gut load.

 

 

OK thank you

[vlangel]

Dang Dawn,this is awesome too! What a neat side tank

Thanks Patrick. Yeah, I set this little tank up so I could keep my hand raised clownfish, Baby when I consolidated the reef tank and seahorse tank. It needed to be an easy little tank so I can concentrate on the seahorses. Basically it gets about a 50% water change every week and the glass wiped down. I prune macro algae when necessary.

[pgrVII]

Thanks Patrick. Yeah, I set this little tank up so I could keep my hand raised clownfish, Baby when I consolidated the reef tank and seahorse tank. It needed to be an easy little tank so I can concentrate on the seahorses. Basically it gets about a 50% water change every week and the glass wiped down. I prune macro algae when necessary.

I dig it very well done. Simple.

[vlangel]

I did a deep clean in Baby's aBode and I have a dilemma. The 3 freebie fish that came with the last shrimp order are getting big fast. One is almost Baby's size. The bioload on that little 5 gallon is way more than it should be. I could move them into the feeder shrimp tank but they will outgrow that in no time and I am not setting up another tank for them. Any suggestions?