My humble 5.5g

[klarion]

Your tank just blows me away......

[c est ma]

Response Post:

 

I neglected to answer so many comments in January, when I was preoccupied with, uh, another project----and I feel so bad about that...

 

Here's a lame attempt to get a few more answers/responses in.

 

I'm not sure if this is entirely relevant, but I grew up drinking goat's milk. We had an old village trapped inside a metropolis where I grew up, so it was easy to get it in the city. New York is different though..

 

Hey, I'm the one who brought up goats--of course it's relevant! Just when I thought your background couldn't get any more fascinating! When I was first learning about goats I learned so much about their milk, esp. how the fat molecules were so small compared to cow's milk that their milk was essentially already "homogenized," and how that fact made it so much easier for many people to digest than cow's milk...

 

"...an old village trapped inside a metropolis..." That's SO intriguing!

 

But gee, I kinda thought you could get anything in NYC!

 

 

 

 

Yes, New pics of anything from your tank are always welcome especially medium close ups because I would like to see how your life fits together. Also, would it be too much to ask you to comment on what sp. spread where and how much?

 

Thanks,

b

 

These are indeed things I really want to document here, esp. my various successes and failures with survival and growth over the years...I will try to put together some posts about these things!

 

 

I have read that if it looses one it will frag the other so that it has two. The thing that amazes me is how do they molt and still have the nems? Do they set them down until the molt is complete and then pick them back up? I can see the nems getting larger on mine. Lots more waving and mopping up with them They are such cool critters.

 

 

I did read that the Pom-Pom Crab will set both anemones down while molting and then pick them up again after it's finished. To quote Martyn Haywood:

 

"Boxing crabs (Lybia tessellata) are the only examples of invertebrates known to use tools...these small crabs collect a tiny anemone in each claw and actively wave them at encroaching predators as a warning. Furthermore, even though these crabs use their first pair of walking legs to search the substrate detritus for food, they will happily collect food from the anemones. Only when they change their exoskeleton will Lybia deliberately release the anemones and carefully set them aside until the new shell hardens. Then they pick them up and press them into service once more."

 

Boris, thank you for answering that question. (Do you have a link to this excerpt?) That is a very cool statement, "the only...invertebrates known to use tools..." Wow.

 

As to the using of their legs to find food--this has been one of my favorite observations about my pom pom, and I am glad to see it corroborated. Somewhere I have a vid that captured that behavior, and if I can find it I'll post it.

 

I recently lost my apparently healthy, happy emerald, and when these things happen to an arthropod, I can't help but think that it may have been caught during its molt, whilst most vulnerable. I am always amazed that my arthropods do survive their molts, given the small size of my tank and the number of potential partakers of soft arthropod meat. I've concluded that my hermits survive their molts by retreating into their current shells to do so. Tonight my son & I were talking about how the pom pom survives, and surmizing the possibility that she finds some hole wherein she can post her 'nems at the opening, thereby discouraging would-be intruders!

 

 

And now, some random pics.

 

First, just a view of my hitcher Porites when it's closed up. This particular coral always fascinates me:

 

 

And a pic of one of my brittle stars (amazingly with all 6 legs intact and relatively equal in length) in a tupperware-type tub (it would be green ), taken when I was combing through my fuge chaeto in a effort to return all its brittles to the main tank after one ended up inside the fuge pump:

 

 

And the same guy with a cm ruler:

 

 

--Diane

[silverdust]

As always, wonderful pictures. Were those little stars originally hitch hikers? I don't seem to have any in my tank but I think I saw some for sale somewhere.

[Nick's Reef]

Love the xenia pics and the brittle star, i finally got a good pic of mine last night. Btw where have you been you really need to look at my thread i've completely changed the rock scape since last ime you looked if I remember correctly.

[Amerijuanican]

Your tank blows dogs for quarters......

 

ahahahaha... jk... tank is looking awesome

[coolwaters]

omg i love your hood stand. you should paint it black though =)

[c est ma]

As always, wonderful pictures. Were those little stars originally hitch hikers? I don't seem to have any in my tank but I think I saw some for sale somewhere.

 

 

Yep, two of them came in on a very small ric rock. They fissioned into quite a population, and have spawned several times. Very cool tank residents, and a great nano size.

 

 

Love the xenia pics and the brittle star, i finally got a good pic of mine last night. Btw where have you been you really need to look at my thread i've completely changed the rock scape since last ime you looked if I remember correctly.

 

 

Nick, I've been following along. I think this reply was in regard to your new 'scape :

 

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?...t&p=1490903

 

 

omg i love your hood stand. you should paint it black though =)

 

 

That was my original intention, but this is precisely the kind of thing I seldom get around to...

 

. . . . . . . . . . . .

 

"Chestnut" turbo:

 

 

--Diane

[Nick's Reef]

Yeah i remembered that you said something about my corals looking so plump after all the handling.

[klarion]

Diane,

 

I got that pom-pom crab quote from a book, so I actually had to type it in .

It's from "The Manual of Marine Invertebrates" by Martyn Haywood and Sue Wells published by Tetra Press.

 

I got that book a long time ago so I'm not even sure if it's in print anymore.

[c est ma]

Diane,

 

I got that pom-pom crab quote from a book, so I actually had to type it in .

It's from "The Manual of Marine Invertebrates" by Martyn Haywood and Sue Wells published by Tetra Press.

 

I got that book a long time ago so I'm not even sure if it's in print anymore.

 

Wow, I'm not the only one who types things in from books! Thanks for the reference...maybe I'll run across the book sometime...Unfortunately, some good info can get "lost" when books go out of print...

 

 

Chitons

 

I don't think I've mentioned chitons much in this thread. These have been some of my favorite hitchhikers. I seem to have two species: one which reproduces in my tank and one that only appears to have one individual representative.

 

The one that reproduces is very small, white with pinkish markings, and apparently a fairly common hitchhiker. I got mine on my pink ric rock a little more than 2 years ago. (This was the same rock that my brittle stars came in on--what a great little frag!) Unfortunately, I used to have a much bigger population of these guys...they persist, but at much lower numbers than before. I don't know if that's because something's preying on them, or because they're being outcompeted by something...

 

Here's an older pic of this species (with a little black sponge above it):

 

 

 

Last November I noticed a very interesting individual. It appeared that one of its eight segments was bearing eggs? I know that sounds strange, but...are there any malacologists on this forum who can chime in here? Anyway, here are the pics of the phenomenon (the chiton was in a spot where the LR nearly touches the glass and thus the glass doesn't get scraped very often. I had also just fed Cyclopeeze, so there are some of them in the pic, along with a closed shroom and a bristle worm peeking in from the right):

 

 

 

The first pic cropped--doesn't that look like an egg mass? :

 

 

 

What got me thinking of chitons was what I saw when I turned on the lights yesterday. This is my other species, significantly bigger than the first species, though still petite, as you can see in relation to the green star polyps. AFAIK I only have one of these chitons, and I see it very rarely--maybe once or twice a year! I have no idea when it came in...

 

It has a nice camoflage pattern of coralline growth and maybe some other encrusters. It would be nearly invisible if its regular plate architecture didn't show up so well.

 

It appears to be light sensitive, though. As I was taking these pics it was scooting pretty fast down the rock. Also in the pics--the ubiquitous brittle star arms!:

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is one of those things that doesn't reappear until well after I'm sure it must have died long ago... Always a thrill to see it again!

 

--Diane

[divecj5]

The microfauna in your tank is simply awesome Diane. I thought that I might have seen a chiton in my tank similar to your first kind but I haven't seen it since then. Not sure if it's just found a safe home in the back or if it didn't make it somehow.

 

Amazing photography as well...as usual I am no malacologist but that really does look like some sort of egg mass on that one individual. If so, that is really cool that they are reproducing and just goes to show what an amazing little ecosystem you have in your tank.

 

How long has your tank been running again? I can't seem to remember. Either that or it's too early and not enough coffee yet.

[opaquelace]

I hope my ricordea garden can become as huge and beautiful as yours c'est ma! I witnessed my what was once pink ricordea split into two just last week and it was really interesting. Unfortunately it is no longer pink, but a crazy combination of fluorescent oranges and greens though.

 

Do you turn your pumps off when you feed your rics?

[dshnarw]

Wow, I'm not the only one who types things in from books! Thanks for the reference...maybe I'll run across the book sometime...Unfortunately, some good info can get "lost" when books go out of print...

 

 

Chitons

 

I don't think I've mentioned chitons much in this thread. These have been some of my favorite hitchhikers. I seem to have two species: one which reproduces in my tank and one that only appears to have one individual representative.

 

The one that reproduces is very small, white with pinkish markings, and apparently a fairly common hitchhiker. I got mine on my pink ric rock a little more than 2 years ago. (This was the same rock that my brittle stars came in on--what a great little frag!) Unfortunately, I used to have a much bigger population of these guys...they persist, but at much lower numbers than before. I don't know if that's because something's preying on them, or because they're being outcompeted by something...

 

Here's an older pic of this species (with a little black sponge above it):

 

 

 

Last November I noticed a very interesting individual. It appeared that one of its eight segments was bearing eggs? I know that sounds strange, but...are there any malacologists on this forum who can chime in here? Anyway, here are the pics of the phenomenon (the chiton was in a spot where the LR nearly touches the glass and thus the glass doesn't get scraped very often. I had also just fed Cyclopeeze, so there are some of them in the pic, along with a closed shroom and a bristle worm peeking in from the right):

 

 

 

The first pic cropped--doesn't that look like an egg mass? :

 

 

 

What got me thinking of chitons was what I saw when I turned on the lights yesterday. This is my other species, significantly bigger than the first species, though still petite, as you can see in relation to the green star polyps. AFAIK I only have one of these chitons, and I see it very rarely--maybe once or twice a year! I have no idea when it came in...

 

It has a nice camoflage pattern of coralline growth and maybe some other encrusters. It would be nearly invisible if its regular plate architecture didn't show up so well.

 

It appears to be light sensitive, though. As I was taking these pics it was scooting pretty fast down the rock. Also in the pics--the ubiquitous brittle star arms!:

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is one of those things that doesn't reappear until well after I'm sure it must have died long ago... Always a thrill to see it again!

 

--Diane

 

 

OMG I LOVE CHITONS!!!! but alas, my rock has none

 

That last one sounds like my money cowry. Only see it when I rearrange the entire tank...then I stick him in the sand as far from rock as possible, and get to watch for an hour or two

 

 

 

 

 

MORE PICS PLEASE...tomorrow is the last day of royalty

[Jasoncgnu]

c est ma

Your tank is beautiful! Just absolutely stunning....

 

Have you taken any type of photography class or are you just naturally gifted? Also what kind of camera are you using? I apologize if this has already been answered.

 

Oh and this:

 

reminds me of this:

[arwndsh]

OMG I LOVE CHITONS!!!! but alas, my rock has none

 

That last one sounds like my money cowry. Only see it when I rearrange the entire tank...then I stick him in the sand as far from rock as possible, and get to watch for an hour or two

 

 

 

 

 

MORE PICS PLEASE...tomorrow is the last day of royalty

 

 

You have that wrong sweety, she will always be royalty around here.

[el fabuloso]

You have that wrong sweety, she will always be royalty around here.

+1! Diane's tank is my all time favorite. A constant source of inspiration for me!

[phil121]

Wow. That is a seriously incredible tank. I would have to agree that it is one of the best I have seen.

 

I have been reading through all of your topics Diane and have learned a lot of valuable info. Thanks.

[c est ma]

All of you below plus Amber & Aaron (el fab) & phil121--thank you! You embarrass me!

 

The microfauna in your tank is simply awesome Diane. I thought that I might have seen a chiton in my tank similar to your first kind but I haven't seen it since then. Not sure if it's just found a safe home in the back or if it didn't make it somehow.

 

Amazing photography as well...as usual I am no malacologist but that really does look like some sort of egg mass on that one individual. If so, that is really cool that they are reproducing and just goes to show what an amazing little ecosystem you have in your tank.

 

How long has your tank been running again? I can't seem to remember. Either that or it's too early and not enough coffee yet.

 

 

Adam, if you have the first kind of chiton, it can be hard to see. It is such a tiny species that I can imagine it would be very difficult to find in a larger tank. Mine tend to be nocturnal, so I would suggest looking after lights out...and this species also likes to hang out under the substrate, and is sometimes most easily noted as a telltale oval on the glass just below the surface of the sand...

 

The tank's been running for a little over 4 years, now, but the first 2 were basically just the LR...the other specimens were added w/in the past 2.5 years (altho I have a hermit that's been there from the beginning!).

 

I hope my ricordea garden can become as huge and beautiful as yours c'est ma! I witnessed my what was once pink ricordea split into two just last week and it was really interesting. Unfortunately it is no longer pink, but a crazy combination of fluorescent oranges and greens though.

 

Do you turn your pumps off when you feed your rics?

 

Your tank is already gorgeous! How interesting that your ric changed colors! I don't remember pics of this on your thread?...but maybe my mind is just failing...

 

I turn off the pumps when feeding Cyclopeeze or similar, but most days I just add sinking pellets for my crew of fish & motile inverts, and the rics grab some of these too. I find I can leave the pumps on with these, no problem...

 

 

OMG I LOVE CHITONS!!!! but alas, my rock has none

 

That last one sounds like my money cowry. Only see it when I rearrange the entire tank...then I stick him in the sand as far from rock as possible, and get to watch for an hour or two

 

LOL! Drat, I could never pry up a chiton...nor do I have anyplace "far away" from anyplace else, even if I could... Cute trick, tho.

 

MORE PICS PLEASE...tomorrow is the last day of royalty

 

Thank heavens! I'm running out of ways to be gracious. We can all be glad February's the shortest month...

 

As to pics, be careful what you ask for...

 

 

c est ma

Your tank is beautiful! Just absolutely stunning....

 

Have you taken any type of photography class or are you just naturally gifted? Also what kind of camera are you using? I apologize if this has already been answered.

 

Oh and this:

 

reminds me of this:

 

Thank you, you are too kind...and I love the "analogy!"

 

I only use a Nikon Coolpix 3100 point & shoot....Somewhere earlier in this thread there's much discussion of a few tricks that work for me, in addition to helpful input from better photographers!

 

 

 

OKAY...speaking of pics...

 

 

I took these for Boris (Klarion), when he asked for new fts's a few posts back. Not much changes, as is obvious, except, I guess, that it gets more and more obvious I'm running out of room... Oh, and the baby plate that finally detached is in the little glass dish, front & center:

 

 

 

 

And these are for Weetie, to show her why I haven't been putting up pics of the 'fuge, lately. Namely--I need to clean it! But it's really not as bad as it looks...the brownness is compounded by the different color temps of the fuge light vs the tank. So that, when I have the white balance where it works best for the tank, the fuge looks like this:

 

 

AAACK! But at a better setting for the fuge, it looks like this:

 

 

So it's mostly a matter of needing to change the little filter pad in the first chamber; and the fact that I have my old DIY goby-baby cage in there, which was just a Gladware tub cut full of holes and sheathed with a section of pantyhose... Naturally "suntan" color. LOL. When I make a real shelf things'll look much better!

 

But otherwise I'm lovin' the 'fuge. It's got its own snails, hermits, etc., and I spend much time watching it. More time watching than cleaning, obviously...

 

And what I really need to move into it is some Xenia! Overnight, it seems, it took up residence in the middle of my poor zoas:

 

 

 

Continuing this random walk...the same day I was taking those shots, I found a couple of teeny-tiny worms on the glass. How cool that they turned out to be so completely different:

 

 

 

 

And rounding out this grab bag, I got a shot of my Nassarius posing nicely:

 

 

 

Longwindedly,

 

--Diane

 

PS: Got the "too many emoticons" handslap, so I removed all of yours. Sorry!

[michelle02]

Trully gorgeous tank! I love the way the xenia is growing on the glass

[Weetabix7]

I'm so glad the fuge is working for you!

Have you resolved the issue with slow water movement in the middle chamber, or are you still working on that?

I have some of those exact same worms in my tank!

Fascinating pics and dialogue as always Diane!

Now that your month as a Queen is ending, you can come relax at my place for a bit, okay?

[opaquelace]

Your tank is already gorgeous! How interesting that your ric changed colors! I don't remember pics of this on your thread?...but maybe my mind is just failing...

 

I turn off the pumps when feeding Cyclopeeze or similar, but most days I just add sinking pellets for my crew of fish & motile inverts, and the rics grab some of these too. I find I can leave the pumps on with these, no problem...

 

I don't have any pictures of the color changing ric yet. I will have to post some before and afters. It slowly changed colors then completely split. I feed DTs and Zooplex and have two kinds of sinking pellets (big ones for Sean Connery, so they sink no problem) but the smaller pellets usually keep my firefish swimming all over the tank trying to catch them. Good thing she's fast

 

My tank has hit a few road blocks though with having trouble adjusting to the MH lights, a 10degree temp drop in less than 2 hours (this happened a month ago) and then having the power go out for more than an hour a week ago. My fish are fine, Sean Connery is his usual ornery self, but the corals are still a bit mad at me. Oh well, they shall come around with more TLC.

[c est ma]

Thanks, Michelle!

 

I'm so glad the fuge is working for you!

Have you resolved the issue with slow water movement in the middle chamber, or are you still working on that?

 

Weets--After thinking it over, I decided that the best thing to do would be to take it down and rearrange the baffles so that the water flowed over the second one into the pump chamber. So what I've done is dropped a Hydor Pico into the central chamber. I am so lazy!

 

It seems to be working quite well. I have some new fuge pics as of today, but will post them later, as I already have a bunch of OT pics in the queue.

 

I have some of those exact same worms in my tank!

Fascinating pics and dialogue as always Diane!

Now that your month as a Queen is ending, you can come relax at my place for a bit, okay?

 

Okay! I look forward to slinking back into anonymity. Weetie's coffee klatsch; sounds good.

 

 

I don't have any pictures of the color changing ric yet. I will have to post some before and afters. It slowly changed colors then completely split. I feed DTs and Zooplex and have two kinds of sinking pellets (big ones for Sean Connery, so they sink no problem) but the smaller pellets usually keep my firefish swimming all over the tank trying to catch them. Good thing she's fast .

 

I really like sinking pellets. And I happen to use 2 types myself.

 

My tank has hit a few road blocks though with having trouble adjusting to the MH lights, a 10degree temp drop in less than 2 hours (this happened a month ago) and then having the power go out for more than an hour a week ago. My fish are fine, Sean Connery is his usual ornery self, but the corals are still a bit mad at me. Oh well, they shall come around with more TLC.

 

What a coincidence! My power was out for 12 hours in mid-February, on one of the coldest nights of the year--several degrees below 0. So cold that our generator wouldn't start! We figured the oil was too thick...I wrapped the tank in blankets, but it did get down to 68º [the house got down to 50º] I lost 3 Astraea...and some things have been looking poorly ever since...)

 

 

Momentous Decision

 

Maybe...

 

Well, of course for some time I've been wanting to start a new tank, and just as regularly talking myself out of it. But within the last week I think I finally arrived at a rationale to do so that I can live with. To wit--I need a new tank so I can go away, once in a while!

 

For most of the time I've had this tank, it's been very low maintenance and I've been able to leave for a week or two with confidence that my tank-sitter could handle its modest needs. But since things have matured and space is so limited, it now takes a lot of "intimate" knowledge to keep things in harmony...For instance, I spend a lot of time keeping certain things away from certain other things. The main reason the pink rics seem to be climbing the front glass is because I keep removing them from the pathway that leads to my little blasto colony. Twice I let the rics contact the blasto, and I lost 3 blasto polyps each time... Then there's my hitcher Porites colony, which fascinates me--also always in danger from the rics in close proximity. (Happily, it regrows over the areas the rics kill, but that can't be good for it.) And mostly, I am just so enthralled with my little plate generating site; and after waiting so long for the second detachment, I would really like a safe place for the "baby." In addition to not having any safe stretch of substrate for it to sit on without coming into contact with another coral, I don't even have sand, which I'm rather sure would be far better for it than the crushed coral.

 

In addition, I'm really noticing the absence of my emerald crab. I remember noticing the same thing when I returned my first emerald to the lfs (after it had killed my first baby plate )--after each emerald loss, the algae took off with a vengence. So I'd love to add another emerald to my tank, if it weren't for the presence of the baby plate...

 

Last fall, when I left for 10 days, I lost a candy cane frag that had simply not been anchored to anything and fell over in my absence. I just don't want to worry about these things anymore. It sounds pretty silly--setting up a new tank, just to be able to move a blasto colony and a little hitcher Porites and a baby plate...but I'm very attached to these things, and would love to perpetuate them as long as possible. Plus, I would really like to have my current tank revert to the softies-only tank it essentially is, and not have to worry about internecine warfare so much when I'm gone!

 

LOL! I guess it sounds like I'm still trying to talk myself into this idea. But realizing how great it would be to just have a place to transfer the crittters I worry about has really resulted in a lot of emotional relief. Along with that notion came the realization that some of my more grandiose ideas also needed downsizing. I really don't want to jump into a significantly bigger tank. It's time to abandon my desires for frogfish and Scolymia. No more thoughts of biotopes, though I will continue to be entranced by others' efforts in that area. I can't kid myself that any additional tank space wouldn't still go to the latest thing that catches my eye that I haven't tried...

 

So now I have the rationale...I just need the site. I don't envision going any bigger than a 10g--maybe w/ a 5 fuge...And I know exactly where I want to put it. Another amenable chunk of drainboard...I am SO compatible with kitchen tanks, and all the ease they bring with close running water, etc. And the place I have in mind is viewable from 3 sides, being a counter between the kitchen & family room...

 

There's only one problem:

 

 

This is a 10g FW that has existed about as long as we've lived in this house, some 20+ years. It is not one of those modern "planted" tanks, but the sort of jungle I've always ended up with in FW, which works for me and the inhabitants, too. While we're all kind of attached to it, and it takes essentially no maintenance, I sometimes wish it would just crash so I could move on... The other option would be to move it, which I'm not wild about, but am growing more and more amenable to with every day.

 

 

It supports an amazing number of fish. I've had the (now) large gourami for around 10 years, as best as I remember. In addition it has a pair of Otocinclus, a pair of Corydorus that I got as babies and are now huge, a pair of Odessa barbs, and 4 pygmy corys.

 

 

 

The gourami looks a little strange in this pic, but I include it because it show an Otocinclus to the right:

 

 

This shot has a gourami blur, a barb blur, a cory, and an algae covered flowerpot:

 

 

 

 

 

 

So...will I get up the energy to move this thing? (And will it survive a move?) Drama.

 

Stay tuned...but don't hold your breath.

 

--Diane

[Weetabix7]

WOW.

I swear, you have the coolest tanks, that FW planted tank looks amazing!!!

What kind of coffee would you like me to stock up on?

Or would you prefer tea?

I can get very fresh organic versions of both at the gourmet health food store just around the corner.

[c est ma]

Thanks.

 

Actually, I'm more interested in the cookies.

 

Coffee--black.

 

--D

[Dooderino]

I was trying to talk myself into changing my FW into Brackish because I lost interest in it. But now that my SW is about on auto pilot I'm turning my attention back towards the FW. If you are really that INTO the SW maybe you should move your FW and get a 20Long or maybe a 10Long if that suits you better. A shallow tank will be what you need I think.