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Yardboy's Jetties Nano


yardboy

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simplenough

Wow, this is one of the best nanos ive seen. Ive been thinking about making a south florida biotope, since i live about 2 miles from the ocean. This is a huge motivator.

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Wow, this is one of the best nanos ive seen. Ive been thinking about making a south florida biotope, since i live about 2 miles from the ocean. This is a huge motivator.

You should have no trouble at all with setting up a SF biotope. There is aquacultured rock available and you could probably hand-choose it to get just the livestock that you want, plus there is just so much available from local collectors. On top of that, get a fishing license and a copy of the regulations and you'd be pleasantly surprised what you can collect yourself.

Good luck with it, and keep us posted.

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Yahoo, the rock from South Florida came in, can't wait to get to the lfs to see what he has. Claimed that there is some "nice coral" on the rock. I warned him not to sell any of it until I got there or I'd let the air out of the tires of his maintenance truck!

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Yahoo, the rock from South Florida came in, can't wait to get to the lfs to see what he has. Claimed that there is some "nice coral" on the rock. I warned him not to sell any of it until I got there or I'd let the air out of the tires of his maintenance truck!

 

You fight dirty!!! Can't wait to see pics of what you get. Hurry up!

 

 

-Prof

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Awesome!!! I started my first reef tank with FL aquacultured rock and so loved watching all the life on it - tunicates, sponges, corals, clams, etc, etc. Someday will do it again and then stick with all FL life, your tank is great inspiration for it. Love the aquascaping!!

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Okay. I went to the lfs after the owner called me to tell me that the rock I'd asked him to order came in. I checked out every piece, and while I was a little disappointed, I ended up with three pieces of rock, that weighed 10# and he charged me $50. I took it home and managed to remove 4 pieces of coral. Two were Oculina, robusta I think, and two were Phyllangia americana, maybe. Veron is funny about his corals. The only corals he identifies are the zooxanthellate ones. Phyllangia is azooxanthellate, but Borneman has a good picture of one in his coral book, and that's where I id'd them.

One of the Oculina, note that the bleached portion is still alive, Oculina can be either zoo or azooxanthellate. Apparently that section was shaded in the water,

Oculina2a032608post.jpg

 

The other,

Oculinarobusta032608post.jpg

 

The Phyllangia (lesser cup coral) as it looks in the day, this piece had several polyps damaged, they didn't take great care in treating the rock like anything special.

cupcoral2032608post.jpg

 

And here is a shot when I snuck up on them in the dark.

 

cupcoralpolypsextended032608post.jpg

While they are all brown, at least they are authentic. I've seen similar corals at the jetties. If you have the patience to look back at the first page of this thread, you'll see a similar coral growing on a rock in the channel.

The rock has some other stuff on it too, maybe tunicates and sponges. I've got the pieces in a quarantine tank, with water from the jetties nano (did a water change) If they survive, I'll try and get them off and into the nano. I used a wood chiesel and hammer to remove the corals. One came right off, the others took some serious whacking. I was worried that the shock would damage the corals, but they seem no worse for the wear.

Enjoy!

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...I use a 5 gallon salt bucket for the rotifers, though a 10 gallon tank is suggested in several places, and 2 liter coke bottles for the algae culture. While it's not deemed necessary, my next purchase will be a microscope, as I feel kinda insecure with trying to raise something I can't see!

Good luck with it, I'm sure you'll have success. Isn't it fun to have a home lab!

 

That would really be wonderful!

 

 

Oh, Prof, in relation to what you are doing with local collecting, I had an interesting experience yesterday.

A member asked for macroalgae so I went snorkeling at the jetties. Weather was foul, and visibility was terrible, but I did get in the water and managed to collect a clump of sargassum, but it was several things all growing together, not a very good specimen. I took it home anyway and put it in a small tub. The water had leaked out of the collecting container, so I took some water out of the jetties nano to cover the plant. Suddenly the water was alive with these odd "praying mantis" type creatures. Unfortunately the thermal shock killed most of them, but I got a shot of what they looked like.

seaweedcritters031508.jpg

 

Leslie on RC was kind enough to identify them as carpellid amphipods and I found a link to them here. They are commonly called "skeleton shrimp". The article mentioned that they are preyed upon by many creatures, so I wondered what would eat them in the jetties nano. Well, I couldn't find anything that wouldn't chow down on them! Anemones, the rusty gobies, nasarrius snails, cup corals, hermit crabs. And I'm not talking casual munching, I'm talking "Gimmeee, Gimmeeee, Gimmeeee!!!" It was quite interesting. With your experience, I may attempt raising them myself.

 

Very fascinating story & pic. I love these sorts of finds!

 

 

yellowgorgonianpolypedout032108post.jpg

 

Sweet pic!

 

 

Since I don't have a reference to what corals for sure could be at the jetties, I've been going page by page through Veron's "Corals of the World"...

 

Thanks for the ref. This is now on my wishlist. :)

 

For reference, the jetties are in the East-Central Northern Gulf of Mexico (is that even a direction?) at Panama City Beach. Apparently many know where it is, as the latest poll puts over 500,00 Spring Breakers here this year.

 

Yuck. How does that affect your quality of life?

 

 

Good deal. Hermits play hell with my Gorg too. I have one that actually prefers to perch all day in the thing. Drives me and the Gorg crazy.

-Prof

 

In other threads, I and others have noted that hermits seem to be valuable gorg groomers. When I had a Pterogorgia citrina, my Clibanarius digueti regularly kept it free of algae & diatoms...but maybe your tanks are too clean to need this service! :D

 

IRT to the Red Sea, that experience remains one of the highlights of my life (right up there with the birth of my children). If you ever get the opportunity to go you have to take it. I lived in Saudi Arabia for 2 1/2 years and we camped on the beach at the Red Sea once every month for all that time. We literally drove out of the city across the desert until we hit the Sea, picked a spot and pitched camp just above the high tide line. We then spent the rest of the weekend diving and snorkeling. There was absolutely no one around and we only saw someone one time when a bedouin wandered by with a small herd of camels to see what we were doing. The reef itself was so pristine and beautiful it is beyond description. That experience is what got me into reef tanks and I frequently picture the form and shape of those reefs when I am setting up my tanks.

 

-Prof

 

That's even thrilling to read about. Thanks for the evocative description.

 

 

Okay. I went to the lfs after the owner called me to tell me that the rock I'd asked him to order came in. I checked out every piece, and while I was a little disappointed, I ended up with three pieces of rock, that weighed 10# and he charged me $50. I took it home and managed to remove 4 pieces of coral. Two were Oculina, robusta I think, and two were Phyllangia americana, maybe. Veron is funny about his corals. The only corals he identifies are the zooxanthellate ones. Phyllangia is azooxanthellate, but Borneman has a good picture of one in his coral book, and that's where I id'd them.

One of the Oculina, note that the bleached portion is still alive, Oculina can be either zoo or azooxanthellate. Apparently that section was shaded in the water,

Oculina2a032608post.jpg

 

The other,

Oculinarobusta032608post.jpg

 

The Phyllangia (lesser cup coral) as it looks in the day, this piece had several polyps damaged, they didn't take great care in treating the rock like anything special.

cupcoral2032608post.jpg

 

And here is a shot when I snuck up on them in the dark.

 

cupcoralpolypsextended032608post.jpg

While they are all brown, at least they are authentic. I've seen similar corals at the jetties. If you have the patience to look back at the first page of this thread, you'll see a similar coral growing on a rock in the channel.

The rock has some other stuff on it too, maybe tunicates and sponges. I've got the pieces in a quarantine tank, with water from the jetties nano (did a water change) If they survive, I'll try and get them off and into the nano. I used a wood chiesel and hammer to remove the corals. One came right off, the others took some serious whacking. I was worried that the shock would damage the corals, but they seem no worse for the wear.

Enjoy!

 

Oh, those are fantastic! Congrats! Heck, if we're going to go "natural" we're gonna have brown. Those are just as fascinating as any other specimens...and quite pretty in their own right, as well.

 

--Diane

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Thanks for looking Diane, I'm glad you enjoyed it. Too bad the photography doesn't equal yours. Interesting about the hermits. Oddly, my yellow sea blade is the coral that sheds its mucous coat the most, and I can't recall ever having seen hermits in it. Everyone seems to enjoy the coat when they can grab a piece, spaghetti worms, nassarius snails, and of course the hermits. Maybe it's hard to get to? Hmmm.

As for the quality of lifequestion, the spring breakers are funny, they rarely go to the park on the East end, preferring the bars and clubs in the Central area of PCB. Mostly we just avoid Wal-Mart, the beer selling king of Panama City Beach. Fortunaely it's about over, last weekend coming up.

Diane, I think you will really like Veron's "Corals of the World", unfortunately it is not a pocket guide or paperback. I find it the cheapest on Amazon, but it was still $150. My lovin wife got it for me for Christmas a few years ago. I think it amuses her how much I look at it. Fortunately, for the price you get a lot of material. It's three volumes and covers all the zooxanthellate scleractinians. There is some information on azooxanthellate forms and non-scleractinians, but they book doesn't focus much attention on them. It also has a fascinating section of the history, evolution and species relationships of the corals, along with quite a bit of habitat description. Unfortunately there is very little on the behavior of any of them. Fantastic pictures though.

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A few years ago I was in an Atlanta lfs and purchased a neat hermit crab, quite large, but with a coral growing on his shell. He wandered around in my large tank display for some time, occasionally spending so much time under rocks that the coral would slightly bleach. When he finally grew too big for the shell and moved, I snatched the shell out of the tank and glued it to a flat piece of rock I'd cut for the purpose. It's been in several tanks of mine since then, most recently under T-5's in a prop tank. It's been one of those kind of corals that isn't very pretty, but that I just can never get rid of because of it'spersonal history.

Looking in Veron's book, I think I've identified it as a Siderastrea radians, and is one of the corals I've determined might be found here at the jetties under certain conditions, so I moved it to my jetties nano. Surprisingly it took to the change in lighting quite eagerly and has polyped out quite nicely. Seems to have found itself the proper home.

 

Siderastrearadianspost.jpg

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With the risk of boring anyone reading this thread, I've compiled a list of all the corals that might possibly be found in the biotope "St. Andrew's Pass Jetties", from a search of Veron's "Corals of the World" range maps. If nothing else, it will give you a list for a google search of corals that occur in the Gulf of Mexico.

Stephanocoenia michelinii - - Meandrina meandrites

Madracis pharensis - - Meandrina meandrites

Madracis formosa - - Meandrina braziliensis

Oculina varicose - - Dichocoenia stokesi

Oculina valenciennesi - - Siderastrea sidereal

Oculina robusta - - Siderastrea radians

Oculina diffusa -- Siderastrea stellata

Agarica tenuifolia -- Siderastrea stellata

Agaricia agaricites -- Leptoseris cucullata

Agaricia fragilis -- Astrangia poculata

Agaricia undata -- Mussa angulosa

Agaricia humilis -- Scolymia cubensis

Mycetophyllia lamarckiana - - Montastrea annularis

Cladocora caespitosa? - - Montastrea annularis

Cladocora arbuscula - - Montastrea cavernosa

Diploria strigosa - - Solenastrea hyades

Colpophyllia natans - - Porites branneri

Porites porites - - Porites furcata

Porites divaricata

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Oooh, you are really whetting my appetite for the Veron's. I may have to buy it for myself as Xmas & my BD are far off...<_< It seems a bit much to hint for for Mother's Day, don't you think? :lol:

 

Even though I've only ever had 3 little stonies to my name (and two of them were hitchers), I love to read about all corals, try to pick up some taxonomy, look at pics!--and think about "some day..."

 

(Funny that it should not have much on the azooxanthellates [hmm, type that often enough and you begin to see why Sprung, et al, prefer "ahermatypic!"], tho--evolutionarily they would seem to fall right in with the zooxanthellate taxa...Does he give a reason? )

 

That's a most impressive list of corals you amassed--and many enticing possibilities, eh? I love the story behind your Siderastrea! What serendipity! And it looks so lush and burgeoning in the pic. What a wonderful find. (Reminds me of Daniel getting a hermit for the 'nem on its shell. :))

 

--Diane

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YB,

Fantastic finds and those corals look like they will be great additions to your tanks. I can't wait to see how they do in your tank. I also love the story about the Hermit and his coral.

 

Your list of corals for your region is quite impressive, I wish we had more up here but I am afraid my Cheasapeake Bay biotope I have been noodling with is going to have to be mostly non-photosynthetic inverts. We have some interesting stuff up here, but nothing like what you have available in your warmer waters.

 

Thanks for the bead on Vernon's book. I think I am going to have to give up my next reefing road trip for live stock to get this set of references. They sound awesome.

 

-Prof

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Thanks Smurf. It's a little more specific than "Central Pacific Reef Front" or "Australian Barrier Reef" :D

It's the place I go the most and gives me an excuse to explore it in a different way than I might have otherwise.

 

I finally found a small colony of tunicates. They aren't native to the area, but they certainly add a lot of color to the tank.

tunicatesfromwaterworld040408post.jpg

 

I normally don't use a flash to take shots of the tank, realized I probably should do it more, as the colors are different than when only the PC's are used. Here's the "mystery coral" that has really put on a growth spurt lately, with it's surprisingly green polyps. After I took this shot, I looked at the coral under just the pc's and realized I could see a green tint to the coral, but the flash brought it out

montiporaflashed040408post.jpg

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Coralkeeper
Even though the tourist pressure is high, you never know what you will see when you get into the water there.

Schools of all sorts of fish,

fishschool.jpg

 

As I said, you never know what you'll see,

 

genieexploringthejetties.jpg

Wow! I like the fish in the second picture! Where did you get one of those? Do you do good in captivity? Are they hard to care for? Do you think you can catch me one of those? I'll pay shipping. :P

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Those are tough ones to take care of guys. They require very large tanks, special filtration and exotic feeding. It takes a lot of dedication and time to properly nurture them. And they do not ship well at all. :lol:

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Coralkeeper
Those are tough ones to take care of guys. They require very large tanks, special filtration and exotic feeding. It takes a lot of dedication and time to properly nurture them. And they do not ship well at all. :lol:

Ok. Thanks for the info! :lol: Maybe I'll get one in the future.lol

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Those are tough ones to take care of guys. They require very large tanks, special filtration and exotic feeding. It takes a lot of dedication and time to properly nurture them. And they do not ship well at all. :lol:

 

Mine bites every time it get close feeding time.

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Coralkeeper
Mine bites every time it get close feeding time.

Wow. You must have a very aggressive one. Where did you get yours? :P

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I've never known one that wouldn't bite when they got hungry. And they need to be fed three times a day!!!

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