H20 Posted January 13, 2008 Author Share Posted January 13, 2008 New Resident: I have to admit, with the holidays having come and gone, I was getting a little bored with my tank. I decided to liven things up a little with a new fish, to add some movement and color. My daughter loves the clownfish, and can't wait to see 'Nemo' every time we got to the LFS. So, I broke down and bought a Clownfish to make both her and I happy. Yes, she did name it Nemo..... I almost got a Sixline wrasse, but thought the Percula would make my daughter happy, and it paid off as she came into the room and looked into the tank, and her eyes got big, and she screamed "Nemo!"........ He is pretty though, and swims around constantly. I am surprised he has not worn himself out. I think he spent the first few hours constantly swimming against the current. He does already have a good appetite on the first day, so that was nice to see. Ate some granules and a few flakes. I did learn one thing though. It is almost impossible to get a good picture of a Clownfish. I think I took about 30 pics just to get this one that was not all blurry. Link to comment
c est ma Posted January 13, 2008 Share Posted January 13, 2008 Whew! So glad the hc show-down had a happy ending! Nice sequence! Cute clown. They must be fun, as they're so popular. Plus, you made a lot of Daddy-points, I guess. --Diane Link to comment
oh my fraggin gosh! Posted January 13, 2008 Share Posted January 13, 2008 Poor nassarius got caught up in between the fight in the first two pics. Good capture! Link to comment
klarion Posted January 14, 2008 Share Posted January 14, 2008 Poor nassarius got caught up in between the fight in the first two pics. Good capture! Good eyes! I totally missed it on first observation. H20, that snail seems tiny. How big is it in real life? Link to comment
H20 Posted January 15, 2008 Author Share Posted January 15, 2008 Good eyes! I totally missed it on first observation. H20, that snail seems tiny. How big is it in real life? The nassarius are small. About the size of an eraser on the end of a pencil. Another odd thing to note, is that both of those blue-leg hermits in the pictures were the same size when I bought them. One has moved up in shell size about 3 or 4 times, and the other one only moved up once so far. And their size now is quite different. Shows that they quickly grow to fit into their new homes. Link to comment
H20 Posted January 16, 2008 Author Share Posted January 16, 2008 "Going for a Ride" I saw something that I had never seen before, and got to take a few pics of the incident. An astraea snail was near the substrate, and a big blue leg hermit decided to attack him. As he got on the snail, the snail made a beeline straight up. The hermit went for a ride and looked panicked. "Mmmm, lunch!" "Wait, why are we moving?" "uh,oh" (legs starting to flail.....) Panic setting in....... "Should I just drop??" "Maybe if I go to the bottom of him, I can drop from a lower height..." "Ok, that didn't work, maybe if I climb to the top of him..." "What do I do now??" "Guess I will just hang on for dear life...." I watched this for a few minutes, and the snail climbed higher and higher, with the hermit still panicking. About halfway up the glass, I guess the hermit decided to go for it, and dropped off. He fell and landed in the GSP bed, where he got all tangled up in it and it took him 10 minutes to get out. It was quite funny. Link to comment
xADUBx Posted January 16, 2008 Share Posted January 16, 2008 haha thats awesome! I like having hermits in the tank, they are always fun to watch. Link to comment
klarion Posted January 16, 2008 Share Posted January 16, 2008 haha thats awesome!I like having hermits in the tank, they are always fun to watch. +1 Mine got into a habit of climbing up the silicone sealant in the corners of the tank. Link to comment
oh my fraggin gosh! Posted January 17, 2008 Share Posted January 17, 2008 Would you +1 on getting any hermits? I was planning on getting only a load of snails for a CUC. I don't like seeing any fights goign on or missing legs/crabs missing shells/ a graveyard-sandbed. I've never had good experiences with hermits. I have a holding tank actually, and it has an emerald crab that came in as a hitch hiker of my display rocks. I took him out when I had the chance and tossed him in there. Don't plan on keeping her (sexed it through your resources) at all for the same reasons. Link to comment
c est ma Posted January 18, 2008 Share Posted January 18, 2008 Cute story & great photo blog, H2O! I esp. loved the "panic setting in" pic. Mine got into a habit of climbing up the silicone sealant in the corners of the tank. Mine too. I am amazed at what good climbers they are. OMFG--I would never have a tank w/o hermits. They are so entertaining. I have heard that blue legs can fight amongst themselves and attack snails. My 2 hc's have never done either--a "Mexican Red Legged," Clibanarius digueti, and a "Scarlet," Paguristes cadenati. --Diane Link to comment
justaguy2 Posted January 18, 2008 Share Posted January 18, 2008 Would you +1 on getting any hermits? I was planning on getting only a load of snails for a CUC. I don't like seeing any fights goign on or missing legs/crabs missing shells/ a graveyard-sandbed. I've never had good experiences with hermits. I have a holding tank actually, and it has an emerald crab that came in as a hitch hiker of my display rocks. I took him out when I had the chance and tossed him in there. Don't plan on keeping her (sexed it through your resources) at all for the same reasons. I have 6 scarlet hermits and they are pretty well behaved although I can only find 5 right now. I broke up what looked like a fight between 2 and as soon as they were separated both went about their business like nothing happened. I have also spotted pieces of hermit in my tank. I don't know if one died and was eaten, if one got mangled in a fight or what have you. I saw a piece that looked like some legs, but couldn't get a good view and then my pom pom crab grabbed it and dragged it into the rockwork. I guess in my view the occasional murder is just part of life on the reef. I can understand if it's something you wish to avoid seeing though. At this point I think I would want hermits in any tank in spite of the fact I refer to them as 'grumpy old men'. Link to comment
H20 Posted January 20, 2008 Author Share Posted January 20, 2008 Changeout: While I was looking at my tank this morning, I decided to swap out some things for some new things, and make a little more room for a few things I have coming this week. I also had multiple items of the same things after doing some fragging a awhile back, so I took them down to my LFS to trade. I also had a couple of gift certificates, so I was able to pick up a couple of new items until my stuff sold at the LFS. Taken out of my tank and traded in: 3 Green Star Polyps (GSP) frags 2 Trumpet coral frags (each with 6 heads) 1 Acan frag with 4 heads 1 bag of Chateo 1 frag of Jade Beauty Palys 1 frag blue/yellow zoas Bought with gift certificates: 1 3-headed Aussie Duncan 1 big green Zoa rock Pictures of the 2 new corals: This big rock is covered tightly on all sides from top to bottom with a couple of different bright green zoas. I love this coral, as it added some nice color. Front: Back: Aussie Duncan Coral: New FTS, after getting rid of some stuff: Link to comment
dtfleming Posted January 20, 2008 Share Posted January 20, 2008 Looks like you got a big rock of rde zoas Link to comment
H20 Posted January 22, 2008 Author Share Posted January 22, 2008 NEW Hopefully pictures will be added soon, but as my new additions are hiding at the moment, pictures will have to be taken when they come out. I will add pictures of the zoas when the lights come on and they open up. This morning I added: 13 polyps bright neon-orange zoas on a small rock 2 polyp Orange SuperNova Zoas 1 small Skunk Cleaner Shrimp 1 Randalls Pistol Shrimp 1 Hi-Fin Banded Goby to pair with the pistol Hopefully I will get to see the pistol and the goby soon, and they won't hide out in the back of my tank.... Link to comment
H20 Posted February 1, 2008 Author Share Posted February 1, 2008 Randalls Pistol Shrimp: About 10 days ago, I added a Randalls Pistol Shrimp and and Hi-Fin goby to pair up with him. I have seen the Hi-fin a couple of times hiding in holes in the rock, but had never seen the pistol. I occasionally saw a little digging on the sand, but that could have been from my Cerith snails. I wasn't even sure the pistol shrimp was still alive. Lo and behold, I was looking at my tank tonight and saw something crawl out of a hole in one of my rocks. I immediately recognized it as my pistol shrimp. I quickly grabbed my camera and got a few pics of him. He was coming in and out of a hole in my rock, and not out of a cave that he had burrowed out. He would come out of the hole, grab a few pieces of sand, and take them back into his hole in the rock. He has been doing this all night. Not sure what he is exactly doing, but it was pretty neat to watch. The goby was no where to be found, so maybe they have not found each other yet. I was just happy that the hole in the rock that he picked was near the glass, and not in the back of the tank where I would never see him. Link to comment
Mikec0078 Posted February 1, 2008 Share Posted February 1, 2008 That's awesome, and I am amazed that he came venturing out alone. I didn't see mine for 18 months until I got my watchman goby, now I see him every evening when I feed. Mine has his big claw on his right side too!!! Link to comment
c est ma Posted February 2, 2008 Share Posted February 2, 2008 Great new additions, H2O, and nice catch on that shrimp--great pics! --Diane Link to comment
lilredneckman Posted February 2, 2008 Share Posted February 2, 2008 He is taking the sand and making his home inside the rock. I have seen this many times. Nicks Reef's pistol even takes small zoa frags and uses it is a door on its borrow. Link to comment
Mercuryne Posted February 2, 2008 Share Posted February 2, 2008 He is taking the sand and making his home inside the rock. I have seen this many times. Nicks Reef's pistol even takes small zoa frags and uses it is a door on its borrow. H2O.. Your photos are great! I started a thread and already got off to a bad start. Used tap water after the LFS explained that our city has third best water in the country. They said they use tap for their. So anyway..i picked up a big tub of R/o and will top of and change with that from now on. I have a quetsion regarding you camera settings. i have a sony 8.0 meg digital that has Macro setting. How are you taking yours? flash? no flash? and what specific setting? Auto? ISO? Just curious If you have time, i'd appreciate.. Thanks Link to comment
H20 Posted February 2, 2008 Author Share Posted February 2, 2008 H2O..Your photos are great! I started a thread and already got off to a bad start. Used tap water after the LFS explained that our city has third best water in the country. They said they use tap for their. So anyway..i picked up a big tub of R/o and will top of and change with that from now on. I have a quetsion regarding you camera settings. i have a sony 8.0 meg digital that has Macro setting. How are you taking yours? flash? no flash? and what specific setting? Auto? ISO? Just curious If you have time, i'd appreciate.. Thanks I have a Canon Powershot 8.0 mp, normally use the macro setting for everything, and sometime I use auto setting, and alot of time I have to use manual settings, as the white sand it too bright sometimes. My camera allows me to use macro on auto, manual, etc. I NEVER use a flash if I can help it, as it usually makes everything look terrible. I am no camera expert by any means, ha, and fiddle around with the settings to get them to look decent. I honestly can't even tell you exactly what I am adjusting....lol I think my ISO on my manual setting was at 100, and 200 on auto. But I don't know the difference in 100 or 800. I need to read my manual. We have really good tap water here to, but I am too nit picky to try it out. I want to reduce any chance of getting bad algae and having problems that I can, so for me, that means always using my RO/DI water for topoff and mixing my saltwater. Link to comment
H20 Posted February 2, 2008 Author Share Posted February 2, 2008 Salt Mixes: At times I see on the boards people asking about 'what salt mix do you use' or 'what salt mix is the best', so I thought I would condense some topics here if you are interested in reading up on the subject. Personally, I started out my first few months with the Petco Natural SeaWater in a box, from Catalina water company. It worked great for me, I never had any problems, but lugging those 5g boxes home got old, and the price wasn't exactly cheap over time. After reading many threads, I decided to change to RedSea Coral Pro and mix my own. I have a RO/DI filter, so it is pretty easy to do. My tank has liked the change, and I still have no algae growth. Alot of this I attribute to weekly water changes, the chaeto in my tank, and the purigen I run in a bag under my filter floss. As far as the RedSea Coral Pro, it works well, but if I am being nit picky about it, the alk is low. The Ca comes out usually between 440-460, and the pH at 8.3. That is great, but the alk comes out as low as 5.5 and up to 7. I would rather be up around 9. I have tried dosing, but it doesn't want to maintain and wants to drop back down. Anyways, I have been reading good things about SeaChem Reef Salt and think I will try it next. At any rate, here are some threads and info on salt mixes: http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=145054 http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?...amp;hl=salt+mix http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?...amp;hl=salt+mix http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?...amp;hl=salt+mix http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?...amp;hl=salt+mix http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?...amp;hl=salt+mix http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?...amp;hl=salt+mix http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?...amp;hl=salt+mix http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?...amp;hl=salt+mix Link to comment
lilredneckman Posted February 3, 2008 Share Posted February 3, 2008 Well thanks for all of the links. I think that i am going to try red sea coral pro for my RSM. i am pretty sure that SeaChem has an instant ocean base and they just add chemicals to it. I dont know if it is true but just my 2 cents. Link to comment
H20 Posted February 12, 2008 Author Share Posted February 12, 2008 A few new pictures: New Orange Zoanthid rock from the LFS: Some Green Zoas: My Cleaner Shrimp: Baby Frogspawn coming up: Link to comment
c est ma Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 A few new pictures: New Orange Zoanthid rock from the LFS: Some Green Zoas: My Cleaner Shrimp: Baby Frogspawn coming up: What amazing pictures! Super job! Stunning zoas, wonderful detail on that shrimp, great shot of the tiny 'spawn...Cute hc in the orange zoa close-up--is it a "reef-safe" variety? --Diane Link to comment
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