15 gal Coldwater Dual Biotope

[dshnarw]

Hooray for unwritten papers with deadlines in less than 24 hours!

 

Do you really think you'll be able to convince them that a geologist needs strawberries for a research project? lol, this could be fun. Can't wait to see if it works out.

 

I tried to get some good nudibranch pics this afternoon, I think I got a couple, but they're still on the camera. I'll probably upload them later tonight.

 

-Jamie

 

yep...exactly. I'm quickly running out of parts I can accomplish at home though (which is why I'm on here while working...)

 

It says they do "educational kits" for college classes...and we do have an intro geol lab that discusses coral reefs. But I was really gonna go with "Hi, I teach a couple of labs, I was interested in setting up a strawberry tank" and let them make their own assumptions as to what I taught and where the tank would go (I sure hope none of their workers randomly checks websites like NR...)

[jeremai]

It's doubtful - if they knew these threads existed here they'd be more willing to set up some aquaculturing, lol.

[Jamie]

It's kind of surprising they don't actually. I mean, they've got all the animals, it seems like there is a reasonable demand, why aren't they selling to hobbiests? Strange.

[dshnarw]

It's kind of surprising they don't actually. I mean, they've got all the animals, it seems like there is a reasonable demand, why aren't they selling to hobbiests? Strange.

 

looks like the company owner is a fairly serious researcher, with a thing for education. He owns several companies - the aquafarm and a marine geophysics!!! (thats geology!!) research lab. Unfavorable opinion of hobbyists maybe?

[Jamie]

That's possible. It's too bad, whatever reason he has. It sounds like they have a lot of great stuff. I've read that C. californica is often used in labs because it has really big nematocysts, I wonder if you could get it through something like Carolina biological supply or something. I'll have to look that up.

 

I got a couple decent nudi pictures, still nothing I'm really happy with, but I'll post what I've got for now.

 

 

 

In the second photo, it is climbing over some branching coralline algae. Interestingly, the gunnel made that little piece of algae into a little tent. He'll hide in it and peek out, or just wrap himself around it. Very fun to watch. Haven't gotten any pics of that behavior yet - he's really hard to photograph!

 

-Jamie

[Jamie]

¡Mas!

 

 

 

 

-Jamie

[jeremai]

It's kind of surprising they don't actually. I mean, they've got all the animals, it seems like there is a reasonable demand, why aren't they selling to hobbiests? Strange.

He may be legally prohibited, as well - who knows?

 

Oh, and those nudis are PURDY!!

[Jamie]

I know, I think they're my favorite (aesthetically, at least) thing in the tank. Unfortunately, they're evil. I think one tried to eat the other (I've read they may cannibalize). The "victim" is sort of unhappy/shrunken looking, and seems to have lost some of it's cerata, and one rhinophore. There has also been lots of egg laying, but I've read that there is a 30 day pelagic stage, so I'm hoping all the babies get chopped up in the pumps before they can settle, cause I don't want a whole bunch more of these. They also seem to eat absolutely everything, which is annoying. One even tried do eat my stickleback (or at least crawl onto it), but the fish did not approve, and promptly left the area.

 

I think they'll try to eat the strawberry/proliferating anemone, so I think I'll get rid of them before the goodies get here. Anyone want 'em?

[hijiwii]

Hey jamie, you know anything about lemonpeel nudibranchs? I saw them at the seaside aquarium last week, it looks like they are successfully keeping them, they were egg spirals on the tank walls. When I was there I didn't even think of asking them what they fed them(d'oh!).

[Jamie]

They're sponge feeders. And this is a guess, but i imagine you'd need a lot of sponge for them to eat. This is one of the many unfortunate cases of "easy nudi, difficult food source." Unless you could collect fresh sponges for them every day or something.

[Jamie]

 

 

I think A. artemisia? Exciting! Actually, I don't know about that ID, there are no verrucae on the column, and I think A. artemisia has verrucae. There also appear to be babies sprouting from the column of some of the larger anemones. They are certainly surrounded by lots of tiny anemones, I think that I see some actually poking out through the column. They're not Epiactis prolifera or E. lisbethae, but maybe related?

 

And another random pic, kind of dark, but oh well.

 

 

-Jamie

[clownfish1124]

wow Jamie! this is one of the coolest tanks ever! can you post an FTS???

[Jamie]

Thanks! I don't have a recent one on hand right now, and the lights are off for the night, but I'll see about getting one tomorrow.

[Jamie]

Well, I finally remembered I was supposed to be getting an fts, so I took, like, twenty different pics, and they were all terrible, so, no fts yet. I did get some other pics though.

 

For these I took very similar pics during the day and at night for comparison. Obviously, the night ones are better because you can't see the ugly algae everywhere (the snails have been slacking), but it's interesting to see what the dark is hiding.

 

The new anemones:

first a top down (day)

 

day

 

night

 

Standard elegant (day)

 

night

 

 

 

Now I must introduce my newest fish. I had to set up a new tank for these guys, due to their unique requirements, but it's definitely worth it.

 

You may notice a few differences between these and typical fish. First, they like it very, very hot.

 

They also aren't great with water. Dry sand is their preferred medium.

 

And they're actually lizards.

 

I give you Sandfish!!! Scincus scincus!!!

 

camouflaged

 

uncamouflaged (sorry about the giant black line - thermometer cord)

 

These are a really cool kind of skink. They get their name from their ability to swim through sand, like a fish through water. I saw them at the pet store, and I was like, "WANT!!!" So I researched them, and they don't sound very difficult so I was like, "REALLY WANT!!!" And I asked my parents, and amazingly, they were like, "umm, okay." So now I have sandfish! I'm pretty excited, if you can't tell.

 

-Jamie

[jeremai]

 

 

 

 

 

The anemones, not the skink.

[Jamie]

The new ones you mean? I like them too. They also have lots of babies all around them, and you know what that means.

[jeremai]

Woo hoo! Yeah, the new ones. That night shot is great.

[Jamie]

Thanks! I'm going to the beach tomorrow, and will be there all week, so hopefully I'll find some good stuff. I'm also getting rid of a few things. The larger xantho has not been happy. I think it didn't get enough food early on, and doesn't intend to recover, at least in my tank. I have determined that mysis are not good food for many cw animals, xanthos one of them. I just started feeding chopped shrimp, and everything is already much happier. Mysis wasn't doing it for the fish either, especilly the greenling. He's fattening up on shrimp now though.

 

I'm also getting rid of the nudi's, even though they're pretty, they're a real pain, since they eat anemones and tunicates and such.

 

I need some shrimp or small crabs for the lower tank, because the greenling is the only thing big enough not to get sucked over the edge, and I need more stuff besides anemones. The top tank is still empty aside from fish, so I am really looking forward to the strawberries.

 

That reminds me, have you (jeremai) told foreshores we're not ordering till september?

 

I'm really excited for my camp in the San Juans, I'm getting picked up early (school starts the 26th!) so I'll be with my parents, and that means get to go collecting! exciting... only two weeks away!

 

-Jamie

[spectra]

Jamie,

 

Where do you collect from? I linked over here from PNWMAS and your post on the tank. Am thinking of puting a cold water together so am surfing around here reading a few things. Anyway just wondering where most of your stuff comes form. And as for Randy not sure if he would part with anything from his tank. I know Steve wanted to buy the fish back and he said no. He is thinking of puting a bigger tank togehter for the cold water stuff but not sure if it is going to happen. Also not sure if you know this but you can view the tank at SWF on Sandy BLVD in Portland.

[Jamie]

I've collected from a lot of different places on the northern Oregon coast, but the top three are Ecola St Park, Barview (north Jetty on Tillamook bay), and Netarts bay. Pretty much anywhere you can find with a rocky shore will have decent tide pools, but those three are the best I have found. Netarts is a little different, it's all eelgrass flats. There are lots of interesting animals there that you wouldn't find in the typical Oregon coast environment. And, yep, I've seen the tank at swf, very nice, though I wish randy would sell me some strawberries!

 

As far as this tank goes, I have some bad news. We are having our floors redone, and the floor peopl told us that anything alive in the house had to be out, or it would die. That meant the coldwater tank had to be moved. Rather than try to transport the tank as a whole unit, I took everything out, put it in buckets, and brought it to he beach house, where we're staying until the floors are done (next Sunday). This would all be fine, except for one problem. I had intended to bring the chiller, but my dad convinced me I wouldn't need it, since our basement at the beach is always 55-60 degrees. I agreed, and we left it at home. What I didn't realize was that I had also not packed my aerator, in anticipation of using the chiller's pump for oxygenation. So here I am at the beach with several buckets full of coldwater livestock (5 fish, plus all my inverts), and no way to oxygenate the water. I can't do anything about it right now, since it's night time. I've been splashing the water in the buckets to try to keep it oxygenated, but it's going to have to get through the night on it's own. There are no pet stores near here that I know of, but tomorrow I'm breaking out the phonebook to see where the nearest store that can sell me an air pump is. If I can't find one, I might have to let the fish, and maybe some of the other stuff go. There's no way I can keep it all alive for a week without air. please, if anyone has any suggestions, let me know.

 

-Jamie

[Jamie]

Okay, I have some bad news and some good bad news. The bad news is that the sculpins, sadly, did not make it through the night. The good bad news is that the other fish survived the night (that was the good) so I could let them go today (the bad). So I am now fishless, but I still have the anemones, urchins, shrimp, crab, etc. I think all of that stuff will be fine without aeration fr at least a coupe days. My sister is going back to Portland wednesday to pick up her boyfriend and bring him down, so she's going to bring the chiller/pump/etc. so if everyting can make it two more days it'll be fine.

 

I also have some good news - I found a new critter today. It's some kind of hydroid, maybe Tubularia crocea: http://dnr.metrokc.gov/Wlr/waterres/marine...s/jellyfish.htm

I'll get pictures when I get home for better ID. I think it'll be fine till the chiller comes, as the intertidal cnidarians here seem to be able to take quite a beating.

 

-Jamie

[jeremai]

I told Kenneth from foreshores.net that we wouldn't be ordering till September in the first email I sent him. Apparently all his strawberries are aquacultured, so I guess we'll be at the mercy of his availability when we're ready to order.

[Jamie]

Hopefully he'll still have them then!

[fish_chips]

oh, so thats what biotopes are... i thought it was a some aquarium name like nano cube. lol

[Jigsaw]

Hey Jamie! I just wanted to say, I've been following this thread and I am really impressed by it! I'm going off to college soon and I'm taking my 1 gal pico, you've tempted me to try a coldwater pico...though I'll have to figure out how to cool the water without a chiller.... Oh well, I really envy the tank though . But to put it short you have inspired me haha