Nano Sapiens 12g - Ye Olde Mixed Reef

[Nano sapiens]

Biotope is now complete

 

 

 

Venus Anemone Shrimp say "Clap Your Hands!":

 

http://vid230.photobucket.com/albums/ee141/Back2dubs/Venus%20Anemone%20Shrimp%20clapping_032216_zpssvaisasu.mp4

 

 

...and taking a ride 'round and round...and round...':

 

http://vid230.photobucket.com/albums/ee141/Back2dubs/Venus%20Anemone%20Shrimp%20on%20Nozzle_032216_zpscvu9omug.mp4

[vlangel]

Cute videos Nano. I sure did not expect the anemone shrimp to clap so fast!

[Nano sapiens]

Cute videos Nano. I sure did not expect the anemone shrimp to clap so fast!

 

One very effective way to get the attention of potential customers on the reef.

 

They clap so fast that one expects them to move backwards! Kind of whacky

 

Really easy to tell if they are full since the area around their stomach is completely transparent. They also do a 'float' thing when in the water column that reminds me a little of Leafy Sea Dragons cruising.

[Felicia]

Love that shrimp! It looks like its dancing all the time.

[Nano sapiens]

Love that shrimp! It looks like its dancing all the time.

 

They'll clap/dance when I approach, but after maybe 10 seconds they stop and waft back and forth. It's like, "Ok, I know you know that I'm here so present yourself for a cleaning"

[Felicia]

 

They'll clap/dance when I approach, but after maybe 10 seconds they stop and waft back and forth. It's like, "Ok, I know you know that I'm here so present yourself for a cleaning"

That is adorable! Does it clean the gobies? Or are they too small?

[Nano sapiens]

That is adorable! Does it clean the gobies? Or are they too small?

 

I just got them today, but they have shown no interest in the Gobies...just my big mug

 

I can't imagine that they'd care about the Squat Lobsters, either.

[Felicia]

 

I just got them today, but they have shown no interest in the Gobies...just my big mug

 

I can't imagine that they'd care about the Squat Lobsters, either.

Yeah I always felt bad for my cleaner shrimp because my little nano fish were too little and wouldn't let them clean them. However, the minute I'd put my hands in the tank they'd be all over my hands picking at my cuticles. If I was working in the tank, I'd always have two shrimp riding around on my hands the whole time. I wonder if your shrimp will try to clean your hands. Makes me miss shrimp a bit!

[Nano sapiens]

Yeah I always felt bad for my cleaner shrimp because my little nano fish were too little and wouldn't let them clean them. However, the minute I'd put my hands in the tank they'd be all over my hands picking at my cuticles. If I was working in the tank, I'd always have two shrimp riding around on my hands the whole time. I wonder if your shrimp will try to clean your hands. Makes me miss shrimp a bit!

 

We'll see this weeked when I clean and remove the frags for the swap

[Nano sapiens]

Venus Anemone Shrimp cleaning eyestalk and 'ear' at the same time with it's legs...that's a trick

 

 

Video Link:

 

http://vid230.photobucket.com/albums/ee141/Back2dubs/Venus%20Anemone%20Shrimp%20CPreening_032816_zpss0hargvc.mp4

[Felicia]

I keep seeing the bright yellow squat lobsters on Diver's Den. I'd be so tempted to order one if the shipping wasn't so much money. Those guys actually look big enough that I could probably enjoy one in my 40B. The colors on them are awesome!

[Nano sapiens]

I keep seeing the bright yellow squat lobsters on Diver's Den. I'd be so tempted to order one if the shipping wasn't so much money. Those guys actually look big enough that I could probably enjoy one in my 40B. The colors on them are awesome!

 

They are cool, but not nearly as big as they appear. I have to search to find them in my 12g as their bodies are only about 3/4" long and 1/2" wide, I think that they'd be best seen in a 5g, actually

 

A better one for your 40B would be the Red Galthea Squat Lobster as they are twice the size with much bigger front claws for defence. Also, not as shy and retiring:

 

[Felicia]

That's good to know! They look bigger in the photos. I didn't realize they'd be so shy either. Im used to my red Mithrax crab who's a beast. He's not very big but he's always out and about at feeding time and he'll actually steal food from the Lionfish. He's a brave little guy.

[Nano sapiens]

That's good to know! They look bigger in the photos. I didn't realize they'd be so shy either. Im used to my red Mithrax crab who's a beast. He's not very big but he's always out and about at feeding time and he'll actually steal food from the Lionfish. He's a brave little guy.

 

Ummm, I don't think I'd add a Squat Lobster into a tank with a Mithrax. SL are just not that tough since they are more closely related to shrimp.

 

In other news, I have SL leg and claw parts on the sand bed as these two little males try to dismember each other whenever they meet Good thing the tank is relatively large (for them) so they have some room to get away from each other

[Felicia]

Interesting, they look so much like they'd be pretty tough. I definitely wasn't thinking about them like shrimp. I tend to think of them more like lobsters, which are super tough! I'll just have to admire yours!

 

I thought the two you bought were a male and a female. Or is there no way to tell? Sorry to hear that they're fighting. Hopefully they'll establish territories and settle down.

[Nano sapiens]

Interesting, they look so much like they'd be pretty tough. I definitely wasn't thinking about them like shrimp. I tend to think of them more like lobsters, which are super tough! I'll just have to admire yours!

 

I thought the two you bought were a male and a female. Or is there no way to tell? Sorry to hear that they're fighting. Hopefully they'll establish territories and settle down.

 

More of an excuse to set up that small pico/nano tank

 

I originally ordered one SL and one Porcelain Crab, but they sent me two SLs. Due to the size difference, I had assumed (hoped?) that they were a pair, but apparently they are not. I just hope they don't run out of legs or else they literally will be 'Squat' lobsters...

[Nano sapiens]

Interesting artilcle describing the differences in light detection between green terrestrial plants and those in an aquatic environment

 

http://blogs.ucdavis.edu/egghead/2014/04/30/algae-see-a-wide-spectrum-of-light/

 

"Phytochromes from land plants, Lagarias said, respond to red light — plants absorb red and reflect green light, which is why they look green. Red light does not penetrate far into water, and some marine and shore-dwelling algae lack phytochrome genes. But others do not, so Lagarias and colleagues looked at the properties of phytochromes from a variety of algae. They found that phytochromes from algae, unlike those of land plants, are able to perceive light across the visible spectrum — blue, green, yellow, orange, red and far-red."

 

...and...

 

"This broad spectral coverage likely helps algae make use of whatever light they can in the ocean, Lagarias said — whether adjusting their light-harvesting chemistry for changing conditions, or rising and sinking in the water column as light levels at the surface change. Because different colors of light penetrate to different depths in water, algae face challenges in light harvesting that land plants do not. This work from the Lagarias lab shows one way that algae can rise to the occasion."

 

No wonder some algae can do so well at various depths in reef environments if not kept in check by herbivores.

[Felicia]

 

More of an excuse to set up that small pico/nano tank

 

I originally ordered one SL and one Porcelain Crab, but they sent me two SLs. Due to the size difference, I had assumed (hoped?) that they were a pair, but apparently they are not. I just hope they don't run out of legs or else they literally will be 'Squat' lobsters...

Definitely!

 

Ok, so I shouldn't laugh about that pun since the lobsters are losing limbs, but I definitely got a kick out of it! Poor little squat lobsters though! Hopefully they settle down!

[Nano sapiens]

Definitely!

 

Ok, so I shouldn't laugh about that pun since the lobsters are losing limbs, but I definitely got a kick out of it! Poor little squat lobsters though! Hopefully they settle down!

 

They'll just have to tough it out I suspect that I'll eventually end up with just one, but we'll see...

 

However, more disturbing is that the large (in relative terms) anemone shrimp is MIA (molting?) and the smaller one has taken up Zen; "What is the sound of one hand clapping?" One arm/claw waving around furiously is comical, but I'd rather it have both. I suspect either the SL or the BL Hermit might have been up to no good during the night

[Nano sapiens]

Updates:

 

Salt: Combined all my extra salts from the last 2-3 years into one (IO, RC, RS-BB) and added some new Tropic Marin 'Classic'. Managed to fill two small buckets up which should last me over a year. Params work out to Alk 10 dKh, Ca 460, Mg 1200. Mg is low, so supplementing with ESV product added to the new SW bucket to achieve Mg 1260.

 

Corals: No issues, just spreading/getting bigger.

 

Algae: Reigning in some spreading thread algae (stuff is tough like green fishing line). It took off when I doubled my Green and Red channels' intensity and used old RC instead of IO in my salt mix. Lowering these channels back to previous levels, manual picking and diluting the RC by half has helped a lot to where I just need to pick a few strands out twice a week.

 

Crinoid Squat Lobsters: Found one munching on a small 1" bristleworm. I suspected that they might since they are in the Galatheidae family and they love these worms. The two males still face off with each other every now and again, but at least limbs are no longer flying. I hand feed these two twice a day.

 

Venus Anemone Shrimp: Definitely lost the largest one. Could be it was old, but I never found the body. It's also possible that I may have mistakenly sucked it up when I was vacuuming (being near transparent, certainly possible). The remaining one has a new arm/claw that's about 80% of normal size. Only took about 1-1/2 months, which is amazingly fast to replace a limb to nearly full size. Sometimes hand feed, but not always necessary since I can easily tell when it's stomach is full due to it's body being very transparent.

 

Two-spot Blenny: This fish grew fast! In the few months it's been in the tank it put on 1/4" in length and so measures 2" nose to tail. Spunky little thing that nips anything close to it's perch (including my hand).

 

Yellow-line Gobies: Constantly excavating their shared hole under the live rock. Eat anything I give them. Fast growers, too.

 

Green Banded Gobies: Relatively slower growing and not as good at capturing food as the Yellow-lines. I find it best to squirt food no more than a few inches above their heads and let it drift down (even then they sometimes strike-and-miss). Noticed each has a very distinct color variation as the larger one is pale green with yellow mixed in and the smaller is steel blue-green with no yellow at all. Not sure if this is due to each being from a different population or perhaps due to developing gender differences (bi-directional protogynous hermaphrodites).

[teenyreef]

Great update! It's interesting to see the squat lobster eat bristleworms

 

My green banded gobies are similar to yours - they aren't all that great at catching things as they float down. However, they are good at finding little things in the rocks - mine only eat one or two pellets at most during feeding time, but they've been doing great for quite some time. They do really like to capture frozen mysis. They will come up to a coral when I'm hand feeding mysis, and either grab it out of the tip of the feeding tube, or steal it from the coral. Then they shake it like a dog shaking a piece of meat and run away to eat it

[J-Ranko]

What's your secret for keeping the nitrates <1ppm? That's surely not possible with the fish you have and the feeding you do! There's gotta be a hidden deep sand bed, bio-pellet reactor, skimmer, etc.

 

 

[Nano sapiens]

Great update! It's interesting to see the squat lobster eat bristleworms

 

My green banded gobies are similar to yours - they aren't all that great at catching things as they float down. However, they are good at finding little things in the rocks - mine only eat one or two pellets at most during feeding time, but they've been doing great for quite some time. They do really like to capture frozen mysis. They will come up to a coral when I'm hand feeding mysis, and either grab it out of the tip of the feeding tube, or steal it from the coral. Then they shake it like a dog shaking a piece of meat and run away to eat it

 

Looks like you've got you GBGs trained! Mine are still a bit skittish, but then again they are still quite small. You are correct that they really like meaty foods like mysid. Flakes, hit-or-miss sometimes...

[Nano sapiens]

What's your secret for keeping the nitrates <1ppm? That's surely not possible with the fish you have and the feeding you do! There's gotta be a hidden deep sand bed, bio-pellet reactor, skimmer, etc.

 

 

 

Shhh, no one is supposed to know that this 12g system is actually plumbed into the basement with a 100g sump sporting all the latest bells and whistles

 

Seriously, there's nothing in the system but a return pump (with a Hydor rotating nozzle), heater and a thermometer. I had 30 ppm NO3 around the 1-1/2 year mark, but got that down to below 1 ppm after a few months with regular detritus removal. Currently, I can just barely get an extremely faint pink color with an Elos kit, so it's likely well below 1.0.

 

The current fish load is a bit lighter than it was with two adult Ocellaris Clownfish, but they are all getting bigger. When the gobies all reach full size, I expect the bioload to be around 70% compared to the two fat Clowns and add in the few inverts at maybe another 10%, and it'll come fairly close again.

[Nano sapiens]

Happy LFS Visit Day! And why not, since we have Earth Day, Secretaries Day, Bike-to-Work Day...

 

Whenever I visit an LFS I like to raid the $5 - $10 'WYSINSP' ('What you see is not so pretty') section. I can usually find some Rhodactis with potential that either haven't colored up properly or are pale and bleached. Lighting for these sections is often subdued, and in this case what looks steel-blueish turns out looking aqua-green or cyan under my lighting (love that color in 'Shrooms, so 'win-win').

 

Besides a Rhodactis, I'm trying some 'Micro-Zoas' for the second time. My original attempt with a cyan mini-colony went south after a few months (possibly not enough light). Fingers crossed that these super bright orange ones prosper in a more lighted location.

 

It's been many months since my Acan colonys' demise caused by a newly introduced Acan. I've added a small orange-red Blasto single head to 'test the waters', so to speak.

 

And lastly, picked up a Pink Stylocoeniella for quite a resonable amount due to it having bleached a bit. 'Chop-chop' and four frags have been planted in various semi-shaded locations. Interesting coral that often occurs in shallower water, but typically lives in cracks and fissures to avoid the intense light.