megability Posted August 28, 2011 Author Share Posted August 28, 2011 (edited) I just picked up a "Walking Dendro" coral, Heteropsammia cochlea I believe. They're a very unique coral if you don't know, very cool. They apparently begin life on the shell of a snail, which is then home to a commensal Peanut Worm later. (sipunculid worm, Aspidosiphon corallicola) The coral grows around the snail shell, but leaves the worm inside a small hole on the bottom to reach out from every night and feed in the sand. The worm ends up dragging the coral around from place to place as the worm looks for new places to search for food each night. Amazing, Mother Nature at her finest! Edited September 2, 2011 by megability 1 Quote Link to comment
TheNordCelt Posted August 28, 2011 Share Posted August 28, 2011 So cool man, can't wait for pics of it! Quote Link to comment
Hextall Posted September 1, 2011 Share Posted September 1, 2011 Your tank is very inspirational... if I can have mine look half as nice as yours, I'll be psyched. Quote Link to comment
myelin Posted September 1, 2011 Share Posted September 1, 2011 you are capturing the cycle of life in y our tank very well. as others have stated, it is an inspiring tank! keep up the great work. Quote Link to comment
megability Posted September 2, 2011 Author Share Posted September 2, 2011 Thanks patrickbush, Hextall, and myelin, I appreciate that... I just added a shot of the new "Walking Dendro" coral above, more to come... Quote Link to comment
megability Posted September 2, 2011 Author Share Posted September 2, 2011 A couple more shots of the new "Walking Dendro" coral... Gettin' full on mysis shrimp... Down the hatch... Quote Link to comment
megability Posted September 2, 2011 Author Share Posted September 2, 2011 A shot of the Walking Dendro next to his cousin, the Firecracker Coral, both in the Dendrophyllia genus I believe... Quote Link to comment
megability Posted September 2, 2011 Author Share Posted September 2, 2011 Another feeding time, the Six-Line Wrasse is very interested... Then a Nassarius Snail stole a piece of food from the coral's mouth and a fight broke out... Quote Link to comment
megability Posted September 2, 2011 Author Share Posted September 2, 2011 Here's another shot of Toxic Waste Trumpet Coral 'cause they're so photogenic Quote Link to comment
bsdryder7 Posted September 2, 2011 Share Posted September 2, 2011 well im back to say i love all your pics they are amazing and so much fun to look at.......i hope my 28 looks this good i just picked up a cool paly and some pulsing xeina but i would love some of that poor torch coral thats getting munched on lol.... do u send any frags ?? would be intrested on buying some.... Quote Link to comment
HVani Posted September 2, 2011 Share Posted September 2, 2011 Those pictures are great! Love your tank Quote Link to comment
nickjqz Posted September 2, 2011 Share Posted September 2, 2011 Looks awesome! Will follow along! Quote Link to comment
yoshii Posted September 5, 2011 Share Posted September 5, 2011 Love those trumpets! Do you ever have problems with fish stealing food directly from the coral's mouth? Quote Link to comment
megability Posted September 5, 2011 Author Share Posted September 5, 2011 Oh yea, the Six-Line is on the lookout constantly, and is very adept at stealing food. Sometimes I can scare him away by moving my hand but he comes right back, he's crafty... Quote Link to comment
enigma70x7 Posted September 14, 2011 Share Posted September 14, 2011 Nice tank, I love the colors and scaping! Quote Link to comment
megability Posted September 14, 2011 Author Share Posted September 14, 2011 Thanks enigma, I haven't changed my scaping since I got it perfect from the start 2+ years ago, but now that so many corals are growing out, it's starting to look a little crowded I think... Quote Link to comment
JDK Posted September 23, 2011 Share Posted September 23, 2011 Awesome tank. Love your coral selections Quote Link to comment
Vort Posted October 1, 2011 Share Posted October 1, 2011 This is one of the coolest biocube's I've seen here, I love those montis, did they grow that large in your tank? My tank looks terribad compared to yours, and I love the scape, I think I did something similar with mine. Also, you've got seven fish in your tank, at first I thought you where waaay overstocked but then, wow, those SPS are doing great! Really good job on the whole thing. Quote Link to comment
weeber Posted October 1, 2011 Share Posted October 1, 2011 great looking tank. i love the cowery. might i ask how much he cost? Quote Link to comment
roly01 Posted October 1, 2011 Share Posted October 1, 2011 nice tank man, why do you have a that torch in a bottle? Quote Link to comment
megability Posted October 1, 2011 Author Share Posted October 1, 2011 (edited) Thanks JDK, Vort, weeber, and roly01, Yea, the monti's grew that large and that way, right in the tank. Been about 2 years for the red monti and about 1 year for the purple monti. If you check earlier posts there's pictures of them both as small frags when I added them, very small in the case of the red monti, and about 2" frag for the purple guy on the right. I love the cowry too, I think he was $20, but so colorful and a crazy color-looking mantle that comes out over his shell, even has polyps on it too to blend in with coral he might be eating, so cool. I wish I bought a second, oh well. The torch coral is in that plastic bottle because that is the cowry's prison He's escaped a couple times, but he's not exactly hard to catch, just don't want him eating my Dendrophylia coral or a few others. He never touched the torch coral actually, so I put some trumpet coral frags back in for him, he loves those, chows it all down in a week or two... Edited October 1, 2011 by megability Quote Link to comment
Arizonah13 Posted October 2, 2011 Share Posted October 2, 2011 Your tank is beautiful!!! I love everything about it! I have a handful of questions if you have time/wouldn't mind answering them I've read through the entire thread, but just want to confirm that you are still using the stock BC lighting? And your anemone(s), SPS, etc... all seem to be thriving? I ask because I've been afraid to add anything like that to my stock-lighting BC for fear that the lighting isn't strong enough, but dang... your stuff looks amazing! Did you have your sexy shrimp, cleaner shrimp, and porc./pom pom crab at the same time? (or some combo of those) and did they have any trouble getting along? I see that you changed out the back chambers to include the InTank media stuff, upgraded your pump, added some koralia's, etc... are there any other mods you made to the tank equipment? Do you dose anything? What salt do you use? Do you still keep the salinity at 1.026-ish? Any other tips and tricks? My BC29 is over a year old and pales in comparison to yours, so I'd like to use you for my inspiration and start adding some wonderful corals, "fancy" shrimp/crabs, etc... Thanks!!!! Quote Link to comment
megability Posted October 4, 2011 Author Share Posted October 4, 2011 Your tank is beautiful!!! I love everything about it! Thank you, I appreciate that a lot! I've read through the entire thread, but just want to confirm that you are still using the stock BC lighting? And your anemone(s), SPS, etc... all seem to be thriving? I ask because I've been afraid to add anything like that to my stock-lighting BC for fear that the lighting isn't strong enough, but dang... your stuff looks amazing! Right, still using BioCube's PC lighting, no mods, 1 36watt 10,000k and 1 36watt actinic, no 50/50s as I have heard they don't put out 10,000 either, and I've changed them both twice, so about every 9 months or... Yea, everything does seem to get enough light, the montis have gone crazy, I even snagged a free frag of an acro and he's doing fine, probably not as much color otherwise, but polyps always extended and growing a lot too. Did you have your sexy shrimp, cleaner shrimp, and porc./pom pom crab at the same time? (or some combo of those) and did they have any trouble getting along? I did and they all seemed to get along fine, although I don't have any of those anymore due to natuaral causes I think. Had them all a year or longer with no problems at least. Pom-Pom just recently died, I think it was a bad molt if that's possible. And actually, I gave my cleaner shrimp back to the store because he was all over the place, stealing food from everyone! I see that you changed out the back chambers to include the InTank media stuff, upgraded your pump, added some koralia's, etc... are there any other mods you made to the tank equipment? Yea, InTank's stuff is great, have a little Cheato in the fuge back there too. Both Koralia 1s were swapped for 1 Vortech MP10 recently, keeps heat on the outside of the tank. No other mods I can think of... Do you dose anything? What salt do you use? Do you still keep the salinity at 1.026-ish? I dose 2 capfulls of Kent's A, B, and Tech-M everyday, which keeps my calcium right at 430, Alk at between 8-10, and I like to keep my magnesium elevated to 1600 or so to keep green hair algae at bay, although that's debatable. I use Instant Ocean's Reef Crystals salt, and yea shoot for 1.025-26ish, and try and do a 4 gallon water change every other weekend or so... My BC29 is over a year old and pales in comparison to yours, so I'd like to use you for my inspiration and start adding some wonderful corals, "fancy" shrimp/crabs, etc... Thanks again, and good luck, it CAN be done! Quote Link to comment
megability Posted October 4, 2011 Author Share Posted October 4, 2011 well im back to say i love all your pics they are amazing and so much fun to look at.......i hope my 28 looks this good i just picked up a cool paly and some pulsing xeina but i would love some of that poor torch coral thats getting munched on lol....do u send any frags ?? would be intrested on buying some.... Thanks a lot, and welcome back I got some Pulsing Xenia for my tank too and it was great at first, actually pulsed, for a while... Then I don't know, maybe I put too much flow on it but it never really pulsed after that, even with all pumps off for a while. On one hand, maybe it felt like it got enough food to not *need* to pulse, but I have also heard that if the PH isn't perfect to their liking they won't be happy. At any rate, he grew a lot, added 2 or 3 extra branches, then totally melted away last month - too bad... And don't worry, the cowry didn't even touch the torch coral, so it's safe. I have determined he loves trumpet coral the best And I have never shipped a frag and probably don't want to start yet, but someday! Quote Link to comment
Arizonah13 Posted October 4, 2011 Share Posted October 4, 2011 Thank you for such a thorough response!! I was thinking about getting the new AI Nano fixtures, but now I'm thinking I might just save myself the money and buy corals, maybe a BTA, a new fish... so many options! Thanks again - I can't wait to see how your tank continues to grow! Quote Link to comment
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