Weetie's 4 Gallons of Simplicity

[HVani]

65 gallon!!

 

I love mine

[Weetabix7]

The dadblasted blueleg hermits are eating my new macroalgae clippings!!

I've never had this happen before.

Dangit.

Now I gotta get rid of the hermits & find something else to put in the tank to keep the biological filter going.

[Jacob042426]

so you are getting a scorp tank arent you?

[Looselyhuman]

The dadblasted blueleg hermits are eating my new macroalgae clippings!!

I've never had this happen before.

Dangit.

Now I gotta get rid of the hermits & find something else to put in the tank to keep the biological filter going.

Had the same problem. Had scarlet hermits and totally forgot they munch on macros, until I started seeing little tufts of Halymenia floating around.

 

Snails IMO, feed them nori if not enough algae...

[VeganBrian]

Awesome! Following!

[Weetabix7]

so you are getting a scorp tank arent you?

 

I only have a vague idea of what I'll be doing. I find that when I have concrete plans, something inevitably comes up to overturn them.

 

Had the same problem. Had scarlet hermits and totally forgot they munch on macros, until I started seeing little tufts of Halymenia floating around.

 

Snails IMO, feed them nori if not enough algae...

 

I'm still mad at the hermits. Macros were small clippings to begin with.

But I have a new Box 'o Wonder due in today!!

 

Awesome! Following!

 

Why Thank You.

I have a little work to do to get it back to it's former glory, but at least it gives me a good goal to work towards.

 

Picking up the Tank Stand this afternoon!

[Needreefunds]

never trust a crab

[albertthiel]

I only have a vague idea of what I'll be doing. I find that when I have concrete plans, something inevitably comes up to overturn them.

 

Welcome back to reef keeping :-) ... I think that is the name of the game .. well of keeping a reef ... when we think all is well something suddenly happens that we need to "fix" but then that is part of the pleasure I think. If all went well and perfect all of the time we would have nothing to do except looking at the tank and although that's nice if my thinking is like yours then we have to be able to tweak things from time to time ... :-)

[Looselyhuman]

But I have a new Box 'o Wonder due in today!!

[Weetabix7]

Here's the new 40B Tank Stand!

 

 

Today was a good Tank Day cause I also was lucky enough to receive 4 Macro cuttings from gena. She sent me a really pretty Red Botrycladia, a small ball of Blue Ochtodes and 2 other Macros that I actually don't know the names of. I'm hoping she'll chime in here w/ID's on those 2.

The Ochtodes looks like half lived & half died, so I'll trim the dead stuff off later. It's a pretty hardy Macro, so I'm hoping the still living portion will survive & thrive.

I was in a hurry so these are quick pics:

 

 

 

Thank you gena & Geoff!!!!!

[wastedtime]

Really interesting concept. I like the idea of an ecosystem.

[gena]

 

 

Thank you gena & Geoff!!!!!

The tank stand looks really nice!!!!!!

 

Ok....first picture. That's my "fauchea" at the top. That's what it was sold to me as. It is blue/brown/red in my tank. The small red sprig is was sold to me as "red bone". The ochtodes look fine out of the water. Is that all ochtodes in the tank with half blue and half red????? That's soooo weird. I wonder what is causing that to happen. Ben said his turned bright red. I wonder if that macro needs to ship completely submerged?

Edited November 15, 2012 by gena

[Weetabix7]

The tank stand looks really nice!!!!!!

 

Ok....first picture. That's my "fauchea" at the top. That's what it was sold to me as. It is blue/brown/red in my tank. The small red sprig is was sold to me as "red bone". The ochtodes look fine out of the water. Is that all ochtodes in the tank with half blue and half red????? That's soooo weird. I wonder what is causing that to happen. Ben said his turned bright red. I wonder if that macro needs to ship completely submerged?

 

Gena, the top pic was out of the water as I unpacked it and the bottom pic is the Ochtodes in the tank that is half blue & half red. The part that is red has died.

I'm wondering if the Ochtodes just doesn't handle cold temps well, although I'm not positive on that. It'd be good if we could compare notes w/others who have shipped it.

I've shipped Blue Ochtodes myself but it was always during warmer months myself so I dunno.

It wasn't your packaging, that was great.

Thanks for the ID's!

Edited November 15, 2012 by Weetabix7

[gena]

It very well could be the temps. I'm also wondering if it needs to go one day shipping. I hope the part that lived thrives for you.

[VeganBrian]

Hows the new macros doing? Did you save them?

[Weetabix7]

Hows the new macros doing? Did you save them?

 

They look about the same.

I lost a decent bit off the Ochtodes ball gena sent me, but there are still some blue parts and as hardy as that Macro generally is, I have hopes that once it settles in it will start growing well.

I haven't put any new pics up cause the rocks kinda all tumbled down & it's been a bit disarranged, and I've been feeling a little under the weather the last few days so I haven't fixed it yet.

I'm hoping to do a WC and a rearranging in the next couple of days.

Might be Monday before I get to it though, knowing me.

[eitallent]

They look about the same.

I lost a decent bit off the Ochtodes ball gena sent me, but there are still some blue parts and as hardy as that Macro generally is, I have hopes that once it settles in it will start growing well.

I haven't put any new pics up cause the rocks kinda all tumbled down & it's been a bit disarranged, and I've been feeling a little under the weather the last few days so I haven't fixed it yet.

I'm hoping to do a WC and a rearranging in the next couple of days.

Might be Monday before I get to it though, knowing me.

 

I hope your are feeling better.

 

Macros are so cool and add an elegant motion to tanks. I like how you place macros in the DT. I would like to do the same eventually. The LFS's I frequent do not carry interesting macros so I will eventually order on line. I can't wait to see pictures of your tank as the macros take hold and grow.

[gena]

They look about the same.

I lost a decent bit off the Ochtodes ball gena sent me, but there are still some blue parts and as hardy as that Macro generally is, I have hopes that once it settles in it will start growing well.

I haven't put any new pics up cause the rocks kinda all tumbled down & it's been a bit disarranged, and I've been feeling a little under the weather the last few days so I haven't fixed it yet.

I'm hoping to do a WC and a rearranging in the next couple of days.

Might be Monday before I get to it though, knowing me.

Fingers crossed that the bit left grows well. How are the others I sent you? Did they survive?

 

Hope you are feeling better

[Weetabix7]

Fingers crossed that the bit left grows well. How are the others I sent you? Did they survive?

 

Hope you are feeling better

 

Things seem to have survived so far. The living portions of Ochtodes are small, but I haven't seen any further die-off yet, so I am hopeful.

I've been feeling pretty nasty for the last 4 days, so I still haven't gotten a WC and re-organizing done. I realized yesterday that I had missed taking my boys to a planned Cub Scout hike on Sat morning because of how I was feeling. I HATE when stuff like that happens, but I really was good for absolutely nothing that day. I'm gonna try hard to pull it together this morning and at least do the WC. I have a local NR member coming over later today to dip a frag so I HAVE to, my reputation is at stake!!!

[VeganBrian]

awwe feel better!! I hope everything makes it. no more die off is always a positive sign though! cant wait to see updated pics

[Looselyhuman]

I've been feeling a little under the weather the last few days

Sorry I missed this - hope you're feeling better in time for a nice (actually probably hectic and stressful) holiday weekend.

[Weetabix7]

Thanks guys, I appreciate the well wishes.

I'm feeling a lot better than I was and am at least functional today. I'll probably be all the way back to normal tomorrow.

Now I just gotta hurry and figure out exactly what I'll be contributing to a family Thanksgiving meal! I have 2 dishes figured out, need to come up with a third tonight.

But hey, that's not what you guys came here for, right?

Nope, nope.

Kay, got the WC done. Gave the 2 Macro-scarfing Hermits to lylapico, whom I went on an adventure with today.

I hate aquascaping, but I think I got something halfway decent up. It definitely looks different than it did before.

On the encouraging side, it looks like all of the Macros are doing well. I definitely didn't have any further die-off on the Ochtodes, and I think a couple of spots that I thought were "iffy" may have actually colored back up!

And in further cool news, I think I'll be getting a fish tomorrow! While at the LFS today, I learned that they are getting in a Green Banded Goby tomorrow. I've ALWAYS wanted to have one and they are one of the only fish I think would be small enough to fit in the tank. They're gonna hold it in the bag for me and I told them as long as it doesn't have Ich in the bag or something, I'll get it.

For those of you out there w/GBG's, what do you feed them? Do they have a hard time eating some foods with their small mouths? They're just so leetle.

Will try to get at least one pic up later tonight.

[Looselyhuman]

I learned that they are getting in a Green Banded Goby tomorrow. I've ALWAYS wanted to have one and they are one of the only fish I think would be small enough to fit in the tank. They're gonna hold it in the bag for me and I told them as long as it doesn't have Ich in the bag or something, I'll get it.

For those of you out there w/GBG's, what do you feed them? Do they have a hard time eating some foods with their small mouths? They're just so leetle.

Will try to get at least one pic up later tonight.

GBG

 

My pair is awesome. I recommend a pair if possible, even for a tiny tank (mine are in a 12" cube even though it's a larger system). I personally hate seeing solitary fish - and they eat so little. If that's just not doable he/she will be OK.. but if you get two and they pair up (IME they quibble over who's going to become male for a couple weeks) you'll see a lot more interesting behavior.

 

Their mouths are bigger than you'd think (my male picks up 1-2 arag-alive special grade grains at a time while excavating), but they can be picky. They would rather eat amphipods than anything, and they fill up on those mostly. They like the smallest and second-smallest NLS pellets, and occasionally eat mini-mysis. They are surprisingly ambivalent about cyclop-eeze but will eat that in a pinch.

 

Good luck. You won't be sorry.

[gena]

+1 to everything Ian said. I've had the same experiences with mine.

 

You are gonna love that fish

[Weetabix7]

Blah, these pics stink, but they'll have to do for now:

 

 

 

I'll try to get better ones soon.

The tank actually looks nicer than this in real life.

 

Thanks for the input Hypsophrys & gena!

I'm pretty sure the store is only getting in the one Goby.

What are NLS pellets?

There are already pods in there for it to start munching on.