animalmaster6 Posted June 25, 2011 Share Posted June 25, 2011 300 gallon display fuge, with sea horses and tons of sea grasses and herbivores!! This would be awesome! Link to comment
d9hp Posted June 25, 2011 Author Share Posted June 25, 2011 Instead of the 75 as a fuge, why not the extra bedroom. 300 gallon display fuge, with sea horses and tons of sea grasses and herbivores!! This would be awesome! You two are crazy! I think I'm going to go with two sumps (maybe 150g rubbermaid tubs if I can get a deal on them) and treat the tank as two 500g tanks. That way if anyone system failed I'd have a backup. I could stagger changes between the two as well. Ideally I'd have a third LARGE container (like 200g) that was tied into the system but could be cut off for water changes. So I'd cut that out of the system, fill it up, add salt, let it mix for a night, then open the valves back up and it's back in business. For that reason I want to keep the actual water volume to a minimum. This seems a bit backwards from what most people think I should do but I believe that I'd be able to change a larger percentage of the water every week this way. I'll absolutely have to go with a DIY mix though because salt alone would kill me. Thankfully this won't be a reef so I'll probably only have a 6-8 hour light cycle. It's funny that I talked about my 75g constantly in the reef thread and now I'm talking about a wild concept tank in this one. Anyways...if I could honestly go with the 12' tank at the new place (haven't even found this yet so it may not be feasible but I can build around it!) then I want to keep the following [this is just a hypothetical dream, people] 7 yellow tangs 5 pacific blue tangs 1 powder blue 1 kole yellow eye 1 tomini tang 1 clown tang 1 sailfin 1 vlamingi 1 achilles 4 borbonious anthias 11-13 lyretail anthias (just a single male in there) another harem of anthias a few different wrasses...not sure yet a pair of clowns the filefish I currently have would be moved over 1 emperor angel 1 blueface angel 10 cleaner shrimp and 10 fire shrimp That stock list would cost more than both of my systems combined. That's terrifying. Actually just the borbonious anthias would be more than the 75g almost...in its entirety. Okay forget I said any of that. Link to comment
andrewkw Posted June 25, 2011 Share Posted June 25, 2011 thinking about getting some borbonious anthias myself. If I just get one I'd put it in my reef but if I get a bunch I have an empty 90 that runs with nothing but live rock, no clean up crew even since it used to house an octopus. I highly recommend the fuzzy fin lionfish. I've had mine for about 3 years. He was about 2" when I got him and is full grown now and probably outweighs my adult cheveron tang. In this time he has only ate one fish it was a sickly yellow wrasse I should not have added. He lived with a tiny female mandarin and still lives with clownfish and smaller wrasses. As long as they are well fed they are 90% okay. They could always turn but getting a small one who has not spent years hunting fish goes a long way imo. Link to comment
d9hp Posted June 25, 2011 Author Share Posted June 25, 2011 thinking about getting some borbonious anthias myself. If I just get one I'd put it in my reef but if I get a bunch I have an empty 90 that runs with nothing but live rock, no clean up crew even since it used to house an octopus. I highly recommend the fuzzy fin lionfish. I've had mine for about 3 years. He was about 2" when I got him and is full grown now and probably outweighs my adult cheveron tang. In this time he has only ate one fish it was a sickly yellow wrasse I should not have added. He lived with a tiny female mandarin and still lives with clownfish and smaller wrasses. As long as they are well fed they are 90% okay. They could always turn but getting a small one who has not spent years hunting fish goes a long way imo. Borbonious are my all time favorite fish...hands down no questions about it! I can't wait to have some but I can't afford them yet. I forgot about your octo...you had some great photographs. I think I'll go with a very small fuzzy. I doubt he would be an issue if I can train him to eat from a stick from early on in QT. Thanks for the advice...I think you're absolutely right with the habits thing. Link to comment
andrewkw Posted June 26, 2011 Share Posted June 26, 2011 I remember when the borbonious were like $500 now I think they're less then $150 at least locally I don't know about where you live, if I can get them at a good price I'd get 3. When I first saw them I thought they looked really mean, but I have since grown to like them. I don't think you need a stick to train a lion, especially if you are going to QT him just start feeding him frozen mysis. Worst case add a live shrimp to start him eating. Mine eats right beside my 2.5" clownfish and they don't even look at each other. One thing I love about the Lion's is they are very photogenic. Also while they don't really need a lot of space mine usually does a couple of laps around my 5 foot tank and if you happen to catch him swimming he looks very majestic. Link to comment
d9hp Posted June 26, 2011 Author Share Posted June 26, 2011 I remember when the borbonious were like $500 now I think they're less then $150 at least locally I don't know about where you live, if I can get them at a good price I'd get 3. When I first saw them I thought they looked really mean, but I have since grown to like them. I don't think you need a stick to train a lion, especially if you are going to QT him just start feeding him frozen mysis. Worst case add a live shrimp to start him eating. Mine eats right beside my 2.5" clownfish and they don't even look at each other. One thing I love about the Lion's is they are very photogenic. Also while they don't really need a lot of space mine usually does a couple of laps around my 5 foot tank and if you happen to catch him swimming he looks very majestic. Ahh well if he's eating with other small fish then I don't think I'll have anything to worry about either. That's a fantastic photograph...beautiful fish. Thanks for the advice -- much appreciated! Link to comment
d9hp Posted June 26, 2011 Author Share Posted June 26, 2011 Snagged the last 40B today at pecto for $48! So now I just need a few more things for the QT to get up and running. I am hoping to just order everything from marine depot along with some medications and essentially the rest of the common pellet / flake foods I don't already have to keep on hand for fish. If I can get these filefish eating ANY sort of pellet or flake I'm really going to feel like I'm getting somewhere with them. Link to comment
animalmaster6 Posted June 29, 2011 Share Posted June 29, 2011 You could get lots and lots of gobies in a 12 foot tank Link to comment
d9hp Posted June 29, 2011 Author Share Posted June 29, 2011 You could get lots and lots of gobies in a 12 foot tank Oh there will certainly be gobies and shrimp. I want it to be a peaceful tank with a ton of activity (think 20 chromis + 40 anthias)...though it will take a long time to stock it all the way since I'll be using 6-week minimum QT periods. So I'm going on my annual trip to Cape Lookout National Seashore this weekend. I'll be bringing all my fishing gear and hopefully can catch some cool fish. This time of the year the blues are my best bet: Maybe some redfish (this isn't me) I'll take lots of pictures if I do. They'll all get released UNLESS I somehow snag a grouper or a flounder. That's dinner So the 75g registered ammonia over the weekend. Yikes? Yikes. It's from overfeeding. I have been pouring food into the tank for the OSFF pair and the tank's bacteria population just hasn't built itself up sufficiently yet. I threw some prime in the water and I've done 30g daily changes. Yeah...200g worth of salt gone like that. It's still non-zero but it's below 0.25ppm. This damn API kit is so hard to read and the longer I stare at them the more indecisive I get. I haven't stopped feeding like crazy though. The files are starting to put on weight and I want them to get really fat in next two months before I add more fish. The anthias are really going to compete well for food so it's a good thing they are both eating so well from the clip. I feel like the bacteria will be able to catch up in the next two weeks but I'll have to do water changes every other day for at least another week. Once it's zero again I'll slow the feedings down a bit in order to keep my maintenance down because the daily change thing is killing me. There isn't any hockey on though...so I don't have anything else to do since it's 100 degrees outside. Link to comment
animalmaster6 Posted July 2, 2011 Share Posted July 2, 2011 Have a great time on the Cape! I love going down there, really cool place. The beaches there have some cool stuff. Link to comment
d9hp Posted July 4, 2011 Author Share Posted July 4, 2011 Have a great time on the Cape! I love going down there, really cool place. The beaches there have some cool stuff. We had a fantastic time but had to come home a night early due to the weather. The wind got so bad yesterday afternoon that we couldn't stand on the beach. The sand felt like little pellets going through you. Caught a pretty fair amount of fish and enjoyed the beach, though the water was so rough I couldn't do much swimming. Came home to hungry filefish. They're both sporting very full bellies currently. Caught lots of good sized bluefish. Caught two at once on a bottom rig even. I felt a good bite and set the hook and before I could even reel it in I got another solid tug...not a fish squirm feeling but a good hit. That was fun: Lots of 8" little sharks. I wanted to keep them all for a sweet baby shark tank but I didn't...don't worry. Size 12 footprint for reference: On the way to the ferry... Link to comment
d9hp Posted July 5, 2011 Author Share Posted July 5, 2011 Files are still eating...though they are gaining weight relatively slowly. I feel like if I was feeding most other fish this much each day they would already be quite a bit bigger. Girthin' Stomach: Link to comment
d9hp Posted July 12, 2011 Author Share Posted July 12, 2011 Looking good. Thanks andrew...they are gaining weight pretty steadily now. I still have another two months or so before I add any fish to the tank that will be competing for food so I think I'll be fine in terms of them gaining enough weight. My NEW stocking plan: Two of these: Two of these: Two of these: Five or six of these + one long spined urchin The lyretail anthias from the reef whenever I get the fish trap in and can actually catch her. She's lightning fast. Thoughts? Too many fish? I know...probably is but I really don't see any aggression issues with what I'm keeping and water quality is not an issue since I do such large water changes so often. The fuge really helps as well...my nitrates are zero even after that secondary mini-cycle. The macros are all going bananas though...I'll have to prune those back soon! Link to comment
d9hp Posted July 12, 2011 Author Share Posted July 12, 2011 Current pictures after a full day of eating, which happens every day. Link to comment
saraswati Posted July 18, 2011 Share Posted July 18, 2011 I went ahead and got another 200g box of reef crystals since I will have to do 30g changes at least twice a week for a while the way I'll feed this crew to fatten them up. Jesus. That's the volume of my entire tank. And I ##### about 5 gallon water changes... Link to comment
d9hp Posted July 19, 2011 Author Share Posted July 19, 2011 Jesus. That's the volume of my entire tank. And I ##### about 5 gallon water changes... Yeah...it's not fun especially now that I have the QT going. I have to change water in the DT and use that tank's dirty water for the changes in the QT. It's a hassle but the DT only needs a water change every two weeks now that the secondary cycle is long gone. Nitrates are still zero because the macros and cyano are keeping up with my heavy feedings. I got two flame hawks and three orange lined cardinals in the QT this morning. From LA.com in a group buy. The cardinals are awesome but I am worried about them doing well long term...especially since I want to order at least another 3...maybe 5 or 6 more. Hopefully they don't slowly pick each other off after pairs begin to form like Bangaii's tend to do. Pictures at some point! Link to comment
tundrashaul Posted July 20, 2011 Share Posted July 20, 2011 I got two flame hawks and three orange lined cardinals in the QT this morning. From LA.com in a group buy. Sounds awesome. Can't wait to see! Link to comment
d9hp Posted July 25, 2011 Author Share Posted July 25, 2011 I got the pair of pink skunk clowns today from a really great LFS. They are a M-F pair and look very healthy. The male was already swimming around among the other fish in the QT but the female was hanging out in a piece of PVC this evening. The hawks are playing nice with one another but are still not remaining together so I don't know what to think yet. They are not causing problems with each other. The cardinals are doing well...I think I'll try and get another 5-7 in a couple of weeks once the QT is empty again. Link to comment
steely185 Posted July 26, 2011 Share Posted July 26, 2011 I was going to say you could snag one or two latz but you snagged some sckunks already. http://www.pacificislandaquatics.com/prest...?id_product=177 Link to comment
d9hp Posted July 30, 2011 Author Share Posted July 30, 2011 pics? Hopefully I can get some tonight! I was going to say you could snag one or two latz but you snagged some sckunks already. http://www.pacificislandaquatics.com/prest...?id_product=177 Yeah I read the article Matt wrote in this month's issue of Coral Mag. They are pretty sweet clowns but I've always wanted some skunks! Link to comment
Squared Posted July 30, 2011 Share Posted July 30, 2011 http://www.advancedaquarist.com/blog/harle...ing-as-its-prey read this if you havn't already Link to comment
d9hp Posted July 31, 2011 Author Share Posted July 31, 2011 http://www.advancedaquarist.com/blog/harle...ing-as-its-prey read this if you havn't already I had seen that and my filefish actually sleep in their food clip...which is really incredible since they sleep in their food in the wild and there are plenty of other places for them to 'hitch' onto. Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.