Diver's Paradise - The Original

[gena]

Is your new midas a baby or bigger? Randi's Poe seemed pretty full grown and I can't remember how big your first one was.

[Felicia]

Is your new midas a baby or bigger? Randi's Poe seemed pretty full grown and I can't remember how big your first one was.

My first midas was medium sized I guess. It was the smallest one they had of the 4 at the LFS when I got it, but it wasn't super tiny. When I got the new one, there were 2 in stock. One was a super tiny little guy and one was really big. I ended up deciding to get the big one because the clowns and angel can be pushy about food and I wanted him to be able to hold his own.

[FlCandy]

That would have been my thought except that my midas was the boss of the tank. He was always front and center at feeding time snapping up tons of food. I honestly am baffled as to what happened. Sorry to hear about your firefish. Unfortunately they're pretty shy and not aggressive about getting food. I have 2 firefish in my tank and I tend to just overfeed so that the greedy clowns and angel leave enough behind for the firefish.

 

I like the name! I may just have to call him that

 

I was amazed I found another one so fast. I hadn't been able to find one for months before I got the original one. I went to get the coral banded and dottyback for the frag tank and they had 2 midas blennys in stock so I figured I'd better just get one then. Knowing my luck if I had waited I would have had months where the LFS didn't have any in stock. I agree with you that local is much better for fish. I haven't been brave enough to risk ordering any fish online and I hate paying the extra shipping anyway.

 

I did order the TSB I have in the Nano, but after them being stuck for 3 days in freezing weather and etc, I decided never again.

[Felicia]

I did order the TSB I have in the Nano, but after them being stuck for 3 days in freezing weather and etc, I decided never again.

Yeah that always makes me nervous. Luckily I've got a couple local stores around here that get most things in if I'm just patient. I had to wait for the pom pom crab and the original midas but finally I got them locally.

[gena]

My first midas was medium sized I guess. It was the smallest one they had of the 4 at the LFS when I got it, but it wasn't super tiny. When I got the new one, there were 2 in stock. One was a super tiny little guy and one was really big. I ended up deciding to get the big one because the clowns and angel can be pushy about food and I wanted him to be able to hold his own.

I would have gone for the bigger one as well. Picture?

[Felicia]

I would have gone for the bigger one as well. Picture?

I'll get some soon hopefully. He's really shy still and mostly lurks in the rocks. He's coming out more and more though. If I get the camera though he goes back in the rocks. Hopefully he'll get like the other one and start ignoring me and the camera after a while.

 

In other news, I'm going to a frg swap today at one of the LFS. Hopefully I'll get some good stuff I can grow out in the frag tank. I'm bringing frags of Bali Green slimer, sour apple birdsnest, and some zoas.

 

Also, the blue ochtodes are about ready to be broken up and sold again. I got Mark's clump ready last night but I still have a big pile of ochtodes in the back corner of the 30 gallon. That stuff seriously grows like a weed for me.

 

Oh and the Koralia is all hooked up in the frag tank so that it'll be ready for the corals I bring home today. I'm glad I got the 425 because the flow isn't excessive and should be great for all the SPS frags I want to keep in the system. It's fine for softies too though because I threw my first mushroom frag into the basket with rubble rock last night and it wasn't getting blown around. I cut one of the big fuzzy mushrooms off the left front corner rock last night so well see if it heals up and attaches to one of the rubble rocks.

[Spirofucci]

I'll get some soon hopefully. He's really shy still and mostly lurks in the rocks. He's coming out more and more though. If I get the camera though he goes back in the rocks. Hopefully he'll get like the other one and start ignoring me and the camera after a while.

 

In other news, I'm going to a frg swap today at one of the LFS. Hopefully I'll get some good stuff I can grow out in the frag tank. I'm bringing frags of Bali Green slimer, sour apple birdsnest, and some zoas.

 

Also, the blue ochtodes are about ready to be broken up and sold again. I got Mark's clump ready last night but I still have a big pile of ochtodes in the back corner of the 30 gallon. That stuff seriously grows like a weed for me.

 

Oh and the Koralia is all hooked up in the frag tank so that it'll be ready for the corals I bring home today. I'm glad I got the 425 because the flow isn't excessive and should be great for all the SPS frags I want to keep in the system. It's fine for softies too though because I threw my first mushroom frag into the basket with rubble rock last night and it wasn't getting blown around. I cut one of the big fuzzy mushrooms off the left front corner rock last night so well see if it heals up and attaches to one of the rubble rocks.

Way cool! I just placed an order for some packing supplies from a site that Maria turned me on to. So hopufully I'll be in business in a couple of weeks!!

 

I just got a ton of macros from LA Reefs, almost all of them are red! So some blue octo will go great in there. I hope is grows as well for me!

[rafastank727]

 

What store is having a frag swap?? I never been to one and never heard of one happening in our area.

Btw I have a few corals I can trade you for some ochtodes if you like. I have green stardust people eaters, a small colony of purple/blue mushrooms, pink tip hammer, and 2 baby polyps of blue hornets. Let me know if your interested.

Thank you

 

[jball1125]

The new britlestar is awesome!

[Felicia]

Way cool! I just placed an order for some packing supplies from a site that Maria turned me on to. So hopufully I'll be in business in a couple of weeks!!

 

I just got a ton of macros from LA Reefs, almost all of them are red! So some blue octo will go great in there. I hope is grows as well for me!

Great! Just let me know when you're ready to send out the Gena D's (no rush of course) and I'll pay the shipping. Those are the last variety of zoa I have on my wish list for right now. I bought some bags and heatpacks a while back from one of the LFS and luckily we get insulated boxes at lab all the time so I'm stocking up on those.

 

So I guess your macro order went ok then? You mentioned Gena had issues. Red is great but you definitely need some blue now. I've got your clump all ready to go. Considering how fast stuff grows in your system I best the octodes will do great.

 

What store is having a frag swap?? I never been to one and never heard of one happening in our area. Btw I have a few corals I can trade you for some ochtodes if you like. I have green stardust people eaters, a small colony of purple/blue mushrooms, pink tip hammer, and 2 baby polyps of blue hornets. Let me know if your interested. Thank you

The swap was at Diablo Corals in Concord. So not super local but only about a 30 minute drive for me. It was a lot of fun. They grilled out lunch and there was a big turn out.

 

In terms of trades I'm being super picky right now since I'm low on space so I'm really only looking for SPS and high end zoas. Unfortunately I already have blue hornets. If you want a clump of ochtodes though, I sell them for $15. I usually meet people by Albany Aquarium on San Pablo when I'm selling things. Let me know if you want to buy a clump.

[Felicia]

Here's what I got at the swap today:

1) Blue echinata

2) Unknown blue acro

3) Aussie Blue acro

4) Pinkish palys with gold sparkles

 

I also ended up buying a few things since the swap was at one of the LFS. Here's what I bought:

1) 3 polyps Fruit Loop zoas

2) 1 polyp Rasta zoas

3) ORA Grubes Gorgonian (NPS)

4) Orange ricordea with blue/purple center (2 heads, multiple mouths)

5) Teal ricordea

 

No photos yet because I just added everything to the tanks. Everything looks good except that the Aussie blue acro looks a bit bleached. Hopefully it will color up soon. Right now its almost white with just a hint of baby blue.

[gena]

Ohhhh...can't wait to see all the new things!!!!! Makes me wish I had a frag tank

[Spirofucci]

Way cool! You needed some more blue manly corals on there.

 

Rasta's are high on my list......some day.

[Felicia]

 

Ohhhh...can't wait to see all the new things!!!!! Makes me wish I had a frag tank

Maybe you should set one up again We're all such reef addicts with the itch for more space for more corals! Haha!

 

Way cool! You needed some more blue manly corals on there.

 

Rasta's are high on my list......some day.

Yeah I was apparently on a blue kick, but most of my SPS are green or yellow so I needed to get another color. Now I just need some reddish SPS.

 

If the Rastas take off the way all my other zoas have, I'll be able to sell or trade you a frag in a couple months. I put the rasta and fruit loops in the 30 gallon instead of the frag tank because I know zoas do amazing in there and I want them to grow fast. Also the rasta was pricey at $30 for one polyp so I didn't want to risk putting it in the new frag tank. Everything else new went in the frag tank though.

[Felicia]

Just a couple fun photos I snapped while feeding the frag tank.

 

The brittle star is crazy. That's my new gorgonian that he's hanging out on.

 

The halloween hermit crab sure can climb even with his bulky shell. That's the tallest rock he's on top of.

[eitallent]

Great frag tank. I really like how you set up the shelves. I may have to copy your design when/if I ever set up a frag tank.

[Felicia]

Great frag tank. I really like how you set up the shelves. I may have to copy your design when/if I ever set up a frag tank.

Thanks! Feel free to copy as much as you want. I looked at smaller frag tanks on here to get the ideas for how to lay it all out so it wasn't all my original ideas anyway.

 

In exciting news, I just scheduled another dive trip! This ones just a day trip down to Point Lobos state reserve in Carmel but its one of my favorite dive sites. I always get great photos there. I'm going March 17, so keep an eye out for more dive photos in several weeks.

[gena]

It's a brittle gorg!!!! So cool

 

Yay for another diving adventure!!!! My husband was watching storage wars and this particular episode was on Catalina Island. Can't wait to go!!!!

[Felicia]

It's a brittle gorg!!!! So cool

 

Yay for another diving adventure!!!! My husband was watching storage wars and this particular episode was on Catalina Island. Can't wait to go!!!!

Yeah the gorg is the brittle star's new hang out. He's all wrapped around it all the time now. Hopefully he doesn't piss off the gorg too much.

 

Yeah the weather today makes me want to go back to Catalina. Its so pretty there. You said you'll take a trip there this summer right?

[Polarcollision]

Did I read correctly that you're selling blue octodes? Want!

[Felicia]

Did I read correctly that you're selling blue octodes? Want!

I've been letting them grow out again but I've got about enough for another round of sales. I can probably sell some more in a couple weeks. They'll be $15 for a golfball-sized (or larger) clump plus shipping, which runs around $15 (or a bit less) for priority mail. Want me to get in touch with you when I'm ready to sell some of it? Where are you located?

[gena]

Yeah the gorg is the brittle star's new hang out. He's all wrapped around it all the time now. Hopefully he doesn't piss off the gorg too much.

 

Yeah the weather today makes me want to go back to Catalina. Its so pretty there. You said you'll take a trip there this summer right?

I hope it will be ok too! It could be very irritating for the gorg!!!!! I know mine will close up even when I barely touch them and then it sometimes takes forever for it to open back up. Well, not really, but it feels that way

 

Yep...gonna go this summer. Is it a 45min ferry ride?

[Felicia]

I hope it will be ok too! It could be very irritating for the gorg!!!!! I know mine will close up even when I barely touch them and then it sometimes takes forever for it to open back up. Well, not really, but it feels that way

 

Yep...gonna go this summer. Is it a 45min ferry ride?

Yeah, I'm worried that it may start to bother the gorg. Although the star is draped over the gorg right now and the gorg is all opened up so I guess it must be mostly ok with it. Weird starfish.

 

That'll be so much fun. It should be nice and warm then and you can actually enjoy the beach. The ferry ride is about an hour from the Downtown Longbeach landing.

[gena]

Yeah, I'm worried that it may start to bother the gorg. Although the star is draped over the gorg right now and the gorg is all opened up so I guess it must be mostly ok with it. Weird starfish.

 

That'll be so much fun. It should be nice and warm then and you can actually enjoy the beach. The ferry ride is about an hour from the Downtown Longbeach landing.

If the gorg is open that's great!!!! Sounds like it won't be a problem

 

I'm looking forward to seeing dolphins, maybe whales on the ride out there. Sharks...no thank you

[Felicia]

If the gorg is open that's great!!!! Sounds like it won't be a problem

 

I'm looking forward to seeing dolphins, maybe whales on the ride out there. Sharks...no thank you

Well I went diving and would have loved to see a shark but didn't see a single one so I think you're safe on that front. I did see some dolphins, but no whales. Mostly we saw a ton of seals and sea lions.