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Islandoftiki's Mantis/Pest Tank Pico Contest Winner!


Islandoftiki

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Islandoftiki
did you ever find a blue bristleworm yet locally :P?

 

No, but there are plenty of other goodies in there. I keep finding new little critters regularly. I know there's at least one brownish bristle worm in there.

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  • 2 weeks later...
Islandoftiki
Hes soo cool! I cant wait for mine... is he true black or more of a green?

 

I'm almost certain he's a green mantis, but he's so dark, he looks black. Pretty awesome.

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I'm almost certain he's a green mantis, but he's so dark, he looks black. Pretty awesome.

He's awesome...and the tank looks great!

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Islandoftiki

This isn't about the pest tank, but propagating majanos...

 

I'd like to give a big thank you to got2envy for sending me a nice handful of majanos the other day. There are a handful of different kinds of brown ones and about a half dozen green-red ones. I can't really steal any more from my competition pest tank, so this is a huge help so I can start supplying them to people who want to build pest tanks.

 

They arrived today, but the shipping company was not too careful with the box and the bag with the rock and the majanos got a small hole in it and leaked all but 2 tablespoons of water out. When I opened the bag and what was left of the water, it smelled like warmed over death. Fortunately, all of the majanos appeared to have survived the trip. Talk about hearty.

 

I tossed the smelly piece of live rock into my 7.5 gallon tank that contains only cycled bare live rock and a small cleanup crew. I have a strong feeling that it will create a small mini-cycle, but that's ok since the tank is going to be used for growing majanos, so it will probably benefit the majanos.

 

About 6 of the majanos had detached and were loose in the bag so I pulled them out and placed them around the tank on the rockwork. They attached right away, and every one of the majanos was open and happy within about 10 minutes! YOU CANNOT KILL THEM! Such awesome creatures.

 

They're doing great and I'll be heavily feeding them to help bring up the nitrate level in the tank.

 

Picture taken 10 minutes after putting the majanos into the tank:

 

948C17CF.jpg

 

92293E3F.jpg

 

Thanks again, got2envy!

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Islandoftiki
beautiful lil pests. i cant find any stores here that have coloured manjos id like to see if i can grow them in a jar :D

 

I think as long as you keep them wet with salt water, they will survive and/or flourish. I know they can survive without a heater. It would be a good choice for a biosphere type thing.

 

As these start to grow, I'll be offering them to folks who want them.

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I am beyond impressed with this. I have a fluval spec that i just ordered LEDs for, and not knowing what i wanted it to be like. Im really leaning toward something similar, but im sure it wont nearly be as bad ass. Honestly, amazed. Keep with it. Im jealous.

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Islandoftiki
Sorry about the shipping :( I am glad they made it tho...when the ones I have multiply...which they will...I can send you more :P

 

It wasn't your fault, it was packaged very well. The box was half crushed by the shipping company. But heck, they're majanos, so no problem!

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Islandoftiki

Update: I just posted this month's FTS and FES.

 

My xenia had a meltdown earlier this week and had to be removed. Fortunately tomorrow is the last day to add livestock, so I added another frag of the same xenia that I've been keeping in my 10 gallon tank. It's doing well, and I hope it was just a random event and not some sort of chemical warfare between something (probably the devil's hand leather coral) and the xenia. We'll see. After removing the ill xenia, I did a 50% water change and replaced the CPE. All is well now, and all of the other corals look happy and healthy. The mantis shrimp is doing great. He spent the day mucking around in the back of the tank doing something important to mantis shrimp.

 

Here are some current pictures for your viewing pleasure.

 

Full Equipment shot (Nothing new or exciting here).

5E491D1A.jpg

 

Full tank Shot (new xenia frag).

959E2C89.jpg

 

Ugly brown palys:

68E91345.jpg

 

Huge aiptasia and blue clove polyps:

0A07E5C8.jpg

 

Yellow colony polyps, zoas and some blue xenia:

1273034A.jpg

 

The amazing green/red majanos:

936238EF.jpg

 

Caulerpa and red macro algae:

5D9B15BD.jpg

 

Side view of the tank:

F448663D.jpg

 

Zoas:

71C8C9EF.jpg

 

 

That's about it. Everything is going quite well with the exception of the random xenia meltdown, but as most of you know, xenia can do that from time to time for no detectable reason.

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Looks great man! This contest is bringing forth some really amazing tanks. who would have thought that you could make a pest tank so great? lol keep up the good work!

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Islandoftiki
Looks great man! This contest is bringing forth some really amazing tanks. who would have thought that you could make a pest tank so great? lol keep up the good work!

 

And who would have thought you could stock a tank for free? :)

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hahah nice. Where is the waiting list for the awesome green/red majanos? Your tank inspired me to build my own junk tank.

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Islandoftiki
hahah nice. Where is the waiting list for the awesome green/red majanos? Your tank inspired me to build my own junk tank.

 

PM me so I don't forget. I have a small handful of majanos in my 7.5 gallon tank now and I'm feeding them regularly. With any luck, they should be reproducing soon... if not, I'll help them along with a razor blade! I'm also working on a good assortment of different kinds of brown majanos. I also want to get some all green ones.

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PM me so I don't forget. I have a small handful of majanos in my 7.5 gallon tank now and I'm feeding them regularly. With any luck, they should be reproducing soon... if not, I'll help them along with a razor blade! I'm also working on a good assortment of different kinds of brown majanos. I also want to get some all green ones.

 

You are the Majano King. I would have never thought of them as anything but a pest to be distroyed if I had not seen your tank threads :P

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Islandoftiki
You are the Majano King. I would have never thought of them as anything but a pest to be distroyed if I had not seen your tank threads :P

 

Haha, thanks. I love to push the boundaries of what is considered mainstream and normal. I gotta say, I'm super happy with how the pest tank turned into something wonderful out of discarded remnants and unwanted critters. It's still the tank that guests gravitate toward.

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