metrokat Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 The rabbitfish is beautiful. Link to comment
lkoechle Posted February 10, 2015 Author Share Posted February 10, 2015 The rabbitfish is beautiful. Thank you. She is a cow though. I fed the fish some pellets and she ate all of them with only the clowns getting one or two and then spat them all out when she realized i was feeding mysis to the coral. Link to comment
lkoechle Posted February 11, 2015 Author Share Posted February 11, 2015 So after two-three weeks of having my zoas, ricordea, and monti cap, the ricordea has split, there are about 15 to 20 new zoa polyps (out of all the frags) and the monti cap has completely healed! I think its from dosing because I never had this kind of growth in my previous tanks with zoas and thats the only thing I've done differently. Yay dosing! Also, husband and I are trying for baby #2 and we're hoping to purchase the apex DOS so the new baby doesn't throw off the tank. Apart from re-filling water jugs, water changes, and spot feeding corals, the DOS would make my tank 100% automatic and (hopefully) tank-sitter proof! Link to comment
lkoechle Posted February 23, 2015 Author Share Posted February 23, 2015 New Corals! And a Rainbow BTA! But first updates: DSC_0384 by lkoechle, on Flickr the acan I think is doing better! It's inflating more and eating like a champ! DSC_0383 by lkoechle, on Flickr The monti cap is also starting to encrust. I'm pretty chuffed about that. Now, New corals! DSC_0380 by lkoechle, on Flickr Not a coral, my new Rainbow BTA. Luckily the clowns are ignoring it so far which is much appreciated since the last one was around the same size and got loved to death. It's about 5 inches when fully inflated. Unfortunately, its hard to get a good photo of the colors, but the green base is super vivid. It also ate this morning and seems to be pretty happy where it's at. DSC_0379 by lkoechle, on Flickr Unknown Blue Acro, so someone want to ID it? Both of the acros purchased haven't really extended their polyps yet, but both also had to be re-glued to plugs since the popped off when cutting the bottom of the plug. They're a little traumatized at the moment... DSC_0378 by lkoechle, on Flickr Orange Leptastrea DSC_0377 by lkoechle, on Flickr DSC_0376 by lkoechle, on Flickr Green Pavona. Love this guy, I think he looks so cool. Getting good lighting on him though has been a challenge, he shades himself... (and yes, I put genders to my coral. They're all male as far as I'm concerned. lol) DSC_0374 by lkoechle, on Flickr Green acro, he's really not that white in person, it's just the lights. The stony part is light mint green color. DSC_0373 by lkoechle, on Flickr Mystic Sunset Monti. Once again, light is washing out the light pink. DSC_0371 by lkoechle, on Flickr Blueberry Fields zoas, not cooperating for photos DSC_0370 by lkoechle, on Flickr Pinwheel zoas, a little stressed from high flow, I moved them already. DSC_0369 by lkoechle, on Flickr Dragon Eye zoas DSC_0368 by lkoechle, on Flickr DSC_0367 by lkoechle, on Flickr Starburst Monti Cap And that's everyone! Luckily, my grandma in-law sent my husband's and mine Christmas gift and it arrived just in time to be spent on corals. lol The acropora are sort of an experiment since this is my first time keeping SPS. I'm encouraged by my monti's growth and I know they're easy, so we decided to try acros since the price was right. Of course we got off to a bumpy start with them popping off while clipping off the bottom of the plug. I'm super excited for the pavona, but I might have to move it higher in the tank or up my light settings on the AIs. We'll see. I'm super excited though for all the color and different growth patterns this will bring to the tank. Oh, and these two are still kickin it together. DSC_0388 by lkoechle, on Flickr Link to comment
Sk8n Reefer Posted February 24, 2015 Share Posted February 24, 2015 Dang, guess there was plenty left Sunday? great additions- did you win any raffles? I almost went back for the tank raffles. Link to comment
lkoechle Posted February 24, 2015 Author Share Posted February 24, 2015 Dang, guess there was plenty left Sunday great additions- did you win any raffles? I almost went back for the tank raffles. We had my mother in law in town and she was watching the baby. So we didn't want to stay out too long. It was more of a run in, shouting "take my money!" Type of affair lol. So no raffles for us. Link to comment
lkoechle Posted February 24, 2015 Author Share Posted February 24, 2015 Did some reorganizing and new tanks shots. Ended up making a little zoa island on the other half to balance the tank out more. Pretty pleased with my little collection so far Link to comment
Sk8n Reefer Posted March 15, 2015 Share Posted March 15, 2015 My Ruby red been missing now for 2 days- no sign inside or out- bummer. It was a beautiful little fish eating well and gaining some weight. No idea what happened to him. ? Link to comment
lkoechle Posted March 15, 2015 Author Share Posted March 15, 2015 My Ruby red been missing now for 2 days- no sign inside or out- bummer. It was a beautiful little fish eating well and gaining some weight. No idea what happened to him. Maybe he will show up? Still no sign of mine. But I asked on masc and one guy had a scooter missing for 6 months. Then he was rescaping after a tank crash and there he was, chilling on a rock. Happy and healthy. I have no idea how big the tank was, but I am remaining hopeful. I think mine is probably dead, but who knows? Maybe they'll show up. I have also had a shrimp go missing in a 4 gallon for almost 4 months. So who knows what can happen. Link to comment
Sk8n Reefer Posted March 16, 2015 Share Posted March 16, 2015 Maybe he will show up? Still no sign of mine. But I asked on masc and one guy had a scooter missing for 6 months. Then he was rescaping after a tank crash and there he was, chilling on a rock. Happy and healthy. I have no idea how big the tank was, but I am remaining hopeful. I think mine is probably dead, but who knows? Maybe they'll show up. I have also had a shrimp go missing in a 4 gallon for almost 4 months. So who knows what can happen. Wow, scooter missing for 6 months- that's crazy. How are your new frags doing? I still got 3 I need to get off the rack Link to comment
lkoechle Posted March 16, 2015 Author Share Posted March 16, 2015 Wow, scooter missing for 6 months- that's crazy. How are your new frags doing? I still got 3 I need to get off the rackThe acros are doing so-so and everything else is doing great. Both acros popped off the plug when the bottom was getting cut off and then the glue wouldn't set, it was a traumatic process. They aren't recovering as well as I would like. I ordered Reef Plus and I am hoping maybe dosing amino acids will give them the help they need to recover. Hows your dragon scale doing? Has fragging seemed to stop the necrosis? I also bought a diamond goby. He is a cool little dude and dude and doesn't dump sand on any of my corals which is awesome. Lol Link to comment
Sk8n Reefer Posted March 16, 2015 Share Posted March 16, 2015 The acros are doing so-so and everything else is doing great. Both acros popped off the plug when the bottom was getting cut off and then the glue wouldn't set, it was a traumatic process. They aren't recovering as well as I would like. I ordered Reef Plus and I am hoping maybe dosing amino acids will give them the help they need to recover. Hows your dragon scale doing? Has fragging seemed to stop the necrosis? I also bought a diamond goby. He is a cool little dude and dude and doesn't dump sand on any of my corals which is awesome. Lol Cool little fish! Traumatic - I hear Ya ! Good word for those experiences . Give the Acros some time - once they settle in they will be fine. Lost one of the dragon scale frags- the smaller one that was on the side with the RTN but the other one is doing well still. Still touch and go with this coral. Other than that things are moving along - on staycation this week so I'll be paying a lot of attention to the tank? Link to comment
lkoechle Posted March 29, 2015 Author Share Posted March 29, 2015 So this week brought 6 new inhabitants to the tank. -a male and female mandarin -a yellow clown goby -a giant rainbow montipora colony -2 polyps of Utter Chaos Zoa (w00t!) The story: My LFS had a male Mandarin in stock and he was $15 and I've wanted one of these for sooooo long. Plus Husband and I are trying for baby #2 so he thought that this might make more amorous (happy wife, happy life lol) While we were there, there was an adorable yellow clown goby for $6 and, you know, in an 85, I'm sure my conch is heavier bio-load then him, so in he went as well. lol The next day we're getting ready to go to our local reef club meeting and I see a classified ad on their page for a guy who had a work transfer and was tearing down his 120. On his list of things for sale was a female mandy eating prepared foods. I mean, really? How can I say no? Plus she'd help my male transition easier. She was also $15. (which is funny that I got both Mandys from better places for $30 then a crappier LFS that wanted $40 for a sad, beat up male ) So, we decided to go to the club meeting and pick up the little girl on our way home. While at the meeting (which was held at a vendor's house) there was massive MASSIVE rainbow montipora. I asked her if she had any frags because I love rainbow montis. She said no, but she'd sell me the colony for $60. Everyone else in the room had been to afraid to ask for the price (including me) and when they heard that, there was a collective, "aw man..." Because of course I bought it. lol But now I have a line of people who want frags from this thing, which is awesome Husband also decided to make me very happy and bought me an Utter Chaos zoa which both the vendor and he thought was a single polyp, but to our delight, I spied a baby polyp as well. Then we drove an hour north to pick up the mandy girl. The guy didn't post everything he had for sale and in addition to the female mandy, he had a fire shrimp. My husband loves fire shrimp and we hate the idea of spending $40 on a shrimp. lol So we bought him too for $10. Very successful weekend. I feel like such a fatty now. lol Oh, and I was right, the female has totally helped the male settle in better. He's so much calmer now. PHOTOS! Zhuque (female mandy) Qinglong (male mandy) Cuddling together about 10 minutes after adding the female. Krieger the YCG The rainbow monti Utter Chaos zoa with baby polyp And Woodhouse the Fire Shrimp. He made his home behind the giant monti for now, so acclimating is the best pic I have. lol Link to comment
lkoechle Posted March 31, 2015 Author Share Posted March 31, 2015 Mandarin Training I started with a jar and sweetfish roe. After a day, Qinglong (male) went in and ate at least 3 (counted three strikes). I had no repeat performance. Today, I fed SELCO Boost soaked mysis to the tank and Qinglong was definitely interested. He made several strikes where I basted and pecked at the snorkel tubes on the dwarf nass snails. I have no idea if the nass snails have any snorkels left, the fairy wrasse terrorizes them as well. Zhuque (female) hasn't shown any real interest but she is much more shy, so it could be stage fright. On Wednesday I plan on picking up some live black worms. On the suggestion of metrokat and kimberbee, they seem to have good luck with mandarins on them. Kat likes live and kimberbee's used frozen. I'm taking my cat to the vet today at PetsMart (Banfield pet wellness plans are a great afforable option for vet care, we love it) and I'm going to see if they have any frozen black worms in their freshwater department. Kai, the kitty going to the vet for his check-up today. Other things The yellow clown goby has regained color in his cheeks which makes me happy, so I think stress just caused him to get pale. Also, I think my rabbitfish believes herself to be the official tank welcoming commitee. When I added Sandman, she followed him around all day and pretended to be a sand sifter. She picked up sand and then spit it back out. Now with the mandarins, Zhuque especially, she likes to sleep with them. She has a particular corner of the tank she sleeps in, right on the glass and Zhuque has taken to sleeping right on top of her. Weirdest thing. Usagi is one weird fish. Reappearing zoas About a month and a half ago, I had some zoas disappears. Both my miami vice and pink zippers disappeared in one night. (Turns out hermit crabs were eating them), well shortly after adding Sandman, Sandman was doing what he was suppose to do and I noticed something in one of his discards pile that looked like a pink zipper. I pulled it and it turned out to be three pink zipper polyps! They've been buried for almost a month. I glued them on a rock and in about 4 days, all three after opened. lol If I hadn't bought Sandman, I might have never found my zoas. lol Link to comment
lkoechle Posted April 1, 2015 Author Share Posted April 1, 2015 I built this for the mandys this morning: The main issue I've had with the jar, is everything gets eaten by snails or moved out via current by the time the mandys' are confident enough to check it out (like 6 hours later) after I've moved it. Hopefully now I can surprise them with food while they're sitting in the jar... The airline tubing is held in the jar with super glue and coral putty (glue doesn't cure on the glass) and the airline tubing is suction cupped to the wall. In other news, Kai (my cat) is in kidney failure Edit: AND IT WORKED! Qinglong was sitting inside the jar and I squirted food (enriched brine soaked in SELCO boost) in and he started eating. Kind of ironic the fresh from the wild mandy is adjusting faster then the female "eats prepared" (I'm not convinced that was true). Either way, at least she's lived in a tank for awhile and she did calm the male when he was spastic. I just think its funny that it might be wild mandy teachng captive mandy how to eat frozen instead of the other way around. Link to comment
lkoechle Posted April 1, 2015 Author Share Posted April 1, 2015 Mandarin Training Update Qinlong totally understands what the jar is for. Most of the afternoon he spent waiting in it. I also made up a "Mandarin slurry" of enriched brine shrimp, PE Mysis, blood worms, and sweetfish roe soaked in SELCO Boost, he's really enjoyed it. He also ate a couple live black worms today. So I think Qinglong is a clever dragon and will be happy in my tank for many years to come. The downside of him being such an awesomely big and handsome boy is I have no idea how many years that will be. My concern is for Zhuque. She at least comes over and checks out the diner and Qinglong sitting in it, but there isn't any room in there for her (another downside of his impressive size). I think I'm going to try and make a dragonet's den (http://www.dragonetsden.co.uk/dragonets_den.html) and that should give them both plenty of room plus cut down on waste (due to the size of Qinglong, his fins waft a good amount of food out of the jar). It should also give enough room for any future dragonets (I would like to try a red wine dragonet again and see if i can train it) I may get in the future. Qinglong waiting in his jar. He knows what's what! Link to comment
lkoechle Posted April 4, 2015 Author Share Posted April 4, 2015 Sad day today. My solar wrasse, Helo, jumped through the teeny little gap between my lid and the tank. And then I stepped on him... He might have lived had I not stepped on him We're going to build a new, hopefully better fitting screen lid. My MP40 wetside has also kicked it (only 5 montsh old!), at least I had two plus the return, so flow is fine. have to contact ecotech now... Link to comment
lkoechle Posted April 4, 2015 Author Share Posted April 4, 2015 Got some cool shots of the tank the other day and built a new mandarin box so both have room to go in. Link to comment
lkoechle Posted April 5, 2015 Author Share Posted April 5, 2015 So I think to finish our stock list will be (in order of addition from first to last): neon cleaner goby, pink-streaked wrasse, 3 blue chromis, Yellow Eye Kole Tang, and Husband's much desired Flame Angel. With additions of those fish, I think I'll be stocked out. I might move/sell/trade the 3 blue chromis when the tang and rabbit fish grow bigger. It depends on how everything is co-habiting. But hopefully, the addition of the 3 chromis, tang, wrasse, and dwarf angel will keep my rabbitfish happy and social. She really has been a pathetic little thing since Helo jumped. She even went into the cave where the mandarins sleep to sleep with them instead of going back to the cave she shared with Helo. And so his tragedy wasn't in vain, we also built a new screen for the tank. Link to comment
lkoechle Posted April 6, 2015 Author Share Posted April 6, 2015 Got a hold of ecotech today and they're sending me a new wetside. I kind of hope its the better, "fixed" version that was released with the QuietDrives, but its probably the old kind. Won't stop me from hoping though! Usagi is still not swimming around after Helo's death, so after we close on the house refinancing, I'm probably going to put in an order with my LFS for a baby Kole Tang (I like 'em little so I can watch them grow up) to be her buddy. And... I ran out of calcium today. My new bottle was suppose to be here today, but it won't get here until tomorrow. So its not too bad but still... I'll have to order earlier next time... Link to comment
metrokat Posted April 6, 2015 Share Posted April 6, 2015 Sorry to hear about kitty. Mine was diagnosed with early stages kidney failure a year ago. He is 15 years old and still like a kitten/ He gets prescription foods, he absolutely hates the canned Hills prescription food but LOVES the Royal Canin dry food. We let him eat non prescription wet foods. I found no evidence that low protein helps stall or stop kidney failure. He gets pepsid 10mg cut up into half every few days to help with his acid buildup. He has a couple of water bowls and his litter needs changing very often since he pees so much. Other than that we believe in homeopathy as a family and he has been getting kidney drops. I found an online supplement pill which contains actual bovine kidney, not sure what that does but the reviews were great. My cat does not seem like he has deteriorated in this year since his diagnosis. He seems hydrated and well. But I worry a lot. He's my little puddytat. Link to comment
lkoechle Posted April 8, 2015 Author Share Posted April 8, 2015 Sorry to hear about kitty. Mine was diagnosed with early stages kidney failure a year ago. He is 15 years old and still like a kitten/ He gets prescription foods, he absolutely hates the canned Hills prescription food but LOVES the Royal Canin dry food. We let him eat non prescription wet foods. I found no evidence that low protein helps stall or stop kidney failure. He gets pepsid 10mg cut up into half every few days to help with his acid buildup. He has a couple of water bowls and his litter needs changing very often since he pees so much. Other than that we believe in homeopathy as a family and he has been getting kidney drops. I found an online supplement pill which contains actual bovine kidney, not sure what that does but the reviews were great. My cat does not seem like he has deteriorated in this year since his diagnosis. He seems hydrated and well. But I worry a lot. He's my little puddytat. Kai's 10 years old. He just acts like your typical tom cat jerk. lol "I hate you, now I love you, OMG your my best friend, OMG YOU WILL BE DESTROYED" He's deaf and is also clinically schizophrenic (yes, he has been diagnosed with this) and has feline hyperesthesia... He's... special... So this is one more thing to add to his list... 98% of the time he is the most amazing cat in the world. The other 2% belongs on a "My Cat from Hell" special. We haven't started on the prescription diet yet. I'll let him run out of his dry food before switching to the prescription dry. Do you know what your kitty's creatinine (sp?) levels are? Kai's are 3.1 which I think is low but it's gone up from 2.9 to 3.1 in 6 months which is why the vet wants us to switch foods now since its getting worse. She didn't mention any medications or anything though. On a fish related note: Chromis are out due to reading they like to have parasites and 3 McCosker Flasher wrasse (1 male, 2 ladies) has been pulled into the line up. And... my husband has joined nano-reef. Yay? Link to comment
Sk8n Reefer Posted April 8, 2015 Share Posted April 8, 2015 Dang, I've missed a lot - great new additions- that pic of the Mandy in the jar is awesome sorry about your wrasse- sad story. How was the tour of the giant reef tank at the club meeting? Link to comment
lkoechle Posted April 8, 2015 Author Share Posted April 8, 2015 Dang, I've missed a lot - great new additions- that pic of the Mandy in the jar is awesome sorry about your wrasse- sad story. How was the tour of the giant reef tank at the club meeting? The wrasse was kind of traumatic. I've been freaking out now every time I step on something rubbery, like a piece of hot dog my son threw from his high chair. No where near the tank. Just super paranoid now. lol The large tank is this month's meeting with the frag swap. So you haven't missed it yet Link to comment
metrokat Posted April 8, 2015 Share Posted April 8, 2015 And... my husband has joined nano-reef. Yay? Does this mean we have to behave? Link to comment
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