Dr. Felicia's Predator Paradise - Retired

[vlangel]

I have my ghost shrimp tank going right now so I understand about them being a pain. You will get Draco onto frozen. Mine always liked the krill the best but I fed silversides, squid and chopped clam too.

[Felicia]

I have my ghost shrimp tank going right now so I understand about them being a pain. You will get Draco onto frozen. Mine always liked the krill the best but I fed silversides, squid and chopped clam too.

Yeah, the ghost shrimp are a bit inconvenient, but they're not too bad. I just have them in a 5 gallon and do a water change once a week so that isn't bad. Mostly the pain is driving to the store to go buy them every 2 weeks, but that's actually a good excuse to go to the LFS Ha!

 

I had been offering them jumbo mysis, but that wasn't really interesting any of them. I picked up some krill and that seems to be the trick. Once I get them all onto frozen, I plan to mix in some other seafood that I can get at the local seafood market. Right now I have silversides, krill, PE mysis, jumbo mysis, and the live ghost shrimp for them.

[vlangel]

Yeah, the ghost shrimp are a bit inconvenient, but they're not too bad. I just have them in a 5 gallon and do a water change once a week so that isn't bad. Mostly the pain is driving to the store to go buy them every 2 weeks, but that's actually a good excuse to go to the LFS Ha!

 

I had been offering them jumbo mysis, but that wasn't really interesting any of them. I picked up some krill and that seems to be the trick. Once I get them all onto frozen, I plan to mix in some other seafood that I can get at the local seafood market. Right now I have silversides, krill, PE mysis, jumbo mysis, and the live ghost shrimp for them.

I also keep my ghost shrimp in a 5 gallon tank. My lfs has ghost shrimp but they are enormous and too big for Adam and Eve. My husband orders them online for me and they overnight them from FL. I usually order 200 and they are about a half to three-quarter inch which is good for the seahorses. Do you gut load them for Draco and the others? I give mine shrimp pellets and Dan's feed.

 

I only feed ghost shrimp when I am going away. That way my sister can come just once a day, give the ponies some frozen mysis and throw in some ghost shrimp before she leaves for the ponies to hunt their 2nd meal.

 

I would think that your tank critters would enjoy hunting some ghost shrimp on occasion for sport and stimulation even after they are all on frozen.

[Felicia]

I also keep my ghost shrimp in a 5 gallon tank. My lfs has ghost shrimp but they are enormous and too big for Adam and Eve. My husband orders them online for me and they overnight them from FL. I usually order 200 and they are about a half to three-quarter inch which is good for the seahorses. Do you gut load them for Draco and the others? I give mine shrimp pellets and Dan's feed.

 

I only feed ghost shrimp when I am going away. That way my sister can come just once a day, give the ponies some frozen mysis and throw in some ghost shrimp before she leaves for the ponies to hunt their 2nd meal.

 

I would think that your tank critters would enjoy hunting some ghost shrimp on occasion for sport and stimulation even after they are all on frozen.

Luckily, the larger ghost shrimp are just fine for the lions. My LFS has a pretty good mix of sizes though. I gut load the ghost shrimp by feeding the Ocean Nutrition 1 flakes and pellets.

 

I used to do that for my ponies when I went away but I'd use live brine. I'd have the tank sitter come feed them one frozen meal for the day and then add some live brine that they could hunt the rest of the day.

 

Yeah, I think the lions will enjoy the ghost shrimp as the occasional treat once I get them all onto frozen. I just need to get them all firmly onto frozen with no live available for a while so I can be sure they won't revert on me. When I got out of town, I'll probably have my tank sitter feed live ghost shrimp for them since hand feeding lions requires safety precautions.

[vlangel]

Lions and eels have the added benefit of not needing to eat everyday which is nice when you go away. I kind of miss that.

[Felicia]

Lions and eels have the added benefit of not needing to eat everyday which is nice when you go away. I kind of miss that.

Definitely a nice change of pace. I'm enjoying only having to feed 3 times per week

[Felicia]

Some fun links from around the internet. First off, a nice article on the blue/purple sponge that I have in my tank:

https://www.reefs.com/blog/2015/06/22/rare-blue-montipora-ah-no-actually-collospongia/

 

Secondly...this is the cutest cat with fish video ever! He saved his clownfish buddy!

http://i.imgur.com/cACzWdi.webm

[vlangel]

Ha ha, that cat video with the clownfish is cute. That's an odd set up for a marine tank though?

I enjoyed the sponge article. I love sponges and have a few.

[Felicia]

Ha ha, that cat video with the clownfish is cute. That's an odd set up for a marine tank though?

I enjoyed the sponge article. I love sponges and have a few.

Yeah I am really confused about the pond or whatever it is in that video, but it was cute nonetheless.

 

I really love sponges too! The one in that article is one of the easiest I think since its photosynthetic and grows super fast. I also like that it isn't so touchy about being exposed to air.

[jedimasterben]

The secret to that video http://www.amazon.com/Robo-Fish-Orange-Electronic-Clownfish/dp/B00A9SQSYU

[vlangel]

The secret to that video http://www.amazon.com/Robo-Fish-Orange-Electronic-Clownfish/dp/B00A9SQSYU

LOL

[Felicia]

The secret to that video http://www.amazon.com/Robo-Fish-Orange-Electronic-Clownfish/dp/B00A9SQSYU

Haha nice! I thought the fish looked fake at the beginning but I couldn't tell for sure.

[Felicia]

Did my weekly 10 gallon water change and other tank maintenance tonight. Before the water change, I tested the parameters, and here's what they were:

 

Alk: 9.9 (stable since last week after I adjusted it a bit higher, so no change in dosing)

Ca: 400 (finally where I'd like it to be, so no change in dosing)

Mg: 1140 (closer to where I'd like it but still not quite there, so I increased dosing by 2 mL per day)

PO4: 0.03

NO3: 10-25 (color was somewhere in between 10 and 25 on the chart, probably ~15)

 

I haven't added any more biopellets yet. I'm still letting the ~50 mL I originally added fully colonize with bacteria and drop the nitrates before I add a bit more. I started with about 1/4 of the recommended amount for my tank, so I'll have to slowly work my way up to the right amount. However, I did change out the carbon and GFO that are in a media bag sitting in the sump (1/4 cup of each).

[Felicia]

No big tank updates, but how about some cute Lily photos? She was being pretty entertaining this evening. She has a basket full of all of her toys (she has way too many! Spoiled!). She kicked out a bunch of the toys to make room for herself and then curled up in the basket on top of the rest of her toys. She looked like a dragon laying on top of her pile of treasure.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Btw, the personalized basket was part of Lily's Christmas present from Eddie

[FlowerMama]

Cats always look comfortable. No fair.

[Felicia]

Alright, I lied about no tank shots. I'm sitting on my couch enjoying the tank and I ended up snapping a few quick shots. I didn't adjust the light for the iphone or anything, so these aren't perfect, but I think they turned out pretty well. You can also see Draco up in the front right corner begging for food in a few shots.

 

Loving the view from my couch right now!

 

FTS 6/23/15

 

Can you spot Draco?

 

 

And a bit different angle.

[markalot]

Tanks looks great, love the couch shots.

[vlangel]

Great view from your couch. Definitely the best location for aquariums for maximum enjoyment!

[kimberbee]

You got some HUGE clams!!

[gena]

Sounds like you have dialed in the dosing..that's always a relief . I love Lily's basket!

[Felicia]

Tanks looks great, love the couch shots.

Great view from your couch. Definitely the best location for aquariums for maximum enjoyment!

Thanks, you two! I really love enjoying the view from my couch when I'm at home relaxing

 

You got some HUGE clams!!

Yep! Can't take credit for growing the really big one though. That's Gena's squammy that I bought from her recently. However, the derasa I've had for over a year is getting pretty big too.

 

Sounds like you have dialed in the dosing..that's always a relief . I love Lily's basket!

Seriously! I hate getting that all dialed in. Seems to be very stable now. I do think I want to actually lower Alk a bit though. I think I want it more at 9.0. Lily's basket is super cute. Eddie got Lily a bunch of personalized stuff for Christmas. She has the toy basket, a mat for her food bowl, a fancy food bowl, and a pillow all with her name

 

 

Ok, so quick chemistry question for you guys. B-Ionic 2-part should be balanced, but with adding equal amounts, my Alk went to 9.9 but my Ca was only going to 385. In order to get the Ca up to 400, I'm now adding 4 more mL of Ca each day than Alk. What's going on here? Is it because my Mg is a bit low? Its not too bad though. I just got it up to 1140 and am working on increasing it to 1250. Anyways, I want to lower my alk down to about 9.0, so that means there will be a pretty significant different in how much I'm dosing of the two parts. I thought that at 9, the Ca should balance in the 400's with equal parts.

[gena]

Seriously! I hate getting that all dialed in. Seems to be very stable now. I do think I want to actually lower Alk a bit though. I think I want it more at 9.0. Lily's basket is super cute. Eddie got Lily a bunch of personalized stuff for Christmas. She has the toy basket, a mat for her food bowl, a fancy food bowl, and a pillow all with her name

 

 

Ok, so quick chemistry question for you guys. B-Ionic 2-part should be balanced, but with adding equal amounts, my Alk went to 9.9 but my Ca was only going to 385. In order to get the Ca up to 400, I'm now adding 4 more mL of Ca each day than Alk. What's going on here? Is it because my Mg is a bit low? Its not too bad though. I just got it up to 1140 and am working on increasing it to 1250. Anyways, I want to lower my alk down to about 9.0, so that means there will be a pretty significant different in how much I'm dosing of the two parts. I thought that at 9, the Ca should balance in the 400's with equal parts.

Where does he find that stuff? Etsy? I was looking at custom collars on there for Nicky and Nora.

 

I never understood that 2-part balanced stuff either. I was not dosing equal amounts of Ca and Alk. I had to dose more Ca than Alk. And my magnesium was stable.

[kimberbee]

I never understood that 2-part balanced stuff either. I was not dosing equal amounts of Ca and Alk. I had to dose more Ca than Alk. And my magnesium was stable.

 

Same... I dosed (I've been lazy) calcium for weeks with no change in alk or mg... I stopped cause I started running out. Never once dosed alk, so I still have a full bottle of that stuff! I'm gonna get calcium this weekend and start dosing/testing 2x a week now.

[Felicia]

Where does he find that stuff? Etsy? I was looking at custom collars on there for Nicky and Nora.

 

I never understood that 2-part balanced stuff either. I was not dosing equal amounts of Ca and Alk. I had to dose more Ca than Alk. And my magnesium was stable.

I honestly have no clue where he got it. I just asked him and he said "A true gentleman never reveals his wizardly secrets." Followed by "Nope. Sorry, i'll go to my grave with my gentlemanly secret make my g/f happy ways."

 

Yeah, I do a lot of chemistry for work, but I have no desire to sit down and understand the reef aquarium chemistry in any detail. I get the basic idea, but the two-parts not needing to be dosed in equal amounts is weird. Oh well, I'll just run through Ca faster I guess.

 

 

Same... I dosed (I've been lazy) calcium for weeks with no change in alk or mg... I stopped cause I started running out. Never once dosed alk, so I still have a full bottle of that stuff! I'm gonna get calcium this weekend and start dosing/testing 2x a week now.

What type of Ca are you dosing? B-Ionic? I like the get the gallon sized bottles because those last a nice long time on nano tanks. Much better than the tiny bottles sold by other brands. Also, I'm too lazy to mix up my own in bulk like you can get from BRS.

[kimberbee]

I honestly have no clue where he got it. I just asked him and he said "A true gentleman never reveals his wizardly secrets." Followed by "Nope. Sorry, i'll go to my grave with my gentlemanly secret make my g/f happy ways."

 

Yeah, I do a lot of chemistry for work, but I have no desire to sit down and understand the reef aquarium chemistry in any detail. I get the basic idea, but the two-parts not needing to be dosed in equal amounts is weird. Oh well, I'll just run through Ca faster I guess.

 

What type of Ca are you dosing? B-Ionic? I like the get the gallon sized bottles because those last a nice long time on nano tanks. Much better than the tiny bottles sold by other brands. Also, I'm too lazy to mix up my own in bulk like you can get from BRS.

 

I use the stuff that comes in a small white-ish clear-kinda container that came as a two pack. Haven't touched the alk bottle, but I'm gonna go buy a gallon of calcium!