Christopher Marks Posted June 23, 2019 Share Posted June 23, 2019 Looking good @thecoralbeauty! Glad the spawn didn’t cause any troubles, those videos you captured are fascinating. Thanks for sharing! 12 minutes ago, thecoralbeauty said: This morning after a 30% change (counting the 5 gal I did last night) Quote Link to comment
thecoralbeauty Posted June 26, 2019 Author Share Posted June 26, 2019 So. Clam update. Since I’ve lost my hybrid clam I had been researching others. The mandarin crocea search I documented here, and pacific east aquaculture happened to have a gold one in stock that I snatched up last week. I didn’t post because he is small and I didn’t want to jinx it, so I focused on the Christmas tree rock instead. 😂 Well, I had a suspicion that PEA had stockpiled some nice pieces for RAP last weekend so I checked the website this morning and lo and behold, yes. But I was in for a HUGE surprise. They had gotten some of the “mimosa” clams in from biota palau that I have been eyeballing and drooling over since Jake told me about them last November (but wouldn’t share or hook me up, hmph!). They’re a cross between maxima and a squamosa. If you don’t follow biota on Instagram- you really should be. Serious eye candy and all aquacultured. So you know what happened... I snatched two. They’re both small so I hope at least one does well and grows quickly. I’m totally out of room (and over budget) in my tank and had no idea I would get this lucky. But, for these rare little beauties, I will MAKE room and FIND money. I’ve not seen them for sale anywhere yet! I Will probably need to rehome my spawning crocea clams from Harry at some point, but we shall see. If that ends up being the course of action, I want them to go to a special tank- id like a friend to have them, either locally or from here. Those two are a bit plain by comparison, but they’ve been with me so long, grown so much, and now have let me witness my first clam spawn too.... so it’ll be tough. I guess this is how we end up with huge or multiple tanks. So excited!!! Heres a photo of the gold cultured crocea to tide us all over: (And here are the website photos of the hotness heading my way) 3 3 Quote Link to comment
thecoralbeauty Posted June 26, 2019 Author Share Posted June 26, 2019 Porites definitely isn’t going to stay brown!! Couple other captures from the tank today. Params are holding at Ca: 480 and kH: 7 alk could probably be a touch higher but things are happy so I’m not messing with it. other shots I don’t think I shared in all the clam spawn excitement: 6 Quote Link to comment
billygoat Posted June 27, 2019 Share Posted June 27, 2019 Seems like nothing but great news in here! Beautiful photos, as always. I especially love the Pavona; I feel like that is a genus that goes under the radar of many serious reefers because of its reputation as a "beginner" coral, but as anyone can see from these pics it is certainly very lovely when it is treated well. I knew that Porites would come around! Gosh it's going to be SO nice when it turns green all over! I can't wait. 😊 Quote Link to comment
thecoralbeauty Posted June 27, 2019 Author Share Posted June 27, 2019 20 hours ago, billygoat said: Seems like nothing but great news in here! Beautiful photos, as always. I especially love the Pavona; I feel like that is a genus that goes under the radar of many serious reefers because of its reputation as a "beginner" coral, but as anyone can see from these pics it is certainly very lovely when it is treated well. I knew that Porites would come around! Gosh it's going to be SO nice when it turns green all over! I can't wait. 😊 Thank you! I've always just loved the striking contrast the pavona adds to most SPS and LPS shapes and growth patterns/textures. I haven't seen a ton of it in the hobby in CO. Didn't know it was a beginner coral! I'm excited about the porites too. also excited to see if the worms multiply. The cardinals are doing their spawning dance again this afternoon. I am off to class so no video but i will try if they keep it up tomorrow. I think i'll have to rename this tank to "the Hanky Panky Tanky" rofl Mimosa clams arrive tomorrow! 1 Quote Link to comment
sublime1996525 Posted June 28, 2019 Share Posted June 28, 2019 Amazing pics as always! Excited to see the new additions. Mmmmm Quote Link to comment
thecoralbeauty Posted June 28, 2019 Author Share Posted June 28, 2019 I think I’m dreaming..... When I took my hands out of the tank after some final re-arranging of corals, I felt such a sense of arrival. Worms are beautiful and doing well so far- these clams are GORGEOUS, I really hope they do well. 1 4 Quote Link to comment
billygoat Posted June 29, 2019 Share Posted June 29, 2019 More subjects for the Clam Queen's kingdom! I have no doubt they will grow strong and prosper. These clams don't know how lucky they are! 😊 1 Quote Link to comment
thecoralbeauty Posted June 29, 2019 Author Share Posted June 29, 2019 Caught the cardinals back at it. Interesting role reversal from humans, the female being the pursuer and the male being inconvenienced by fatherhood. 1 1 Quote Link to comment
Tamberav Posted June 29, 2019 Share Posted June 29, 2019 Beautiful tank, I love the choices of livestock! 1 Quote Link to comment
thecoralbeauty Posted July 2, 2019 Author Share Posted July 2, 2019 Good news: the cardinals haven't spat the eggs out yet (or swallowed them) so that is promising. Bad news: the crocea spawn was a last-ditch. The crocea that initiated it died suddenly overnight. checked all parameters- nothing seems off. Other crocea is exhibiting normal behavior, but i've noticed some cloudy patches on his mantle, where I thought he might have been getting stung a few weeks ago when i killed an aphasia on his shell. It almost looks like some kind of infection, but hard to say. Will get a photo if i can once the lights come on. Now, out of the blue, the blue maxima I've had for three years decides to start gaping when i walked in this morning to feed the cats. moved him off his rock into gentler current- but no idea what is up. cross your fingers the mimosa's make it ok. I read basically the entire fatheree book on giant clams over the weekend just trying to make sure I had my ducks in a row for the mimosa's. Unfortunately, outside of seeing snails that i can pick off, there's not a whole lot to be done- most of the parasitic, bacterial, and other potential problems like boring algae and sponges are only diagnosed after death and inspection of the inside of the shell. there was no bleaching on any mantles, and even so, there is no known treatment for any of them. so I just don't know what the issue might be here. 5 Quote Link to comment
billygoat Posted July 2, 2019 Share Posted July 2, 2019 That sounds like a pretty scary situation! Your clams are so beautiful; I sure hope they are okay. 😞 Keep us updated! 1 Quote Link to comment
mitten_reef Posted July 2, 2019 Share Posted July 2, 2019 1 hour ago, thecoralbeauty said: Bad news: the crocea spawn was a last-ditch. The crocea that initiated it died suddenly overnight. Could you trace back to what might have happened the week or two before the spawning event? If it was truly a last ditch effort for that crocea, it'd take some sort of trigger to get that process going. Hoping for the best outcomes for all the remaining clams. 2 Quote Link to comment
Christopher Marks Posted July 19, 2019 Share Posted July 19, 2019 Sorry to hear about the clam @thecoralbeauty! How are the 2nd crocea and other clams doing these days? Hope your summer is going well! Quote Link to comment
Christopher Marks Posted January 21, 2020 Share Posted January 21, 2020 We miss you @thecoralbeauty! Hope you're well! 1 Quote Link to comment
billygoat Posted January 23, 2020 Share Posted January 23, 2020 On 1/21/2020 at 11:10 AM, Christopher Marks said: We miss you @thecoralbeauty! Hope you're well! I second this! I hope everything is going well and that your tank is still thriving. Come visit us soon! 😁 1 Quote Link to comment
thecoralbeauty Posted January 30, 2020 Author Share Posted January 30, 2020 On 1/21/2020 at 12:10 PM, Christopher Marks said: We miss you @thecoralbeauty! Hope you're well! On 1/23/2020 at 8:23 AM, billygoat said: I second this! I hope everything is going well and that your tank is still thriving. Come visit us soon! 😁 Thank you both! I'm here and alive. The tank is doing great, despite some considerable losses since I last posted. All of my clams perished. The last one died mid-august, so I am leaving the tank clamless until next summer. I worry that perhaps it was a parasite or bacteria issue, so any clams I might obtain in the future will likely live in another tank. I haven't given up though, just very saddened. After so many years with so much success, this was devastating. Some of those clams were from @harrypotter some years ago, and the mimosa clams were my dream for so long. My elegance also died in a matter of days, unexpectedly. This was unusual, since I hadn't moved, touched, or changed anything in the tank. It was always- ALWAYS- so big, fluffy, and beautiful. Regardless, everything else in the tank- fish, corals, inverts, and all, is doing great and filling in nicely. I've decided to build a new stand for the tank and so that is the next big project. I also pulled the trigger on a 2 gallon pico that should be arriving in the next week or so. I made the dean's list at school, so this was a reward for myself. It's making me itch to re-open the fluval edge i had going as well, if I can figure out a good lighting solution for it. Sorry for my absence. School was demanding with 21 credit hours last semester, and my horse moved back to town so I found myself spending lots of time with her. 2 3 Quote Link to comment
billygoat Posted January 30, 2020 Share Posted January 30, 2020 2 hours ago, thecoralbeauty said: Thank you both! I'm here and alive. The tank is doing great, despite some considerable losses since I last posted. All of my clams perished. The last one died mid-august, so I am leaving the tank clamless until next summer. I worry that perhaps it was a parasite or bacteria issue, so any clams I might obtain in the future will likely live in another tank. I haven't given up though, just very saddened. After so many years with so much success, this was devastating. Some of those clams were from @harrypotter some years ago, and the mimosa clams were my dream for so long. My elegance also died in a matter of days, unexpectedly. This was unusual, since I hadn't moved, touched, or changed anything in the tank. It was always- ALWAYS- so big, fluffy, and beautiful. Regardless, everything else in the tank- fish, corals, inverts, and all, is doing great and filling in nicely. I've decided to build a new stand for the tank and so that is the next big project. I also pulled the trigger on a 2 gallon pico that should be arriving in the next week or so. I made the dean's list at school, so this was a reward for myself. It's making me itch to re-open the fluval edge i had going as well, if I can figure out a good lighting solution for it. Sorry for my absence. School was demanding with 21 credit hours last semester, and my horse moved back to town so I found myself spending lots of time with her. That's very sad to hear about the clams! It's so vexing that they would all suddenly go downhill like that. And the elegance too? I wonder if it could be some sort of nutrient-related issue. I've read stories of similar delicate species (like NPS gorgonians etc.) doing wonderfully for a number of years only to suddenly wither away in a matter of days. The suspected cause was a long-term shortage of some kind of poorly-understood nutrient that finally reached a critically low level. Honestly though, who really knows what it could be. If only we could talk to our livestock and just ask them what they need. It's so frustrating to lose prize specimens for unexplained reasons when everything else is doing well. You have my condolences. 😥 All that aside though - it's great to hear from you! No need to apologize for being absent, we all understand how demanding life can be. It sounds like everything is going well for you, so that's fantastic to hear! I can't wait to see your new pico setup as well! 😊 1 Quote Link to comment
mitten_reef Posted January 31, 2020 Share Posted January 31, 2020 32 minutes ago, thecoralbeauty said: sorry to hear about the clams. the tank looks great! Quote Link to comment
StinkyBunny Posted January 31, 2020 Share Posted January 31, 2020 Elegance are EXTREMELY susceptible to RTN, I've seen them melt in a matter of hours. This is aimed at everyone. With Indo opening back up, be VERY WARY of Elegance frags unless you know where it came from. Indo Elegance corals are called "grenades" in the trade, you have to get rid of them within 3 weeks before the blow up/die in your tank. there are still some unscrupulous importers that will retag them as Aussie, be careful. Aussie ones aren't generally mounted, Indo ones are on crappy looking cement mounts. As for the clams, do you know where they came from? The country of origin? 1 Quote Link to comment
thecoralbeauty Posted February 2, 2020 Author Share Posted February 2, 2020 On 1/31/2020 at 2:56 PM, StinkyBunny said: Elegance are EXTREMELY susceptible to RTN, I've seen them melt in a matter of hours. This is aimed at everyone. With Indo opening back up, be VERY WARY of Elegance frags unless you know where it came from. Indo Elegance corals are called "grenades" in the trade, you have to get rid of them within 3 weeks before the blow up/die in your tank. there are still some unscrupulous importers that will retag them as Aussie, be careful. Aussie ones aren't generally mounted, Indo ones are on crappy looking cement mounts. As for the clams, do you know where they came from? The country of origin? the elegance i had for about a year and was an aussie, so it randomly going under in a matter of days was sort of... weird. The clams- three of them were from harry in florida and were crocea clams. had them for 5+ years. the maxima was from reefstock in denver a few years back, too. not sure from where on either. 1 Quote Link to comment
StinkyBunny Posted February 2, 2020 Share Posted February 2, 2020 1 hour ago, thecoralbeauty said: the elegance i had for about a year and was an aussie, so it randomly going under in a matter of days was sort of... weird. The clams- three of them were from harry in florida and were crocea clams. had them for 5+ years. the maxima was from reefstock in denver a few years back, too. not sure from where on either. The reason I asked about the clams is there was a smuggled shipment about a year ago of Vietnamese clams and they can be problematic. Vietnamese stock is ALIVE with cooties. Their zoanthids are full of Aiptasia and funky algaes. 3 Quote Link to comment
thecoralbeauty Posted November 16, 2020 Author Share Posted November 16, 2020 The time has come. Though this tank has been such a journey for me for the last 5 years and I have learned so much and it is still probably looking the best that it ever has.... the stand is an epic fail. I believe this is the third time I've had to replace the stand since I got the tank wet. It's particle board, and even though I coated it will rubber paint and caulked all seams, hardware, everything I could think of, I'm still dealing with warping issues that honestly just makes me insanely nervous. So, I'm ordering the IM 50 EXT lagoon. I've heard nothing but glowing reviews for the APS stand, and I'm looking forward to getting back to a shallow and longer tank. (I really miss the dimensions of the 20 long that got me into this forum so many years ago). I'm planning on just moving all of my parts and pieces into the new tank: skimmer, icecap sump, powerheads, lights, etc. It's going to be a super involved weekend when I decide to make the move. I'm expecting plenty of accidental fragging. I'm nervous and nauseous just thinking about it but at the end of the day- this move needs to happen. One of these days the current stand will fail, and I really don't want to gamble with exactly when that will be. In the meantime, here's an updated FTS: https://www.instagram.com/p/CHlbFRkr22Y/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link 2 2 Quote Link to comment
mitten_reef Posted November 16, 2020 Share Posted November 16, 2020 19 minutes ago, thecoralbeauty said: The time has come. Though this tank has been such a journey for me for the last 5 years and I have learned so much and it is still probably looking the best that it ever has.... the stand is an epic fail. I believe this is the third time I've had to replace the stand since I got the tank wet. It's particle board, and even though I coated it will rubber paint and caulked all seams, hardware, everything I could think of, I'm still dealing with warping issues that honestly just makes me insanely nervous. So, I'm ordering the IM 50 EXT lagoon. I've heard nothing but glowing reviews for the APS stand, and I'm looking forward to getting back to a shallow and longer tank. (I really miss the dimensions of the 20 long that got me into this forum so many years ago). I'm planning on just moving all of my parts and pieces into the new tank: skimmer, icecap sump, powerheads, lights, etc. It's going to be a super involved weekend when I decide to make the move. I'm expecting plenty of accidental fragging. I'm nervous and nauseous just thinking about it but at the end of the day- this move needs to happen. One of these days the current stand will fail, and I really don't want to gamble with exactly when that will be. In the meantime, here's an updated FTS: https://www.instagram.com/p/CHlbFRkr22Y/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link the 50 lagoon has one of the best dimension for nano under 3 ft. can't wait to see how yours get set up. new build thread coming? Quote Link to comment
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