Bloomin' Tank of GeNRosity

[FlowerMama]

He sure looks good in leather. Gotta see more of your tank on the leather thread! Do they really get to 5.5" so says Live Aquaria?

[joey13254]

Im going through a diatoms outbreak at the moment not from a new tank but because ive been increasing my light intensity. Ill be glad when its over. Im at 50% daylight and 40% blues at 8 hrs.

[FlowerMama]

I'll be happy when it's over too. I hate how ugly it makes the tank. I have mine set on the default which is Fiji which is darker blue than I like it but I believe it's on 11 hrs including the sunrise & sunset, I'm just wanting to save as much vegetation as I can. I'm going to have to play with it though and figure out my own settings. i have a lot to read about other's settings too. I keep wondering if I should do a water change or not at this point since the nitrate is the worst it can be right now, the only place it can go is up from here.

[joey13254]

I'll be happy when it's over too. I hate how ugly it makes the tank. I have mine set on the default which is Fiji which is darker blue than I like it but I believe it's on 11 hrs including the sunrise & sunset, I'm just wanting to save as much vegetation as I can. I'm going to have to play with it though and figure out my own settings. i have a lot to read about other's settings too. I keep wondering if I should do a water change or not at this point since the nitrate is the worst it can be right now, the only place it can go is up from here.

Im no expert but i don't see where a water change is going to hurt anything at all and it will lower your nitrates but not alot but a few big water changes will help get excess nitrates out. I don't see where it will hurt your cycle if your ammonia is already 0. I dont think it will hurt your greens either, i guess what im saying is i would start doing water changes to get nitrates down.

[FlowerMama]

Yeah, I was thinking same so I'm just gonna leave it.

Just checked, ammo is .25 yey! That means overnight it'll probably go to zero.

 

[FlowerMama]

Here are the 2 huge bivalves open.

 

 

I have another big one behind the rose coral which when moves side to side is kinda creepy, then a small one with the red sponge. But I love all those things in there. Just have to aquascape so they can be seen and get flow.

[FlowerMama]

I'm still at the same reading today for both ammonia & nitrate. I put in 3/4 capful of the bacteria booster, I don't want nitrite getting stuck. Here are some diatom nasties on the substrate.

 

 

Oh, and saw my first life form today. As thin as 1 mm. I also saw another on the back wall just now. And yeah i'm REALLLLLY excited about that already.

 

 

And look, baby halimeda coming from diatom, algae ridden halimeda. Cute!

 

 

And this I'm thrilled with!! My lovely rose coral. Cool light blue maybe??

 

 

 

 

 

[FlowerMama]

Here was my starry blenny! He had so much personality. I miss him! I'm still annoyed at him that he was bothering the clam. I got to visit him at my friends house last weekend though because I was fish sitting for him. He's in a 300 gallon tank now with a ton of huge wrasses and tangs,

 

 

 

 

 

Ha, I just noticed that in most shots you see the stars and then there's the one, you just see black and then the white marks. Did it change due to stress? Like tsb's get stripy?

[FlowerMama]

Here are the rocks today, water is more clear today for sure. Probably the best it's been the whole time.

 

[aviator300]

Keep an eye out for those little teeny harmless Anemones that are on almost all LR from Fla. I have a pic of mine on my thread. Don't mistake them for Aptasia and kill them.

[FlowerMama]

I have actually put Aptasia Rx on 3 aptasia, none of them were fat like that. And if I see the suckers popping up through the hole in the rock again, I WILL superglue it!! I didn't have any in my shipments two times before with KPAquatics but they were brought in some how a year ago. I just had the wonderful curlique anemone which has grown so beautifully in Gertie's tank.

 

 

YIPEEEEEEEEE!! Just checked ammonia. Zeroooooooo!!!! but nitrate is out of the ballpark, to the moon & back.

[Felicia]

 

Ha, I just noticed that in most shots you see the stars and then there's the one, you just see black and then the white marks. Did it change due to stress? Like tsb's get stripy?

I actually don't think that was due to stress. They do have stress coloration, like other blennies, but he'd change colors just throughout the day even once he was settled into the tank. I think they can change based on mood and maybe as a way of camouflaging? Sometimes he'd have the starry spots and sometimes he'd have nice stripes, and sometimes he'd have a combo. It would just change with his moods.

[Felicia]

I never really thought anything of his color changing, but now that you mentioned it, I just did some quick googling. Sounds like starry blennies are quite chameleon-like and can change colors and patterns pretty quickly. Seems like a pale color is more of their stressed coloration, while the stripes are more of a relaxed/resting coloration. Someone said the darker coloring with the little star spots is their coloring when they're excited, like at feeding time. I also found a cool video of their coloration when they're doing a courtship display. They keep their head black and the rest of their body fades to cream. Pretty crazy range they have in terms of color change and it does seem to have to do with their mood.

 

[Pjanssen]

That's really cool! Makes me want a starry blenny

[Matteo]

 

Ha, I just noticed that in most shots you see the stars and then there's the one, you just see black and then the white marks. Did it change due to stress? Like tsb's get stripy?

preeeetttty

[gena]

Looks like it's emitting it's own light . Gorgeous!

[FlowerMama]

I never really thought anything of his color changing, but now that you mentioned it, I just did some quick googling. Sounds like starry blennies are quite chameleon-like and can change colors and patterns pretty quickly. Seems like a pale color is more of their stressed coloration, while the stripes are more of a relaxed/resting coloration. Someone said the darker coloring with the little star spots is their coloring when they're excited, like at feeding time. I also found a cool video of their coloration when they're doing a courtship display. They keep their head black and the rest of their body fades to cream. Pretty crazy range they have in terms of color change and it does seem to have to do with their mood.

 

 

I'm definitely won over on this blenny. I think the color changing is unique too. I even liked it's new color, pink/white w/ hints of yellow. Thanks for showing that. What would be a good roommate or two? I kinda want to stay away from wrasse as they always steal food from my rfas. Maybe something that stays in the water column mostly so there's less interaction. I don't care for the long skinny shape like the firefish and the shape of cardinals either. I already have clowns in my 10g and they'll remain there, they're happy.

 

Some kind of dottyback?

Basslet? But my royal gramma hid all the time, even thought it was only housed with Gertie and their burroughs remained inches from each other so it can't be hiding from fear.

A pair of jawfish? They keep to themselves. If that's a good fit then just one other fish for the tank so I'd have 4.

 

I appreciate any thoughts.

[FlowerMama]

Looks like it's emitting it's own light . Gorgeous!

 

ty, so glad I kept it. Who woulda thought it would've been so pretty.

 

[Felicia]

Hmmm, water column swimming for a 40B is hard if you don't want wrasses. I love wrasses, but they can definitely be a pain at times.

 

My initial ideas on that would be:

- Wrasses

- Damsels

- Chromis

- Small anthias

- Clowns

- Cardinals

- Firefish

 

I don't have much experience with basslets, grammas, or dotty backs, so not sure how shy they are.

 

Yellowhead jawfish are amazing fish and they're definitely fun to watch as a pair. They're burrowing fish though, so you won't see them in the water column, but they're usually pretty outgoing once they get settled in. Mine always had their heads out of their burrows and would get very excited about food.

 

A watchman goby and a pistol shrimp could be fun too. I miss my YWG and his pistol shrimp. But again those aren't open water swimming.

 

Of course, you could always do a small lionfish Starry blennies get decent sized so if you get a big one, it'll be too big for a lionfish to eat.

Oh! What about a dwarf angel? Are you planning to have a ton of LPS? They can nip, but if you're going to do mostly anemones and softies, then you could have really good luck with one. I LOVED my coral beauty and the flame angels are gorgeous too!

[FlowerMama]

See, that's a good thought, I hadn't thought about a flame angel or coral beauty. It would be nems and softies so that means I shouldn't have nipping. My clam will remain in the 10g so I wouldn't have the concern for nipping on the mantle. Hm, The opening for the bivalves is thin, narrow, I don't think they'd be a bother though unless it tried and they would shut.

 

With lionfish I worry about stings because I'd be hand feeding the nems all the time. So that part concerns me about any of the lionfish and I don't want to have to rehome it when it gets too big since all of them seem to get to 6".

 

Chromis seem to love to kill each other off it appears. I'll have to reach some damsels and anthias perhaps.

 

 

Not sure how I'm scaping yet but w/ 50 lbs of substrate even the nems won't be able to cling to the bottom until they're bigger. There's 2" of substrate on average, but you know how it is, maybe be 1.5" in one spot and 3 or 4 in another. I may have to donate some to the 10g, it only has 3/4" of substrate and my frogspawn keeps falling over.

 

I wish I could have 2 blennies but that's usually a no. I'd then pick the starry and the horseface.

[FlowerMama]

Warning: EYE CANDY!!!

 

Says they get to 6" but look at the pretty Blue Grudgeons. MInimum tank size 30". It comes from Cebu in the Philippines, as does the Starry blenny. And of course this tank looks like candy land! There's so much beauty in this tank!

 

[Pjanssen]

WOW! That's soooo pretty. Such vibrant color and so clean. Couldn't tell, is that a bare bottom? I need to upgrade! Damn, I need to go bak to work

[jedimasterben]

Unfortunately most experiences with blue gudgeons don't end up like that. There are about half a dozen species all sold as 'blue gudgeon' and most of them don't transition well into captivity unless they're basically the only fish in the tank.

[Pjanssen]

I have a diadema basslet (Bessie). She is pretty visible most of the time. Will dart into her tunnel when startled bit always come right back out. She can be somewhat aggressive though, especially to new inhabitants. and has been known to eat smaller peppermint shrimp. But she adds great color and character to my tank.

[gena]

ty, so glad I kept it. Who woulda thought it would've been so pretty.

 

I know! Whodathunk it could be a centerpiece coral. But it soooo is .