Alex's Biocube 29

[fishfreak0114]

That's a nice plate Dot still doing good?

[xAyanex]

That's a nice plate Dot still doing good?

She sure is! Only 9 days of quarantine left

[xAyanex]

Update, yay!

 

Although initially I thought I had to wait until Sunday for Dot's transfer to the DT, I realized the 4 week mark was actually yesterday... so... Dot is in the DT! Transferred her yesterday. Bob seemed interested in her the moment her bag hit the water, and she kept trying to swim to him. I slowly and carefully acclimated her like I normally would do with a fish from the store (just to be safe, since this is Dot 3.0 technically!).

 

Once I let her loose in the tank, her and Bob paired up immediately. They were inseparable. They swam everywhere together. At one point Bob was hovering near the glass and Dot turned on her side, pointing her top fins toward him and her belly away and started twitching oddly. I tried to record it but she only did it once. She is clearly larger than him.

 

When I gave them food, Bob may have gotten a little territorial when he saw Dot eating some, and he nipped at her a couple times. Eventually he just let her eat and he ate too. They are buddies and Dot has even taking a liking to the thermometer right next to Bob. (Great... lol).

 

As promised, here are a couple pictures of the torch that split into two heads:

Here is my newest Nighttime FTS (11/11/2016):

The plate coral looks cool under the moonlights:

Here was the beginning of the acclimation process for Dot. Bob was so interested!:

The inseparable Duo! (I cleaned the glass right afterward...with my new magfloat razor! Those things are awesome!):

Here they are together in the notorious thermometer area:

And of course I had to make sure they were okay this morning. I knew right where to look:

That's all for now!

[teenyreef]

I'm so glad Dot is doing well!

[FlowerMama]

Yey! The female seems to already be exerting her dominance as he just "gave in" to the food! That's great.

[xAyanex]

I would also like to add that I've decided on a 3rd fish...a midas blenny!

 

I couldn't decide on a 3rd fish for the longest time. I didn't want to settle for anything and I wanted to make sure it was appropriate for the tank size and would get along with the clowns and my tank, etc.

 

One day I stumbled upon someone's picture of a midas blenny perched on a rock. Well it was just the cutest darn fish I've ever seen! I couldn't believe my eyes. But I didn't want to act on that, so I gave it a couple weeks to mull it over (and of course... research).

 

Today I ordered a small midas blenny!!!!

[fishfreak0114]

Awesome! I'm so happy Dot's doing good in the DT! Midas blennies are soooo pretty. I love the color.

[vlangel]

Hi xAyanex! Hi I am just reading your thread for the first time. Cute tank and darling fish. I am pulling for Dot! For a minute I thought I had stumbled on to stella's tank because she had a Bob and Dot. Now she only has Bob. Hhmmm, something about the name 'Dot'!

 

I had a midas blenny and they are the coolest fish. I loved him and would still have him had I not gone to a dedicated seahorse tank. Make sure you have a tight lid. I heard King Midas hit the top more than once.

[xAyanex]

Hi xAyanex! Hi I am just reading your thread for the first time. Cute tank and darling fish. I am pulling for Dot! For a minute I thought I had stumbled on to stella's tank because she had a Bob and Dot. Now she only has Bob. Hhmmm, something about the name 'Dot'!

 

I had a midas blenny and they are the coolest fish. I loved him and would still have him had I not gone to a dedicated seahorse tank. Make sure you have a tight lid. I heard King Midas hit the top more than once.

Yeah, Stella had mentioned that to me at one point! lol. Haha, hopefully this Dot lives a long life. So far she and Bob are both still doing great.

 

I'm so excited for a midas blenny. I have read and heard nothing but good things about their personality and how cute they are. I have also heard of them jumping many, many times. King Midas, that's adorable. I have a completely closed lid Biocube 29, although there is a small space where a fish could jump and end up in one of the back chambers. I thought about cutting some egg crate to prevent that, but I haven't done anything about it.

 

I've read through your thread multiple times. Love the pictures! Seahorses are sooooo cool. I probably won't ever have them because I don't want to have a dedicated tank for that and they seem more difficult to care for. But, you never know what the future holds!

[vlangel]

Ahh, I am honored that you have read through my thread. Yes, seahorses are a major commitment, so its wise that you have taken all that into consideration. I actually got a pair years ago and did not do the necessary research. Sadly it ended very badly and I didn't consider seahorses again for more than a decade!

 

Good luck with Bob and Dot and I hope this Dot is here to stay!

[xAyanex]

Oh wow! yeah, I'm not ready for all that. I've never had an aquarium at all before, and I feel like saltwater is more difficult than freshwater to begin with so I wanted to make it as easy as possible for a beginner like myself. (Hardy corals and fish, etc.). A light bit of reading told me I was no where near ready to take on seahorses.

So last night the plate coral opened its mouth for the first time (I've seen), so I fed it some of the coral frenzy I bought with a turkey baster. Also, the torch was retracted really far again so I snapped another quick picture.

 

[FlowerMama]

It's exciting when your corals react to food. Makes you feel good.

[xAyanex]

It's exciting when your corals react to food. Makes you feel good.

That was my first time ever really feeding a coral. I had no idea what I was doing and didn't see any of the food make it to the coral (mind you only the moonlights were on so it was hard to see).

 

But the mouth closed almost immediately after I fed it so it must have gotten something out of it.

[RotaryReef]

Loved reading thru this thread, very informative.

 

Getting the hang of spot feeding that plate coral?

[xAyanex]

Loved reading thru this thread, very informative.

 

Getting the hang of spot feeding that plate coral?

Nope! I need to watch some more videos...

 

In the meantime, my midas blenny was supposed to come two days ago. However, I requested a small one and so far they've only had giant ones, so maybe I'll have better luck next Wednesday.

 

Also, I have a newer FTS (11/17/2016):

 

[xAyanex]

Loved reading thru this thread, very informative.

 

Getting the hang of spot feeding that plate coral?

Actually, I lied. I didn't watch more videos. But feeding with a turkey baster works for some people, just not me.

 

So I thought, what's more accurate than that... a syringe. Not with a needle of course. I bought a 2mL syringe from the baby cough medicine section of the drug store. 2 mLs is a lot less than what I was using for the turkey baster, so this time I made my coral frenzy concoction much more dense so I could see where it went. The food didn't leak out when I put the syringe in the water, and spot feeding was a breeze. I fed the duncan, candy cane, and mushroom as well.

 

The duncan and plate both closed their mouths when food entered, for a few minutes. Now their mouths are open again. Did I not feed enough, or do they just love to eat? I look forward to feeding with the syringe again, it is accurate and fun!

[FlowerMama]

Duncans like meatiness but there are also many people that don't target feed them at all and they just grab anything in the water column and they still do well.

[basser1]

Alex, Tank is looking good and the water is soooo clean.

 

Be careful not to over feed the corals as it can mess up the water chemistry.

 

BTW, I read a couple pages back about the Terre Haute store. I'm familiar with Inland Aquatics. It is well worth the drive. You will see things there that most stores don't have. They also have a breeding facility in the back. That is where I got my mated pair of banggai cardinalfish a while back. Plus they have corals galore! Very knowledgeable people. Sadly we don't have any stores down here in Evansville and most of what I buy I have to get on-line.

 

Keep up the good work!

[FlowerMama]

I wonder if they were there when I went to ISU. I only had freshwater at the time, but I was there from 1993-1995 and 3 yrs after for my first job.

[basser1]

I wonder if they were there when I went to ISU. I only had freshwater at the time, but I was there from 1993-1995 and 3 yrs after for my first job.

 

Really not sure when they got their start. But I went there at least 5years ago.

 

Here is a link about them

 

https://inlandaquatics.com/aboutus.php

[xAyanex]

Alex, Tank is looking good and the water is soooo clean.

 

Be careful not to over feed the corals as it can mess up the water chemistry.

 

BTW, I read a couple pages back about the Terre Haute store. I'm familiar with Inland Aquatics. It is well worth the drive. You will see things there that most stores don't have. They also have a breeding facility in the back. That is where I got my mated pair of banggai cardinalfish a while back. Plus they have corals galore! Very knowledgeable people. Sadly we don't have any stores down here in Evansville and most of what I buy I have to get on-line.

 

Keep up the good work!

 

Thank you so much, that's a huge compliment!!

 

Also, thank you for the advice about overfeeding. The instructions on the coral frenzy are a very heavy suspension of food, so rather than following them I just using a tiny pinch of food. Most of my reading recommended to go WAYY lighter than the "instructions" say.

 

I just used a slightly larger pinch the second time. I'm not sure how often to feed my corals. I just figured I'd go with once a week and see how that goes.

 

For just a 2 hour drive, it would definitely be worth it if they had something in particular I was looking for! Thank you for the recommendation. And thank you again for the compliments!

[xAyanex]

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Although I have to work at the hospital today, I am thankful for the time I was able to spend with my family before work, and I am thankful for everyone else working today so that so many others can spend the holiday with their families.

 

Bob and Dot are doing well. The LFS did get in two midas blennies, but he said they were both large and he knew I was wanting a small one. I told him I would continue to wait for a small one, because I think it would be better for my tank size and it would be easier on the bioload as well.

[fishfreak0114]

Update?

[FlowerMama]

Wow, I agree, been too long. How's it going?

[xAyanex]

Sorry. I kinda put this whole tank thread on hold because I was awaiting that midas blenny. My store has STILL not delivered on that so I'm considering going with a different LFS for the midas blenny. The whole thing is frustrating.

 

Also work staffing is super crazy. Everybody left for better jobs, so instead of going to normal dayshift like I was supposed to, I've been working crazy hours. It seems like that is the norm at this hospital. I don't have time for anything! I have gotten lazy about water changes-partly due to lack of time, partly because the pump I use to pump the freshly-made saltwater into my tank stopped working. It wasn't very old at all but it was the crappy coralife pump that came with the tank. Makes me glad I replaced it when I set up the tank to begin with. I will order a new pump very soon.

 

The fish (Bob and Dot) are great. They're adorable. I love them. They couldn't be happier. The toadstool, zoas, Yuma mushroom, and hammer are thriving. The torch is very happy but had a small spot of skeleton that kinda pinched off from the rest and it died in that area. I don't know what caused it but the rest of it is happy.

 

I rarely if ever feed my corals. I feed the fish daily or every couple days. I rarely do testing. I need to stop being lazy and get back into it. My water is still pretty and clear.

 

Oh, my stomatella snail had babies! Like, there's got to be tens or hundreds of baby stomatellas roaming around in there. It makes it difficult to scrape the glass because there are snails on it a lot of the time. But they're cute and they're good at cleaning.

 

The asterinas multiple quickly. I like having some, but my sweet boyfriend picks them out every so often because we don't want them to become an issue.

 

The candy cane decided one day to gather up a bunch of algae and entangle itself and block the light and just go downhill quick in a couple days, so rather than trying to save it I just pulled it out and threw it away. Ever since I put a frag in there with what was a tiny tuft of green hair-like algae, it has been just a horrible nuisance.

 

Speaking of nuisance, I've got a small patch of red that I'm assuming is cyano in one small (darker) corner. I am assuming this is due to my laziness and lack of tank maintenance.

 

The plate, unfortunately, looks terrible. I don't know what the issue is. Have tried moving it around to different flow areas or light areas. My best guess is it just wants better light. I was considering getting Dave's nanobox retro leds, but I am still on the fence. I REALLY want to get a BTA after my midas blenny. Part of the reason I haven't bought anything for a long time was to let my tank mature (to be a better environment for the BTA). I need to get back on water changes and regular testing before I change anything to try and make the plate happy. Then if money allows it I'll get new lights. Are LEDs sufficient for a BTA? I will never have SPS, but anemones are just too cool.

 

Wow, I guess I had more to say than I thought! Tonight I will do all my testing, then do a water change and do all the testing again. I will take pictures of the tank tonight or tomorrow and promise to give another update either tonight or tomorrow.