lkoechle Posted June 11, 2017 Author Share Posted June 11, 2017 Tank critters were photogenic this morning after feeding. 11 Quote Link to comment
Christopher Marks Posted June 11, 2017 Share Posted June 11, 2017 Those 4 tanks look incredible! LOL the mirror gets me every time 7 Quote Link to comment
lkoechle Posted June 11, 2017 Author Share Posted June 11, 2017 Just now, Christopher Marks said: Those 4 tanks look incredible! LOL the mirror gets me every time Right? I love it and hate it at the same time. It makes pictures a pita. lol I have to make sure everyone is dressed in the room before taking pictures... 11 Quote Link to comment
Christopher Marks Posted June 11, 2017 Share Posted June 11, 2017 Just now, lkoechle said: I have to make sure everyone is dressed in the room before taking pictures... The struggle is real It makes me think of https://craigslistmirrorselfies.tumblr.com 6 Quote Link to comment
ninjamyst Posted June 11, 2017 Share Posted June 11, 2017 Wow, the multi tank shot is really cool. Glad to see all the sponges doing well. Their colors are popping! 5 minutes ago, Christopher Marks said: The struggle is real It makes me think of https://craigslistmirrorselfies.tumblr.com hahah I can't believe such a page even exists! 2 Quote Link to comment
ReefWeeds Posted June 11, 2017 Share Posted June 11, 2017 53 minutes ago, Christopher Marks said: The struggle is real It makes me think of https://craigslistmirrorselfies.tumblr.com This is hilarious! Quote Link to comment
lkoechle Posted June 14, 2017 Author Share Posted June 14, 2017 FTS 6 Just chuggin along 8 Quote Link to comment
lkoechle Posted June 15, 2017 Author Share Posted June 15, 2017 Just takin phone pics thus morning 12 Quote Link to comment
Weetabix7 Posted June 20, 2017 Share Posted June 20, 2017 20 minutes ago, lkoechle said: FTS 7 Dang. I LOVE this. Curious, in what ways has this been what you expected and in what ways have you been surprised? What would you do different? (or is it too early to ask that?) 1 Quote Link to comment
lkoechle Posted June 20, 2017 Author Share Posted June 20, 2017 9 minutes ago, Weetabix7 said: Curious, in what ways has this been what you expected and in what ways have you been surprised? What would you do different? Hmm... Well, in some ways its been more difficult and other ways easier than expected. I am still very unsure about the sponges. I don't know how they're doing, they're not like corals where you can easily judge by polyp extension or coloration. So that's been more difficult than expected. As well as the gorgonians. I don't know how they're doing either. I'm still not sure if the "sea whip" or "sea fans" are photosynthetic or not, but I treat them as NPS just in case. And I think they are NPS (well the "sea fans" which I do have a tentative ID on but can't remember at the moment). The corky fingers while labeled as easy, has me stumped as well. Some days it's exceedingly fluffy, and other days, not so much. Aside from that, its pretty easy. Some ways I've been surprised are how easily everything has adapted to captivity. This is a 100% wild tank. Everything in it has never been in a captive environment before. I might seem weird for being surprised like that. But all of my corals are captive, I always have clownfish, and all the fish I purchase have been in human hands before mine. So this is almost like if I caught everything myself. I'm surprised how well they've adapted and its remarkable to observe the behavior changes. From my initial impressions, I'm assuming clingfish mostly stick to a rock and crawl over searching for small crustaceans. In just a few weeks, the clingfish have become so acclimated to us that if you stick your finger in the tank, they will come over and rest and nibble (it feels like butterfly kisses). We just recently discovered this which @skoechle loves. He's a huge fan of petting fish. The pistol shrimp now comes out when he smells food or senses Maru becoming agitated and bounding all over the place. He knows those body movements means food will come to his cave and he regularly sits outside and waits for it now. Same with the serpent star, as soon as Maru starts bouncing in the water (he's like a dog), the legs start uncurling like an octopus (hence the name Ursula lol) from the cave waiting for me to deliver the goods. It's really fascinating to see how they've adapted their behaviors to suit their present environment. What I would do differently is run a skimmer and order a smaller package or start with a bigger tank. lol But that's about it. Also, knowing then what I know now, I would have cut the original tree sponge and tried to save it that way. Other than that, I'm pretty happy with the decisions I've made. I don't know if I'd have less sponges or not... We'll see how they do in the long term. But I like things that are easy to care for. And if what I'm doing presently is all I need to do to maintain the sponges, then I'd be happy with that and consider them "easy to maintain". Sidenote: I hate things like easy, novice, advanced, difficult, etc. Most of the time they're labels very dependent on perception. To a normal "horse person" I'm a very advanced rider. I can train babies, give lessons, etc but, to my dressage trainer, I'm still a noob with a really, really, really long way to go. So to some people, how I maintain the tank may not be "easy to maintain" but to me, it is. 10 Quote Link to comment
samnaz Posted June 20, 2017 Share Posted June 20, 2017 I love love love this tank. Beautiful. 1 Quote Link to comment
fishfreak0114 Posted June 20, 2017 Share Posted June 20, 2017 This is one of my favorite tanks to read about. It's incredible how beautiful it is after such a short time, and everything looks so cohesive together (which I guess makes sense, because they all came from the ecosystem). Keep up with the awesome work! 2 Quote Link to comment
Thunder Goose Posted June 20, 2017 Share Posted June 20, 2017 Love this tank. It's inspiring me to try some new things, like gorgonians. 2 Quote Link to comment
William Posted June 20, 2017 Share Posted June 20, 2017 I think this may be my favorite of all of the "contest" tanks 1 Quote Link to comment
Pjanssen Posted June 20, 2017 Share Posted June 20, 2017 BLAH BLAH BLAH Just kidding. You know I love your tank too 3 Quote Link to comment
lkoechle Posted June 20, 2017 Author Share Posted June 20, 2017 2 hours ago, samnaz said: I love love love this tank. Beautiful. 2 hours ago, fishfreak0114 said: This is one of my favorite tanks to read about. It's incredible how beautiful it is after such a short time, and everything looks so cohesive together (which I guess makes sense, because they all came from the ecosystem). Keep up with the awesome work! 2 hours ago, Thunder Goose said: Love this tank. It's inspiring me to try some new things, like gorgonians. 1 hour ago, William said: I think this may be my favorite of all of the "contest" tanks Awwww Yall are so nice. Thank you. 1 hour ago, Pjanssen said: BLAH BLAH BLAH Just kidding. You know I love your tank too Except for you, Penny... j/k 2 Quote Link to comment
Pjanssen Posted June 21, 2017 Share Posted June 21, 2017 45 minutes ago, lkoechle said: Awwww Yall are so nice. Thank you. Except for you, Penny... j/k i deserved that 1 Quote Link to comment
Lula_Mae Posted June 21, 2017 Share Posted June 21, 2017 Are the punk hermits still duking it out in Yoshii's tank, or has he eaten them all? 1 Quote Link to comment
lkoechle Posted June 21, 2017 Author Share Posted June 21, 2017 10 hours ago, Lula_Mae said: Are the punk hermits still duking it out in Yoshii's tank, or has he eaten them all? Actually I think the blue legged hermits killed them. I dont have any blue legs in the contest tank and all my white ones are still alive. I thinj blue leg hermits are way too violent. This tank has made me learn I do like hermits: red hermits and punk ass white ones. lol Blues are the devil's agents of murder. 1 Quote Link to comment
Lula_Mae Posted June 21, 2017 Share Posted June 21, 2017 2 hours ago, lkoechle said: Actually I think the blue legged hermits killed them. I dont have any blue legs in the contest tank and all my white ones are still alive. I thinj blue leg hermits are way too violent. This tank has made me learn I do like hermits: red hermits and punk ass white ones. lol Blues are the devil's agents of murder. Oh wow! That's crazy lol. I've never tried red ones (and obviously not the white ones) but had a bunch of teeny blue legs hitchhike in on my Reef Cleaners order last year that I think harassed everything and ate my baby hammer frag (I specified please no hermits this time lol). And worse than the blue legs? Zebras. Zebra hermits are the devil. They look cool but ugh never again. It's a zebra that made me swear off hermits for good, though your white ones are so cute I want some! They just came in the sand, right? Thinking about trying some in a future build if I can't afford the whole package. 1 Quote Link to comment
lkoechle Posted June 21, 2017 Author Share Posted June 21, 2017 13 minutes ago, Lula_Mae said: Oh wow! That's crazy lol. I've never tried red ones (and obviously not the white ones) but had a bunch of teeny blue legs hitchhike in on my Reef Cleaners order last year that I think harassed everything and ate my baby hammer frag (I specified please no hermits this time lol). And worse than the blue legs? Zebras. Zebra hermits are the devil. They look cool but ugh never again. It's a zebra that made me swear off hermits for good, though your white ones are so cute I want some! They just came in the sand, right? Thinking about trying some in a future build if I can't afford the whole package. Yeah they came in the sand. I didnt have any on the rocks. I think they might dig burrows since I wont see any topside for several days and then they will be everywhere. Quote Link to comment
Lula_Mae Posted June 21, 2017 Share Posted June 21, 2017 9 minutes ago, lkoechle said: Yeah they came in the sand. I didnt have any on the rocks. I think they might dig burrows since I wont see any topside for several days and then they will be everywhere. That sounds so cool! Funny little critters. 1 Quote Link to comment
lkoechle Posted June 22, 2017 Author Share Posted June 22, 2017 So, I was playing with the DSLR today. And I don't mean "play" as in "Oh look I me, I'm a hobbyist and take pro pics". I legit mean play. I suck at it. BUT O-M-GOODNESS, I took an FTS that surprised myself: And other stuff: -whispers- love this... 15 Quote Link to comment
Weetabix7 Posted June 22, 2017 Share Posted June 22, 2017 9 minutes ago, lkoechle said: So, I was playing with the DSLR today. And I don't mean "play" as in "Oh look I me, I'm a hobbyist and take pro pics". I legit mean play. I suck at it. BUT O-M-GOODNESS, I took an FTS that surprised myself: And other stuff: -whispers- love this... It all looks great, but I love the pic of Maru!!!! 2 Quote Link to comment
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