SeaFurn's 100 Days of Nanos Contest Tank: 40 Baby RFAs

[SeaFurn]

8 hours ago, banshee said:

I took your advice and got a ten pack from VIP on the way! I was reading through all of the issues you had with your first batch. Did you ever figure out what caused all the deaths and what the best treatment was? I tried reading all the way through but after thirty minutes my brain started to hurt!

Oh geez, that would be a long read. Here's what I wrote about it  in my final contest post (page 16 or 17 maybe):

In the end, I believe (right or wrong) that I lost the first two due to the stress of being moved from their tanks at VIP and shipping. I believe the next two had some kind of infection that developed over a short period of time after introduction, and the last two died because of those damn fire worms. 

 

I'm excited to see the nems you get with your order! Make sure to post some pics when you get them in your tank! 

I'd set your expectation that you may lose a couple initially due to shipping. It's pretty hard on them. Then if they all make it, that's a bonus! 

Check each one's foot for damage when you get them. 

If any of them start taking a turn for the worse, take pics so you can contact VIP about getting credit for them. 

 

[banshee]

1 minute ago, SeaFurn said:

Oh geez, that would be a long read. Here's what I wrote about it  in my final contest post (page 16 or 17 maybe):

In the end, I believe (right or wrong) that I lost the first two due to the stress of being moved from their tanks at VIP and shipping. I believe the next two had some kind of infection that developed over a short period of time after introduction, and the last two died because of those damn fire worms. 

 

I'm excited to see the nems you get with your order! Make sure to post some pics when you get them in your tank! 

I'd set your expectation that you may lose a couple initially due to shipping. It's pretty hard on them. Then if they all make it, that's a bonus! 

Check each one's foot for damage when you get them. 

If any of them start taking a turn for the worse, take pics so you can contact VIP about getting credit for them. 

 

Awesome! Thanks! I will take lots of pics I'm sure. Hopefully I'll get tracking info today. It's supposed to get as high as 59*F here this week so it's perfect timing for them to ship.

[BulkRate]

Good luck on your order!  Those 10-packs are big enough that VIP always tucks in something unexpected/unusual color-wise.

 

Here in ATL the temp this season ping-pongs around so much it's Vegas odds on shipments not passing through one extreme or another.  Chance of it freezing or roasting?  How 'bout both! 

 

Not to mention, shipping routes are...strange.  Local store near me had a shipment get tied up at JFK just as the arctic blasts hit.  Not pretty and a total loss.  But why would a supplier's order of carribean livestock go through ANY airport in the upper half of the country at this time of year?

[StinkyBunny]

5 hours ago, BulkRate said:

 But why would a supplier's order of carribean livestock go through ANY airport in the upper half of the country at this time of year?

They go through JFK because it's a port of entry and he's probably buying through one of the brokers there that's where they come in due to the paperwork that has to be filed. Have him look for a broker in Miami for winter shipments. I always watch the weather for my shipments, it's usually not bad in the winter, but I won't ship in July and august, too dicey for corals. They take getting cold a hell of a lot better than hot.

[SeaFurn]

Time for some baby RFA photos!

 

5 babies here. There are around 10-11 on this rock alone. 

The clownfish is always checking on them. 

 

5 more here.

 

1 in the sand, 2 on the rock on the left and another on the rock across from them. 

 

2 here. It's amazing how they can be camouflaged in the sand. The white one here is only a few  days old but one of the bigger ones. The red one has been in the tank for several weeks.

 

1 in the sand and 3 on the rock (there's a tiny one on the left near the point of that rock - kind of hard to see with these low quality photos.)

 

2 more in the sand. You can also see see that same tiny one on the point of that rock in the previous photo a little better in this shot. 

 

This one is going to be beautiful.

 

The ugly duckling.

 

2 being watched over by the porcelain crab. Gives you a good idea of just how small some are. These are also new one in the last couple of days. 

 

This shows why it's so easy to siphon them up if you're not careful and don't remember where they are all attached. 

 

And a FTS with the blues on. The clowns love the GSP.

 

 

[Coral_chef]

Lol how the tank is looking wish my gsp would grow as fast as everyone else's ever lol. 

[SeaFurn]

So something has been munching on one of my nems. I'm pissed...and having flashbacks to fireworms.

I did see two tiny brisleworms come out from under the rock this nem is wedged on when I was target feeding a nearby baby today. I don't trust those things.

I tried to pull up the rock to get at the worms but there are two other nems attached to it too and it wouldn't budge.  I didn't want to pull so hard as to risk pulling the nems right off the glass and tear their foot. 

 

The ailing nem is using its tentacles as a bandage covering the raw white flesh. I actually surprised it's still opened up. It didn't eat yesterday when I offered it food. 

 

 

[HoffyZ]

2 hours ago, SeaFurn said:

So something has been munching on one of my nems. I'm pissed...and having flashbacks to fireworms.

I did see two tiny brisleworms come out from under the rock this nem is wedged on when I was target feeding a nearby baby today. I don't trust those things.

I tried to pull up the rock to get at the worms but there are two other nems attached to it too and it wouldn't budge.  I didn't want to pull so hard as to risk pulling the nems right off the glass and tear their foot. 

 

The ailing nem is using its tentacles as a bandage covering the raw white flesh. I actually surprised it's still opened up. It didn't eat yesterday when I offered it food. 

 

 

There is couple topic/video on the net about bristle worm trap. It would worth to try.

[SeaFurn]

Quick update:

This past weekend I finally got around to trimming back the GSP that was taking over that big rock.  I felt a little bad about doing it because the clowns have been hosting there a lot more recently.  But now there's a lot more light getting down to the baby rfas on the rock. (There was no way I was gonna be able to get them off the side of that rock) 

I left a little GSP for the clowns and I know it's gonna grow back.  It finally started opening up today - 4 days later. GSP=

There was one baby nem I was able to get off the big rock and I thought I got it attached to another rock where it could get more light.  However, when I checked for it after I got the pump turned back on I couldn't find it.  It's still in the tank but who knows where.  

 

Also, while I had the big rock out of the tank, I moved 10 babies from the difficult to reach spots they were in to an open area of sand on the left side of the tank.  There's light flow there and I can get to them much more easily now.  They were bunched up nicely for the first few hours but they have since scattered some - mostly in pairs it seems.   

 

Unfortunately, I must not have put the big rock back in the same exact spot because the 2 nems on the right rear side of the tank moved the next day.  I'm guessing they were getting blasted with more flow than they had been so decided to take a hike.  The big one is now on the backside of the rock making it difficult to see it.  And the other one moved down the rock, but I think it was a good move for it because it got out from underneath the big one. It's mouth and tentacles are much more open/relaxed now where they had been mostly clenched/deflated.   

 

I'd say there are still between 30 and 40 babies in the tank.  25-30 of them stay in the same spot (for the most part).  The others are wanderers.  

I gotta say, that Aquamaxx Coral-Eye flashlight I won in the contest has been invaluable trying to locate the babies! It's best to look for them when the moonlights are on over the tank and then I use the flashlight to aid in the search.  I am surprised that some of the tiny babies remain white and take a while to color up while some of the other tiny ones have amazing color so quickly. 

I'm still feeding the babies about every other day, rotating foods, and trying to keep the water parameters in check.  

I did start using chemipure blue nano (in place of just GAC) with this week's water change to help with the rise in phosphates.

 

Update on the clowns - for the life of me I can't remember what I named them - at least I think named them. I'd have to go back a bunch of pages and look.

Anyway....they are doing great - and definitely getting bigger. 

Had a scare about a week ago when I thought I saw the female (or the one that will be female) eat a baby rfa off the rocks.  Turns out she didn't but I had started contemplating what I was going to do about that.

Their favorite food is brine shrimp - they go nuts - but they don't get that very often.  Their next favorite food is the Neptune System Crossover Diet pellets which is so surprising. 

Some strange behavior I've noticed - as soon as the lights go out they head straight for the return nozzle and swim into the blast of water for a few minutes.  This is the only time they do it and it's like clockwork.  Then they head to their sleeping corner and start bobbing or whatever it is they do!

For fun they like to grab snails that are on the glass by their pointy end and pull them off!   it's the funniest thing you've ever seen as they grab them and them swim backward/downward pulling at them.  It's like they wait for them to almost get to the water line so they have farther to fall!

  

And now for the BIGGER news - for my birthday my wife bought into my idea/plan for more space for more RFA's and hopefully more babies!  So she got me a new tank! 

It's supposed to arrive tomorrow - hopefully completely intact  () so stay tuned for the reveal!  

 

[seabass]

7 hours ago, SeaFurn said:

So she got me a new tank! 

That was sweet of her.  Happy Birthday!  I'm sure you'll have fun with your new tank.

[banshee]

Happy birthday! Can't wait to see the new tank!

[BulkRate]

Great to hear... oh, and happy birthday!

 

Saddens me to say it, but you're likely to not get much higher than about a 30-40% survival rate on the babies in a mixed reef tank that isn't completely set up to support the effort.  That means no caves/overhangs, course substrate, no LPS (I've seen both my blastos and frogspawn/hammers sting babies) and pretty easygoing fish if any.

 

That you've got 20-30 you can reliably find is pretty darn impressive considering you started less than a year ago!

[SeaFurn]

5 hours ago, seabass said:

That was sweet of her.  Happy Birthday!  I'm sure you'll have fun with your new tank.

Thanks!  I plan to.  I'm going to needs lots of guidance and advice...this one isn't an AIO!  

 

2 hours ago, banshee said:

Happy birthday! Can't wait to see the new tank!

Thank you!

 

 

[SeaFurn]

45 minutes ago, BulkRate said:

Great to hear... oh, and happy birthday!

 

Saddens me to say it, but you're likely to not get much higher than about a 30-40% survival rate on the babies in a mixed reef tank that isn't completely set up to support the effort.  That means no caves/overhangs, course substrate, no LPS (I've seen both my blastos and frogspawn/hammers sting babies) and pretty easygoing fish if any.

 

That you've got 20-30 you can reliably find is pretty darn impressive considering you started less than a year ago!

Thanks!

 

I agree - that's why this one's not going to be mixed reef - it's going to be set-up for the sole purpose of trying to to breed them and improve the survival rates. 

I'm still thinking through all the aspects of that and will be soliciting advice along the way.  It's kinda of a crap shoot - I don't know if I'll even get them to spawn in a bigger tank/different environment.  I just know I'm going to need more space for this. 

 

I definitely think there are at least 10 viable ones in the tank now.  I'll feel good about another 10 in a month or so.  The rest - who knows at this point.  I've posted several times that I have over 30 in the tank..but along the way that's not been the same 30.  I bet there were at least another 30 that were in the tank at one point - for a few days or a week and the poof - gone...

 

 

[SeaFurn]

So here it is everyone - my new bigger tank!

CAD Lights 45 gallon shallow.

Love this tank!

 

So excited to get this started! Lots of room for more RFAs. 

Look familiar @TatorTaco?

 

Going to start a new thread so lots more info coming on the delivery, the new Versa 2 package, working with CAD Lights, the plan and goals for the tank, what I'm doing with the contest tank and reef bowl, etc etc etc....

 

Let me know what y'all think!

 

[seabass]

Love the new tank.

[debbeach13]

Very exciting!

[Pjanssen]

Yay!

[StinkyBunny]

I have one of their 50 gallon cubes, damn nice tank and it seems they use a more durable glass.

[kimberbee]

Did you start a new thread?? What an awesome birthday present!

[SeaFurn]

On 2/9/2018 at 11:22 PM, StinkyBunny said:

I have one of their 50 gallon cubes, damn nice tank and it seems they use a more durable glass.

Ahhh...the 50 cube with Paul the 

purple tang.

BTW...what's your IG? Didn't see the post you mentioned of Ms 80. Will check it out. 

 

Yeah the glass on this new tank is nice - low iron. It's a little thicker than this tank's. Silicone job looks good. 

 

18 hours ago, kimberbee said:

Did you start a new thread?? What an awesome birthday present!

Not yet! I need to get on it! 

 

i also haven't forgotten that I was gonna document my parameters and my routine for you - not that there's any magic in any of that. I think I just have frisky RFAs. Hopefully they are just as much in this new tank! 

[vlangel]

Awesome tank for RFAs!

[WV Reefer]

Nice new tank!  Happy late Birthday and good luck with all those babies!   

[StinkyBunny]

My IG is Reefingrob. I'm gonna shoot some video with the new S8 Active this weekend since the weather's gonna be crap.

[SeaFurn]

So the past two weeks the babies have stayed in place which is a small miracle.  As such, I got a better count and made a "map" to help me make sure I'm feeding them all and not sucking them up when siphoning the sand during water changes.  Kinda silly but it does help!   Counting the X's there's 43! 

I don't expect to find any more at this point.

 

 

All but a few now have some color.  Yellow (actually green under normal lighting) seems to take longer to come in than red.

They are all growing but there are still some really really tiny ones that I don't give good odds of making it long term. We'll see though.

 

There's one larger one that is now taking on some of the behavior of the mature ones besides just sitting there soaking up the light all day.

 

Will try to get some pictures of the babies and hopefully get a thread started on the new tank - which I really need to do because I have some questions about the plumbing and setting up the sump.