Madcat's Fluval Evo 13.5 - new shrimpy

[Madcat]

Thanks! I feel bad, because I don't commit to pets lightly, but I didn't anticipate this stress, haha .  Maybe I will go look at the possums tomorrow after work (this seller is much closer than NAFB) and just see if they look healthy and such. I don't think a pod-eating wrasse + a scooter is a sustainable long-term situation, but I'll see what the possums are like and if they'll eat flakes or pellets maybe.

 

I guess I had less pics to upload than I thought. First - little lady giving me stink-eye because I caught her up on the rockwork.

 

 

And fricking Jeff with his seaweed. You all remember Jeff, right? Resembles a skinny pool noodle in shape? Look at this fat boy:

 

 

UM. Pretty sure your belly is supposed to be one smooth line, Jeff.

 

 

That's the seaweed rock and he's looking for more seaweed. He might have eaten all of it, had it not been torn off the rock and floated into the powerhead. I firmly believe he doesn't want the scooter eating ANY of his food, so he's gone on this crazy food rampage ever since Saturday. And with the seaweed, he just ate as much as his tiny body could contain. He's only ever picked at it before. He is so weird.

 

Family picture!

 

 

I moved the corals around! (So a lot of them are pissed, lol.) Sometimes my cup coral's polyps are sooo close to extending... I can just see their tiny tendrils peeking out... and sometimes they're just closed up tight. What do you want, cup coral!!

 

One last thing... what are these funny bubbles on my Ugly Acan? Are they new baby Ugly Heads? (WHY ARE ITS HEADS GREEN?)

 

[StinkyBunny]

Those are new heads on the Acan. They'll colour up as they grow.

[Madcat]

3 hours ago, StinkyBunny said:

Those are new heads on the Acan. They'll colour up as they grow.

I hope so, lol.

 

I went to look at possum wrasses today! Last night I messaged the seller (he had posted on FB) to ask some questions, including how many are there and do they look healthy. He said 2-3 and they look great. I went out of my way, after work, in rush hour traffic, to see the possums, and this is what they had:

 

 

Just lying on the bottom like that and not moving. And just the one possum. :'( The employee (who wasn't the guy I had talked to on FB, but is the only actual worker there?) took my name and number and said he'll send me a text "when" the little guy starts moving around and eating, but I mean... I've never really seen fish come back from that state. Poor little guy.

 

Little lady scooter took some mysis for me though, so there's that! Only a couple pieces, but still, a small victory.

[Lula_Mae]

1 hour ago, Madcat said:

I hope so, lol.

 

I went to look at possum wrasses today! Last night I messaged the seller (he had posted on FB) to ask some questions, including how many are there and do they look healthy. He said 2-3 and they look great. I went out of my way, after work, in rush hour traffic, to see the possums, and this is what they had:

 

 

Just lying on the bottom like that and not moving. And just the one possum. :'( The employee (who wasn't the guy I had talked to on FB, but is the only actual worker there?) took my name and number and said he'll send me a text "when" the little guy starts moving around and eating, but I mean... I've never really seen fish come back from that state. Poor little guy.

 

Little lady scooter took some mysis for me though, so there's that! Only a couple pieces, but still, a small victory.

Looks like a Tanaka's maybe?  Poor thing.

[StinkyBunny]

How long have they had that wrasse? Wrasses ship TERRIBLY, whether it's 6 hours or 16, they don't do well shipping. When we get Cleaner wrasses in, whether they're breathing or not, they get thrown into an acclimation bin. I lost count of how many don't appear to be breathing and come around while they're in the drip system. Give it a day to come around and all should be well.

[Madcat]

16 hours ago, Lula_Mae said:

Looks like a Tanaka's maybe?  Poor thing.

Yeah, the exact kind I wanted most.  (Though I'd settle for any possum.)

2 hours ago, StinkyBunny said:

How long have they had that wrasse? Wrasses ship TERRIBLY, whether it's 6 hours or 16, they don't do well shipping. When we get Cleaner wrasses in, whether they're breathing or not, they get thrown into an acclimation bin. I lost count of how many don't appear to be breathing and come around while they're in the drip system. Give it a day to come around and all should be well.

That gives me a little hope...! The store posted about them on Thurs and I went in yesterday (Fri). There were a lot of dozy/sick looking fish. I'm guessing they haven't been there long.

[StinkyBunny]

There are lots of fish that really don't ship well, wrasses are the worst, Powder Blue tangs look like crap when you get them, they're all laying on their sides gasping, but 2 hours later they're up and grazing. Wrasses can take a few days to come around. If that fish was newly imported, it spent a day, maybe 30 hours in transit if the connecting was late or missed. Then it was thrown into a wholesalers tank, then bagged again and shipped, it's rough on those little guys. Anthias are good shippers when the weather here is cool, bad when it's warm. Certain butterflies are good cool, bad when warm.

[Madcat]

Jeff and Puzzle have started having little parties in the water column after they've eaten and before I turn the lights off. It's so cute. They go swimming all around the tank together. And I CANNOT get a video or even a pic of them because Jeff is such a squirrelly little butt! He disappears as soon as I even get close.

 

I am very proud to report that The Saddest Trumpet Coral is now pretty much as big as a $15 frag. AND the eagle eyes have made even more baby polyps. I think everyone should be impressed at my coral-growing skills. (The brown paly is starting to pop heads up all over the place, but it still looks very ragged lately.)

 

Little scooter is enjoying her mysis, but nothing else. NAFB didn't get any possums this week.

 

Just a short update while I wait for my replacement water to heat up. (My room is chilly! My fishy friends are fine, but my old man hamster is basically a bag of bones and I'm trying to chill-proof his tank. Need a hamster aquarium heater.) (Peanut Butter and Anchovy have ample fat to keep them warm, do not fear for them.) (Happy October.)

 

EDIT:

[Lula_Mae]

1 hour ago, Madcat said:

Jeff and Puzzle have started having little parties in the water column after they've eaten and before I turn the lights on. It's so cute. They go swimming all around the tank together. And I CANNOT get a video or even a pic of them because Jeff is such a squirrelly little butt! He disappears as soon as I even get close.

 

I am very proud to report that The Saddest Trumpet Coral is now pretty much as big as a $15 frag. AND the eagle eyes have made even more baby polyps. I think everyone should be impressed at my coral-growing skills. (The brown paly is starting to pop heads up all over the place, but it still looks very ragged lately.)

 

Little scooter is enjoying her mysis, but nothing else. NAFB didn't get any possums this week.

 

Just a short update while I wait for my replacement water to heat up. (My room is chilly! My fishy friends are fine, but my old man hamster is basically a bag of bones and I'm trying to chill-proof his tank. Need a hamster aquarium heater.) (Peanut Butter and Anchovy have ample fat to keep them warm, do not fear for them.) (Happy October.)

 

EDIT:

For your old hamster--I use a heat pad under Violet the hedgehog's cage to keep her warm, and you might also look into a ceramic heat emitter setup with thermostat for his cage.  Some people also just use space heaters to keep their hedgies warm.

[Madcat]

40 minutes ago, Lula_Mae said:

For your old hamster--I use a heat pad under Violet the hedgehog's cage to keep her warm, and you might also look into a ceramic heat emitter setup with thermostat for his cage.  Some people also just use space heaters to keep their hedgies warm.

Thanks! I've got a heat pad that I'm gonna try, and I may buy him a fleece pouch and see how he likes that. My only reluctance is that his chief delight in life is destroying things, and I don't THINK he'd ingest any fleece, but he does LOVE pulling things apart... He's such a booger. I started him on pain meds in July "to keep him comfortable his last few days." Now it's October. And he's still going on his wheel and base jumping off his furniture. And we're on the fifth bottle of pain meds. I think spite is keeping him alive.

 

One-eyed old man booger. (Tissue and sock are to prevent his tiny feet slipping through the slats in his log house, which happened once. Note the shredded tissue and wicker toy debris in the background.)

[Lula_Mae]

8 hours ago, Madcat said:

Thanks! I've got a heat pad that I'm gonna try, and I may buy him a fleece pouch and see how he likes that. My only reluctance is that his chief delight in life is destroying things, and I don't THINK he'd ingest any fleece, but he does LOVE pulling things apart... He's such a booger. I started him on pain meds in July "to keep him comfortable his last few days." Now it's October. And he's still going on his wheel and base jumping off his furniture. And we're on the fifth bottle of pain meds. I think spite is keeping him alive.

 

One-eyed old man booger. (Tissue and sock are to prevent his tiny feet slipping through the slats in his log house, which happened once. Note the shredded tissue and wicker toy debris in the background.)

Yeah I keep the heat pad under her cage to avoid any risk of destruction.  And yes, hammies love to shred things to bits lol.

[StinkyBunny]

Definitely a heating pad. I know Zoomed or one of the reptile manufacturers makes one.

[Madcat]

15 hours ago, Lula_Mae said:

Yeah I keep the heat pad under her cage to avoid any risk of destruction.  And yes, hammies love to shred things to bits lol.

WELL, Peanut Butter and Anchovy don't destroy the nice things I give them. (They mostly just look at each other and eat food... but still.) They don't hit me in the face or bite me when I kiss them either. I think Tinker just likes killing things and would kill me too, if he could.

 

Guess who ate pellets today? (Not the scooter.) Jeff! He's been acting so ravenous lately, I wondered if he'd be hungry enough to give them a go. I try to give Puzzle a few little pellets in the mornings - with the pumps on, so he has to chase them around; it seems like good enrichment. Then I give them both flakes at night. But I can tell Puzzle doesn't LOVE the flakes like he loves his pellets. He'll eat anything, because he's Puzzle, but he almost seems to get bored and drift away after a minute or so. And I haven't even bothered trying to offer Jeff pellets in awhile because he just swims up to them and goes "PAH" and sends them flying and makes a mess. But I was like, maybe he's reconsidered.

 

So he ate pellets! And Puzzle was SO EXCITED that his very favourite food was coming out of the pipette tonight! I kid you not, he gobbled almost every single pellet I squirted out, including the ones right in front of Jeff's face. But when I could lure him away momentarily, Jeff would swim out and eat some. Like Puzzle with flakes, though, he wasn't THE MOST excited, and started kind of drifting away. Or he'd spit them out and look at me, like, okay, lady, where's the REAL food?

 

I pulled out the 1mm pellets I had bought awhile ago and tried those, but it turns out they're too big for EVERYONE's mouths! That didn't stop Puzzle from parading around with one in his mouth until he could finally be convinced that it wasn't gonna fit in there. (I sent a couple the scooter's way, as with the tiny pellets too, but she didn't even look at them. )

 

Then I felt like Jeff hadn't had much to eat, so I went and got some flakes, and Puzzle was still so razzed about getting pellets, even though he ate probably dozens of them, every time I sent a flake Jeff's way, Puzzle would just NYOOM over and eat it and dart back. He did this over and over. I was like, SURELY he has to get full at some point? And then I realized Jeff had actually left the cave I thought he was in, had slunk into the front side cave, put on his stripe "pyjamas", and started sulking.

 

HONESTLY.

 

He started eating when Puzzle calmed down. And Claudette the hermie enjoyed the couple 1mm pellets I left in there.

 

Yes, that was a whole story just about feeding time today. It surprises me how really fond I am of Jeff and Puzzle. They're so quirky and adorable (mostly Puzzle is adorable). They have so much character. They're still having their post-dinner party in the water column, and I'm just watching them like a dork instead of turning the lights off. Cute boys.

[Madcat]

Reasons why Jeff is the worst:

1. He gorged himself on seaweed again today.
2. He got offended that I didn't feed him when I fed Puzzle and the scooter (despite being literally full of seaweed), and tried to steal Puzzle's food.
3. He then took a big green dump so long, he got bored and smeared the first half off on a rock.
4. When I turned the pumps back on, the two poop halves started swirling around the tank, along with two other long green seaweed poops, and I watched Jeff chase one, suck it into his mouth, hold it there for an unsettlingly long time before spitting it out, then chase it and suck it up again.

Jeff, you're the worst fish ever. (Jeff: "I know.")

 

I've seen at least 3 pods in the past couple days, which makes me happy that the scooter still has food that doesn't come directly from me, but also, she clearly needs to step up her game. I've decided not to name her, since she likely won't be a permanent resident. I've actually started semi-seriously weighing the pros and cons of a six-line wrasse? Obviously the big con being that it might be mean to Jeff and Puzzle. Would it be the worst thing if Jeff got his butt handed to him, though? Would it?

[Lula_Mae]

On 10/6/2017 at 12:38 AM, Madcat said:

Reasons why Jeff is the worst:

1. He gorged himself on seaweed again today.
2. He got offended that I didn't feed him when I fed Puzzle and the scooter (despite being literally full of seaweed), and tried to steal Puzzle's food.
3. He then took a big green dump so long, he got bored and smeared the first half off on a rock.
4. When I turned the pumps back on, the two poop halves started swirling around the tank, along with two other long green seaweed poops, and I watched Jeff chase one, suck it into his mouth, hold it there for an unsettlingly long time before spitting it out, then chase it and suck it up again.

Jeff, you're the worst fish ever. (Jeff: "I know.")

 

I've seen at least 3 pods in the past couple days, which makes me happy that the scooter still has food that doesn't come directly from me, but also, she clearly needs to step up her game. I've decided not to name her, since she likely won't be a permanent resident. I've actually started semi-seriously weighing the pros and cons of a six-line wrasse? Obviously the big con being that it might be mean to Jeff and Puzzle. Would it be the worst thing if Jeff got his butt handed to him, though? Would it?

Can you find pink streaked wrasses?  I would not buy a six line as a permanent resident, personally.  I hear they are meeeean little boogers.

[StinkyBunny]

6 lines and Scooties are NOT a good mix. The 2 I have are nasty. Why not a shrimp goby and shrimp? A Randalls pair or a Candy Cane goby and Randalls shrimp are good for your tank, they stay small and sometimes you can get pairs of gobies to go with the shrimp.

 

Sarge and a Tiger pistol in the old 130D. He's a Candy cane or Yellow nose goby.

 

 

[Madcat]

7 hours ago, Lula_Mae said:

Can you find pink streaked wrasses?  I would not buy a six line as a permanent resident, personally.  I hear they are meeeean little boogers.

I have a feeling I'd have a hard time finding one like I have with the possums. I'm surprisingly limited up here. :\ My thinking with the six-line was it'd be easier to find, cheaper, and would eat my pods. (I wouldn't be keeping a six-line with the scooter - scooter will probably go back to the store when/if I find another pod-eater.) I also really like the idea of a colourful fish who'd be swimming out in the open - apparently possums are very reclusive. I read that if you add six-lines to the tank last, they're often okay, but then what if it's not? And what if something happens to Jeff, since apparently TSB's aren't terribly long-lived in captivity, and I want to introduce a new fish? So it's probably not something I'll try... but I'm sad, because they're so pretty and active. I'd love someone pretty and active.

 

I forgot to make my weekly phone call to NAFB to see if they got possums and they're probably closed tomorrow and Monday for Canadian Thanksgiving. Bah.

 

You guys aren't gonna believe this. I realized I hadn't seen Pale Snail in ages, when he ALWAYS used to come out after feeding. Last night I found him, and I swear he has contracted Kinky Snoot's degenerative snoot disease. His snoot looks just like Kinky Snoot's did, except pale. It's short and sliced-open-looking. I wonder if Claudette the hermie is a secret assailant of snoots? I think maybe I shouldn't put more Nassarius snails in my tank.

[Madcat]

Quick question, would a brown clown goby eat pods? Canada Corals got some cute ones. It might be awhile before I see green clowns again.

[jesseatam]

Pretty sure my blue leg hermit assasinated all my nassarius so Claudette could be the culprit. Not sure about the brown clown goby though, I've actually never heard of a brown variety though.

[Cannedfish]

Diver's den has had some possum wrasses lately! You can't go wrong with a Tanaka. 

 

Also I love Jeff, he went from from uncooked hot dog to microwaved hot dog.

 

As as they say in ATL, "He look thick, and I like that."

[Madcat]

5 hours ago, jesseatam said:

Pretty sure my blue leg hermit assasinated all my nassarius so Claudette could be the culprit. Not sure about the brown clown goby though, I've actually never heard of a brown variety though.

Claudette is a scarlet reef hermie and they're supposed to be peaceful. But it's too weird that Pale Snail's snoot looks identical to Kinky Snoot's when I've never seen anything like this in my online travels and research. Pale Snail always had a very tall, beautiful snoot.  Poor dude. I maligned him unfairly.

 

23 minutes ago, Cannedfish said:

Diver's den has had some possum wrasses lately! You can't go wrong with a Tanaka. 

 

Also I love Jeff, he went from from uncooked hot dog to microwaved hot dog.

 

As as they say in ATL, "He look thick, and I like that."

WHAT.

 

A Tanaka is what I want! I'm in Canadia though and DD doesn't ship here.  I've been searching for weeks and only found one, near death after transport. Do you find them very reclusive?

[StinkyBunny]

Any of the Possum wrasse complex would be fine in your tank, Tanaka or Wetmorella nigropinnatus would be fine.

[Melfy77]

I totally get the lkmited part, I feel tge same lol 

 

So interesting fact...my evo light just stopped working!!! I've had it for this tank for less than 2 months!!!? of courseci lost my receipt so no idea if they"ll replace it!!! So now i'm trying to find a cheap solution that would still look nice in case they say no because I have nothing for proof except the box.

[Lula_Mae]

7 minutes ago, Melfy77 said:

I totally get the lkmited part, I feel tge same lol 

 

So interesting fact...my evo light just stopped working!!! I've had it for this tank for less than 2 months!!!? of courseci lost my receipt so no idea if they"ll replace it!!! So now i'm trying to find a cheap solution that would still look nice in case they say no because I have nothing for proof except the box.

Did you buy it online, or locally from a shop?

[Melfy77]

1 hour ago, Lula_Mae said:

Did you buy it online, or locally from a shop?

Local shop. So ne real way of getting proof