The MacGyver Slinky Dream Tank- Basic New Pics

[BustytheSnowMaam]

What others are you thinking of?

 

Yikes, I only feed 3x a week! 

[BibleSue]

A new grand fishy!! I can't believe you finally got one!! ?

[Weetabix7]

1 hour ago, tashayar said:

What others are you thinking of?

 

Yikes, I only feed 3x a week! 

 

Different Filefish, and Blue Gudgeon Dartfish: http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/1694/blue-gudgeon-dartfish?pcatid=1694&c=15+1636+1694

[seabass]

11 minutes ago, Weetabix7 said:

Blue Gudgeon Dartfish:

I look at those too.  You can find a trio on Diver's Den every now and then.  Another I've been looking at is a Purple Tilefish (Hoplolatilus purpureus) or a Blue Jaw Tilefish (Hoplolatilus starcki).

[Weetabix7]

30 minutes ago, seabass said:

I look at those too.  You can find a trio on Diver's Den every now and then.  Another I've been looking at is a Purple Tilefish (Hoplolatilus purpureus) or a Blue Jaw Tilefish (Hoplolatilus starcki).

 

Oooh, those are neat, I particularly like the Purple Tile!!

My problem with them and several other fish that I like (such as Wrasses) is that my tank is barebottom except for the portable sandbed containers. 

Well, that and the mud bottom, but I don't want any fish burrowing in that. 

I really like Wrasses, but I'd need a traditional sandbed for that, I think. 

I have the sand for it, but have been undecided on how I want to set that up. 

I get nervous that I won't be good about cleaning a sandbed, for one thing.

 

Oh, and on a totally different note, it looks as if there is another shoot that is coming up out of the bed from the Pine Coney Tree plant I recently added!!

[BustytheSnowMaam]

3 hours ago, Weetabix7 said:

 

Different Filefish, and Blue Gudgeon Dartfish: http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/1694/blue-gudgeon-dartfish?pcatid=1694&c=15+1636+1694

Ooh, he's cool.  I need a blue fish.  I have red and yellow .

And I wasn't implying you feed too much if it sounded that way.  I realized that after I re-read it.  I never know how much to feed and I'm afraid of polluting.  

[teenyreef]

8 hours ago, Weetabix7 said:

 

Found one!! 

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=15+30+1724&pcatid=1724

Very cool. 

 

But I like your fish!!

 

They definitely do remind me of floating hummingbirds in their movements!

So cool to watch. 

What do you feed Doug?

Was he shy at first, or bold?

I do love watching this one move around and inspect everything to see if it might hold the possibility of a little morsel, so funny to watch their little eyes focus in on spots and then zoom in to peck at them with that funny elongated mouth.

Doug was shy at first. Leopard Toby puffers like to hide in dark places. So when I first got him, he would snuggle up to the rocks in the back and hold very still. I can't tell you how many times I thought he was gone until I finally found him hiding against the rocks. When there's not much light he blends right in and is almost impossible to see.

 

But now he's out all the time and isn't shy at all. He just goes back to the rocks to sleep or when something startles him.

 

He eats pretty much whatever I feed the tank. I feed mostly frozen, and he prefers small pieces like brine shrimp. I feed an frozen angel food mix that's cut up pretty small and he loves that. He will eat mysis shrimp but not if they're too big.

[Weetabix7]

On 9/17/2017 at 5:13 PM, teenyreef said:

Doug was shy at first. Leopard Toby puffers like to hide in dark places. So when I first got him, he would snuggle up to the rocks in the back and hold very still. I can't tell you how many times I thought he was gone until I finally found him hiding against the rocks. When there's not much light he blends right in and is almost impossible to see.

 

But now he's out all the time and isn't shy at all. He just goes back to the rocks to sleep or when something startles him.

 

He eats pretty much whatever I feed the tank. I feed mostly frozen, and he prefers small pieces like brine shrimp. I feed an frozen angel food mix that's cut up pretty small and he loves that. He will eat mysis shrimp but not if they're too big.

 

Sounds much like my new Puffer Fishy, except I think he's finally gotten over his shyness!!

He's been out and about and zooming all over, and for the first time today he tackled some prepared food with great gusto!!

Until today he had been ignoring all frozen food I'd been putting in and I didn't worry too much cause the frozen food brought out things like bristleworms and pods that I know he was eating. 

But when I added frozen Mysis today, he was totally dive-bombing it, made me very happy. 

[seabass]

I'd order some dwarf ceriths from John at Reef Cleaners to see if he eats them.  He also has zig zag periwinkles, which are even smaller.  You might try some of those too; however, they tend to hide more than the dwarf ceriths.

[Weetabix7]

5 hours ago, seabass said:

I'd order some dwarf ceriths from John at Reef Cleaners to see if he eats them.  He also has zig zag periwinkles, which are even smaller.  You might try some of those too; however, they tend to hide more than the dwarf ceriths.

 

You don't think all the baby Stomatellas in there are enough for him?

[seabass]

28 minutes ago, Weetabix7 said:

You don't think all the baby Stomatellas in there are enough for him?

I think they are great right now (so no rush).   However, I suspect he'll eventually eat them and you'll need more snails.  When necessary, Reef Cleaners is a great source for dwarf ceriths (which I assume might be small enough to eat).

[thespinningsadhu]

i love your new fish! does he have a name? 

[seabass]

I'd like to buy it, but I'm not ready for another fish just yet.  However, for anybody interested:

http://www.liveaquaria.com/divers-den/product/374799/mimic-saddle-puffer

[debbeach13]

Great looking fish but my tank is too small.

[BustytheSnowMaam]

Hmm...if it wasn't 80 bazillion dollars to ship it, I might go for it.  It was handy when I lived 45 mins away from Foster and Smith.  

[Weetabix7]

On 9/24/2017 at 12:29 PM, thespinningsadhu said:

i love your new fish! does he have a name? 

 

Thanks, I named him Dirigible, cause of his locomotion "style"!!

Diri for short. 

He's a super awesome fish with lots of personality. He eats frozen Mysis like a champ and sleeps with his belly snuggled right up next to my algae magnet. It's pretty hilarious to see. 

I have some pics of him, just need to find time to upload them, been lots busier.

 

Was moving things around last night and found a gorgeous dark purple sponge growing at the base of my Cryptonemia. There's 2 Sea Squirts in amongst it's branches as well. 

Added some Clove Polyps from @Minmay a couple days ago and they are opening more each day. 

Also moved over all of the corals from the Zen Waterfall last night cause they were languishing in there. Hopefully they'll color back up in this tank. 

It actually looks a wee bit like a Mixed Reef now!!

 

Will try to get some pics up here sometime over the next week. 

[debbeach13]

Sounds like you have been busy. Looking forward to seeing the pictures. 

[Weetabix7]

I'm alive, and so is the tank!!!

Much of my spare time got taken up with a new job, and since the job is in retail it's taking up even more time as we move into the Holiday Season. 

I've been lurking on here when I get a few spare moments but have been holding off posting til I had some pics uploaded, but, well..... pics won't be happening for a bit. 

I have been doing all of the basic stuff to keep this tank maintained tho, and while some things have changed and nothing fancy has happened, it's doing just fine. 

Dirigible the Puffer is still around and has grown from a baby into a teenager. 

Since he's now a teenager, he obviously needed a new room and so I came home one day to discover that he took matters into his own hands and jumped the divider over to the other side of the tank. 

He and my Clownfish get along famously. 

They hang out together and sleep together. 

Dirigible has always had the amusing habit of sleeping with his belly right up into some hard crevice, nose pointing skyward.

The other night I found him sleeping in the right rear corner of the tank, with the Clown sleeping right over him, doing that sleepy Clown wallow that they do. 

 

Some Macros have died off and some have grown. 

My Blue Hypnea completely died off twice but is currently making a comeback growing on one of the powerheads. 

 

I unintentionally raised the tank Alk to 11 by dosing 2 part without testing and have been doing water changes to bring it back down. It was at 10 the other night, I'm still working on it. 

All of the Macro helps to keep things stable, and I haven't had any pest algae show up other than a few bubbles of Bubble Algae. 

I did discover a small aiptasia colony (about 5) on the back of my rockwork so I need to address that. 

 

Other than that, still chugging along, and as soon as time allows I will dive back in and do more with my Dream Tank!!

[Christopher Marks]

Good to see you @Weetabix7! You have been missed  

 

Dirigible sounds like a riot!  

[Lisa166]

Your fishes seem great, can't wait to see pictures! 

Life happens though, don't hurry. We will still be here when there is time for those pictures and/or another texty update. 

[Felicia]

Welcome back! This time of year is always so busy! Congrats on the new job. I absolutely love the puffer! They're such adorably goofy fish and have always been one of my favorites. Perfect choice for your tank!

[Weetabix7]

Thanks guys!!!

 

I got a few pics uploaded, nothing earth-shattering, but it'll give you a small window on this tank. 

 

Blue Hypnea making a comeback, along with free-floating Chaeto strands and various other Macro growing wild in the background:

 

 

 

This next pic is an older one from about a month and a half ago. It's dark and not the best quality because all the lights were off, and I was trying to sneak up on Dirigible and get a pic of his funny sleeping position without spooking him or waking him up. Sorry for the photo quality, but the subject matter is funny. In this one he is sleeping with his belly up against the algae magnet and the front glass. 

 

 

I noticed these little trails that look kinda like worm trails to me in the Mud substrate this morning. 

I like seeing these cross-sections where I can see evidence of life below-ground, reminds me of those old-fashioned Ant Farms.

It looks like there may also be a bristleworm napping just at the top of the sand and to the left of the plant base. 

 

 

[Weetabix7]

In looking around, I also noticed a couple of these baby Aiptasia. Looks like some bigger ones may be spawning, I obviously need to deal with that ASAP. 

This one is growing on the side of the container that was the first compartment of my Waterfall Pico. I just picked up the whole compartment and plopped it down in the smaller left side of this 40B tank. 

 

 

 

[seabass]

18 minutes ago, Weetabix7 said:

This next pic is an older one from about a month and a half ago. It's dark and not the best quality because all the lights were off, and I was trying to sneak up on Dirigible and get a pic of his funny sleeping position without spooking him or waking him up. Sorry for the photo quality, but the subject matter is funny. In this one he is sleeping with his belly up against the algae magnet and the front glass. 

Very cute.  I tried to clean up the pic a bit.

[fishfreak0114]

All those lush macros!  The blue hypnea is so cool, I think I've seen it for sale once in Canada.  Dirigible