MortalWombat Posted January 4, 2018 Share Posted January 4, 2018 Welcome! This is my "8 gallon" (probably closer to 5) softy reef. It's been running since about August I think. The goal was low-maintenance, no testing, just the occasional WC and salinity check. It has a Nanobox fixture, an ATO and a cheap-o airstone skimmer (for aeration, not intended to control nutrients). I keep a small bag with some AC that I change out every month or two. I do water changes (~1 gallon) once or twice per month, using IO salt. The focus of the tank is the bubbletip nem, but it features a variety of mushrooms, some zoas, a ribbon gorg and a lobophytum. The damsel is a recent addition from my now-defunct frag tank, he has been happily gorging himself on all the pods. There is also a brittle star and a bunch of cerith snails. That's pretty much it, happy reefing! 6 Quote Link to comment
teenyreef Posted January 5, 2018 Share Posted January 5, 2018 Everything seems to be thriving - looks great! 1 Quote Link to comment
Justind823 Posted January 5, 2018 Share Posted January 5, 2018 Neat little tank! You should get a porcelain crab or Pederson's shrimp for the anemone to host! 2 Quote Link to comment
MortalWombat Posted January 5, 2018 Author Share Posted January 5, 2018 5 minutes ago, Justind823 said: Neat little tank! You should get a porcelain crab or Pederson's shrimp for the anemone to host! Yes indeed! I might just do that today. 1 hour ago, teenyreef said: Everything seems to be thriving - looks great! Thanks! 2 Quote Link to comment
sublunary Posted January 6, 2018 Share Posted January 6, 2018 Beautiful pompom! I'm planning to get a couple once it's not deathly cold outside. I love them. 2 Quote Link to comment
MortalWombat Posted January 6, 2018 Author Share Posted January 6, 2018 So I uploaded the video to youtube, because I was having issues imbedding it from flickr. The quality sucks, but here it is anyways: 1 Quote Link to comment
Polarcollision Posted January 7, 2018 Share Posted January 7, 2018 Oh my god!!! you are running a nuvo 8!!! I am so fond of that tank. Following. 23 hours ago, MortalWombat said: Awesome choice. Have you thought about getting a pair? 2 Quote Link to comment
MortalWombat Posted January 7, 2018 Author Share Posted January 7, 2018 34 minutes ago, Polarcollision said: Oh my god!!! you are running a nuvo 8!!! I am so fond of that tank. Following. Awesome choice. Have you thought about getting a pair? Thanks for following! I've been a fan of your builds for years! I hadn't thought about getting a pair (but now I am), do they reproduce in captivity or do a special friendship dance or something? This is my first time keeping a pom pom crab and I really don't know much about them. Quote Link to comment
Polarcollision Posted January 7, 2018 Share Posted January 7, 2018 33 minutes ago, MortalWombat said: Thanks for following! I've been a fan of your builds for years! I hadn't thought about getting a pair (but now I am), do they reproduce in captivity or do a special friendship dance or something? This is my first time keeping a pom pom crab and I really don't know much about them. We can be mutual fans then. :-) Yeah, I got a male and female for my 8 gallon and they carried eggs at least once a month or more. They're in the 24 g now that I gave the Nuvo 8 away, so I see them less but I've seen her with eggs in the 24 g too. You can tell male and female by shape. It's harder to tell in pom poms, so I told the LFS what I wanted to do and they pulled all the crabs so I could check. It was really very similar on all of them. My female has richer/more salmon coloring, but that could also just be an individual thing. I ended up buying 2 that had different looking under-shells. There's a fancy word for it, but I can't remember it right now. 2 Quote Link to comment
sublunary Posted January 7, 2018 Share Posted January 7, 2018 Crab larvae are planktonic, so you won't end up with extra live crabs in your tank. But having a pair lets them engage in their natural pairing behavior, and will produce free fish/coral food. 1 Quote Link to comment
Polarcollision Posted January 7, 2018 Share Posted January 7, 2018 Hey! Guess who JUST made an appearance? 1 Quote Link to comment
MortalWombat Posted January 7, 2018 Author Share Posted January 7, 2018 9 minutes ago, Polarcollision said: Hey! Guess who JUST made an appearance? Nice! Is carapace the word you were thinking of earlier? Quote Link to comment
Polarcollision Posted January 7, 2018 Share Posted January 7, 2018 23 minutes ago, MortalWombat said: Nice! Is carapace the word you were thinking of earlier? Yeah, that one came to mind, but google said it's the top part of their shells. If you do try to find the gender of pompoms there's a little square above and a line just below. Trying to remember back that far, but I think the difference in my two is the length of the line and the distance from the little square. 1 Quote Link to comment
MortalWombat Posted January 8, 2018 Author Share Posted January 8, 2018 This is what's going on in the stand. And this is my other nano tank (freshwater), that has been running for five years or so. 2 Quote Link to comment
Justind823 Posted January 11, 2018 Share Posted January 11, 2018 Cool little freshwater tank. Do you have any shrimp or fish in there? That Pom Pom crab is a good call! I just picked one up myself. Btw, every time I see your username I start singing the Mortal Kombat song in my head with Mortal Wombat in it's place. Thank you for that MORTAL WOMBAT!! Dundundundun 1 Quote Link to comment
Hobbs Posted January 11, 2018 Share Posted January 11, 2018 I have a nuvo 8 too and always wanted a bubbletip in it. I was scared away by too many people though since it’s “too small.’’ Glad you’re having success with it though! I might have to try this summer after I move but my tank might be too full of other corals. My next purchases are gonna be some poms too. Inverts are great in such tiny tanks 1 Quote Link to comment
MortalWombat Posted January 11, 2018 Author Share Posted January 11, 2018 15 minutes ago, Justind823 said: Cool little freshwater tank. Do you have any shrimp or fish in there? That Pom Pom crab is a good call! I just picked one up myself. Btw, every time I see your username I start singing the Mortal Kombat song in my head with Mortal Wombat in it's place. Thank you for that MORTAL WOMBAT!! Dundundundun Haha, FINISH HIM! I have some little dwarf shrimp that are hybrids of a cherry and amano shrimp I put in there years ago. I'm not sure what generation I'm on since the originals died years ago. They stay tiny and only grow to be about 1/2" max, and hardly any of them are reddish. I'll try to get a video of them uploaded soon. I did have some neon tetras in here a while back, but they invariably found their way through the overflow into the back of the tank. 4 minutes ago, Hobbs said: I have a nuvo 8 too and always wanted a bubbletip in it. I was scared away by too many people though since it’s “too small.’’ Glad you’re having success with it though! I might have to try this summer after I move but my tank might be too full of other corals. My next purchases are gonna be some poms too. Inverts are great in such tiny tanks My approach with this tank is that the nem is king, if it wants to move and sting something to death that is fine -they are just cheap-o mushrooms and a finger leather anyways. I would be upset if it nuked the gorg however... I'm planning to keep adding inverts to this tank little-by-little. Sexy shrimp, porcelain crabs etc. Quote Link to comment
MortalWombat Posted January 11, 2018 Author Share Posted January 11, 2018 (video removed because it was low quality) Quote Link to comment
MortalWombat Posted February 19, 2018 Author Share Posted February 19, 2018 So I hadn't seen the pom pom since around the time I added him to the tank. I had given it up for dead, but I saw him yesterday morning before the lights came on. His anemones have grown noticeably and he appears to be doing well living in the tunnel he excavated under the rock. 1 Quote Link to comment
MortalWombat Posted March 27, 2018 Author Share Posted March 27, 2018 The tank doesn't look nearly as windexy blue in person,my iphone makes it look that way. The gorg was getting tickled by the nem so it got moved to my 65 gallon tank where it is thriving. 1 Quote Link to comment
MortalWombat Posted April 26, 2018 Author Share Posted April 26, 2018 Nothing new with the tank, just more of the same. 2 Quote Link to comment
DaveFason Posted April 26, 2018 Share Posted April 26, 2018 Love it! Great work. -Dave Quote Link to comment
MortalWombat Posted April 27, 2018 Author Share Posted April 27, 2018 16 hours ago, DaveFason said: Love it! Great work. -Dave 15 hours ago, Kdrof said: Lookin good! Thank you! Quote Link to comment
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