Dee's happy place

[deetu]

Thank you. 

I sooo wanted seahorses again and had a 56 gallon column tank picked out but husband didn't want a tank in first place so settled for smaller.  THEN, as I was getting fuge, bigger skimmer and big tank stuff together for sale, he asked me if I wanted a bigger tank!!  At that point I was already invested into the smaller one.  Really loved those seahorses though...

[vlangel]

31 minutes ago, deetu said:

Thank you. 

I sooo wanted seahorses again and had a 56 gallon column tank picked out but husband didn't want a tank in first place so settled for smaller.  THEN, as I was getting fuge, bigger skimmer and big tank stuff together for sale, he asked me if I wanted a bigger tank!!  At that point I was already invested into the smaller one.  Really loved those seahorses though...

Seahorses are great and they are so charming.  I love mine, but when these 3 live out their natural lifespans I doubt I will replace them.  They are pretty high maintence, especially when you want to go away.  It takes some real planning and can be a pain when there are so many other things to tend to.  And they need to eat multiple Xs a day to stay in peak health.

 

[deetu]

6 hours ago, vlangel said:

Seahorses are great and they are so charming.  I love mine, but when these 3 live out their natural lifespans I doubt I will replace them.  They are pretty high maintence, especially when you want to go away.  It takes some real planning and can be a pain when there are so many other things to tend to.  And they need to eat multiple Xs a day to stay in peak health.

 

Yes, I remember and didn't mind feeding couple times a day.  My girl would dance for me to let me know it was time to eat lol  But of course, that was also what made it hard to keep them in smaller tank.  It was 20 gallon high with 10 gallon fuge but it still wasn't enough.

And I never told my husband how much I spent on live mysis to let them vacation feed while we were away.   shhhhh...

[vlangel]

2 hours ago, deetu said:

Yes, I remember and didn't mind feeding couple times a day.  My girl would dance for me to let me know it was time to eat lol  But of course, that was also what made it hard to keep them in smaller tank.  It was 20 gallon high with 10 gallon fuge but it still wasn't enough.

And I never told my husband how much I spent on live mysis to let them vacation feed while we were away.   shhhhh...

LOL, my husband is the one who ordered my live shrimp so there is no keeping that a secret.

[deetu]

ARRRRGGGHHHHH!!!!

So my least favorite thing is green... Okay, okay, I'm know for my paintings with green marsh grass but in my house...  The last owner had moss green walls inside and I painted it a beachy blue that brightened it all up. Even outside I painted the trim and doorways white to cover that dark green.  The fascia is still dark green but I'm hoping that will be a nice blue in future.

 

Anyway, back to my frustration.  I planned the tank out.  I bought what I thought was pink and purple coraline encrusted live rock that turned out to be the artificial colored rock. The fish store gave me some pink to seed the tank and I should have crushed it but I put it here and there in the tank thinking it would take.   I got the pretty red graciliaria and hoping to get the blue ochtodes. 

BUT it looks like I have GREEN coraline started instead!  Florescent no less! Must have been on the live rock.

At least it's a green that doesn't clash with the maroon... sigh

I do have hair algae growing (remember they forgot to give me the hermits) but I have hermits and a captive bred court jester goby (wouldn't have gotten if not captive so will be used to tank) coming that should take care of that.  Also coming is a Royal Gramma, snails, 3 sexy shrimp and a feather duster.  They are coming tomorrow!! so excited!

 

Last news is that one firefish started beating up on the other.  Turns out they school in the wild but are territorial in tank.  I did look into it, even found a post on Nano saying they school but didn't look close enough.  Store was going to take it back at discount but the booger attacked my clown and broke it's jaw.  It disappeared...couldn't find the body anywhere and with no clean up crew (other then one nassarius and little brittle star I saw once) the skimmer has been doing it's job and I've kept up with partial water changes. 

HOWEVER, the other firefish started bullying the clown and broke it's jaw!! and was still going after it even with it's mouth stuck open.  I had a firefish in my last tank and before it committed suicide it was fine with the other fish.  I'm wondering if I had one right at the start if it would have been different.  shrugging

[deetu]

Been meaning to update but with the holidays and bad cold... still coughing...
I had gotten new fish!
I ordered fish, snails and crabs from Live Aquaria. It would be $30 for shipping but free if I ordered $32 more worth or stuff... no brainer.
I got a captive bred Court Jester Goby and a Royal Gramma. Unfortunately the Royal Gramma kept floating upside down in the bag and died the next day... poor baby. They were good and refunded my money but felt bad the guy died. 
And I got a dwarf feather duster. The thing decided it likes one spot and it is interesting trying to keep it fed.
Oh oh oh! and I got three sexy shrimp! They are the coolest things
I was a little disappointed that the snails and hermit crabs were so tiny.

I got a new Royal Gramma at Absolutely Fish
And there is pink coraline algae growing! Yay!

 

The thing that was constantly bothering me about the filter was that I wished I had cut the return hole just a 1/2 inch lower because the water level would upset the powerhead. Then the idea came to use a fountain pump and after one bad choice, the new pump (Aquatop 305) is working wonderfully.
I altered the skimmer, so it is much quieter now.
I also got a preset mini Aqueon 100 watt heater that fit inside the chamber. It keeps the tank at 76 degrees. I replaced the old one because I wanted it out of the display and because it was very touchy, bringing the tank up in the 80s at times.
I also found out that the digital thermometers stink. Got a three pack and each one stopped working right after a couple months. So back to the glass.
Happy with my DIY filter now.
\

The Court Jester Goby that I was so excited about came in looking sad. I thought maybe a little fattening up but after two weeks, he didn't look any better so liveaquaria gave me a week extension then a refund... he died the next day. I like they gave a refund but would rather have had a replacement since he was captive bred and I was looking for more hair algae eaters. (I have a tendency to overfeed)
Do you think the moonlight feeds the hair algae too? Seems to be the thickest right there

My red graciliana really seems to like my tank... growing so fast that I brought a bunch back to Absolutely Fish at my last visit in the area... along with the evil bumble bee snails I had gotten because of wrong information. (think the astrea and bristle star hitchhikers got eaten by them along with a few snails) Exchanged them for hermit crabs... wanted small blues but all they had were scarlets so I now have 5. I believe that one has been "trimming" the tube of my dwarf feather duster... a little too much so he is in solitary until a new home can be found.

It has been interesting watching Mocha and Chino wondering which one will end up being the female. Some days I think it is Mocha and others Chino...


Sooo, here is my tank as of today. I would have liked to have one more fish but the four are getting along so will not try. The Royal Gramma has established his territory in the middle. I have seen him grab a snail and send it flying across the tank but funny, he doesn't seem to mind any of the fish swimming with him. Sometimes I wish I had gotten the yellow clown goby so I can quickly find it but the black is cool because he changes color. Sometimes being a blue... like he is in this picture.


And yes, that is a fake anemone. The sexy shrimp hosted in it for couple days but went back to their favorite red. The clowns showed no interest in it until recently now that it's gotten green.
Ta da!

[deetu]

So the fake anemone started getting green and funky looking but it seems like Mocha likes it now. 

I put it in to keep the room for the blue macro I'm waiting on getting once it's available.

And look at all that pink coraline algae on it! Not growing on the rocks but on this stupid thing lol 
 

[deetu]

Stopped at Absolutely Fish and as I was making a deal on selling my harvested red macro, I saw captive bred Court Jesters!! (remember mine from liveaquaria came in sad and didn't make it and although they replaced the money, they wouldn't send a new one to replace) I got it as part of the trade.

I knew that the Royal Gramma might be a problem since he made the middle of the tank his territory... he started when the bag was acclimated in the tank. He chased it around and has finally stopped, leaving it alone but now I also see a bite mark on it's side I started putting the PimaFix into the tank just to make sure doesn't get infected.

My husband calls him Anchovie

[Christopher Marks]

On 2/16/2019 at 5:42 PM, deetu said:

So the fake anemone started getting green and funky looking but it seems like Mocha likes it now. 

I put it in to keep the room for the blue macro I'm waiting on getting once it's available.

And look at all that pink coraline algae on it! Not growing on the rocks but on this stupid thing lol 
 

That's so interesting to see your clownfish hosting an artificial anemone! I haven't heard of that happening. 😲

 

Hopefully the royal gramma stops bullying your new addition, they can be really aggressive in defending their territory.

 

[deetu]

It is always sad when you lose a fish...

Joker wasn't looking right every now and then but eating.  I did a scrubbing of hair algae and next day he was dead in the intake, stuck to the new Marineland filter medium I had gotten.

Next day, clown stopped eating... she is looking less stressed today and looked to eat but didn't.

Hate this part of having live fish

Sigh