Billy's 18g Caribbean Biotope - Breakdown Complete!

[lizzyann]

Love these last two FTS, and feel like your description is perfect, balanced but natural! Hope your jawfish is ok, definitely worrisome behavior 😔

[billygoat]

35 minutes ago, lizzyann said:

Love these last two FTS, and feel like your description is perfect, balanced but natural! Hope your jawfish is ok, definitely worrisome behavior 😔

Thanks very much @lizzyann. It means a lot to me. I can't tell you how great it's been to have my tank to look at now that I've got all this time at home. I think that having a reef in my house definitely makes it easier to be here all the time. 

 

As for the jawfish, well... I didn't see him at all today. Not even his head peeking out. Definitely not a great sign... I'll continue to keep an eye out for him, but I fear that he might not be around for much longer unfortunately.

[StinkyBunny]

I have an email in to my collector to get his take on that. But not for the fact that you only have one and they're mouth brooders I'd have said it was guarding eggs. My shrimp gobies will wall off a burrow when they have eggs. I've been trying to get some Mustache jawfish for a year now.

[billygoat]

13 minutes ago, StinkyBunny said:

I have an email in to my collector to get his take on that. But not for the fact that you only have one and they're mouth brooders I'd have said it was guarding eggs. My shrimp gobies will wall off a burrow when they have eggs. I've been trying to get some Mustache jawfish for a year now.

Thanks for that, I appreciate it! I checked out the fish's burrow and it does indeed seem to be barricaded shut... as you mentioned though, it would be pretty weird if this were a brooding behavior, since the fish is all by himself in there. Definitely very vexing. 🤔

 

Here are a few more pictures of gorgonians and Ricordea from around the tank. I hope everyone is having a good day. 

 

      

 

[Tired]

Does the male or female jawfish incubate eggs, and which one is this? 

 

Maybe he's (assuming male incubates) somehow gotten confused and is trying to incubate non-eggs. Found some tiny pebbles somewhere or something else that seemed suitable.

[StinkyBunny]

6 hours ago, Tired said:

Does the male or female jawfish incubate eggs, and which one is this? 

 

Maybe he's (assuming male incubates) somehow gotten confused and is trying to incubate non-eggs. Found some tiny pebbles somewhere or something else that seemed suitable.

The males incubate the eggs.

[billygoat]

On 4/15/2020 at 11:01 AM, Tired said:

Does the male or female jawfish incubate eggs, and which one is this? 

 

Maybe he's (assuming male incubates) somehow gotten confused and is trying to incubate non-eggs. Found some tiny pebbles somewhere or something else that seemed suitable.

As Stinky mentioned, it is indeed the male jawfish that incubates the eggs. I've been arbitrarily using the male pronoun for my jawfish, but I've got no idea about its actual sex. I don't believe they demonstrate much sexual dimorphism, so it's very difficult to tell by looking at them. Anyway though, I'm pleased to report that the fish does seem to be coming around. He's behaving more normally now, and goes after food that floats by his burrow. Most of the time he seems to take the food in and spit it out again, but that is a marked improvement over his previous behavior. As long as I keep my hands out of the tank and leave him alone he's probably going to come around.

 

The rest of the tank is pretty much on cruise control at this point. Encrusting sponges have started to proliferate in several places on my rocks, and my corals have never looked better.

 

Not sure what these crabs are up to though. Nothing good, I'd wager. They're devious little creatures. 🤔

 

[StinkyBunny]

You can only tell the sexes when the female is gravid with eggs.

[billygoat]

10 minutes ago, StinkyBunny said:

You can only tell the sexes when the female is gravid with eggs.

Good to know! We have a mated pair at the public aquarium where I work, but the only way I could ever tell them apart was to observe the male with eggs in his mouth. They seem to spawn a lot... do you know if the male spits the eggs out temporarily to eat, or does he just not eat for the whole time that he's incubating?

[StinkyBunny]

5 minutes ago, billygoat said:

Good to know! We have a mated pair at the public aquarium where I work, but the only way I could ever tell them apart was to observe the male with eggs in his mouth. They seem to spawn a lot... do you know if the male spits the eggs out temporarily to eat, or does he just not eat for the whole time that he's incubating?

Usually they don't eat during the incubation period.

[billygoat]

Kind of a weird view, but this slantwise angle does reduce glare... 🤔

 

[debbeach13]

Every thing looks fluffy tonight.

[Pjanssen]

looks great! looks like the blue Zoanthids are coming back strong

[billygoat]

On 4/17/2020 at 6:00 PM, debbeach13 said:

Every thing looks fluffy tonight.

Yeah, some of my gorgonians are downright hairy. I'm not sure exactly what I've done right, but they are clearly enjoying conditions in my tank. 😅 Here's hoping they stay that way! 🤞

 

On 4/17/2020 at 6:23 PM, Pjanssen said:

looks great! looks like the blue Zoanthids are coming back strong

Thanks Penny! The blue zoas are indeed making a comeback, slowly but surely. I think they just took a long time to adjust to my lighting upgrade. I'd guess that they were originally collected from deeper water, so they probably were not prepared to get blasted by a super bright Kessil light. 😬

 

I noticed that it's been awhile since my blue-leg hermit switched shells, so today I tossed a new one in there for it to try on. Sure enough, the crab quickly found the new shell and started wearing it around... but the shell looks a bit big! I can barely even see the crab under there! 😄

 

 

I wonder if this crab will grow faster now that it has such a large, luxurious home to occupy. Strange that it hadn't upgraded already since I have a lot of empty shells in my tank, but I guess it didn't find one that suited its fancy. I wonder how that works in the animal's tiny crab mind... does a hermit wait to molt if no bigger shells are available? 🤔

[debbeach13]

52 minutes ago, billygoat said:

does a hermit wait to molt if no bigger shells are available?

I have also wonder if that is the case. It will be interesting to see if the crab molts soon.

[StinkyBunny]

56 minutes ago, billygoat said:

 

I wonder if this crab will grow faster now that it has such a large, luxurious home to occupy. Strange that it hadn't upgraded already since I have a lot of empty shells in my tank, but I guess it didn't find one that suited its fancy. I wonder how that works in the animal's tiny crab mind... does a hermit wait to molt if no bigger shells are available? 🤔

Yep, it sure will. They can actually starve if they don't have bigger shells. One of the guys at MBI that has had them spawn said that lack of shells was his biggest issue with rearing them. We all sent him bags of shells for his hermits.

[Ratvan]

Equipment question for you, what are the dimensions of the tank. I looked (half heartedly) and couldn't find it. Also how does the MP10 do in the tank? 

[billygoat]

16 minutes ago, Ratvan said:

Equipment question for you, what are the dimensions of the tank. I looked (half heartedly) and couldn't find it. Also how does the MP10 do in the tank? 

My tank is 20" x 16" x 13" overall, with a 20" x 11" x 13" display. The MP10 does alright in here, though it's definitely overkill if run at a high setting. I set it to "Reef Crest" random mode at 2/12 power. Sometimes I turn it up a bit to 3/12 power for a couple of days at a time, just to give the corals a bit of variety.

 

The main reason I decided to go with the MP10 is because EcoTech Marine makes a quality battery backup with a good track record for their VorTech pumps. It gets pretty hot here in the summer and occasionally the heat causes outages from everyone using their air conditioning at the same time, so I wanted a nice battery to make sure my tank would be okay. If a battery were not necessary I think I would have opted for an Aqamai or some similar, cheaper wavemaker.

[Ratvan]

10 minutes ago, billygoat said:

My tank is 20" x 16" x 13" overall, with a 20" x 11" x 13" display. The MP10 does alright in here, though it's definitely overkill if run at a high setting. I set it to "Reef Crest" random mode at 2/12 power. Sometimes I turn it up a bit to 3/12 power for a couple of days at a time, just to give the corals a bit of variety.

 

The main reason I decided to go with the MP10 is because EcoTech Marine makes a quality battery backup with a good track record for their VorTech pumps. It gets pretty hot here in the summer and occasionally the heat causes outages from everyone using their air conditioning at the same time, so I wanted a nice battery to make sure my tank would be okay. If a battery were not necessary I think I would have opted for an Aqamai or some similar, cheaper wavemaker.

Thanks, like I though similar on width and height. I'm looking for something for a 36x15x12 set up that'll send a thin stream of water down the length of the tank. Might try one of those jebao crossflows

[A.m.P]

23 minutes ago, Ratvan said:

Thanks, like I though similar on width and height. I'm looking for something for a 36x15x12 set up that'll send a thin stream of water down the length of the tank. Might try one of those jebao crossflows

FWIW, their DC pumps are more reliable than their gyres from what I've read, might have better luck making a diy spray bar and hooking it up to a pump than rolling the dice on their gyre.

[Ratvan]

2 minutes ago, Amphrites said:

FWIW, their DC pumps are more reliable than their gyres from what I've read, might have better luck making a diy spray bar and hooking it up to a pump than rolling the dice on their gyre.

🛐

[billygoat]

I think I mentioned in passing that the Maw ate my green porcelain crab a few weeks ago (one step too far, my small crustacean friend!), and I swear that since then it has gotten even bigger. I'll have to make sure it doesn't get anything else to eat, because I am not sure what I am going to do if it continues to grow. Since the loss of my chalk bass I've been contemplating getting some new blennies or gobies for this tank, but at this point I think there's an extremely high chance that any new perching fish would be quickly consumed. I'll have to do some more research and see if I can figure out an appropriate species that will be less likely to get eaten.

 

[debbeach13]

One of my least favorite things is when a live fish gets eaten by a coral. Circle of life and all that but it still blows. 

[StinkyBunny]

7 hours ago, Ratvan said:

Thanks, like I though similar on width and height. I'm looking for something for a 36x15x12 set up that'll send a thin stream of water down the length of the tank. Might try one of those jebao crossflows

I'd go Jebao mate, they're all we run at home and the shop. Every other month they get taken out of service and soaked in vinegar

 

@billygoat those Rhodactus are known fish murderers. I had one of the Indonesian Giant Cups eat a rusty angel in the 240. The only way I knew it happened is I was there when it yarked up the carcass. I love mushrooms and I have a bunch, but they can be bastards.

 

[Tired]

Cardinalfish and their hovering would probably be safe. Dartfish and firefish are vaguely goby-shaped and don't really touch the ground, but you definitely need a lid for those.

 

Or you could banish it to someone else's tank and have more space.