Billy's 18g Caribbean Biotope - Breakdown Complete!

[Enthrol]

I really like the scape! Looks natural and not so much like a display. Not that I don't like a bombastic display though lol.

 

Sorry about your fish man. Hoping for the best.

[Pjanssen]

Scape looks great, it always does. Sorry about the chalk bass, any news on her?

[Sharbuckle]

The scape and gorgonians look fantastic. So sorry to hear about your chalk bass 😞 I’ve always wanted one. 

[billygoat]

Thanks to all of you for your kind words! The 'scape has been a struggle, but I'm really grateful for all your support. Makes me feel a lot better about it. 😂

 

The chalk bass remains alive this morning, though she doesn't look much better than before. I'll keep an eye on her throughout the day and see if I can get some food into her. More updates to come.

[debbeach13]

Fina and fingers crossed she eats and makes it.

[melson]

Sorry to hear about the chalk bass! I'm hoping it pulls through! That sounds very strange what you're experiencing with it!

[billygoat]

Thanks again for your kind words everyone. Sadly the chalk bass did not make it. Last night my neighborhood lost power randomly for about 5 hours, which normally would be fine except that it happened at the coldest time of evening - from midnight to 5 AM. I have a battery backup that kept my MP10 running during the outage, but with the heater offline my tank's temperature dropped to around 70 degrees. The stress from this temp swing proved to be too much for the little bass. It's rather vexing since I still don't have a clear idea of what caused her to decline so rapidly, but there's not much to be done about it I guess. I'll just take it in stride and move on.

 

Thankfully nothing else in the tank sustained any damage as a result of last night's low temperatures. The jawfish is a bit agitated (he's digging in a new spot yet again 🙄), but all of my invertebrates look fine.

 

All in all, I shouldn't complain. Gorgs are growing, Rics are glowing, and everything is business as usual on the reef today. It's always sad to lose a fish, but I'm grateful that everything else is doing so well. I hope all of you are hanging in there too. 🤞

 

[A.m.P]

Darn, sorry to hear about the basslet, honestly I can't get a feel for how they actually do in captivity. Very few people purchase them and I've not been able to find any in-tank shots of the animals at maturity, though that doesn't mean too much with how awful google is these days. Some whom I reached out-to seem to feel they do fairly-well in captivity however, so I frankly haven't a clue =(

[melson]

On 3/28/2020 at 4:38 PM, Amphrites said:

Darn, sorry to hear about the basslet, honestly I can't get a feel for how they actually do in captivity. Very few people purchase them and I've not been able to find any in-tank shots of the animals at maturity, though that doesn't mean too much with how awful google is these days. Some whom I reached out-to seem to feel they do fairly-well in captivity however, so I frankly haven't a clue =(

I've had mine for going on two years now. He's an absolute monster of a fish when it comes to feeding time and he is not aggressive at all! Feel free to check out my tank if you haven't for pictures!

 

@billygoat, don't mean to hijack your thread, sorry to hear about your experience with one but I'd say try again with one! They are pretty resilient. Tank looks excellent otherwise!

[Gakarl100]

how you like that mp10?  Trying to decide on a powerhead for my tank, like the nero 5 and the mp 10.  Was just worried the lowest setting on both would be too much for the tank but I see yours is running fine.  Did it help with the sand algae?

[billygoat]

On 3/28/2020 at 1:38 PM, Amphrites said:

Darn, sorry to hear about the basslet, honestly I can't get a feel for how they actually do in captivity. Very few people purchase them and I've not been able to find any in-tank shots of the animals at maturity, though that doesn't mean too much with how awful google is these days. Some whom I reached out-to seem to feel they do fairly-well in captivity however, so I frankly haven't a clue =(

I don't have a lot of hard data about the chalk bass since I am still quite unsure as to what exactly caused it to decline so quickly, but I can tell you a few observations that I've made about them in my own tank and also at work. First is that they seem to do better with more space. They like to move around and explore, and I think my tank may simply have been too small/cramped for mine, which caused it some environmental stress. They also like to have ledges and caves to hide in, which again I don't have many of. And I have a feeling that they do better in groups. I think @seabass has been successfully keeping a trio of chalk bass in one his tanks for quite some time. And @melson of course has had one for several years (thanks for your kind words by the way, melson! 🙏)

 

I may end up trying again with the chalk bass, but based on my experiences with this last one I think it might be best to wait until I have a bigger tank. No idea when that will happen, but probably some day!

[billygoat]

17 hours ago, Gakarl100 said:

how you like that mp10?  Trying to decide on a powerhead for my tank, like the nero 5 and the mp 10.  Was just worried the lowest setting on both would be too much for the tank but I see yours is running fine.  Did it help with the sand algae?

The MP10 has been a good choice for me so far. The low settings are actually quite weak; I think the absolute lowest moves water at 125 gph or so, which is lower than most other powerheads on the market. The real reason I decided to get the MP10 over a Nero, Aqamai, or Maxspect pump is that the MP10 has a quality battery backup that's made by the manufacturer. I'm not sure how much money you're willing to sink into your tank, but the battery backup saved my livestock from several 12+ hour power outages last summer, so I'd say that it's been worth it.

 

I didn't get my MP10 until after my initial cyanobacteria bloom was already under control, so I can't speak from experience about its effect on controlling sandbed algae. I'd imagine it's pretty effective though, as long as it is positioned properly.

 

That's another thing to consider - the MP10 cannot be angled, since it's just stuck to the glass. This can make positioning it a bit tricky in a small tank like the C-Vue 18. I think the Nero is the same way though.

 

Hope this helps!

[A.m.P]

10 minutes ago, billygoat said:

I don't have a lot of hard data about the chalk bass since I am still quite unsure as to what exactly caused it to decline so quickly, but I can tell you a few observations that I've made about them in my own tank and also at work. First is that they seem to do better with more space. They like to move around and explore, and I think my tank may simply have been too small/cramped for mine, which caused it some environmental stress. They also like to have ledges and caves to hide in, which again I don't have many of. And I have a feeling that they do better in groups. I think @seabass has been successfully keeping a trio of chalk bass in one his tanks for quite some time. And @melson of course has had one for several years (thanks for your kind words by the way, melson! 🙏)

 

I may end up trying again with the chalk bass, but based on my experiences with this last one I think it might be best to wait until I have a bigger tank. No idea when that will happen, but probably some day!

I wasn't aware of seabass' trio, I'll have to check that out, and I've been following Melson's thread since I stumbled into it a few months back I think lol.

[Tired]

I used to have a chalk bass in a 29 biocube. It definitely moved around a decent bit. I don't know that I'd put one in a tank that size again, just in case it needs more space, but mine didn't show any stress signs that I noticed. Greedy thing, big mouth. 

 

I don't see any reason they wouldn't do well in aquariums. They're fairly small (unless I'm misinformed that max size is 3-4"), they seem pretty enthusiastic about eating frozen and can be trained onto other foods, and they don't seem especially panicky. I don't see many for sale, though- do people just not like them much? I think they're handsome fish.

[billygoat]

4 hours ago, Tired said:

I don't see many for sale, though- do people just not like them much? I think they're handsome fish.

I think they're just not collected very often. Atlantic fish in general seem harder to come by, and if you find them for sale at all it'll usually be one of just a handful of species (e.g. royal gramma, yellowheaded jawfish, neon goby, etc.). It's a shame because chalk bass are indeed very beautiful animals.

 

I've got a few more pictures for you folks here today:

1.) Lurch. Lurch is a hermit crab. He goes where he pleases. 'Nuff said.

2.) Yellow sea whip gorgonian (Pterogorgia citrina). Unlike all of my other gorgonians, this one has lovely cream-colored polyps. It's very attractive.

3.) Hitchhiker zoanthids. These guys started out as a single polyp that rode in on the bottom of one of my Ricordea. That first lonesome polyp was so smashed and mistreated that I wasn't even sure what it was. Fast forward to about a year later, and I've got ten large, green-centered Caribbean zoanthids. A few days ago I fragged a gorgonian that was shading these guys, and they've been loving life ever since.

4.) Hidden cup coral (Phyllangia americana). This lovely coral also started off as a brutalized hitchhiker with four bedraggled heads. Now it has more than 30. Pretty crazy!

 

      

 

That's all for now! Thanks as always for reading. 🙂

[seabass]

10 hours ago, billygoat said:

First is that they seem to do better with more space. They like to move around and explore

They can sure move when they want to, fast fishes.  Mine have been in a 40B.  A word of caution, they do occasionally jump; I highly recommend some sort of top with them.  In the last 15 months, I've lost two of the three to jumping (one just this last week).

 

10 hours ago, billygoat said:

I have a feeling that they do better in groups.

If introducing a small group, I think they should be introduced at the same time.  When younger, they showed no signs of aggression toward each other.  However, as they got older, I noticed that one became a bit more territorial towards the other two.

 

[billygoat]

23 hours ago, seabass said:

They can sure move when they want to, fast fishes.  Mine have been in a 40B.  A word of caution, they do occasionally jump; I highly recommend some sort of top with them.  In the last 15 months, I've lost two of the three to jumping (one just this last week).

 

If introducing a small group, I think they should be introduced at the same time.  When younger, they showed no signs of aggression toward each other.  However, as they got older, I noticed that one became a bit more territorial towards the other two.

 

Beautiful little fish! Thanks for the input, @seabass. I thought I remembered you having a few of those. Sorry to hear that you've had to deal with some jumpers though.

 

With all the recent changes I figured it would be time for a new FTS here, so I made my best attempt. Here you go:

 

 

As you can see, the Maw has returned to the center of the tank. I can't put it anywhere else; it's simply too big. At first it was getting hit with a bit too much flow in this position, which caused it to curl up into a sort of reef-taco shape, so I built a little throne for it to sit on using chunks of rock from my sump (I like to keep a few pieces of seeded rock in the sump for such occasions). It seems to be working, though it's still curling up a little bit. Looks much better than before though. 👍

[billygoat]

The Maw in repose. Will it ever stop growing? Can it be contained? Only time will tell.

 

[DNR88]

Not far from what your tank looks like. 😉

[Kangster911]

5 hours ago, DNR88 said:

Not far from what your tank looks like. 😉

This does look like his tank amd is why his tank is one of my favorite. It looks like he cut a piece of the nature and put it in the tank like it is

[billygoat]

7 hours ago, DNR88 said:

Not far from what your tank looks like. 😉

Thanks for the kind words. That's a really beautiful picture! I sure wish my tank looked more like that. It would be amazing if I could get my hands on some of the fire coral that you see growing near the base of those gorgonians. It's very common in the Caribbean, but it's protected and cannot be collected for sale.

 

Just look at all the life in there! Sponges, encrusting corals, turtle grass, tons of sea urchins... it's very difficult to replicate the sheer variety that natural reefs contain.

[Poison Dart Frog]

On 4/3/2020 at 4:05 PM, billygoat said:

The Maw in repose. Will it ever stop growing? Can it be contained? Only time will tell.

 

The Maw is ancient. It was here long before us and will be here long after we're gone and forgotten. 

[DNR88]

9 hours ago, billygoat said:

Thanks for the kind words. That's a really beautiful picture! I sure wish my tank looked more like that. It would be amazing if I could get my hands on some of the fire coral that you see growing near the base of those gorgonians. It's very common in the Caribbean, but it's protected and cannot be collected for sale.

 

Just look at all the life in there! Sponges, encrusting corals, turtle grass, tons of sea urchins... it's very difficult to replicate the sheer variety that natural reefs contain.

You should be able to get some of that 'turtle grass' maybe?

[debbeach13]

Although you may not be able to actually duplicate nature. Your tank has an amazing natural beauty.

[billygoat]

14 hours ago, DNR88 said:

You should be able to get some of that 'turtle grass' maybe?

Turtle grass (Thalassia testudinum) would be an absolutely amazing thing to keep in a Caribbean biotope, because it forms the backbone of one of the most common nearshore communities in the region. This beautiful plant is occasionally available in the aquarium trade, but it's quite difficult to keep alive in aquaria. It's not an alga like most of the other marine "plants" that show up in the hobby, but rather is a true vascular plant, with roots, leaves, and flowers. This means it needs a deep sandbed (like 12cm +) so its roots can grow, and also requires very bright light. All this means it is quite challenging to care for; in fact even public aquariums often have trouble keeping this species. 😥

 

On the subject of growing things, I did a water change today and cleaned out my refugium for the first time since setting it up a month ago. As you can see, I'm definitely growing some algae back there! 😅

 

 

Unfortunately my crop seems to be mostly hair algae at this point. I guess as long as something is growing, it doesn't really matter what kind of algae it is? Still, I'm hoping that the chaetomorpha will gain the upper hand if I regularly harvest the GHA that grows back there. All in all though I suppose the 'fuge is working. 🤷‍♂️

 

On 4/4/2020 at 5:57 PM, Poison Dart Frog said:

The Maw is ancient. It was here long before us and will be here long after we're gone and forgotten. 

Funny that you mention the Great Ancient One... I neglected to mention this earlier but it's probably going to get a bit bigger soon, because a few days ago it ate my porcelain crab. 🤦‍♂️🙄😅