Yoshii's Old School 2.5g Hawaiian Pico 🌴

[This guy is extra salty]

Hmm 🤔 

i used www.live-plants.com for some clients wanting specific plants

thanks @seabass I will have to check those guys out

[Tamberav]

Pretty!!! 

[Tempestas]

On 4/19/2019 at 11:44 PM, yoshii said:

Greased up the o-ring and adjusted the motor placement a bit and so far so good! :fingerscrossed:

 

I still haven't gotten around to "planting" /scaping my macros, but here's the tank enjoying some sunlight in the morning. I think I'll end up removing some macro, kind of a big pile in the back rn.

 

 

Wow oh wow! That's going to look spectacular when it grows out. Looks amazing already!

[yoshii]

On 4/19/2019 at 9:25 PM, Tamberav said:

Pretty!!! 

Thank you!

On 4/20/2019 at 11:14 PM, Tempestas said:

 

 

Wow oh wow! That's going to look spectacular when it grows out. Looks amazing already!

Thanks! I hope it grows out nicely 🙂

 

 

 

Tank updates-

I added the first fish! I put in the zebra blenny yesterday, it seems to be doing fine, perching and finding little hidey-holes. It's a little camera shy, but I'll try to get some decent pics.

I did make it to Makapu'u Tidepools this weekend with my friend, but we got there later in the day with high tide so it wasn't optimal for searching the tidepools for cool critters. I did take some coral pics and I collected a little piece of Turbinaria and Sargassum

[vlangel]

Yoshii, your pico looks amazing.  The greens are so so green.  My green macros are not as vibrant as that.  I have always lives how green and red macros look together in a tank.

[MetaTank]

13 hours ago, yoshii said:

Thank you!

Thanks! I hope it grows out nicely 🙂

 

 

 

Tank updates-

I added the first fish! I put in the zebra blenny yesterday, it seems to be doing fine, perching and finding little hidey-holes. It's a little camera shy, but I'll try to get some decent pics.

I did make it to Makapu'u Tidepools this weekend with my friend, but we got there later in the day with high tide so it wasn't optimal for searching the tidepools for cool critters. I did take some coral pics and I collected a little piece of Turbinaria and Sargassum

Those macros...You can really tell a difference when they've been plucked fresh from the ocean. The colors are so vibrant, and they look so healthy! Eager to see what else you forage from the sea!

[yoshii]

On 4/25/2019 at 2:01 AM, vlangel said:

Yoshii, your pico looks amazing.  The greens are so so green.  My green macros are not as vibrant as that.  I have always lives how green and red macros look together in a tank.

 

On 4/25/2019 at 8:23 AM, MetaTank said:

Those macros...You can really tell a difference when they've been plucked fresh from the ocean. The colors are so vibrant, and they look so healthy! Eager to see what else you forage from the sea!

 

Thank you guys, although I think the vibrant colors may be due to the strong natural sunlight coming through the window when I took that picture. Blue reef tank lighting tends to wash out macro colors!

[yoshii]

It's midnight on a Friday night and here I am, posting pictures of my fish tank on NR

 

 

Here's a slightly blurry picture of the baby Zebra Blenny in the tank! He's a little shy but likes to swim around, eat microalgae off the glass, and perch on rocks.

 

Also, super cool event on the macro side of things! The other day I caught a clump of Halimeda going sexual! I've never seen it in person before so it was pretty cool 🙂

Halimeda, like Caulerpa, can reproduce sexually by releasing the contents of their "cell" (Caulerpa, Halimeda, Bryopsis, etc. do not have any cell walls, they are technically single-celled organisms!) However, unlike Caulerpa which just releases everything and leaves behind a white film, Halimeda bundles together all its gametes and cell contents into these clusters called gametangia. It then releases these and leaves behind a white "skeleton". In the wild, huge meadows of Halimeda will do this all at once, leaving behind Halimeda flakes, which largely contribute to reef building and sand production.

 

Here's a picture of the gametangia bundles at night

 

And the tank the next morning, green-tinted cloudy. You can see the dead Halimeda clump in the front

 

With direct sunlight - looks extra green:

 

My snail and fish were not happy about this drop in oxygen due to the gamete release, so I did a 40% water change, added and air stone and added a few drops of prime. All was well when I returned home from work later that day

[Snow_Phoenix]

1 hour ago, yoshii said:

It's midnight on a Friday night and here I am, posting pictures of my fish tank on NR

 

 

Here's a slightly blurry picture of the baby Zebra Blenny in the tank! He's a little shy but likes to swim around, eat microalgae off the glass, and perch on rocks.

 

Also, super cool event on the macro side of things! The other day I caught a clump of Halimeda going sexual! I've never seen it in person before so it was pretty cool 🙂

Halimeda, like Caulerpa, can reproduce sexually by releasing the contents of their "cell" (Caulerpa, Halimeda, Bryopsis, etc. do not have any cell walls, they are technically single-celled organisms!) However, unlike Caulerpa which just releases everything and leaves behind a white film, Halimeda bundles together all its gametes and cell contents into these clusters called gametangia. It then releases these and leaves behind a white "skeleton". In the wild, huge meadows of Halimeda will do this all at once, leaving behind Halimeda flakes, which largely contribute to reef building and sand production.

 

Here's a picture of the gametangia bundles at night

 

And the tank the next morning, green-tinted cloudy. You can see the dead Halimeda clump in the front

 

With direct sunlight - looks extra green:

 

My snail and fish were not happy about this drop in oxygen due to the gamete release, so I did a 40% water change, added and air stone and added a few drops of prime. All was well when I returned home from work later that day

That blenny is adorable! And that is very interesting about the halimeda - this is the first time I am seeing pics of it going sexual. Thanks for sharing, Yoshii! 😊

[CD_Scapes]

1 hour ago, yoshii said:

It's midnight on a Friday night and here I am, posting pictures of my fish tank on NR

 

 

Here's a slightly blurry picture of the baby Zebra Blenny in the tank! He's a little shy but likes to swim around, eat microalgae off the glass, and perch on rocks.

 

Also, super cool event on the macro side of things! The other day I caught a clump of Halimeda going sexual! I've never seen it in person before so it was pretty cool 🙂

Halimeda, like Caulerpa, can reproduce sexually by releasing the contents of their "cell" (Caulerpa, Halimeda, Bryopsis, etc. do not have any cell walls, they are technically single-celled organisms!) However, unlike Caulerpa which just releases everything and leaves behind a white film, Halimeda bundles together all its gametes and cell contents into these clusters called gametangia. It then releases these and leaves behind a white "skeleton". In the wild, huge meadows of Halimeda will do this all at once, leaving behind Halimeda flakes, which largely contribute to reef building and sand production.

 

Here's a picture of the gametangia bundles at night

 

And the tank the next morning, green-tinted cloudy. You can see the dead Halimeda clump in the front

 

With direct sunlight - looks extra green:

 

My snail and fish were not happy about this drop in oxygen due to the gamete release, so I did a 40% water change, added and air stone and added a few drops of prime. All was well when I returned home from work later that day

My halimeda went sexual too! But I took mine out before it released the gamates

[yoshii]

12 hours ago, Snow_Phoenix said:

That blenny is adorable! And that is very interesting about the halimeda - this is the first time I am seeing pics of it going sexual. Thanks for sharing, Yoshii! 😊

It is super cute 🙂

 

First time for me too. And another fun fact, scientists didn't know about this mode of reproduction in Halimeda until it was observed in an aquarium!

12 hours ago, 9darlingcalvi said:

My halimeda went sexual too! But I took mine out before it released the gamates

Cool! What do you think triggered it? In the wild I think it can be seasonal

[Nano sapiens]

The little Zebra Blenny is nice.  Too bad they get rather large (7.5" males, 5.5" females), but it should take a while before it outgrows your system.

 

I was not aware of this Halimida's mode of reproduction.  Very interesting!

[CD_Scapes]

38 minutes ago, yoshii said:

It is super cute 🙂

 

First time for me too. And another fun fact, scientists didn't know about this mode of reproduction in Halimeda until it was observed in an aquarium!

Cool! What do you think triggered it? In the wild I think it can be seasonal

Mine might have been salinity change or even just parameter chages

[yoshii]

4 minutes ago, Nano sapiens said:

The little Zebra Blenny is nice.  Too bad they get rather large (7.5" males, 5.5" females), but it should take a while before it outgrows your system.

 

I was not aware of this Halimida's mode of reproduction.  Very interesting!

Yeah they get really big, I've seen some huge males in the tidepools. Luckily it's easy for me to move it to a bigger home when it outgrows this little pico

 

It's not as common an occurrence like Caulerpa sexual reproduction, but cool to see!

 

 

[748S911]

45 minutes ago, yoshii said:

It is super cute 🙂

 

First time for me too. And another fun fact, scientists didn't know about this mode of reproduction in Halimeda until it was observed in an aquarium!

Cool! What do you think triggered it? In the wild I think it can be seasonal

My hermit crab took off his shell lol, and just saw to amphipods getting it on... lmao!  def seasonal!!! 

I have pic too but you cant undo that image, so I will spare everyone.  

[yoshii]

4 hours ago, 748S911 said:

My hermit crab took off his shell lol, and just saw to amphipods getting it on... lmao!  def seasonal!!! 

I have pic too but you cant undo that image, so I will spare everyone.  

Hermit crabs without their shell remind me of Mr. Krabs without his "shell" 😂

[fishfreak0114]

I love this tank!  It's so cool that you can collect your livestock right outside your door practically.  The macros are so pretty , I can't wait to see what else you find!

[kimberbee]

That little blenny is very cute! 

[Wendy]

3 hours ago, kimberbee said:

That little blenny is very cute! 

I agree & blennies have such great personalities! 

[yoshii]

On 4/29/2019 at 7:38 AM, fishfreak0114 said:

I love this tank!  It's so cool that you can collect your livestock right outside your door practically.  The macros are so pretty , I can't wait to see what else you find!

Thanks! Me too 🙂 I can't wait to go collecting again

On 4/29/2019 at 10:13 AM, kimberbee said:

That little blenny is very cute! 

 

On 4/29/2019 at 1:49 PM, Wendy said:

I agree & blennies have such great personalities! 

I'm really liking the blenny, it's been getting over it's shyness very quickly! Now it has no problem swimming around when I approach the tank.

[Tigahboy]

I may have missed it, but have you decided on lighting or is it pure Hawaiian sun?

[yoshii]

Short tank update,

I plan to bring home the little Petite Gobies today, and finally scape the tank so I can take a nice May FTS

 

Unfortunately the Astrea snail slowly died the other day, maybe it really didn't like the Halimeda sexual reproduction event 😕 But the hermit crab was right there to clean up, and check out the shell. In the past few days the hermit has switched between shells at least 5 times It seems he can't decide!

Here he is contemplating life in the Astrea shell

 

Also, you'll see my rocks are still a blinding white, I'm going to start dumping in more food so I can get some excess nutrients in here. Hopefully some CCA or other algae will grow on there soon.

[yoshii]

2 minutes ago, Tigahboy said:

I may have missed it, but have you decided on lighting or is it pure Hawaiian sun?

Right now it's shaded Hawaiian sun.

I've been checking my temps and sometimes when I get home from work it still hovers around 82, but that was on cloudy rainy days? Otherwise it seems to be around 78-80 in the morning and night

 

If this was a permanent setup, I'd probably get an inkbird to control the temp. But this tank may move into my office after the contest, or be upgraded, so I don't want a controller that I'll end up not having a use for down the road

[Tigahboy]

And yay for the petite gobies!

[yoshii]

I'm going to try to take some better pictures of them before I add them to the tank. Cause then I'll probably never see them again 😂