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Snow's 60G Secret Predatory Sanctum 🐲🐉 - Shutting Down


Snow_Phoenix

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A pair of male mother/sailfin dragonets at the LFS in 2016:

 

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My previous cynarina:

 

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I loved how poofy it looked. Miss it so much. Hoping the rainbow one will still be available - otherwise, a regular one would do. 😊👍

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This was my tank in 2019, under heavy whites:

 

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I was mostly looking back at all the older pics to try and recall how I spaced out the LPS. I had quite a few colonies, the arrangement seemed okay at that time, so I'll most likely try to emulate it again. 🤔

 

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I'll try to rebuild a yuma bridge on the left ledge like before:

 

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But I'll dedicate the central ledge to discosomas & rhodactises of different colors instead of leaving it crowded with random chalice frags like before:

 

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I really like the red finger leather at the top. 🤔

 

If I can get a medium-sized softy for a reasonable price, I suppose I could try placing it there. The store did have some leftover green nepthea frags. 🤔

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This was a store branch of my primary LFS that used to operate near my home. It was the first marine store I've ever visited, and I miss it. I used to visit it almost every single week before it was forced to shut down due to the pandemic: 

 

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Now I have to travel quite far to get to their main branch, and the drive is very strenuous and long, so I only make bimonthly trips. 😔

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So um...the giant 'tunicate' that I have split open: :blink:

 

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I'm not sure what it really is right now (clam? oyster???), but I *think it might be dead. :unsure:

 

Just kinda leaving it in there since the surface is still full of life - there are asterinas, bristleworms, duster worms etc. on it. 🤷‍♀️

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The mangrove propagules are doing quite well. 🥰🌱

 

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I am having issues with 3 of them though. 2 were putting out roots, but had minimal sprouts, so I shifted both propagules (planted together in 1 bottle full of LS) to the second filtration compartment, where the flow is very high and full of dirt. 

 

The last propagule is a total loss, I suspect. No growth or roots - and it's almost completely black. I shifted it to a different area of the fuge, under more direct light. Basically my last-ditch effort to try and make it recover somehow. 😕

 

I'd definitely like to order more propagules in the future - but I'll also need more sand & bottles. Will see how it goes. 🤷‍♀️

 

It's so, so tempting to set up a shallow lagoon-style nanotank with mangroves and macros, and maybe unique inverts. 👀

 

But I have too many tanks already - plus I'm not out of the woods yet with this tank, and Foxy is still in QT. 

 

Maybe, one day, in the future...but not today. 🌱

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This was my first *trained spotted mandy in 2013, Michael, which ate live pods, frozen mysis + brine & pellets:

 

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He wasn't as chunky or large as Poseidon, but he was an amazing little fish regardless. 🥰

 

I also had to temporarily keep him in this almost-bare nano for a while as I tore down and sold off his original tank (30G DT + 16G sump - 2/3rds of which was converted into a fuge just for him) :

 

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I had him for ~1.5 years before I made a mistake of trusting the wrong person with his care & lost him. 😔

 

Long-term success with this species is quite challenging, but I'm looking forward to trying again. I miss my little dragons very much. 🌺

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2 minutes ago, debbeach13 said:

I am getting excited for you.

I am too. Have to go in with a proper plan though - corals first, then adding foxy back into the DT, WCing the QT-observation tank (after the cycle), and only then slowly getting new fish to be added into a QT (TTM 2 weeks + 1 week in QT-observation tank). 

 

Might take a while. 🤔

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Tiny edit made to the title of this thread, to reflect my home and the future livestock coming to this tank. :happy:

 

I'm tentatively planning on WCing the sump soon, then give it a few days and WC the DT. Once that is done, I'll head over to the store to pick out some coral(s) and snails. If there's still a bit of cash leftover from the shopping, I'll try to pick up a shrimp and some crabs too! Quite excited. 😊

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Today is the 58th day of the tank going fallow. I think I'll wait for a min. of 76 days as opposed to 60 - just in case the Ich strain that I have in this system is one of the nasty ones that have a longer life cycle. 👍

 

Foxy is still doing okay in QT - she's active & eating well, but I'll need to WC her bin soon. 

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4 of the healthy mangrove shoots are growing very quickly:

 

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Still haven't plucked up the courage to toss out the single black propagule at the front. 😕

 

I'm also hoping the 2 problematic propagules at the back will still grow out somehow. They've put out some roots, but the tips are stumpy. 

 

Forgot to update this bit (or maybe I did - eh, can't recall. 😅 ) - but right before I left for my vacation, I picked up 2 small fake plants for the 10G QT-Observation tank: 

 

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I think these are more suitable due to their smaller size, and they take up less space in the tank too. The cycle is going well for now. 😊👍

 

Foxy is doing good today too. She has become bolder and now anticipates food every time I move the bin lid. The bin is spotted with film algae though - I'll be cleaning it once a new batch of bioptim vials arrive via courier (which should be anytime this week). 

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Snow_Phoenix

More bioptim vials have arrived:

 

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Foxy is still doing well in QT - her bin is up for a WC though. 🤔

 

Mangroves are doing well & still growing. I was planning on visiting my LFS this Thursday, but I'm getting my booster shot (tentatively) tomorrow, so I'll give myself a week to recover before driving to the LFS to pick up livestock. 👍

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Snow_Phoenix

After nearly 2 weeks, I managed to WC Foxy's QT bin today, which was covered in algae since it is exposed to sunlight everyday:

 

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From a dorsal viewpoint, Foxy's thickened out even more, and her colors remain vibrant:

 

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I set up a new QT bin and quickly transfered her over:

 

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The bin does have 2 lids (which I weigh down with rocks and a heavy deco piece) and she's doing okay. 👍

 

I think I'll move her back to my 60G DT during the 3rd week of Jan. I will WC the main tank first before shifting her back in, so she'll be the first fish in. 

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Snow_Phoenix
10 minutes ago, kimdawg said:

Foxy is looking very fat and brightly colored.  I am sure she will be glad to get back to her bigger home soon.

Thanks, Kim! Yeah, I think she'll be much happier too. 😊

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Snow_Phoenix

Also prepped up this mini tupperware of pellets for Foxy - her favorite Hikari Seaweed (size M) & Formula One: 

 

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Should be enough to last 3 weeks. 😊👍

 

I purposely didn't add the NLS pellets because it's too small and more suitable for gobies & blennies. 

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Snow_Phoenix

Foxy in QT today:

 

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Her bin is indeed small. I had difficulty finding the right bin to house her. I have larger bins within the 10G to 20G range at home, but when I tried to put her in one of them, she freaked out very badly and kept banging against the inner walls of the bin & also lids. I'm not sure why. 😔

 

Eventually I settled on a small opaque bin (~4G) and she calmed down significantly afterwards. No more frantic darting around etc. She barely uses the PVC pipe too - unless at night, when she 'sleeps'. 

 

Otherwise she's up and about, and greets me every morning while I feed her & the other fish in the sideporch. She's actually a great fish. I'm thankful she's lasted this long and literally made it through hell, and I hope she'll be with me for years to come. 👍

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Snow_Phoenix

4 mangrove shoots still growing well:

 

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Foxy is doing well today. Thinking of scaling back feeding from thrice a day to twice only, since she has thickened out a fair bit. 

 

We're on to Day 68 of fallow in the DT, so one more week and she'll back in her home, with a lot more space to swim in. I hope she'll still remain bold when she's in the DT. 

 

I remember making a fish list earlier in this thread, but I'll have to scroll back to find it. But the general idea is to have 10 fish or less, 2 of which will be dragonets & 2 of which will be a clown pair. Minus Foxy, that's 5 slots left for fish stocking. 

 

So I'll be focusing on a blenny and other nanofish like a tiny goby (or two). I do need a pest-eater to keep the bristleworm population in check, so it looks like a wrasse is a must. 

 

I estimate that'll leave 1 (or 2) slots for fish left - so I'll pick something small, peaceful and preferably not too expensive. 🤔

 

Definitely hoping to get a hold of a pygmy perchlet. Those guys are adorable. 🥰

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  • Snow_Phoenix changed the title to Snow's 60G Secret Predatory Sanctum 🐲🐉 - Shutting Down

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