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

[Snow_Phoenix]

Update #2:

 

Goblin, my GCG. 🥰 :

 

 

 

 

Casper my tangaroa: 🤗

 

 

A yuma up close:

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

FTV taken today afternoon, during a feeding session: 

 

😊

[Snow_Phoenix]

Cleo moved out into the open but I still can't access her unless I undo my scaping and lift up the rocks on the right side of the tank:

 

 

I'll try to reach her again tomorrow - hopefully she'll move towards the front of the bubble coral so that I can safely lift her up using a small brine net without injuring her or the coral. She doesn't look too good. 😔

 

I spotted one of my brittlestars at the waterline - he's still crawling all over my glass:

 

 

Huge now. Around ~9" from tip to tip. 

[chipz]

I've been following your journal for a week or so now and it is already clear you dedicate a ton of time and effort to caring for your flock of dragons and other critters. I'm living vicariously since I even have my house cat eating from an automatic feeder!

[Snow_Phoenix]

32 minutes ago, chipz said:

I've been following your journal for a week or so now and it is already clear you dedicate a ton of time and effort to caring for your flock of dragons and other critters. I'm living vicariously since I even have my house cat eating from an automatic feeder!

That's so cool - I didn't even know you could train cats to eat from an auto-feeder! 

 

I have a dog, and getting her to eat food the regular way is a battle almost everyday. She hates her kibbles, but the vet put her on a strict diet because she's getting old and has now become intolerant towards wet/canned food. 

[debbeach13]

You always take such good care and try so hard to give your livestock a happy home. I hope Cleo responds soon.

[Snow_Phoenix]

9 hours ago, debbeach13 said:

You always take such good care and try so hard to give your livestock a happy home. I hope Cleo responds soon.

Thanks, Deb. And I hope so too.

[Snow_Phoenix]

Some shroom pics today morning: 🥰

 

 

 

 

 

I'll start collecting shrooms again once my primary LFS has reopened their store. Their shroom collection might not be too fancy, but there used to be many colors available, and at very reasonable/affordable prices. Am eager to repopulate mushroom mountain. 😊👍

[Snow_Phoenix]

A couple of vid. updates ahead! 😊

 

Poseidon & Bella eating pellets: 

 

Tracking Icarus: 🤗

 

Bella: 🤗

 

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

Leopold playing with his reflection: 😊

 

Thanos being territorial and chomping on a brittlestar: 😮

 

Don't worry. The brittlestar managed to make a quick getaway:

 

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

Also, I have some bad news, everyone. I just checked up on the QT in the library and my coral beauty angel was dead and upside down at the bottom of the tank. 😭

 

When I lifted the body out of the water using a small net - a *lot of blue scales fell off the fish. The angel appeared fine today morning when I turned on the lights, so I'm not exactly sure what happened during the last 8 hours or so. 

 

It wasn't completely weaned onto prepared food, and did arrive with internal parasites + lympho (suspected), but I was treating it with prazi. It's really gut-wrenching when the fish ups and dies like this. 

 

I will also reconsider purchasing any fish from my secondary LFS for the time being. Out of 5 fish that I purchased from them recently for 3 different tanks, 4 were/are quite sick. I bought Thanos (the starry blenny) and Goblin (the GCG) from them ~2 years ago and the fish were healthy. 

 

I wonder if their current supplier is the issue. A lot of places are still closed off due to Covid, so the store isn't too picky over where they get their fish - as long as they get it. 🤔

 

Their corals and inverts are okay though. 👍

 

I think my primary LFS is better, with regards to fish supply. And I know they QT and medicate most of their fish before selling them, especially sensitive fish like wrasses and angels. 

[Snow_Phoenix]

Spyder lurking in the fuge:

 

 

🕷

[Snow_Phoenix]

Hermes munching on some pellets:

 

 

Thanos on lookout duty:

 

 

Yellow yuma:

 

 

And, I have some really bad news, everyone. I couldn't find Cleo this morning, and resigned myself to the notion that she might have died overnight and was most probably eaten by my CUC. 😔

 

So imagine my surprise when I turned on the pumps after feeding the tank in the evening, and I found her at the very front of the tank:

 

 

I was very excited, because now I could *finally remove her from the main DT area and isolate her in a breeder box over the next month, where I can focus on target-feeding her pods 6x a day, before weaning her onto other prepared frozen food, and *maybe even pellets. 

 

But...when I scooped her out with a brine net, I noticed she wasn't moving/swimming off. I was worried, and then my worst fears were confirmed - she had died in the tank. 😭

 

By turning on the pumps, the flow brought her body to the front of the tank, and I mistakenly thought she was alive, and even took that pic above of her. 😔

 

I turned her body over, and her belly was very, very sunken, although her lateral lines couldn't be seen or felt. Prolonged starvation was what did this. Rubys ship very poorly here in Msia. 

 

Most of the specimes arrive very sick, unhealthy, skinny or lethargic. Only sometimes, you get that *one ruby dragonet that defies the odds and eats well in the tank. I've only had Cleo for less than a week, but I do feel crushed over her passing - mainly because as a hobbyist, I felt I *should have prepared myself better for her arrival, and isolated her from day 1 on account of her size alone. 😔

 

R.I.P. Little Red Dragon. Swim free. 🐲🐉 💦

[debbeach13]

So sorry about the loss of both fish.

[Snow_Phoenix]

Late night cuddles between the largest & littlest dragons in the reef:

 

 

[debbeach13]

Adorable! 

[Snow_Phoenix]

A limpet in the tank today:

 

 

Throwback pics of some of my fish ~1 year ago:

 

 

 

 

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

Tales from the refugium tonight: 

 

I'm still not *what exactly this macro is, but it's vibrant and growing, and I love it: 🥰

 

 

Spyder watching me watch him:

 

 

This is actually the skeleton of my orange frogspawn coral. Now heavily encrusted with coralline, and crawling with pods:

 

 

How the refugium looks like presently:

 

 

Still has various types of microinverts and macroalgae. 👍

[A.m.P]

Maybe?

[Snow_Phoenix]

11 minutes ago, Amphrites said:

Maybe?

I hope so! I've been dying to get some red grape for years here. Never been truly successful with that quest. 😞 

[Ratvan]

3 minutes ago, Amphrites said:

Maybe?

I thought a Gracilaria, maybe Mammillaris. Either that or a Rhodymenia

 

but i'm not great with Macro ID's

[Snow_Phoenix]

7 minutes ago, Ratvan said:

I thought a Gracilaria, maybe Mammillaris. Either that or a Rhodymenia

 

but i'm not great with Macro ID's

Isn't gracilaria thin and weed-like? 🤔

 

Mine is thick and almost spherical. I'm waiting for it to branch out (if it can) to see how 'tall' it can grow. The growth is a bit slow, but it seems to be spreading sideways more than anything. 

[Ratvan]

1 minute ago, Snow_Phoenix said:

Isn't gracilaria thin and weed-like? 🤔

 

Mine is thick and almost spherical. I'm waiting for it to branch out (if it can) to see how 'tall' it can grow. The growth is a bit slow, but it seems to be spreading sideways more than anything. 

Most but not all of them, Mammarillis loves Calcium and Calcifies its stronghold on the rock 

 

Curtissae, does not calcify as such but drinks Calcium from the water column  

 

Both almost encrust an area before growing outwards in a fan like fashion. 

 

And then the Rhodymenia i forget the start but Palmata

 

 

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

6 minutes ago, Ratvan said:

Most but not all of them, Mammarillis loves Calcium and Calcifies its stronghold on the rock 

 

Curtissae, does not calcify as such but drinks Calcium from the water column  

 

Both almost encrust an area before growing outwards in a fan like fashion. 

 

And then the Rhodymenia i forget the start but Palmata

 

 

 

Whoa. Those are all amazing! 😮

 

I think I like the curtissae the most. Looks like a wavy seaweed or something.

 

I'm actually looking out for some halimeda or galaxaura in the store(s). Galaxaura used to be pretty common a few years back, but now they hardly bring them in. 

 

I had a trimming of hypnea a couple of months ago, but it died out pretty quickly without a rock piece to anchor to.

[Ratvan]

1 minute ago, Snow_Phoenix said:

Whoa. Those are all amazing! 😮

 

I think I like the curtissae the most. Looks like a wavy seaweed or something.

 

I'm actually looking out for some halimeda or galaxaura in the store(s). Galaxaura used to be pretty common a few years back, but now they hardly bring them in. 

 

I had a trimming of hypnea a couple of months ago, but it died out pretty quickly without a rock piece to anchor to.

Check out this place https://www.livealgae.co.uk/macroalgae/red-macroalgae-species/. 

Literally across the city from me, but when I am allowed to I am taking a tour of the growing facility as well as picking up an order. 

 

My issue with Macro is that I can only seem to keep either Macro or the Coral happy not both in the same tank