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

[Snow_Phoenix]

My Saron shrimp last night:

 

 

Poseidon today:

 

 

 

 

Poseidon eating pellets today evening:

 

My cleaner shrimp molted overnight:

 

 

Odin:

 

 

Casper:

 

 

Turban snail hard at work:

 

 

Cynarina's dual colors are returning:

 

 

Long polyp toadstool is doing very well despite the rocky road this tank has been on:

 

 

Lastly, the big guy says hi! 😎

 

 

Secondary LFS managed to get some new corals in today. Am picking up some zoas for the pico, but no plans to pick up anything for this system until the levels are more stable. Will still take a peek to see what they have though. It's mostly zoas, yumas and some torches, I believe. 🤔

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

'Paint me like one of your French girls.' -Thanos 🤣:

 

 

View from my bed today morning:

 

 

Needs corals. Tank is still in recovery mode, but I'm slowly looking through leftover corals at my LFS's pages. 

 

*Might wind up doing a green frogspawn again, alongside a large dual-colored bubble & *maybe a large green leather...? 🤔

 

Well, have a lot of time to think it over. 🤷‍♀️

[Snow_Phoenix]

Poseidon was very photogenic today morning:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Eating pellets:

 

🥰

[Snow_Phoenix]

Morning, NR. 🙂

 

Poseidon was up early, as usual:

 

 

 

He's very chunky now:

 

 

 

 

 

Looking at mushroom mountain for pods/flatworms to eat:

 

 

 

Wrasses were up early too:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mushroom mountain needs more shrooms! Will probably resume recollecting more shroom types in weeks to come. 

 

Quick vid of the fishies:

 

 

[Tamberav]

Love the video...the fish are beautiful 😍

[ECLS Reefer]

22 minutes ago, Snow_Phoenix said:

Morning, NR. 🙂

 

Poseidon was up early, as usual:

 

 

 

He's very chunky now:

 

 

 

 

 

Looking at mushroom mountain for pods/flatworms to eat:

 

 

 

Wrasses were up early too:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mushroom mountain needs more shrooms! Will probably resume recollecting more shroom types in weeks to come. 

 

Quick vid of the fishies:

 

 

He really is a handsome dude. And Thanos 😊

[Snow_Phoenix]

9 minutes ago, Tamberav said:

Love the video...the fish are beautiful 😍

Thanks, Tam! 🙂

2 minutes ago, Dirté Sanchez said:

He really is a handsome dude. And Thanos 😊

Thank you! I'm happy he's doing well and eats well. 🤗

[Snow_Phoenix]

Morning again, NR. 🤗

 

View from my bed today: 

 

Cubert the conch was busy cleaning the sandbed and glass today:

 

 

Miko was very photogenic today: 🤗

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mushroom mountain was popular with the dragons in the early morning:

 

 

 

Mugshot of Poseidon: 🤣

 

 

'Did you just call me fat?' : 🤣

 

 

 

Doc on standby:

 

 

Animals are all okay and corals are slowly improving day by day. Thinking of doing another major WC soon. Until then, I am dosing kH and Mg daily. 👍

[Snow_Phoenix]

Big guy says hello: 😎

 

 

My levels are slowly improving - kH is almost back to ~8 due to the daily dosing, which is good. Am thinking of doing a 20G WC tomorrow if I'm strong enough. 

 

Am also planning on dropping by my LFS on Monday to look through the leftover coral colonies. *Might put down a deposit if anything catches my eye, then return to pick it up later. 

 

I remember my secondary LFS did have a large green toadstool in one of their frag tanks. Softies are quite resilient and low-demanding - and also a perfect way to test the water to see if more difficult corals could be readded to the tank in the future. 🤔

[Snow_Phoenix]

Casper's new home is between my blasto garden. 🤗

 

 

Pink yuma:

 

 

Nero and Sushi swimming together:

 

 

Goblin:

 

 

Poseidon playing with his reflection:

 

 

Giving me the stink eye for taking too many pics: 😅

 

 

 

Cruising around mini-mushroom mountain for pods:

 

 

 

Pawprint 🥰 :

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

Picked up a dual-toned bubble colony for the 60G today. It's tentatively doing okay:

 

 

This coral was one of the leftovers in my secondary LFS - my primary one is closing down next month, and only keeping their second store (which is very far from my home) open from June onwards. 😔

 

So I'll be limited to any reef-related future purchases from here on out. The one good thing is I have plenty of fish and am well-stocked - everyone I currently know of is looking for a fish to buy, but there's hardly any fish left in any of the SW stores. 

 

I was originally planning on removing my steinitz goby pair (if I could catch them), but now I decided to keep them (and everyone) and leave it be. 

 

Oh, and Thanos and Illaron say hi:

 

 

 

I tried to book the large green leather at the store, but my manager was planning on fragging it. So once the frags are stable, I'll pick up one for the tank. Thinking of going the softies-heavy, LPS-light route from now on, so that the reef is easier to maintain. 

 

Quite a few reefers have shut down their tanks because they lost their jobs - I saw *many secondhand equipment for sale, including various types of LED lights. If I can sell off a few electronics and older/other things at home, and collect enough money, I was thinking of picking up a second LED light for this tank. A used Hydra sounds okay, but a Lg 60 sounds promising too. 🤔

[Ratvan]

6 minutes ago, Snow_Phoenix said:

Picked up a dual-toned bubble colony for the 60G today. It's tentatively doing okay:

 

 

This coral was one of the leftovers in my secondary LFS - my primary one is closing down next month, and only keeping their second store (which is very far from my home) open from June onwards. 😔

 

So I'll be limited to any reef-related future purchases from here on out. The one good thing is I have plenty of fish and am well-stocked - everyone I currently know of is looking for a fish to buy, but there's hardly any fish left in any of the SW stores. 

 

I was originally planning on removing my steinitz goby pair (if I could catch them), but now I decided to keep them (and everyone) and leave it be. 

 

Oh, and Thanos and Illaron say hi:

 

 

 

I tried to book the large green leather at the store, but my manager was planning on fragging it. So once the frags are stable, I'll pick up one for the tank. Thinking of going the softies-heavy, LPS-light route from now on, so that the reef is easier to maintain. 

 

Quite a few reefers have shut down their tanks because they lost their jobs - I saw *many secondhand equipment for sale, including various types of LED lights. If I can sell off a few electronics and older/other things at home, and collect enough money, I was thinking of picking up a second LED light for this tank. A used Hydra sounds okay, but a Lg 60 sounds promising too. 🤔

I need an insanely jealous reaction on here! That bubble looks gorgeous

[Snow_Phoenix]

7 minutes ago, Ratvan said:

I need an insanely jealous reaction on here! That bubble looks gorgeous

Thank you. This was the largest colony I could find. RM 120 only, so I grabbed it. Grabbed a few other small frags too, but those were for the pico. 

 

There are hardly any colonies left. Lots of symphyllias and brains at very high prices, yes, but euphyllias and such are almost non-existent. 😔

 

Everyone is now relying on either fragging whatever they have already growing in their tanks, and swapping/selling it with/to someone else, or just scavenging for leftovers (like me). Can't be too fussy. ☹

[Ratvan]

3 minutes ago, Snow_Phoenix said:

Thank you. This was the largest colony I could find. RM 120 only, so I grabbed it. Grabbed a few other small frags too, but those were for the pico. 

 

There are hardly any colonies left. Lots of symphyllias and brains at very high prices, yes, but euphyllias and such are almost non-existent. 😔

 

Everyone is now relying on either fragging whatever they have already growing in their tanks, and swapping/selling it with/to someone else, or just scavenging for leftovers (like me). Can't be too fussy. ☹

Online is my only option now, which isnt great as I want to start looking at Acropora's.....

[Snow_Phoenix]

2 minutes ago, Ratvan said:

Online is my only option now, which isnt great as I want to start looking at Acropora's.....

I don't have that option here, unfortunately. I know one shop in the northern state was trying to do an online coral/fish business and post livestock using buses, but in our weather, DOA chances are quite high. Plus, the seller was rude and a bit of a jerk when I enquired about his fish/inverts last year (he gave a list and pics, but no prices). Pretty much killed any hope of future dealings with him for good on my end. 

 

My mom promised to teach me how to drive to my primary LFS's last store, so that I can visit them whenever I wish, and still talk to my friends. It's a difficult road, but I *think I can learn it in time. 🤔

[Snow_Phoenix]

New bubble coral was wide open and bubbly today morning 🤗 :

 

 

 

 

Quite happy that it turned out to be very large and healthy. 🙂

[Ratvan]

Wow

[Snow_Phoenix]

Packs quite a sting though:

 

Comparison of the Big Guy versus the giant bubble - take note that Thanos is around ~6.5"++ (I measured him using a ruler when he was pressed up against the glass once) so that'll more or less give you an estimate on how large this colony is:

 

^Pic was snapped under high whites, low blues. 

 

I'm now hunting around for a frogspawn colony (a common green one) to be placed on the opposite side of the tank, up front. I'll just shift the pink yuma down.

 

Also, I *might be picking up a very small RBTA in the future to occupy the top ledge at the back of the tank. I'm thinking hard about this, because nems can be problematic - they tend to *walk all over the tank, including into powerheads/wavemakers, and are highly sensitive to parameter fluctuations. Might need to wait out a few more weeks before I can place one in the tank, but my secondary LFS has 3 (or 4) tiny ones (the size of coins) left. And I'm not sure when they'll be able to restock anything - they estimated 4 to 5 months - but I think we might not be able to get any new livestock in until end of the year. And even then, I have a strong feeling there's going to be a large price hike.

 

There are common purple torches available though, at RM 50 per head. But I find torches harder to keep than frogspawns, and personally, I like the look of a frogspawn (or octospawn) compared to most of the other euphyllias. 

 

Add-On: Did more digging online. It's quite possible that my bubble coral is a *pearl bubble coral - hence the irregular shaped 'bubbles' on the surface. I was wondering why the bubbles weren't exactly smooth, but now I know. 🤔

 

More info here:

 

https://www.aquariumdomain.com/viewCoralSpecies.php?coral_id=28

 

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

Poseidon mega-update - if you dislike mandys, skip this post. Otherwise, here's my boy: 🥰

 

1. Symmetry:

 

 

 

2. Checking the back wall for pods:

 

 

3. Back wall has nothing - so moving on to the shrooms:

 

 

 

 

4. Not a very flattering butt-view: 😅

 

 

5. Maybe the mini mushroom mountain has pods? 🤔

 

 

 

 

6. Found a pod - yum! 🤗 :

 

 

 

🙂

[Snow_Phoenix]

Second round of updates - a short one this time: 🤗

 

1. Miko peeking out of his burrow:

 

 

2. Odin perching on a LR rubble:

 

 

3. Illaron hunting for pods:

 

 

4. Thanos taking refuge behind the pink yuma: 😎

 

 

5. Goblin ennjoying the cup coral:

 

 

 

👍

[Snow_Phoenix]

Pearl bubble coral looks large and particularly bubbly today morning:

 

 

Thanos likes sheltering next to it: 🤗

 

 

A difference in lighting: 

 

 

 

Casper:

 

 

Goblin:

 

 

The Big Purple Dude of the Reef: 😊

 

 

 

Poseidon: 🥰

 

 

Both my dragonets. Illaron needs to be beefed up. He eats and eats, but apparently this is not enough: 😔

 

 

I will find a way to work on him. Getting him fat and chunky again will be difficult, but I have hope. As long as he keeps eating *something, he will pull through somehow, I believe. 👍

[ECLS Reefer]

11 minutes ago, Snow_Phoenix said:

Pearl bubble coral looks large and particularly bubbly today morning:

 

 

Thanos likes sheltering next to it: 🤗

 

 

A difference in lighting: 

 

 

 

Casper:

 

 

Goblin:

 

 

The Big Purple Dude of the Reef: 😊

 

 

 

Poseidon: 🥰

 

 

Both my dragonets. Illaron needs to be beefed up. He eats and eats, but apparently this is not enough: 😔

 

 

I will find a way to work on him. Getting him fat and chunky again will be difficult, but I have hope. As long as he keeps eating *something, he will pull through somehow, I believe. 👍

That bubble is so gorgeous I'm sooooo jealous!!! 

[Snow_Phoenix]

35 minutes ago, Dirté Sanchez said:

That bubble is so gorgeous I'm sooooo jealous!!! 

I like it too. 

[Snow_Phoenix]

Fed the tank some pellets and diced raw shrimp today. Guess who had the fullest belly afterwards? 🤗

 

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

My giant tunicate:

 

You can see the siphons opening and closing, which gives it the illusion of 'breathing'. 😅

 

A little bit of background info on this critter: Last year, I purchased a 'rock' which was covered in tricolored rhodactis shrooms. It was heavy, but pretty, and I haggled it down to buy it at a discount at my LFS.

 

I called this 'rock' my mini mushroom mountain, and placed it next to my major LR piece which was covered in various types of shrooms. Over the next 8 months or so, half of the rhodactis shrooms on this 'rock' detached, and I couldn't quite figure out why, until I saw the 'rock' *expand a little one night. 😮

 

After a few days of carefully observing this rock, I finally realized that what I acquired was actually a very large flesh-colored tunicate which was encrusted with shrooms, sponges, other tiny tunicates, tiny duster worms and LR rubble. I only spotted its siphons because many shrooms had fallen off, and exposed them. 🤔

 

I think it's pretty cool how its siphons are only revealed at night, when the tank lights are off. All online sources indicate that tunicates don't last long in reeftanks and need to be fed if kept. 

 

I don't feed mine. I just leave it be, and let the flow in my tank carry the particulates to it, where it filter feeds on its own (mostly at night). I consider it as a fairly large hitchiker, and a reasonably cool critter at that. 👍

 

For those of you who are curious about its size, it's roughly 4" long and 3"+ high. Shaped a bit like a bladder. 🤗