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


Snow_Phoenix

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Snow_Phoenix

Just a quick update: With some difficulty, I managed to extract the remains of my RFA from the 60G and move it to the 2.9G for regrowth. George has really done a number on it though - I'd say 80% of the nem has been eaten and reduced to a grayish blob with stubby pink tentacles. :unsure:

 

George has also consumed 1 pink zoa polyp and 2 duster worms to date. He's not exactly reefsafe and he loves, loves to peck the heck out of anything that has a skirt/tentacles. But, I do love him and nips aside, he's actually a wonderful fish. So I don't recommend a green filefish for any of you who value your nems, duster worms, fancy zoas or certain tentacle-y LPS. But if you're okay with tolerating the occasional loss of a coral polyp or duster worm, then this fish is actually quite awesome to watch. Mine can actually swim backwards, and he's very, very active and uses all levels of the water column. He's also very peaceful and doesn't nip at other fish, shrimp or crabs. :happy:

 

 

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I have heard that they are risky to put into a reef tank but woah now....  You do a good job tolerating his behavior though. I think if I were in a similar situation, he would have his own setup by now. I hope your RFA can recover - can I suggest having WCs lined up one after the other to keep iodine levels up (depleted rapidly in small tanks) and the water really clean to help repair flesh.

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Snow_Phoenix
7 hours ago, Wonderboy said:

I have heard that they are risky to put into a reef tank but woah now....  You do a good job tolerating his behavior though. I think if I were in a similar situation, he would have his own setup by now. I hope your RFA can recover - can I suggest having WCs lined up one after the other to keep iodine levels up (depleted rapidly in small tanks) and the water really clean to help repair t

Thank you for your suggestion. I think I will do double WCs per week again. Hopefully it can recover. 

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Snow_Phoenix

Just a minor update. RFA is now missing from the Pico - I think it either melted or died overnight and was cleaned up by the CUC, or it got blown off to the space behind the rock. (Honestly, I think it died because it was in very, very bad shape for a nem). :tears:

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Snow_Phoenix
1 hour ago, Tamberav said:

That is a bummer 😞 sorry...I know they are hard to find there.

Yeah. Probably won't be able to get one from now on. And in the event I do come across one, I don't think I have the finances to pull it off a second time. My mother tried to comfort me by saying: At least the fish is now worth RM350 since he has a RM320 nem in his belly. 🙄

 

I don't fault the fish though. Adding a filefish to a reef was a calculated risk and I did do my reading before purchasing it. But I expected him to eat only my zoas, I genuinely didn't think he had it in him to go after the nems. As of now, I still do have two nems - RBTA & mini red (or shall I say pink, since it's bleached?) nem in the tank. RBTA is out in the open, but is also somewhat in the direct flow of the Jebao. Every time George tries to circle it, he gets blown back to the other side of the tank (thank goodness!). Mini carpet nem is sneakily hiding under the giant frogspawn colony's protection. The only time you can see the nem is at night, when the frogspawn retracts all its tentacles. And my filefish is thankfully not active when the lights are of - he sleeps next to the outflow pipe near my overflow box, way up high from any of the rocks or coral. 

 

Still love the little coral-eating tyrant though. 

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Snow_Phoenix

Clownfish: It's difficult to film me. I move around a lot.

Dartfish: Hold my beer.

 

^(One semi-decent photo in nearly two dozen attempts) :sideeyes:

 

Morning feeding session below:

 

And Casper the tangaroa: (I think he's finally paired up with my Pistol - honestly, it took a while for them to even find each other in this tank)

 

Lastly, Thanos looking mighty as usual:

 

 

 

 

 

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Snow_Phoenix
18 minutes ago, Tamberav said:

So pretty! Everyone looks healthy and happy too! I think they like having all this new room.

Yeah, I think the larger space has indeed benefited them. The only thing I'm currently struggling with is my lobo - after Jerk the hermit dumped sand on its mouth, it has looked skeletal and never quite recovered. It's not dead yet, but not puffy either. 😞

 

My Symphyllias have their moments too. Sometimes they are nice and puffy, and sometimes they are thin and angry. I noticed they react differently during different periods of the day - so I attribute it to my lighting. Not sure if I should increase the intensity, because I don't want to fry anything else by accident. The frogspawn is the happiest so far. And my Pavona and montis are actually growing! (although slowly lol)

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Snow_Phoenix

Henri out on patrol:

 

IMG_20190705_132047_531.thumb.jpg.fcf17e62b33d80ea5b696b76a4fb20e4.jpg

 

George went fully green last night. He looked gorgeous!

 

IMG_20190705_231359_098.thumb.jpg.a45a68ebbd3f24c9b7612875a43d120b.jpg

 

And here is Gary, snacking on the biofilm at the back wall:

 

IMG_20190705_231550_960.thumb.jpg.537e7257be0174b1fce612a7277b0d4c.jpg

 

Here is something unusual - a green sea lily in a DT at my LFS: 

 

IMG_20190705_131905_454.thumb.jpg.5cca8638c0b1e74e69b1f19209505640.jpg

 

It was originally offered to me 2 weeks ago but I declined because it is nearly impossible to take care off. This one is doing ok so far and is fed a staple diet of live pods and rotifers. 

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Snow_Phoenix

Henri today morning:

 

Also, George has eaten my blastos - I think I might have to move him to a dedicated set up quite soon. I enjoy watching him, but he's taking down my LPS one by one - I think he has been bothering my Symphyllias too, because they're only puffy at night, when he retires to sleep. I can't put him in the Pico - because I genuinely don't know how he will react towards my shrooms, especially my yumas (which are quite expensive). I do have a Clarkii in a 10G FOWLR downstairs, but she's quite aggressive, so I'm not sure how/if George can move in with her (most likely not). Thinking hard about this, because financially and health-wise, I'm not doing too great. Raising another tank would mean a whole new system to nurture/take care of/more work etc etc. Plus, there is the space factor as well. 

 

I guess I can temporarily move him to my sump. I actually have aiptasia there, which I think he'll enjoy very much. Catching him is going to be a problem though. I'll try to snag him when he comes up to feed during feeding time. 

 

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Snow_Phoenix

I did the math. To date, George has consumed approx. ~RM 400 worth of corals and nem. Today, I baited him with some NLS pellets and scooped him up with a relatively large net, and deported him to the sump. 

 

He wasn't too thrilled at first, but I placated him with more pellets and he is now exploring the sump. I know I should be mad - especially after he scraped off the upper layer of my mini blasto colony today, but strangely, I'm not. All filefish are listed as either reefsafe-with-caution or non-reefsafe. And while some peope have had successes keeping a green filefish in their reefs, most don't. So I am not blaming a filefish for doing what comes naturally to him. 

 

However, I like George. He's small, peaceful and otherwise quite a character. So I will most likely raise a dedicated setup for him (but not anytime soon). It will most likely be either a nano FOWLR or a nano-macrotank with non-reefsafe (?) nanofish. 

 

I still need to do a lot of planning, get stronger and be more financially stable before I start anything though - so most likely you won't see any new tanks until next year. Until then, I will keep an eye of George - he's in a compartment with a single aiptasia in it, so hopefully he snacks on that tonight. 

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Sorry to hear about all the tissue loss - hopefully a lot comes back. The sump is a good spot for things while decisions are made. You could pull all the rock from the FOWLR, move the clarkii to quarantine (or a bucket with some of that rock, a heater and water movement) for a week, re-arrange all the rocks, even replace some rocks, then put george in the FOWLR and reintroduce the clarkii on day 7; the clown shouldn't have much behavioral affiliation to where she is after that.

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Snow_Phoenix
38 minutes ago, Wonderboy said:

Sorry to hear about all the tissue loss - hopefully a lot comes back. The sump is a good spot for things while decisions are made. You could pull all the rock from the FOWLR, move the clarkii to quarantine (or a bucket with some of that rock, a heater and water movement) for a week, re-arrange all the rocks, even replace some rocks, then put george in the FOWLR and reintroduce the clarkii on day 7; the clown shouldn't have much behavioral affiliation to where she is after that.

I think the Blasto has a chance of returning because the base of the coral still has flesh on it, and there's still one super-tiny head left. As for the RFA, it's toast - I tried to save it in the Pico but couldn't. :tears:

 

The Pink Zoas are completely gone as well. He did take a few pecks out of my Utter Chaos polyps, but the polyps held strong. There's only a mild crease in one of the skirts - I think the coral should recover in time. My GSPs have lost a few polyps but the mat is still existing (thankfully!). The other corals remain untouched and are doing well.

 

I was actually planning on giving the 10G FOWLR a rehaul of sorts - changing out the sand, swapping the rocks around a little etc etc. but never got to it. My Clarkii is pushing 3 this year and is a lunatic. I had to rehome my Falco because she decided he'd make a nice snack one morning, and took a chunk from his tail. So I'm very apprehensive of putting her with anything, even if I remove her, change the aquascape and re-add her. She's simply too territorial and too aggressive. George is super-passive - he'd probably get killed within the first hour of them together. 😞

 

 

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Snow_Phoenix

George in the sump last night:

 

He took down a fairly large aiptasia on my motor pump, and some time over the night decided to swim over my baffles and into the fuge compartment. He's still there, now checking over the rocks for more aiptasia and sponges to feast on. His color has dulled somewhat to mimic his surroundings, but he's otherwise doing fine. Sorry over the blurry pic - but the glass of the sump is filthy and I haven't cleaned it yet this week.

 

Crabcake also underwent her first molt in the tank yesterday - it happened relatively quickly and she regrew one of her lost legs and her lost claw:

 

Big boy Thanos was watching over the tank this morning - he's a solid 6", steadily pushing for more:

 

Both my starfish are doing fine. Here's Lola, pasted against the glass. I stopped target-feeding them this week and now broadcast feed the tank some shrimp juice (with tiny chunks of shrimp) every once in a while. Also broadcast feed a mix of Zooplankton, Reefroids, mysis, brine, bloodworm, cyclops, live Tisbe pods and crab roe:

 

 

And lastly, here's my little monster, Goblin, having fun in the frogspawn:

 

 

:happy:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Snow_Phoenix
36 minutes ago, ef4life said:

Nice video of goblin, I’m jealous I never get to see my gcg in my tank, he just hides in my candy canes and never comes out.

Get him a nice, 'fluffy' LPS. I noticed mine started popping up only when I added corals with tentacles in my tank. 😉

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Snow_Phoenix

Sideshot of the tank yesterday from my bed (zoomed in):

 

Thanos striking the same pose, day after day without fail:

 

Henri today evening:

 

Gary still being Gary:

 

:ninja:

 

 

 

 

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Snow_Phoenix

Morning everyone!

 

So after I removed George, I noticed my Symphyllias have returned to their usual puffy selves. I have a hunch my filefish might have been nipping at them while I wasn't looking, and although he didn't kill them, he probably irritated the corals enough for them to thin out.

 

Here are my symphyllias this morning:

 

My Red Lobo, which was honestly quite skeletal and near death's door after Jerk the Hermit bugged it, is slowly regaining its flesh back. I think given time, it should return to its usual puffy-self as well:

 

 

My green hammer colony is also doing well - the flesh is actually creeping down the base, so it *might even fuse with the rock it's anchored to in the far future:

 

And of course, my UCs are growing at a snail's pace. 🙄

 

And here's Tac and Miu, out for an early morning swim around the tank: :happy:

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Snow_Phoenix

More pics of Gary, Lola and Thanos today:

 

IMG_20190711_165841_080.thumb.jpg.132ef7cdb0d915fa7f49cb8f96bdf591.jpg

 

IMG_20190710_130356_187.thumb.jpg.11b83b3c5e510777cdc5373e4a330551.jpg

 

IMG_20190711_165639_788.thumb.jpg.e5adf400852f14d3c12ea9f71a2b3dc6.jpg

 

I am thinking of adding a Cleaner Shrimp to add more color and activity to the tank. Also planning on adding a mini maxi nem (in the far, far future) to cover one of the rocks on the left because it looks a bit bare. I have put down a deposit for an elegance colony, will collect that either this week or the next. 

 

Also, anyone thinks I should add a 3rd symphyllia to the sandbed, on the right? My LFS did have this pretty acid green one - if it is still there, I *might put down a deposit for it. The toss up is actually between the brain and a torch. Still not sure which one would truly thrive in this tank. 🤔

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Snow_Phoenix

I ordered these guys 2 years ago and they finally arrived tonight. Tentatively picking them both up tomorrow if all goes well:

 

20190711_223205.jpg.831dc71c9f637dafa9afa662cf1b5a31.jpg

 

*Might also pick up a YWG and a small wrasse. Depends on whether the stock is healthy/not too sick. 

 

So excited about the brittles though! 😊

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Snow_Phoenix

I picked up something interesting today at the store:

 

20190712_134742.thumb.jpg.69241400169989c9f362250715ef598c.jpg

 

If anyone has kept up with my past nanos, then you will recognize it. I am glad to be able to acquire another one. 😊

 

I also picked up my two brittle stars. Turns out they're actually dark red and pink in color, not black as I'd originally thought:

 

IMG_20190712_173306_569.thumb.jpg.fa8095747ef0472960a284e66788ab40.jpg

 

I also picked up my elegance coral and a small wrasse. With regards to the coral, I still haven't found the best placement for it so it still isn't fully open. 

 

Will upload more pics later. 🤗

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Snow_Phoenix

Some other interesting fish at the store today:

 

1. Whiptail bream juvis:

 

2. A two spot goby pair:

 

IMG_20190712_200001_797.thumb.jpg.9cc450cb3fe594b75db921d502ab6b4e.jpg

 

3. A very beautiful chunky mandy...

 

IMG_20190712_195842_470.thumb.jpg.b70629897b50791438b130f3d7018727.jpg

 

...which is unfortunately loaded with a lot of parasites (I *think). If you zoom in, you can see the dozens of tiny transparent nodules on the body and head. But he is *huge and as thick as a sausage. 😮

 

 

 

 

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Snow_Phoenix

My elegance finally opened up today morning:

 

(Under mild blue early-morning lighting):

 

Quick pic: 😊

 

IMG_20190713_102242_319.thumb.jpg.d103aea995c0a3712856513cc62bbca4.jpg

 

And yes, it is that bright. Under different lighting, it is either a bright yellow or neon green. My guess is that it is caught somewhere between both shades. The tips are purple though, although it cannot be seen clearly here. 

 

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

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