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


Snow_Phoenix

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So I was reading Aquarium Corals yesterday, and read that Saron shrimp are notorious for eating corals. With that beautiful picture of yours posted, I thought of you. Have you had any issues? Your shrimp is so pretty. 

 

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Snow_Phoenix
12 hours ago, ValerieR said:

So I was reading Aquarium Corals yesterday, and read that Saron shrimp are notorious for eating corals. With that beautiful picture of yours posted, I thought of you. Have you had any issues? Your shrimp is so pretty. 

 

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I've owned two types of Saron before, on and off for many years. Saron marmoratus, BME, has been reefsafe with almost everything (except certain types of macro - mine eats Chaeto sometimes) - softies, shrooms, zoas, LPS, SPS, anemones, duster worms and other inverts/fish/livestock. They're mostly scavengers and I've seen mine scavenging the sandbed for pellets or frozen food whenever I feed my tank. Sometimes, I will target feed him, but he can move lightning quick when he sees the baster coming, so I learnt it's best to just baste in the general direction of the rock he's hiding behind, and wait until he eats.

 

There's a second type of Saron I owned which wasn't reefsafe with duster worms. It was called Saron recticostris, if I'm not mistaken. It has a thick, beige body with dark purple legs. Twice, I've owned this shrimp, and in both occassions it didn't ship well and went after my duster worms, despite me trying to target feed it. 

 

The Saron in the pic. you showed doesn't quite look like the Saron I have based on the shape or even coloring. It could be a variation of the S. marmoratus, but not the one I have, or have seen sold in the stores here. Our Sarons are from the Indo-Pacific/Indo-Malaya region (local). They can alternate between green and red (or both) during night time as camoflage. Also, these shrimp don't stay under 2" as listed online. I've seen a specimen that was around 6" excluding claws (with claws, it was around 10" to 12" in total), and mine is already 3". They're quite hardy once they are established in an aquarium, and I *think if given proper care, they can exceed 2+ years in aquaria (I've had mine for around ~1 year already through 3 tank moves). The only thing that offs them is a bad molt or another predator in the tank. 

Pics of mine:

Front-view:

 

Side-view (natural tone - brown/white): (*Note the slightly 'leaner' build than the Saron advertised in Aquarium Corals):

 


Camo-mode (total green):

 

 

If you ever plan on getting one, just make sure you know which Saron it is. 🙂 

 

 

 

 

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Snow_Phoenix

Took a trip to the store today. They had a lot of amazing animals from a fresh shipment - I ended up picking up 3x Zebra dartfish at mature size and a yellow watchman goby (my first YWG!).

 

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All four fish is currently in a QT bin with 3 lids on top of it for good measure. The watchman is tiny in comparison to the darts, and is currently hiding. The zebras are out swimming in the open atm. Also, something unique which I nearly picked up, but didn't because all specimens turned out to be 7" to 8":

 

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Pic credit to my LFS Manager, Jeff. 

 

This came in labeled as a 'Blue Spot Watchman Goby'. This is the first time I am actually seeing one in RL. Their jaws are huge! It is why I opted for the tiny YWG because I am pretty sure this guy would have had my tangaroa for lunch. 

 

I am 50/50 on picking up a Coral Beauty for my reef. I will see how these latest additions go, before finalizing my decision. 

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Snow_Phoenix

I have some bad news. My mother called me while I was still asleep and told me one of the fish had jumped out. Rushed downstairs and found one of the darts at the threshold of the library, a good six (?) feet away from the QT bin. 😱

 

He was already dead. Wet, but definitely toast. 😓

 

Oddest thing is that I have 3 lids on the bin, with an old LED light with metal bracings acting as a lid weight. There was a small gap by the filter intake but I plugged it with a wad of rolled tissue, which had not been dislodged.

 

I did have 1 particular fish out of the 3 that was super skittish and extra jumpy since day one. My guess is this is him. 😔

 

I'm now down to 2 darts and a YWG. I think I will add something else on the lid to weigh it down further.

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I lost a betta (of all things) that way. I ended up turning off the tank and room lights and using a flashlight from above to find a hole I hadn't considered. 

 

Sorry you lost a fish.

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Snow_Phoenix
24 minutes ago, ValerieR said:

I lost a betta (of all things) that way. I ended up turning off the tank and room lights and using a flashlight from above to find a hole I hadn't considered. 

 

Sorry you lost a fish.

I wish I had woken up sooner, but I was under sedation the whole night. So usually I'm quite fast asleep/knocked out for a good 10+ hours or so everyday. My mother was the one who found him on the floor - and that was only because she opened the door to clean the room. :tears:

 

I saw the other two dartfish and my YWG up and about though, and they seem fine so far. (thankfully!)

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Snow_Phoenix

Brought home three new additions today from the store:

 

Double sea star:

 

 

 

Giant dual-toned brain coral:

 

Giant green frogspawn colony:

 

I have my eyes set on a purple-tip elegance at the store, as well as a smaller golden torch frag. But I'll observe how these additions fare in the tank first. The sea star has been at the store for ~5 weeks now, and was quite healthy. Was originally booked by a different customer, but he never came to collect it, so it was passed along to me.

 

As for the frogspawn, I had my eye on it for a while, but I put down a deposit for the brain coral last week. Today I thought I might as well pick them both up, since I don't think I'll be purchasing any colonies for the next ~2+ weeks or so. Tank is filling in steadily and I like the LPS a lot. So much motion. 

 

 

 

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Snow_Phoenix
26 minutes ago, kimdawg said:

Great purchases!  I love the sea star, I haven't seen anything like that before.  Will it survive long term in an aquarium.

Good gosh, I hope so! I fed him a tiny piece of shrimp yesterday and he digested it. Will feed him twice a week and observe him. He's stationary for the most part.

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Snow_Phoenix

Stretchhhhh! 😆

 

 

Thanos in his kingdom of coral and minions.

 

Big enough, or should we go bigger? It *almost reaches half the length of my tank when fully expanded. Today it is even 'fluffier' than what was captured in this pic (~10"). 😮

 

Fed some chopped shrimp to my symphyllias yesterday:

 

 

 

Managed to get a decent shot of Nero & Sushi playing in the flow:

 

And here is Goblin sneaking around. 😊

 

Last WC was performed ~4.5 weeks ago. I have been constantly falling ill (three times in a month! 😓) so all I did was scrape the glass, baste the rocks, stir the sandbed, top-off with dechlorinated tap and dose dKH & Calcium every other day. I am determined to get a WC done some time this week though. My sump is full of crud and the floss needs to be changed very badly. 

 

So I am thinking of vacuuming the sump (for the most part), then siphoning water from the DT directly. Still waiting to get a little stronger. 

 

I daren't test my NO3 or PO4. Pretty sure those two are off the roof. But the LPS and softies seem to enjoy the extra nutrients. SPS is so-so. Only my zoas are kicking up a fuss - they're growing at a superslow rate (probably due to lack of WCs). 🐌

 

Will keep monitoring the tank though. My zebra dart pair and YWG should be added to the main DT in a few days. Just hope Thanos won't give the darts any issues and vice versa, because all three of them are almost the same shape and size.

 

 

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Snow_Phoenix

Hello! 

 

Have some interesting updates today. First off, this morning I transferred both my zebra darts (I've named them Tic & Tac - I was originally planning on naming the third one 'Toe' but since he jumped, eh), and my YWG (Grumps!) into the DT. The transfers went very well - acclimation was only 10 mins, and the darts are already eating. The YWG is has made a home behind my largest symphyllia, which is good, because it doesn't clash with my tangaroa's territory.

 

Here are some pics & a vid of them:

 

 

And today I went to the store to pick up my filefish. I did order a filefish about 1+ month ago because I had an aiptasia problem. The aiptasia wasn't resolved - or rather I can't zap the bugger because it's right next to my RBTA and making my nem close up. So between this and the copperband, I went for the filefish. And gosh, this guy is adorable - he looks exactly like a leaf and he's a nice, unique shade of green too. Currently at 2" and in my QT:

 

As for the other tank denizens, they're doing well - here are some random shots of everyone here and there:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And here is my oldest hermit - he's well past a year old, and has been through a total of 3 tank moves:

 

 

 

 

And this is my leather colony, which has made a very good recovery from being ripped - it now has new polyps and new 'fingers':

 

 

 

And lastly, here is Goblin and his new favorite coral: 

 

 

 

 

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Snow_Phoenix
13 minutes ago, Wonderboy said:

Stunning shots! I really like that hammer. Goblin is too cool; I need one of those guys  :]

Thank you! Btw, sorry if the post took too long too load - I think I need to post fewer pics, or a shorter train of messages so that it becomes more viewable/readable. 🤔

 

Goblin is awesome! I have been having a continuous string of bad luck whenever I try out a YCG, but so far my GCG is quite steady. He's bigger now too, so he's much, much easier to feed than when I first bought him. Get one! You won't regret it. 🙂 

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Snow_Phoenix

Hola! Meet my #2 starfish - a new 2" (from tip-to-tip) double sea star named Lola:

 

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And my five-legged, one-clawed store-reject porcelain nem crab, Crabcake:

 

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The sea star was a surprising arrival at a second LFS that I visit from time to time - the same LFS that I bought my darts and YWG from. It is from a completely different shipment that came in with an African-Red Sea shipment mix around midnight yesterday. There were only 3 specimens and all 3 had this unique cream-orange coloring. Iconaster stars usually never arrive, even after being ordered, so this was something unusual. 

 

Since the starfish is very small, I decided I might as well take a chance and bring one home to accompany my larger double sea star. Online sources indicate they aren't predatory towards their own species, and can tolerate each other if there is enough room and rockwork.

 

As for the crab, it was a store reject at a discount because it had lost some limbs. But it appeared healthy enough otherwise, so I bought it to pair up with my RBTA. Of course, the crab being a crab, scuttled off and nosedived into my frogspawn instead. 🙄

 

It is now hanging upside down the coral, and thanks to its earlier antics of 'sinking' into the frogspawn, it irritated the coral enough so that it is less 'fluffier' than before. Pfft.

 

Anyhow, I checked up on the filefish in QT and it is doing ok. Exploring every inch of the bin. I dropped 3 drops of PraziGold (half dose) into the QT last night. Next week, if all goes well, I will move the filefish out into the DT. 

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Snow_Phoenix

I just wanted to update very quickly before heading off to bed - I just found my GBCS eating the remains of my YWG. The goby was missing since today morning, but he hid behind my largest symphyllia, so I assumed he had began to establish a territory there.

 

Ok, the goby being dead isn't my biggest issue. It's what I noticed on him - he had a very, very large *tear (as in a whole chunk) missing from his abdominal cavity. My shrimp was mostly holding his dead body and trying to pick at his face - I assume that he was cleaning up, but didn't do the actual killing.

 

Here's the scary part. My GBCS hangs out at the back corner of my tank, where it is dark, shadowy, and in order to film him, I usually need to switch on the 'flash' or 'torch' for my phone. When I turned on the 'torch' mode of my phone to see what he was holding up and eating (at this point, I didn't know it was my YWG), he panicked and dropped the dead fish. I noted the wound on the fish but the moment the fish hit the sandbed (shrimp was perched upside down on a LR overhang), SOMETHING grabbed the goby's body very quickly towards the back of the tank, way behind the rocks and out of sight. As in lightning-quick:scarry:

 

I nearly dropped my phone because I wasn't expecting it. I immediately did a headcount on my *known CUC - 1 brown legged hermit checking out new porcelain nem crab, check, Saron Shrimp on the opposite end of the tank in camo-mode, check, GBCS still hanging upside-down and having a WTF moment, check, two starfish up front the glass at the front of the tank, check, 4 various algae-eating snails at various places etc etc.

 

There is NO known CUC that I have that could have done that (grabbing the goby like that). It was terrifying, because for a single moment I genuinely thought I had a mantis in the tank (very unlikely, because most of my rock started of dry, the only mature LR pieces were pullovers from my previous tank - if there was a predator in them, I would have noticed months ago). Plus there are no 'clicks', just the odd 'pop' from my Pistol once in a while.

 

I later found the abandoned corpse of the goby at the other end of the tank, and it was more 'eaten' than before. I couldn't pull the body out because it's way back in the tank, under one of the main rock arches that holds some coral pieces. (Basically, I'll have to dismantle my scape to pull out a half-eaten fish). 

 

This *thing - whatever it is, I have a feeling it lurks close to the sandbed, and comes from the back rock. I suspect a hitchiker eunicid or bristleworm of large size, but I have not yet seen it to confirm.

 

I also came to the conclusion that my YCGs *might have been eaten this way, by this mystery critter. 

 

Do any of you know of any predatory hitchikers that can eat fish like this and move with lightning-quick speed? I'm quite worried now. I have a tangaroa who has survived so far, but only because he hides a lot and only ventures out for food only during feedings. I also have two large darts now which retire to some super-secret crevice every night. I don't think they can be taken down very easily because they're as long as Thanos, but I'm now worried for every other small fish I have in that tank, including Goblin (GCG) and Miu (pink streaked wrasse). 

 

I'll try to scope out the tank using a red light tomorrow night to see if I can see anything. If it's a Eunicid of some sort, this isn't my first battle with them. But eradicating one from a system like this will be very difficult, because I haven't figured out where exactly it came from - I only have a vague idea. 

 

(At this point, I'm hoping it's not a Bobbit worm either - those things are nasty)

 

Sigh. Just when things were going on nicely too. :sad:

 

 

 

 

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Great photo updates 👍 I really like all your fish choices too. Hopefully you figure out this fish predator quickly and don’t lose anymore.

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Snow_Phoenix
12 minutes ago, ef4life said:

Great photo updates 👍 I really like all your fish choices too. Hopefully you figure out this fish predator quickly and don’t lose anymore.

Thank you. I will look into it further in the morning. Hopefully it is something that can be eradicated quickly.

 

(Sorry for the skewed/delayed responses - am half-asleep) 

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Snow_Phoenix
10 hours ago, Tamberav said:

My pest crab could move surprisingly fast. Hope you find it. I had to chisel apart my rock to get Jerry out.

Hopefully there won't be any chiseling involved - my rocks are thick and heavy. It will be difficult to break them open. 😓

 

I will still try to find it though, whatever 'it' is. 

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

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