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

[Snow_Phoenix]

Lady had some yummy live guppies for lunch today. 👍

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I spotted a few of the tiny rascals in my refugium. Must have gotten sucked into the overflow and zoomed down the pipes since  they're so tiny. 😅

 

I'm unsure if they can live long enough to breed in my fuge, but I'm curious enough to see if they could, so I'm leaving them in there for now. 👍

[Snow_Phoenix]

I spotted a very tiny baby molly in my fuge when I went to check up on the guppies. 110% sure it was a molly fry because of the fin & body shape, and it looks exactly like the molly fry my fish were eating in the DT a few days back. 😊

 

I'm unsure how many fry are currently living in the fuge. The one I spotted was very well hidden among my macro, and I only saw it because it skimmed the surface for a bit before dipping back down. I noticed it had a full belly though! 😅

 

Must have been snacking on the pods. Not much color to it, just a regular silver hue. 🥰

[Snow_Phoenix]

Got some pics! 😊

 

 

 

 

 

 

I calculated 4 so far, but there might be more. Gosh, they are so adorable! 🥰

 

My first ever batch of SW molly fry. Feeling quite happy. 😊

[Snow_Phoenix]

My LFS brought in 3 new lions yesterday, but I'm still not strong enough to make the trip. 😕

 

 

Have no choice but to let these beauties go to someone else. Perhaps another time, I will have better luck. 

 

They had this amazing purple firefish which would have done well in my nano too. 

 

[seabass]

There will always be more fish available when you're doing better.  I hope you feel better soon.

[Snow_Phoenix]

54 minutes ago, seabass said:

There will always be more fish available when you're doing better.  I hope you feel better soon.

Thank you, Seabass. I told myself the same thing this morning - there will always be more chances to get more fish in the future. Hope you're having a good day. 🌺

[Snow_Phoenix]

Got a closer pic of one the babies in the fuge today. 🥰

 

 

PJ. 😊

 

 

Some of the leathers. 

 

 

 

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

Caulerpa serrulata in my fuge. 🌱

 

 

Also spotted a tiny baby molly swimming about. I noticed it has begun to develop black speckles (very few though!) on its body. Might wind up being a dotted molly like its mum. 👍

 

Its belly was full and bulging. Definitely beneficial to have a fuge full of live pods - I'm not feeding the babies anything. Just watching them grow up naturally. 🥰👍

[Snow_Phoenix]

Still tiny. 

 

 

 

I need to prune my chaeto though. There is some minor die-off. Will tackle that tomorrow. 👍

[Snow_Phoenix]

The leathers are progressing very well. 💦

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

Took a few pics today. The leathers are progressing quite well:

 

 

 

 

 

FTS:

 

 

 

 

Caved in and added my bicolor blenny to this tank. 

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

Enjoying his new algae outcrop. He loves grazing on the rocks. 💦

 

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

 

 

I miss them so much sometimes, that it hurts. Sounds silly, considering that they're just fish (to most people). But I absolutely love dragonets, and still do. 

[Snow_Phoenix]

Apologies for the grainy pics. But this lil' guy is extremely smart and careful enough to stay out of the direct view of Lady the lionfish and Aquilla the pink skunk clown. 

 

 

The lighting makes it look like his lateral lines are showing, but they aren't in real life (triple-checked to be sure). If anything, he's been slowly gaining weight and loves grazing on the algae patches. He also really loves the porous rock piece and keeps popping in and out of different holes. 

 

I think he's faring much better in this tank than my nano, and I'm glad I made the choice to retain and transfer him over. 👍

 

I need to scrape my glass soon. My turban snails are doing a good job though. 

 

 

My birthday is coming up in ~5 days, so I'm planning on dropping by the LFS and reserve a few coral pieces, then pick them after the holiday break. 

 

I *might pick up a fish or two for this tank. Maybe, maybe not. Thinking of a large goby species, and perhaps a new hawk. 

[Snow_Phoenix]

Illaron in 2020. Miss him a lot.

 

 

 

The pics are *not stretched out or distorted in any way, shape or form. He truly was that chunky. I remember when I first got him, he was bordering thin-average in terms of size, then went down to emaciated-thin. It took me 6+ months to wean this particular guy onto prepared, and for that entire 6+ months, I tried everything with limited success. 

 

The amount of food prep. work I did was insane. And I worried for him constantly. Then one day, he just decided to eat, and from then we moved on to thin fish to chunky fish. He was actively spawning and mated with another female scooter that I had named Bella.

 

Looking back, it's crazy how I used to juggle keeping anywhere between 4 to 7 dragonets in this tank all at once. All the failures and successes I had with them. I truly learnt a lot, and until today, I do have great appreciation for all dragonet species. Very beautiful and rewarding fish to keep. 

 

Still miss those ol' days a lot. 

[debbeach13]

Non reef keepers have no idea how much we love our pets. I always enjoyed watching successfully care for your dragonets. 

[Snow_Phoenix]

18 minutes ago, debbeach13 said:

Non reef keepers have no idea how much we love our pets. I always enjoyed watching successfully care for your dragonets. 

Thanks, Deb. I love my marine critters. Even the derpy hermit that knocks over my corals in my nano is treasured. 🦀

 

We (reefers) put a lot of effort in our tanks on a daily basis. Whether it's basic maintenance or simply feeding the fish, the entire hobby is a learning process on its own. Non-reefers see the end results (FTSes of tanks, macro shots of corals etc.) but very few truly know the amount of work and dedication every reefer puts into their setup. 

 

I truly hope that one day, I'll be lucky enough to keep a dragonet again. It is impossible right now due to my lion (and I love Lady dearly), but the little dragons were one of the first fish that dragged me into this hobby. 🥰

[Snow_Phoenix]

One of my tiny saltwater molly babies is growing up very well. I've named him Speckles. 🥰

 

 

 

There were 2 other smaller ones, but I haven't spotted them for a while so I'm unsure if they survived. Owing to their incredibly small sizes, it is impossible to catch them, let alone shift them anywhere. Plus, I think they are safer here. 

 

My pod population is much lower in the fuge, but I have observed the babies grazing on algae strands wrapped around my mangrove stalks. 

 

My sump is long overdue for a clean up. The floss is full of gunk, but there are numerous tiny duster worms, sponges, and tunicates growing on top of it. Removing the floss would destroy the unsightly, yet robust microfauna population I currently have. 

 

And anything involving microfauna removal will indirectly affect the health of the overall system, including the DT. So for now, I'm leaving everything as it is. 👍

 

I have to say, my 60G is far from perfect, but it isn't a...bad tank either. The rocks are still infested with vermetids, but my fish are surprisingly happy and healthy - I guess that's what matters the most to me. Chunky fish swimming well, and eating well. 🤷‍♀️

 

I didn't head down to the store for my birthday 2 days ago. But I'll try to make an effort to get there at least once before the year comes to an end. If not, there's always next year/month to think of. 👍

[seabass]

Happy belated birthday!

 

Have you considered feeding the molly a tiny bit of lightly crushed flake food.  It should float for long enough for to molly to eat it.  I'm thinking something like Ocean Nutrition Formula Two flakes.

[Snow_Phoenix]

1 hour ago, seabass said:

Happy belated birthday!

 

Have you considered feeding the molly a tiny bit of lightly crushed flake food.  It should float for long enough for to molly to eat it.  I'm thinking something like Ocean Nutrition Formula Two flakes.

I have Prime Reef flakes by ON. Is that suitable? They're easily crushed. I think Speckles *might love it. 

[seabass]

Yeah, the molly should eat that.  I only suggested Formula Two for the additional algae content.  Definitely give the Prime Reef a try.  It might not know what it is at first, so it might take several feedings before it accepts it as food.  Don't feed very much until you see it taking the food.  Good luck!

[Snow_Phoenix]

Turns out Speckles isn't alone! He has one buddy with him in the main fuge:

 

 

And 2 more smaller friends in the second fuge section, where the pump is. 

 

 

 

 

The 3 largest mollies of the group ignored both the 0.5mm NLS pellets and crushed prime reef flakes. The tiniest guy was actually trying to stuffing himself - but his mouth is still too small. 😅

 

I'm not too worried if they are not ready to accept prepared yet because there is enough algae in all 4 compartments of the sump to sustain them. Plus, if they have made it this far without my direct intervention, and are showing signs of growth, then I think they should be alright on their own (for now). 

 

No plans to shift them. I enjoy seeing them develop and grow. It's been a long time since I've raised any sort of fry. This feels...nice, for a change. 🌺

[seabass]

That's really neat that you found a number of babies living in your sump.

 

If the crushed flake is still too big, you can put it on a paper plate and smash it with the back of a spoon will make it super small.  I'd see if they are willing to accept this pulverized flake food.

 

Again, don't feed very much as you don't want to pollute the water.  Plus, like you said, there is some food in the fuge for them to eat (like pods and algae).  Eventually, they'll probably outgrow their food source and will likely need supplemental feeding.

[Snow_Phoenix]

7 minutes ago, seabass said:

That's really neat that you found a number of babies living in your sump.

 

If the crushed flake is still too big, you can put it on a paper plate and smash it with the back of a spoon will make it super small.  I'd see if they are willing to accept this pulverized flake food.

 

Again, don't feed very much as you don't want to pollute the water.  Plus, like you said, there is some food in the fuge for them to eat (like pods and algae).  Eventually, they'll probably outgrow their food source and will likely need supplemental feeding.

I crushed it to extremely tiny fragments - one way is to roll a flake around between two fingers and it 'crumbles' to almost dust-like form. Another way is to tap the lid of the container against the sump/flat of your palm and the tiny fragments stuck to the inside of the lid will just shake off and drop into the water (I did this today). 

 

There might be more babies - the sump is very cluttered and messy. It's very easy for a tiny fry to stay hidden in there. I don't think I have more than 5 babies in the sump though!

[Snow_Phoenix]

Just rescued a brand new fry from the DT and shifted him to my fuge already. 👍

 

 

^This is a small plastic mug btw. So yeah, that's how tiny this lil' guy is. I was lucky - when I was busy scraping the glass just now, it dislodged a lot of algae flakes and crud, and most likely spooked this fry out of his hiding place. 

 

He was swimming right below the waterline, and appeared disorientated, so it was easy to scoop him out with the mug. I'm not sure if any other fry survived. Most likely not, because they do get eaten rather quickly by the other fish.