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

[Snow_Phoenix]

1 hour ago, A.m.P said:

hopefully not a sign that supply chain weaknesses are causing people to fall back on shady collectors.

 

I think some stores are actually resorting to this - the shady collection bit. Prices are hiking up everywhere. My secondary LFS just posted about a shipment of TSBs today. It's 2.5x the normal price, which is very expensive for a tiny nanofish which usually arrives skinny, does not eat at the store, and is most likely exposed to all sorts of diseases at the store itself. I hate to say it, but fish-wise, the hobby is a total mess. I love, love fish, but if prices keep increasing this way, I'll probably stick to simple, cheap, beginner-level corals. I do already have a foxface in the tank, and she's actually quite happy in there. And she does add a splash of motion and color on her own.

 

1 minute ago, Pjanssen said:

Definitely. I lost 3 fish, added at different times, and honestly assumed it was my fault. But now I have a coral beauty that has been thriving for a couple of months now so I wonder if the other fish were actually healthy to begin with. Prices are higher to, as everything else in the world.

Yeah, I noticed something...off with the quality of fish at the stores. My primary LFS doesn't cave in easily to demands and doesn't deal with shady collectors, so their fish supply is very tight and limited, as compared to other stores. But I have to admit that some of the fish in their store are definitely smaller and thinner than usual - they used to pull in fat, 5" lawnmower blennies for sale, and now only manage to get in 2" ones which are paper-thin. Even my worker-friend admitted the fish was thin. 

 

It's a tough situation either way. I think that's why my store is now focusing more on corals (colonies & frags) as opposed to fish. At least the coral supply is quite steady, but they do have their own farm, so there's pretty much a large variety available (not open to the public, though). 

 

Given how expensive fish are right now, I calculated and realized I lost a lot of money since Jan. on fish purchases alone. I was quite depressed thinking about it - because a lot of those finances could have been funneled towards the welfare of my other animals at home. 😞 

 

So I think I'll be even more hyper-selective from now on when it comes to buying fish. If I can get that rare, healthy fish like the cardinal at the store (which is essentially a gold nugget), I'll grab it. But if the fish isn't healthy enough, I have to pass, even though I want it really badly (like a dragonet). No choice but gotta be super-picky - my budget is tighter than ever, and I'm pretty sure prices aren't going to come down, and the quality of the fish being pulled in isn't going to magically get better either. 

[Tamberav]

Fish are definitely worse... I have seen the venders on humble fish have to completely reset and bleach their systems due to uronema. They had to ID the deaths using a microscope to see the infection. 

 

Also even if you get a very skinny fish eating, it may be too late. Starvation damages organs. 

[Snow_Phoenix]

2 minutes ago, Tamberav said:

Starvation damages organs. 

Yes. Usually it's the point of no return for most critters. If you could see my blenny now, you'd cry. His head is prominent. His body is almost two-dimensional. Not a single ounce of fat on him. 😢

 

At least the cardinal appears thicker (not chunky, but slightly above average). 

[Snow_Phoenix]

It's 35 mins from 1am on my end. 'Nite'/Mornin', guys! See you all later. 🌺

[A.m.P]

5 hours ago, Tamberav said:

Fish are definitely worse... I have seen the venders on humble fish have to completely reset and bleach their systems due to uronema. They had to ID the deaths using a microscope to see the infection. 

And here I am looking to add more livestock too, Humblefish vendors struggling in nightmare scenarios isn't a great sign... Could be why I haven't heard back from TSM or some of the smaller QT'd vendors...

[Snow_Phoenix]

Next bin prepped & ready for the next TTM soon. Haven't checked on the fish yet. Hopefully they're both okay. 

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

Pre-TTM:

 

 

 

^You can see how thin & pinched the blenny is. Was quite amazed to still find him alive today. 

 

Post-TTM:

 

 

 

 

 

The cardinal immediately set out to explore the new bin. The blenny quickly sought refuge in the pipe, but he'll probably shift over to one of the plants later. 

 

There was a white clump in the bottom of the previous bin as I cleaned it out - possibly expelled dead worms. The next TTM session will include a second peroxide bath beforehand. 

 

I'll try to drop in a few pellets and some pods later - hoping the cardinal will eat, at least. 

[Snow_Phoenix]

I managed to purchase a 4kg bucket of IO online - should arrive in a few days. Feeling quite stressed lately. Only 2x more rounds of TTM for this batch, luckily.

 

I need some time to rest (both physically & mentally) before I can do another round of hybrid-TTM with new fish. It's going to be hard to resist dropping by any of the LFSes to pick up more fish to QT, but I think my health & sanity overrides everything else at this point. 

 

Also, hybrid-TTM is not only time-consuming, but quite expensive. I've almost depleted my reserve of Fritz - that salt is meant to last throughout the year, and now I'm left with slightly less than half of the original 25kg. Definitely not good. 😞

 

IO might be cheaper, but given how my finances are super rocky at the moment, I really need to stick to a tighter budget. Not to cut corners, but simply be more frugal with what I already have. 

[Snow_Phoenix]

Baited Shrimpy with some pellets and he popped right out of his shadowy sanctum. 👀

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

He's very shy, so it's difficult to get a clear shot of him. 

 

(Also, can you spot the 🦀 in the background? 😅 )

 

And the two new shrooms are doing well, although the orange rhodactis appears to be more comfortable in its new home, as compared to the ultra green one:

 

[Tamberav]

16 hours ago, A.m.P said:

And here I am looking to add more livestock too, Humblefish vendors struggling in nightmare scenarios isn't a great sign... Could be why I haven't heard back from TSM or some of the smaller QT'd vendors...

TSM is back as of yesterday but ya… one was talking how some fish had internal uronema that you can’t visibly see anything but it effects their organs including their brain and they act like zombies just floating around. 

[Tamberav]

3 hours ago, Snow_Phoenix said:

Baited Shrimpy with some pellets and he popped right out of his shadowy sanctum. 👀

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

He's very shy, so it's difficult to get a clear shot of him. 

 

(Also, can you spot the 🦀 in the background? 😅 )

 

And the two new shrooms are doing well, although the orange rhodactis appears to be more comfortable in its new home, as compared to the ultra green one:

 

It still shocks me how your corals don’t murder each other. All mine do is constantly try to kill other stuff nearby. 
 

LPS be sweeping and shrooms would be fighting if it was my tank. 

[Snow_Phoenix]

35 minutes ago, Tamberav said:

It still shocks me how your corals don’t murder each other. All mine do is constantly try to kill other stuff nearby. 
 

LPS be sweeping and shrooms would be fighting if it was my tank. 

They do fight on occassion - even now, my john deere leptastrea is literally bullying my meteor shower cyphastrea into non-existence. 😕

 

I trim my corals a lot, actually. And for some frags, sitting side-by-side slows down each other's growth, so they don't fight, per say, but they definitely compete for space. 😅

[Snow_Phoenix]

Both the blenny and cardinal are still alive in QT. But they're still not eating. 😕

 

At least Foxy the foxface is doing well in the DT. Still has a strong appetite. 👍

 

Kenya tree's branches have grown longer. Xenia appears to be growing out a little as well. 

 

I'm thinking of sticking GSP to the back wall, but I'm not sure if it'll grow out successfully. Figured it might be worth a shot. 🤷‍♀️

[debbeach13]

Geez I hope the fish eat something soon. Your working so hard to get them healthy. GSP on the back wall sounds nice.

[seabass]

I've had cardinalfish which only ate thawed frozen mysis shrimp.  If you aren't trying to feed mysis, give it a try.

[Snow_Phoenix]

15 minutes ago, seabass said:

I've had cardinalfish which only ate thawed frozen mysis shrimp.  If you aren't trying to feed mysis, give it a try.

I tried the other day, but it still refused to eat. I will try again tomorrow - I'm actually trying out various things. Thinking of picking up some live rotifers and pods again from my LFS, but I'm a little bit down on cash atm, so I'm refraining for now. Hopefully it'll find something that it likes - I have pods, mysis, phyto, rotifers, brine (all frozen) and pellets on hand. 

 

I have a BBS hatchery kit - problem is, I misplaced the BBS eggs. 😞

 

I remember vaguely keeping the container in the cupboard, but I checked twice and couldn't find it. Hopefully I didn't accidently throw it out somehow. 😕 

[debbeach13]

I hope you can find the eggs. I don't think I have ever had a fish that didn't eat newly hatched baby brine shrimp.

[Snow_Phoenix]

12 minutes ago, debbeach13 said:

I hope you can find the eggs. I don't think I have ever had a fish that didn't eat newly hatched baby brine shrimp.

Yeah, fish usually can't turn down BBS. I'll look again tomorrow. Quite exhausted. Spent 3+ hours thoroughly cleaning up my discus tank. Found a dragonfly larvae in my filter, which would explain why all my cherry barbs started to go missing lately (these larvae prey on small fish). Also found a tiny baby fish, but I think it was from one of the mollies. Tried my best to catch it, but couldn't because it was too small. Then I accidently sucked up one of my golden barbs through my gravel vac. It went straight down my drain pipe. After ~1 hour of trying, I managed to fish it out using a super-small net, but it was already dying. 😕

 

At least the tank is clean, but I'm drop dead died. Hope the baby molly survived somehow though. 

[debbeach13]

That stinks. Go sit down and it your feet up.

[Snow_Phoenix]

1 hour ago, debbeach13 said:

That stinks. Go sit down and it your feet up.

It's actually a little past midnight - so I'm going to sleep. Was supposed to WC the nanoreef tomorrow, but I just feel like taking the day off and not doing anything pet-related for a change. 

[Snow_Phoenix]

I took these pics just now - both my lights are currently scheduled with heavy whites at this hour, so the coral colors do look a bit off and there's an odd yellowish (?) hue to the rocks. Sorry! 😕

 

Anyway, here's the kenya tree: 

 

 

 

And the old clam shell has this amazing duster worm (and aiptasia!  ) on it:

 

 

I initially thought I was having cyano patches on the rocks, but these bits actually turned out to be coralline, which is amazing: 😊

 

 

Also, I managed to frag a few basic corals while I was WCing my nano today, and glued them to various places in this tank! 

[Snow_Phoenix]

Here's some newly added orange clove polyps which are still slowly opening up:

 

 

And I removed the brown paly frag (was very careful) from the rocks, although I did leave a few stray polyps behind. Instead, I glued one of my fragged green starburst implosion palys a few inches away from the brown ones:

 

 

And I also added a small clump of metallic GSP, although I'm unsure if it'd grow out or melt away:

 

 

There is another coral that I tentatively added, but I personally give it a 50/50 chance of survival. I had to snip off a few chunks of my John Deere leptastrea in my nano because it was encroaching on my Sunny Ds. It was quite difficult to trim off the coral, but two small intact chunks did come off. 

 

Instead of binning it, I decided to simply stick it to an isolate rock on top of my main ledge rock in the center of the tank:

 

 

If it does manage to survive and encrust on the rock, then I suppose it'll look beautiful. But if it doesn't, no biggie. 🤷‍♀️

 

The chunks are not in good shape at all to begin with. Either way, I'm happy I was able to add new corals to this tank from my own collection - it certainly helped me save a few bucks. 😊

 

I won't be fragging my weeping willow in the nano though. It's doing quite well, and best to leave it alone. I'll try to get a separate weeping willow from the store the next time I drop by. And also keep an eye out for other softy frags (yep, I'm going the softy route, with a *few LPS pieces in the mix). 👍

[Snow_Phoenix]

I took some topview pics through the orange filter lens of some coral-viewing glasses. My lights were running on heavy blues, so the usual yellow lens couldn't neutralize the colors. The orange lens cast all of my LR in a deeper shade of red (?) though, but the true coral colors were unaffected - phew! 

 

Anyhow, the new paly is fully open:

 

 

GSP is partially open:

 

 

Leptastrea is partially retracted:

 

 

 

 

And the clove polyps are now fully open: 

 

 

Hopefully all of these pieces will slowly grow out over time. 👍

[Snow_Phoenix]

These shots are slightly blurry because I had to zoom in a fair bit, but here's the kenya tree and xenia from above:

 

 

 

One of the xenia polyps pulsed very, very slowly when the pumps were off for feeding. 🥰

[Snow_Phoenix]

Forgot to mention - this finally arrived today. QTs should be less costly from now on. 😊👍

 

 

But I think one bucket will be enough to for 1 full hybrid-TTM round (~2 weeks). In any case, I can now save my Fritz salt for my reeftanks. I only have around 10kg left, so I'll have to be frugal too.