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


Snow_Phoenix

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Snow_Phoenix
1 hour ago, Xj reefing said:

Just wondering why freshwater is important for them?

I believe they drink freshwater. In the wild, it does rain a lot and the tidepools will be filled with FW for a while before the tide comes in. 🤔

 

Honestly, there's nil info about keeping mangrove/tidepool hermits (Diogenes sp.) in captivity. From the very limited info I could glean online through a few super-short articles from Msia/Singapore, the Diogenes group is highly variable, but these tiny shoreline ones don't hit beyond 1cm (usually). 

 

Several of the specimens I collected are super tiny at ~0.5cm and some are slightly larger at up to ~1.5cm. They do need fine sand to molt in properly or they'll die. 

 

They're also filter feeders, but some sources cited they *might be scavengers (?). 

 

I'm actually going about this on super-limited info, so I'm trying to emulate their natural habitat in a confined space. 

 

I'll keep on-and-off updates about this tank here. 👍

 

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Snow_Phoenix

The tiny filter for the tidepool tank has finally arrived! :happy:

 

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However, the adaptor section is a bit loose, so I'll need to find a new adaptor:

 

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I also cannot place this filter directly on the deep end of the sandbed because the intake is at the bottom. I'm pretty sure it will suck up some sand, get clogged and the motor will overheat (like the previous pump). 

 

So I'm thinking of either placing this on a piece of styrafoam/plastic so that it will not be in direct contact with the sandbed. I suppose I could push the sand to a small corner (on the deep end), then barricade it a little using tiny pebbles, shells etc. Eh, I'll think of something. 🤔

 

I can't add the filter now because it's too dark outside (around ~8.37pm). Plus, I don't want to disturb the crabs or spook any of my FW fish. 👍

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Snow_Phoenix
2 minutes ago, Ratvan said:

How about placing the pump ontop of some matala mat/thick filter pad? That way you can protect the pump from getting clogged with sand?

That's a very, very good idea!!! Thanks a ton, Matt. I do have a super-thick filter pad - I can actually use filter floss too (just need to double-layer it), and replace the floss every time I clean out the filter weekly. :happy:

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Snow_Phoenix

Lady shed a bit of her cuticle today. It's basically like an outer layer of mucous. 😊

 

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The breeder box's rubber suckers keep detaching from the glass, so I wedged the box between my LR and glass - hence the awkward positioning of the box as a whole. 

 

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Also managed to properly isolate the remaining fish and shrimp feeders into another breeder box in my discus tank:

 

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The snack bar will reopen tomorrow. 😊👍

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1 minute ago, Snow_Phoenix said:

Lady shed a bit of her cuticle today. It's basically like an outer layer of mucous. 😊

 

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The breeder box's rubber suckers keep detaching from the glass, so I wedged the box between my LR and glass - hence the awkward positioning of the box as a whole. 

 

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Also managed to properly isolate the remaining fish and shrimp feeders into another breeder box in my discus tank:

 

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The snack bar will reopen tomorrow. 😊👍

Oh wow Lady's first shed that's pretty exciting. I like the look of the snack bar, I need to restock mine again in a couple of weeks 

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Snow_Phoenix

Thanks to @Ratvan's insight, I decided to use a biofilter mat under the mini filter for the tidepool tank to prevent the intakes from being clogged up by sand:

 

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I decided to double the layer as a precaution, then strapped the mat to the filter using rubber bands to prevent the crabs from accidently dislodging it:

 

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Then I shifted the sand pile to one corner in the deep end and placed the filter + mats in the water:

 

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Tested it out, and it was working fine! 🥰

 

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Snow_Phoenix

The tide effect in the tank isn't too strong and ideal for a setup this size. Immediately I had a bunch of crabs run up to the filter mat to investigate:

 

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And of course, there's that *one crab busy chillin' next to the waterflow. 😅

 

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I added 4 more empty shells to this tank today because another crab molted and was running around the sand naked. Gave the lil' dude a small shell (because he ditched his old one, and apparently couldn't find it) and he settled into it quickly. 

 

These guys may be tiny, but they are very interesting to watch. 🥰

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Snow_Phoenix
9 minutes ago, Ratvan said:

Oh wow Lady's first shed that's pretty exciting. I like the look of the snack bar, I need to restock mine again in a couple of weeks 

It's her second actually! Her first shed happened during QT, after her first peroxide bath. :happy:

It was very quick too! At first I was worried that she was sloughing off her mucous coat as a stress response, but some quick reading on lions reassured me that's it's fairly normal for their species. 

Most of my feeders didn't survive for some reason. 😞

 

I think it was because the discus tank had terrible water quality due to the clogged filter. It took me 4 hours to unclog the filter and literally overhaul, clean and 90% WC everything today. The tank is finally clean and the water is pristine. I noticed the remaining feeders became more active too. A few of the tiny guppies/shrimp did escape in the DT, but I managed to net them and toss them back into the box. I only spared one guppy which had a unique snakeskin pattern - he's in the major DT with all my other fish. Also spared a few oversized ghost shrimp which had extra long claws:

 

May be an image of crustacean

They're actually pretty decent CUC and very good at scavenging any leftover food that fall between the pebbles - in areas where my corycats can't reach. 

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Snow_Phoenix

Found this really old video on Youtube featuring a lionfish shedding its cuticle (for anyone who's interested in watching) :

 

 


It's actually really, really cool. Full video credit to original video owner, Lionfish Lair on YT. :happy:

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Snow_Phoenix
26 minutes ago, Tamberav said:

Your hawkfish is pretty. I want a hawk one but unsure if they would nip at my wrasses. 

Yeah, they can get a bit nippy. Mine's a lyretail (also known as swallowtail online). It's a bit of a rare find. We usually get pixies and falcos here. He has a really strong personality though! Very bold and curious fish. Likes to follow me around when I walk past the tank. 🙂 

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Snow_Phoenix

A few updates this morning. Starting of with the tidepool tank, there was 1 successful molt last night, and 1 unsuccessful one (the tiny red crab didn't make it). 😕

 

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I'm now down to 14 lil' hermits. At least the filter is working and reasonably efficient:

 

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I had to stack two river pebbles on it to weigh it down on the filter pad and muffle the noise of the motor. 

 

I'm debating if I should add 1 tiny drop of iodine in the water to help the crabs molt properly. Not sure if it's a good idea though. 🤔

 

Back to the 60G, I woke up this morning to discover Lady had a roomate. 😅

 

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Yeah, so I'm not exactly sure what happened last night, but I had to get the molly out, *without accidently getting the lionfish out. 

 

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My best bet was to tilt the box at a steeper angle and hope that the molly slides out of the hole at the top of the box, while Lady remains inside. 

 

After a few seconds of tilting the box, the molly escaped. And well, just my luck, as I quickly righted the box to stick it back to the glass, another blur shot out, narrowly missing my fingers. :eek:

 

So...

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Snow_Phoenix

Since there's no way she'll be going back into the box now, I just let her be. 🤷‍♀️

 

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I watched her extend her jaws too, and managed to take some pics! omgomgomg

 

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Snow_Phoenix

To get a measure of how *little she is in this tank, here's a quick shot of her on the rocks:

 

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My cynarinas were also exceptionally puffy this morning, so I guess today's early shenanigans had some good to it. 😊👍

 

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The only flipside is that the snackbox full of feeders had accidently detached from the glass wall of my discus tank, and all the shrimp (and a few fish) had escaped into the DT. ☹

 

I still have a few guppies and tiny mollies left, so I'll quickly acclimate 4 or 5 of them and drop them in the 60G for Lady. Will try to pacify Lily with a tiny molly/guppy as well, but she usually favors live shrimp. 

 

So it looks like I'll have to drop by the store again tomorrow and pick up a new (but smaller) batch of feeders. 🤔

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Snow_Phoenix
1 hour ago, Tamberav said:

She’s so pretty! Is the plan to eventually wean her to frozen? 

Thank you, and yes! It was why I kept her in the breeder box in the first place - to get her accustomed to frozen food, then release her into the DT. She clearly had other plans though. 😅

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Snow_Phoenix

I managed to acclimate 3 small juvi guppies & 2 small dalmation mollies to SW. I dropped 2 of the guppies into QT for Lily, and she ate them rather quickly. As for the remaining 3, I took them upstairs in a cup:

 

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Then released them into the 60G. The guppy was on its own:

 

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But the 2 young mollies quickly sought refuge with the other group of older, large mollies. So yes, I now have a small school of mollies in my tank. 🤦‍♀️

 

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I noticed Lady flexing her jaws again:

 

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And she had already began stalking the new additions. The new little shits are brave too - the damn guppy actually booped Lady on the snout then shot off like hell before she could eat him. What a little butthead. :sideeyes:

 

I truly hope the mollies will get eaten at some point - it was never my intention to have these many fish in my DT this time. If the smaller ones aren't hunted down and eaten over the next 2 weeks, I'll see if I can net some of the larger ones out (except Dot - I mean, I paid for *that guy because he's fancy and he knows it 🙄) and feed them to my hujeta gar and severums in my FW predator tank. 

 

I admit I'm a bit torn in removing them because they're doing an excellent job on keeping the worst of the algae under control. And I also find them more effective than my trochus snails, although they can't hold a candle up to my urchin. 

 

I dropped a few shredded clams in the tank. I did try to feed my cynarinas, but Foxy the foxface ran off with those chunky pieces, so I have bits of clam meat all over the tank. My room now reeks of seafood too. :unsure:

 

Just waiting downstairs while aerating the room - got the ventilator and fan turned on, so hopefully most of the smell will dissipate in an hour. 

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Snow_Phoenix

'Mom, stop taking pics of me!' 

 

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'I can still see you.' 🙄

 

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'On second thought, lemme just be your new cover model for this tank. You won't regret it!'

 

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Snow_Phoenix

Lady's pectoral fins are utterly fascinating - especially when they undulate as she swims. 🥰

 

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Making friends:

 

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I truly hope when it is time to add Lily to this tank, everything will work out between them. I will most likely put Lily in a breeder box first, to get Lady accustomed to her presence, before releasing her into the display in 1 to 2 weeks. 

 

I have no plans to get a 3rd lion (was initially considering a Fu Manchu) because I think my 2 girls will be more than enough for this tank. 

 

I'm re-considering adding a clownfish to this tank because I have too many open-column swimmers, thanks to the molly crew. However, I do intend to add a blenny, but I'm in no rush to acquire one. Perhaps the blenny will complete the stocking list, and I can finally re-divert my attention to slowly stocking this tank with frags again. 🤔

 

(Also, the 60G is long overdue for a proper WC too eek!)

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Snow_Phoenix

Quick update - the guppy eventually died, but the body is lodged in a crevice at the far back right corner of the tank. I can't access it, even with my extra long forceps. 😞

 

I also pulled out the excess chunks of clam floating about because I was worried it might contaminate the water if left in there too long (it's been in there since morning, and it's nearly 4.20pm now). The DIY clam feeder still has tiny shreds of clam in it though, but the amount is very small. Dot the molly seems to like the clam feeder a lot. 

 

Lady the lion is still scoping out the tank. She actually makes *full use of it - I caught her swimming all the way up to assess the mollies, and even wander on the sandbed, over the rocks etc. I've actually never had a marine fish make use of all areas of the tank before. Usually different types of fish stick to different assigned levels/territories - they seldom venture from those spots until food is dropped in. 

 

Tank is overall doing okay. There's still algae, but I'm not too bothered by it. Coral growth rate is slow (except for the green kenya), which I attribute to the elevated PO4s & NO3s, and lack of WCs. I dose this tank daily, but only to maintain the minimal levels for a basic reef - nothing extra. 

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15 minutes ago, Snow_Phoenix said:

Quick update - the guppy eventually died, but the body is lodged in a crevice at the far back right corner of the tank. I can't access it, even with my extra long forceps. 😞

 

I also pulled out the excess chunks of clam floating about because I was worried it might contaminate the water if left in there too long (it's been in there since morning, and it's nearly 4.20pm now). The DIY clam feeder still has tiny shreds of clam in it though, but the amount is very small. Dot the molly seems to like the clam feeder a lot. 

 

Lady the lion is still scoping out the tank. She actually makes *full use of it - I caught her swimming all the way up to assess the mollies, and even wander on the sandbed, over the rocks etc. I've actually never had a marine fish make use of all areas of the tank before. Usually different types of fish stick to different assigned levels/territories - they seldom venture from those spots until food is dropped in. 

 

Tank is overall doing okay. There's still algae, but I'm not too bothered by it. Coral growth rate is slow (except for the green kenya), which I attribute to the elevated PO4s & NO3s, and lack of WCs. I dose this tank daily, but only to maintain the minimal levels for a basic reef - nothing extra. 

Wait until the Lions work out that they can eat the Mollies in the tank, you will see them lurking and stalking them for most of the day, even once they have already eaten. 

 

Those distendable jaw photos are gorgeous. I am still working on getting a slow motion shot of Swim Shady eating like this 

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