The Fire Swamp's 50g SCA Starfire Cube- 🔥🐊. Upgrade Coming Soon

[Ratvan]

17 minutes ago, Dirté Sanchez said:

Picture proof... also, my starry blenny Altuve is rather a turd about pictures. He can’t stand seeing me with my phone and usually won’t sit still for a picture. Today he was telling me where I could stick it.

 

 

 

Looks really nice. Love the Wrasses, you may need to replenish snails on a regular basis with the yellow wrasse. 

[ECLS Reefer]

19 minutes ago, WV Reefer said:

looks a lot better. 😊

I have lots of hope. Mostly a huge sigh of relief that the fish have done so well, and look strong. 

[ECLS Reefer]

19 minutes ago, Ratvan said:

Looks really nice. Love the Wrasses, you may need to replenish snails on a regular basis with the yellow wrasse. 

I didn’t know about the snails but I had seen they go after ornamental shrimp. My husband loves harlequins and the LFS had some but I passed for now. Didn’t want to deal with the chocolate chip star thing again and have no asterina population. Nor will I pay $55 to feed the wrasse. I’ve been wanting another fire shrimp or a big skunk cleaner but that made me pause on getting one of those too. 

[DSFIRSTSLTWATER]

1 hour ago, Dirté Sanchez said:

Picture proof... also, my starry blenny Altuve is rather a turd about pictures. He can’t stand seeing me with my phone and usually won’t sit still for a picture. Today he was telling me where I could stick it.

 

 

 

Looks so good now 👌 good job battling through

[ECLS Reefer]

20 minutes ago, DSFIRSTSLTWATER said:

Looks so good now 👌 good job battling through

I’m a stubborn little midget 😉. I said somewhere way back, maybe when I had the tank transfer disaster, that I would by god nurse this thing to life. I am a life support specialist you know. Nobody dies on my watch unless it’s planned. 

[ECLS Reefer]

Why change the names you ask? Because this tank has had to climb out of multiple challenges to survive. Just like Westley and Buttercup in the Fire Swamp.

[Snow_Phoenix]

9 minutes ago, Dirté Sanchez said:

Why change the names you ask? Because this tank has had to climb out of multiple challenges to survive. Just like Westley and Buttercup in the Fire Swamp.

The tank looks really, really nice actually. Good to see it bounce back despite the issues. I've been meaning to ask - the blenny you keep in the sump - what type of blenny is he?

 

I know Altuve is a Starry (and an adorable one at that), but I wasn't sure if you had a second Starry in the sump, or it was a different type entirely. 

[ECLS Reefer]

2 minutes ago, Snow_Phoenix said:

The tank looks really, really nice actually. Good to see it bounce back despite the issues. I've been meaning to ask - the blenny you keep in the sump - what type of blenny is he?

 

I know Altuve is a Starry (and an adorable one at that), but I wasn't sure if you had a second Starry in the sump, or it was a different type entirely. 

He's a bicolor. Mr Blenny Blen (the child named him). He's got the whole sump to himself with an urchin and a handful of crabs. Quite the personality. I would release him up top but I'm afraid he and Altuve would not jive. Altuve is pretty pushy in fact.

[Snow_Phoenix]

5 minutes ago, Dirté Sanchez said:

He's a bicolor. Mr Blenny Blen (the child named him). He's got the whole sump to himself with an urchin and a handful of crabs. Quite the personality. I would release him up top but I'm afraid he and Altuve would not jive. Altuve is pretty pushy in fact.

Yeah, Starrys can be bossy. Mine is huge and a handful. The only reason he tolerates my TSB is because my TSB is too tiny, and often passes off as a funny-looking noodle to him.

 

I just picked up a small Bicolor for my 10G yesterday! His tail is dull though (not the brilliant orange associated with most Bicolors) but he's full of personality. Already perching all over the rockwork and popping in/out of holes here and there. 🙂

 

 

[ECLS Reefer]

1 minute ago, Snow_Phoenix said:

Yeah, Starrys can be bossy. Mine is huge and a handful. The only reason he tolerates my TSB is because my TSB is too tiny, and often passes off as a funny-looking noodle to him.

 

I just picked up a small Bicolor for my 10G yesterday! His tail is dull though (not the brilliant orange associated with most Bicolors) but he's full of personality. Already perching all over the rockwork and popping in/out of holes here and there. 🙂

 

 

You have him in a 10g? Maybe I can move Mr BB to the Evo at some point. It has an empty barnacle too. I just don't want to over stock that tank since it's looking so good too. 

[Snow_Phoenix]

5 minutes ago, Dirté Sanchez said:

You have him in a 10g? Maybe I can move Mr BB to the Evo at some point. It has an empty barnacle too. I just don't want to over stock that tank since it's looking so good too. 

Yeah, I have him in there alongside a new Talbot damsel and a Falco hawkfish (older fish). My Falco ignores the blenny, but he's bullying the damsel a fair bit, so I might move the Damsel out and keep the tank stocked at 2 fish. 

[ECLS Reefer]

19 minutes ago, Snow_Phoenix said:

Yeah, I have him in there alongside a new Talbot damsel and a Falco hawkfish (older fish). My Falco ignores the blenny, but he's bullying the damsel a fair bit, so I might move the Damsel out and keep the tank stocked at 2 fish. 

Yeah my Evo has two black ice clowns, and now two antenna gobies that are taking off well. I was thinking maybe some day a tailspot for that tank because of the size. Mr BB has always seemed fine down there in the sump. He keeps it fairly clean and it’s nice to have someone to visit while messing around in the sump area. 

[Ratvan]

10 hours ago, Dirté Sanchez said:

I didn’t know about the snails but I had seen they go after ornamental shrimp. My husband loves harlequins and the LFS had some but I passed for now. Didn’t want to deal with the chocolate chip star thing again and have no asterina population. Nor will I pay $55 to feed the wrasse. I’ve been wanting another fire shrimp or a big skunk cleaner but that made me pause on getting one of those too. 

Nor did I until @StinkyBunny pointed it out, my snail graveyeard is more or less where my Yellow beds down. I have seen her "transport" a couple of ceriths before. Picked up and flung while swimming full speed into the rocks

[ECLS Reefer]

6 hours ago, Ratvan said:

Nor did I until @StinkyBunny pointed it out, my snail graveyeard is more or less where my Yellow beds down. I have seen her "transport" a couple of ceriths before. Picked up and flung while swimming full speed into the rocks

This yellow coris is still learning the tank, but I’ve only seen him pick at the rocks a couple of times. The LFS lady said he would need to adapt to the time zone since he was freshly imported, and while he was awake all day yesterday, I didn’t see him eat much of anything. I hope his appetite picks up as he settles in. 

[mitten_reef]

2 minutes ago, Dirté Sanchez said:

The LFS lady said he would need to adapt to the time zone since he was freshly imported

and you tossed him right into your display?  seems risky.  hope your LFS, and its supplier, have good track records on disease-free fish.  

wrasses aren't necessarily prone to disease that could spread to other fish, but I heard they're prone to parasites.  make sure he eats - a lot, otherwise he'll just be wasting away

I've lost 3 wrasses, and never again.  That's with my LFS even had them in their QT tanks, with some usual preventative meds for 2 weeks before general sale for that matter.  

[ECLS Reefer]

1 minute ago, mitten_reef said:

and you tossed him right into your display?  seems risky.  hope your LFS, and its supplier, have good track records on disease-free fish.  

wrasses aren't necessarily prone to disease that could spread to other fish, but I heard they're prone to parasites.  make sure he eats - a lot, otherwise he'll just be wasting away

I've lost 3 wrasses, and never again.  That's with my LFS even had them in their QT tanks, with some usual preventative meds for 2 weeks before general sale for that matter.  

I’ve tried QT and I’ve tried @WV Reefer’s method of just temp acclimating, water acclimating and releasing. It always seems the QT attempts died, while her method worked better, so that’s what I’ve gone with. Usually she has coris wrasses for weeks- I just got lucky/unlucky that day that they were fresh imports. But evidently with the trouble we’ve had in the tank, the fish seem immune to stuff since they’ve already been sick once and treated, and something went after new additions. At any rate the other wrasse is doing amazing. Hopefully the yellow will adapt.

 

On another note I just checked the sump and guess what?? I have a goby in there 😑😑😑. Second goby to jump the overflow. I don’t have time to catch him at the moment but at least I know now, he’s alive. Turd.

[ECLS Reefer]

So, a few things happened this week. The little goby I had been missing turned up in the sump. When I put him back in the DT, he turned up on the floor when I had my back turned. Frustrating, because gobies are sooo erratic. I wrote that off as a goby thing and decided to try a larger goby so it couldn’t sneak thru the screen boxes. Even figured a way to cover any gaps, put plastic grid over the overflow box. This time, I realized WHY the gobies are leaving the tank for the sump: Altuve. I know some people are able to house blennies and gobies together, but evidently I won’t be one of them. I rescued the poor assaulted goby and put him in one of the sump runs. So now the sump has a goby on one side and a bicolor blenny in the middle run. And assorted bad crabs who got busted to the sump.

 

Maintenance wise I took some plastic grid and cut it to fit sideways down in one of the baffles so as to both block off the two runs, allow good water movement and serve as a shelf for some filter floss when I stir the contents of the tank. I made the mistake of covering the whole baffle yesterday and got home to a salinity of 1.021, when it’s usually 1.023-1.024 according to the Hanna salinity checker. Corals were all miffed at me, so I fixed that little situation. Letting the skimmer work to slowly restore salinity back to where it normally sits. 
 

At any rate, the tank is starting to really come together at 9 months old. I’m pleased with it, and excited about what it might look like in the future!

 

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

7 hours ago, Dirté Sanchez said:

So, a few things happened this week. The little goby I had been missing turned up in the sump. When I put him back in the DT, he turned up on the floor when I had my back turned. Frustrating, because gobies are sooo erratic. I wrote that off as a goby thing and decided to try a larger goby so it couldn’t sneak thru the screen boxes. Even figured a way to cover any gaps, put plastic grid over the overflow box. This time, I realized WHY the gobies are leaving the tank for the sump: Altuve. I know some people are able to house blennies and gobies together, but evidently I won’t be one of them. I rescued the poor assaulted goby and put him in one of the sump runs. So now the sump has a goby on one side and a bicolor blenny in the middle run. And assorted bad crabs who got busted to the sump.

 

Maintenance wise I took some plastic grid and cut it to fit sideways down in one of the baffles so as to both block off the two runs, allow good water movement and serve as a shelf for some filter floss when I stir the contents of the tank. I made the mistake of covering the whole baffle yesterday and got home to a salinity of 1.021, when it’s usually 1.023-1.024 according to the Hanna salinity checker. Corals were all miffed at me, so I fixed that little situation. Letting the skimmer work to slowly restore salinity back to where it normally sits. 
 

At any rate, the tank is starting to really come together at 9 months old. I’m pleased with it, and excited about what it might look like in the future!

 

 

Tank looks great. 🙂

 

Quick question - what sort of wrasse is that? Some type of fairy?

 

And I know what you mean about blennies & gobies not getting along. So far I've been lucky enough that my blennies and gobies get along for the most part...until I toss some pellets in the water. Then it's a mad scramble for food and some of the fish get peckish. My Starry is the most dominant fish, but I attribute it to his size (he's around 6"++). How large is Altuve?

 

Just a head's up - if he's not tolerating any gobies at the moment, it *might get worse as he grows bigger. 😞 

[ECLS Reefer]

5 hours ago, Snow_Phoenix said:

Tank looks great. 🙂

 

Quick question - what sort of wrasse is that? Some type of fairy?

 

And I know what you mean about blennies & gobies not getting along. So far I've been lucky enough that my blennies and gobies get along for the most part...until I toss some pellets in the water. Then it's a mad scramble for food and some of the fish get peckish. My Starry is the most dominant fish, but I attribute it to his size (he's around 6"++). How large is Altuve?

 

Just a head's up - if he's not tolerating any gobies at the moment, it *might get worse as he grows bigger. 😞 

I knew it was a toss up as to whether they’d tolerate a goby since they’re similar in shape, and it’s very possible he was the one that got after the original YWG I’d had in there when Altuve was introduced. So yeah, no gobies for me. The little YWG he most recently assaulted is doing okay in the sump though. Hopefully he can have a fairly good life down there. 
 

That is a tricolor fairy wrasse. He’s pretty personable, swims right up to you and checks you out, follows you around the tank and minds his own business in there. I like him quite a bit. 
 

And thank you! I’m so happy with how it’s turning out. I’m trying to make a list of what corals would be good to get in the future for high lighting and moderate to high flow for the very top rock and the back side of the lagoon. It’s all blank there but the montis didn’t seem to like the high lighting so I had to move them back down. The GSP Is thriving so I could get more of that, but I was wondering if there might be other things that will spread and cover well in that area. Any suggestions?

[Ratvan]

Tank does indeed looks really good.

I love your fish chocies as well, so much to watch in that tank, can't wait to see things growing out 

[ECLS Reefer]

2 hours ago, Ratvan said:

Tank does indeed looks really good.

I love your fish chocies as well, so much to watch in that tank, can't wait to see things growing out 

Thank you!! It was a long worrisome couple of months there but I’m glad to see it bouncing back. 
 

With the coral prices and import situation I may be limited to more GSP and cheap shrooms 😳☹️. Or the deal of the day. We shall see. Not planning on getting anything else until maybe Valentines.

[DSFIRSTSLTWATER]

1 minute ago, Dirté Sanchez said:

Thank you!! It was a long worrisome couple of months there but I’m glad to see it bouncing back. 
 

With the coral prices and import situation I may be limited to more GSP and cheap shrooms 😳☹️. Or the deal of the day. We shall see. Not planning on getting anything else until maybe Valentines.

Looking good!

Glad everything is turning around for ya. It's amazing how slow everything responds to situations.

[Ratvan]

2 minutes ago, Dirté Sanchez said:

With the coral prices and import situation I may be limited to more GSP and cheap shrooms 😳☹️. Or the deal of the day. We shall see. Not planning on getting anything else until maybe Valentines.

Yeah i am pretty close to just doing a macro only display myself, getting really silly with prices and the frags are getting smaller 

[DSFIRSTSLTWATER]

1 minute ago, Ratvan said:

Yeah i am pretty close to just doing a macro only display myself, getting really silly with prices and the frags are getting smaller 

at this point it's almost easier to trade with a fellow reefer..

[mitten_reef]

17 hours ago, Dirté Sanchez said:

 

 

Looking great!!  still keeping up with whatever methods you were doing to reduce algae, and bringing down N&P?  maybe don't have to be as aggressive as you used to, but I wouldn't let the foot off the gas completely on that front until you feel the tank got back to a good balance.