Amp's 20L [Retired]

[A.m.P]

On 12/30/2019 at 7:31 PM, billygoat said:

I really admire your dedication in keeping those damselfish from murdering each other. I wouldn't even consider keeping two of those (or even one, honestly) in a 20g tank, but it seems like you're making it work! So kudos to you sir. 🙏 I'm curious to see how the fish adjust now that "Plan B" has gone live.

 

Excellent pictures too. It looks like this tank has bounced back quite well after the recent crash. 👍

Kindof, a pair was likely doable even without my extra-meddling, I'm just a little obsessive.

Randall's, and chrysiptera in general, are known for being fairly-peaceful, picking a pair of the some of the larger species however was likely ill-advised. 
I would have preferred Rex's or Tracey's but since adding them into the tank the smaller has come back from being two-days-from-death, so I regret the circumstance but not the decision. If I have to remove the larger and add a pseudochromis or basslet instead then I will, but for now they may just grow into a pair. 

Corals have been doing much better, with a single exception, there's something in my tank which will aggressively-kill any coral which ends up with damaged-tissue; can't tell you what it may be but the pattern is consistent, the stylophora fell over and got a shallow-scratch and, despite being fragged and iodine-dipped STN'd within a week, the acro got a scratch from an exacto-blade as I removed it from it's spot in the rock and all but a single small-chip I fragged off died overnight (and it has STN anyway).

Those which have no tissue damage are doing great, all the monti's are growing, even the bleached and nearly-killed FF digi's, the bi-color frogspawn probably won't recover however the newer euphyllia seem fine. Couldn't tell ya what's going on, but the only corals resilient enough to survive tissue-damage (even from being a fresh frag) are the two chalices - and the litho appears to be just barely hanging-on at that.

[A.m.P]

Happy New years from the Damselfish dungeon, now plan-b'd, hope you've all had a wonderful holiday!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The largest Randalli is now almost as large as the female perc... I'm hoping they don't grow into 3"+ monsters haha...
I really don't want to have to make a custom 20-extra long for them XD

[A.m.P]

The larger has built itself a little nest and is keeping it obsessively-free of sand, it even made a little barrier out of shells. Seems it may consider itself an eligible-bachelor.
It has been extremely entertaining to watch it remove pebbles and shift-around shells and rubble, later staring-intensely and finning/mouthing sand out of the way.

[billygoat]

4 hours ago, Amphrites said:

The larger has built itself a little nest and is keeping it obsessively-free of sand, it even made a little barrier out of shells. Seems it may consider itself an eligible-bachelor.
It has been extremely entertaining to watch it remove pebbles and shift-around shells and rubble, later staring-intensely and finning/mouthing sand out of the way.

I love the little shell-wall. And is that a crab molt? 😂 

 

What an adorable fish! That's such a cool behavior to observe. I take it that "Plan B" has been a success?

[A.m.P]

11 hours ago, billygoat said:

I love the little shell-wall. And is that a crab molt? 😂 

 

What an adorable fish! That's such a cool behavior to observe. I take it that "Plan B" has been a success?

Damselfish have wonderful personalities and keep themselves busy with one little mission or another most of the day. (And that is a crab molt it stacked up in the wall as well lol)

 

Plan B died a silent death later that day, which actually brings me to a new dilemma.

 

The current working layout involves a big steep-walled teepee shape which occupies nearly the entire center of the tank. It creates great sight breaks and gives another large cave for them to hide and goof around in, but in the long term it won't give the fish enough room to actually swim down near the bottom (where they prefer to graze and spend most of their time)...

 

I'm hesitant to throw a wrench into things but it seems as if it would be better to do so now than be forced to change things later, however I'm honestly not even sure where to start.

I've been weighing the possibility of using gorgonian skeletons to emulate a root structure in the center, but those feel too tightly packed for beefy 3" damselfish to swim in. Alternatively I may be able to fashion something reasonable from branched rock, but I would need to find it for the right price and get very lucky with how I arrange it to even have a shot of it working out at all.

 

I tried reaching out to some of the few folks out there who breed damsels for advice, but haven't heard back unfortunately.

[A.m.P]

Damselfish are definitely something, I have little familiarity with mating behavior or the intricacies of most species' interactions; however the smaller one, while being chased far less-frequently and no longer getting injured at-all, has been constantly pushing its' boundaries.

I walked up to the tank today to watch it swim casually into the the others' nest, look it dead in the eyes, turn about and gently *bat* one of the snail-shells with its' tail, which of course ticked' it off and led to a long-chase I had to break up by flicking the tank XD 

Sassy little buggers.

[A.m.P]

So I do not want to jinx it, but I think they may be close to becoming an item.
Caught them hanging out together this afternoon, no bickering, no chasing, no hiding. They were checking out the same caves and swimming with each other out in the open, which just doesn't happen.

 

Sorry for the blurry photos but I didn't want to disturb them and mess up whatever *might* be going on between them.

 

Oh and spoilers I guess, I have an update planned for sometime down the road explaining the large digis and branch rock.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[A.m.P]

I think they may have attempted to spawn. There appears to be a tiny clutch of eggs on the tip of a frag-plug chip towards the center and the coward of a male, who usually runs-off if you move too quickly, is guarding it even when having a flashlight shone on him.

However, the only reason I investigated at-all is because, apparently after a failed and tiny spawn-attempt, he beat the smaller fish up pretty severely. Some pretty bad damage to a pectoral-fin and to the dorsal, it's close to the base but not-quite there and should heal - bit of damage to its' body as well.

I wondered why they were so aggressively squaring-off at the center of the tank and forcing the clowns into a corner for no apparent reason an hour or so after lights-out, I guess the first attempt didn't go well at all, I'm fairly certain if I hadn't broken the fight up myself the smaller one would have been killed.
No clue where to go from here, its' healed from worse already, but I'm not sure if I need to remove the male, temporarily or permanently.

I'll see if I can get some pictures of it in the morning, but it's well-hidden and really just a tiny, tiny cluster - so small that I can't be sure I'm seeing it correctly at all and they're supposedly morning-spawners. But just about nothing else would explain this sudden-shift in behavior from the male, he won't even run away from the baster I use to feed the corals (which I can literally bump into outside the tank and terrify him to the point he'll sulk in a cave for a solid 10 minutes).

[WV Reefer]

47 minutes ago, Amphrites said:

I think they may have attempted to spawn. There appears to be a tiny clutch of eggs on the tip of a frag-plug chip towards the center and the coward of a male, who usually runs-off if you move too quickly, is guarding it even when having a flashlight shone on him.

However, the only reason I investigated at-all is because, apparently after a failed and tiny spawn-attempt, he beat the smaller fish up pretty severely. Some pretty bad damage to a pectoral-fin and to the dorsal, it's close to the base but not-quite there and should heal - bit of damage to its' body as well.

I wondered why they were so aggressively squaring-off at the center of the tank and forcing the clowns into a corner for no apparent reason an hour or so after lights-out, I guess the first attempt didn't go well at all, I'm fairly certain if I hadn't broken the fight up myself the smaller on would have been killed.
No clue where to go from here, its' healed from worse already, but I'm not sure if I need to remove the male, temporarily or permanently.

I'll see if I can get some pictures of it in the morning, but it's well-hidden and really just a tiny, tiny cluster - so small that I can't be sure I'm seeing it correctly at all and they're supposedly morning-spawners. But just about nothing else would explain this sudden-shift in behavior from the male, he won't even run away from the baster I use to feed the corals (which I can literally bump into outside the tank and terrify him to the point he'll sulk in a cave for a solid 10 minutes).

Very cool that they are spawning........Sucks that it had to be at the expense of one of them though. 

[A.m.P]

13 hours ago, WV Reefer said:

Very cool that they are spawning........Sucks that it had to be at the expense of one of them though. 

Frag plug chip was nowhere to be seen and the male was going ballistic this AM, chasing everyone and everything - even bullying the shrimp and snails. 

I re-arranged the scape a bit and it calmed him down, but I think that might be the end of things.
Strongly considering netting one or both out - if they're going to be spawning he's just going to be too aggressive. It's always a diceroll with fish, what a bummer.

[A.m.P]

Well, the male is out and going to be rehomed, I guess it couldn't handle the hormones - it was attacking the return outlet, snails, you-name-it pretty-much all day.
I think I'm going to keep the female, maybe add a basslet, goby, or blenny.

The list I'm kind of interested in:

• Red Elongate/serosa/orchid/orangetail dottyback
• A royal Gramma
• And/or Greenbanded gobies or Fangblenny (blackline/harptail) or Barnacle Blenny(s)

Pretty bummed out, so I'm liable to sit on this decision for a while, though the longer I wait the harder it may be to add something just because of fish and territories...

Anyone have any experience, suggestions, cool lunch ideas?

[Matteo]

1 hour ago, Amphrites said:

Well, the male is out and going to be rehomed, I guess it couldn't handle the hormones - it was attacking the return outlet, snails, you-name-it pretty-much all day.
I think I'm going to keep the female, maybe add a basslet, goby, or blenny.

The list I'm kind of interested in:

• Red Elongate/serosa/orchid/orangetail dottyback
• A royal Gramma
• And/or Greenbanded gobies or Fangblenny (blackline/harptail) or Barnacle Blenny(s)

Pretty bummed out, so I'm liable to sit on this decision for a while, though the longer I wait the harder it may be to add something just because of fish and territories...

Anyone have any experience, suggestions, cool lunch ideas?

Possum Wrasse! They're so cute!

[WV Reefer]

1 hour ago, Amphrites said:

Well, the male is out and going to be rehomed, I guess it couldn't handle the hormones - it was attacking the return outlet, snails, you-name-it pretty-much all day.
I think I'm going to keep the female, maybe add a basslet, goby, or blenny.

The list I'm kind of interested in:

• Red Elongate/serosa/orchid/orangetail dottyback
• A royal Gramma
• And/or Greenbanded gobies or Fangblenny (blackline/harptail) or Barnacle Blenny(s)

Pretty bummed out, so I'm liable to sit on this decision for a while, though the longer I wait the harder it may be to add something just because of fish and territories...

Anyone have any experience, suggestions, cool lunch ideas?

Green Banded Gobies never disappoint. 

[A.m.P]

32 minutes ago, Matteo said:

Possum Wrasse! They're so cute!

 

23 minutes ago, WV Reefer said:

Green Banded Gobies never disappoint. 

Honestly two of the fish I wanted, maybe I'll have better luck finding them this time around.

[WV Reefer]

9 minutes ago, Amphrites said:

 

Honestly two of the fish I wanted, maybe I'll have better luck finding them this time around.

Live aquaria has them in stock. 😊

[A.m.P]

Just now, WV Reefer said:

Live aquaria has them in stock. 😊

Honestly, I cannot afford the shipping and lack of store-credit for the return, medical bills interfere with hobbies I'm afraid XD

[Matteo]

3 hours ago, Amphrites said:

Honestly, I cannot afford the shipping and lack of store-credit for the return, medical bills interfere with hobbies I'm afraid XD

you can ask LFS for an order?

[A.m.P]

7 hours ago, Matteo said:

you can ask LFS for an order?

We'll see if I can find one willing, not a ton of luck getting-the-ball-rolling last time around.

[A.m.P]

Out of curiosity does anyone have any experience with black-line fangblennies? 
I may actually be able to get one through a local LFS and they're quite attractive, supposedly peaceful, but "reef-safe" blenny's always make me nervous.
https://www.liveaquaria.com/product/3498/?pcatid=3498

[Steemax]

Don't know why it took me this long to check out your tank. I vote RG of course 😀 It's a lot of personality for the price but you can't go wrong with the other choices. Possum wrasse would be another choice. 

 

Following along!

[A.m.P]

Well, figured I'd share a bit - still in the process of side-grading this system to get it off a shoddy-built countertop - but mamma shredded baron  up pretty bad and chased him around for a solid 12 hours straight. Had to send her into marriage counseling for a week (I figure she might just finally be reaching maturity) - so far they've been getting along well after re-introduction to each other. Poor Baron was horrified when I first reintroduced the big perc to the tank though, just about swam into the overflow hyperventilating and trying to escape, but she went and barked at him, fetched him, and things have gone smoothly since.

Found a great use for the breeder box too, finally managed to temporarily tame the dragons breath which, if you recall, started out as a single, tiny little sprig.
It now nicely fills up an 8x4 breeder box with quite a bit still blowing around the system.

My monti-cap and frags have started struggling the last few months, I have a hunch this bush might be causing PH swings at night - going to be looking into that.

 

 

[A.m.P]

A Few quick shots since I had the macro out.

 

 

I found a Stellar Stylo for $9, a month later it's looking pretty good still - fingers crossed but I've had awful luck with Stylo's

 

I absolutely love the contrast of the dark-pink flesh and teal polyps, bar-none by favorite stylo morph

 

This stick's grown a solid centimetre and encrusted some since purchase, hopefully it stays happy. Only really fluffs up at night sadly, was sold as a tricolor, but it's pretty much just green with navy-tinted polyps, can't complain for $7

 

 

I'm beginning to suspect the orange litho chalice is actually a psammacora - if you look closely you can see the trademark little mouths all over it.

Also bought this lepto, supposedly it's a darker-morph, but it was bleached when I bought it and its' green now XD

 

 

Baron wants to host this Trumpet, the Trumpet has mixed feelings about it but has been looking great overall

 

 

 

Oldschool Pretty, the big purple-blue blasto has a new head ^_^

 

[Ratvan]

That Stylo is gorgeous, I don't think i have seen many with that colouration 

The Trumpet too

[A.m.P]

6 hours ago, Ratvan said:

That Stylo is gorgeous, I don't think i have seen many with that colouration 

The Trumpet too

Stellar and bugout are the only I'm aware of, lucky find.
The trumpet is just your typical yellow-striped caulastrea, just quite happy with where it is. Unfortunately I'm worried the little male clownfish might kill it with its' attention and I'm not certain what to really look for in terms of damage or irritation as I've never run into a clown that wanted to be hosted by one before.

[A.m.P]

Big girl's back in the box, she was chasing him around and beating him up a bit too much at night for my taste.
Only has a problem at night, they're fine during the day, no feeding aggression but a few hours after lights out she attacks him until he's on the other side of the tank and does a fair-number to his fins.

I don't know if I'm going to try reintroducing her again this time, they grew up together but that only seems to matter to the little one who's been bumping into and mouthing the breeder box frantically for the last hour - otherwise refusing to stop swimming directly under her.
 

His dorsal is showing spines.