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Tator's Pico Pest Tank


TatorTaco

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Inspired by the likes of @Draco and @Islandoftiki, I wanted to create a pest/hitchiker pico tank. 

 

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Tank:

DOB:  6/1/2019

LifeGard Quatics Crystal Aquarium (4.14 gallons) from Amazon

Cobalt MJ 606 Return Pump

AutoAqua Smart Micro ATO

AI Prime LED

 

Livestock:

Yellow Clown Goby (Banana)

4 hermit crabs

10ish stomatella snails

4 asterina starfish

3 bristleworms

 

Pests:

2ish Green mojano anemones

7ish Pink Tipped "Tulip" mojano anemones

Bryopsis

Chaeto

2 Frags of pulsing xenia

2 aptasia

2 kenya trees

Unknown paly frag

Another paly frag.  Unicorn Fart Dust or something.  I can't seem to kill it.  

Random striped discoma mushroom

 

My original plan was to stock it full of Majano AKA "Tulip" anemones and a mantis shrimp.  The mantis didn't work out but the saga can be found here.  I wanted an easy fish that'd be comfortable in such a small tank for it's entire lifespan, so I picked up a Yellow Clown Goby and named him Banana.  Well, it looks as though I won't have much luck with Banana either, as he refuses to eat regardless of what food is offered.

 

More pests will be added as I find them.  Most local reefers and my LFS instantly dip their corals before inspection, so I'm just scouring the interwebs looking for folks that have pest and are willing to ship me stuff.  

 

Things I'm actively searching for are clove polyps, red discoma mushroom, some sort of ravenous caulerpa algae. If you have any of the above, I'd love to hear from you. 

 

 

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Ohh, I love this!! I will def be following!

 

Unfortunately I shut down my own pest tank. it crashed and I just didn't have time to keep up with it anymore at work, it was fun while it lasts and I do hope you enjoy yours as much as I did!

 

as for clown goby eating, I had 2 and they ONLY ate frozen brine and mysis. They would not eat pellets or anything else

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  • 3 weeks later...

Ordered “a little bit” of invasive Caulerpa Mexicana and Caulerpa Pacifica from Live-Plants.com. Not quite sure what I’m going to do with the other 99% that I don’t need for my pest tank. Lol. 

 

What are are the odds this will kill my tank in the next few days while I figure out where to offload it?

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6 hours ago, TatorTaco said:

Ordered “a little bit” of invasive Caulerpa Mexicana and Caulerpa Pacifica from Live-Plants.com.

Good old GCE! They sure do load you up with macros! 😂

 

So that's a lot of biomass to be adding all at once, that's for sure. One thing I would be concerned about with such a large amount of algae in such a small volume of water is that the cycles of photosynthesis during the day and respiration during the night are likely to have a profound effect on the amount of dissolved CO2 in the water and therefore also on pH. This may not actually matter much though, since everything else in this pico is also invasive and therefore probably quite resistant to rapid changes in water parameters.

 

Honestly it would be pretty cool if you found a way to jam all that algae in there permanently. If anyone asks, just say it's an educational display designed to illustrate the dangers of throwing Caulerpa into the ocean in regions where it doesn't belong. 😁

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I hate to buy this and immediately toss most of it, but I think that’s probably what I’ll do. Maybe I can put it off until this weekend? 

 

I might pull it and it and toss it in some saltwater and leave in the carport tonight. I’d rather the algae die than the tank getting nuked. It’s blocking all the light so everything was closed last night except the majano nems.

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2 minutes ago, TatorTaco said:

I hate to buy this and immediately toss most of it, but I think that’s probably what I’ll do. Maybe I can put it off until this weekend? 

 

I might pull it and it and toss it in some saltwater and leave in the carport tonight. I’d rather the algae die than the tank getting nuked. It’s blocking all the light so everything was closed last night except the majano nems.

you got an air stone and bucket? 

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Should I be terribly concerned with temperature for algae? I could leave it outside for light, but it’s stupid hot. Or, I could leave it inside but it won’t get very much light. 

 

Ir, I could just toss it and wouldn’t have any issues. 

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1 minute ago, TatorTaco said:

Should I be terribly concerned with temperature for algae? I could leave it outside for light, but it’s stupid hot. Or, I could leave it inside but it won’t get very much light. 

 

Ir, I could just toss it and wouldn’t have any issues. 

I think Caulerpa grows between 15C and 39C (60F-102F) naturally

 

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10811-014-0358-7

 

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  • 5 months later...

Nothing much going on with the tank. TBH, I’m getting kinda bored with it since it’s so difficult to stock this thing so I’ve been considering taking it all down and restarting by buying live rock from KP Aquatics and see what kinda critters come in on that and running it “aI naturel”.  I did pick up a crab a few weeks back. Not sure if he’s still in there since I haven’t seen a molt.  Not sure how much of a headache it’d be to put a small mantis in here and keep it fed without crashing the tank?
 

I actually tested the water parameters for the first time in....a really long time lol. Nitrites, Nitrates, and Ammonia all at 0. 
 

Anyways, on to the pictures!

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13 minutes ago, TatorTaco said:

Nothing much going on with the tank. TBH, I’m getting kinda bored with it since it’s so difficult to stock this thing so I’ve been considering taking it all down and restarting by buying live rock from KP Aquatics and see what kinda critters come in on that and running it “aI naturel”.  I did pick up a crab a few weeks back. Not sure if he’s still in there since I haven’t seen a molt.

 

Not sure why you'd take it all down, it looks so stunning and beautiful just the way it is! 🙂  That's like the perfect tank to buy all of the stuff that some people steer away from.  Things like emerald crabs, pom pom crabs, arrow crabs... do you still have any fish in there?  Maybe you just need a bit more livestock to add to the fun.

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13 hours ago, Seadragon said:

 

Not sure why you'd take it all down, it looks so stunning and beautiful just the way it is! 🙂  That's like the perfect tank to buy all of the stuff that some people steer away from.  Things like emerald crabs, pom pom crabs, arrow crabs... do you still have any fish in there?  Maybe you just need a bit more livestock to add to the fun.

Thanks for the compliments.  I did have a yellow clown goby but he jumped and I haven't replaced him since.  I have an AquaClear 20 and a spare 5g Aqueon tank I could migrate stuff too to expand out if I found a fish that'd be a good fit for this tank. 

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13 hours ago, kimberbee said:

It's a cute tank!! The mojanos are really pretty! I wish they were something more available for purchase. 

Yeah, the pink tipped mojanos are my favorite.  I scoured old forum threads and shot out a bunch of random messages asking if those authors still had any left.  Managed to score a few ones and they've multiplied like crazy for me. 

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This is such a pretty tank. I just started my own pest pico...hope that it will look as awesome as yours one day. 🙂 It would be a shame if you tore it down, but you gotta do what you need to in order to continue your own enjoyment of the hobby. Buying some rock from KP is a magnificent idea. I've got rock from TBS in my 12g and it has a ton of neat and unexpected life (including your pick of different crabs). Kind of cool to devote a tank to the life onboard aquacultured rock, or at least form a tank around it imo. 

 

A mantis home is another good idea. 😉

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I agree with @cosmicbread - this tank looks wonderful! I especially love the bubble algae. They make a very beautiful little mound when you let them do their thing like that. And those majano anemones are gorgeous! At first glance I thought they were tiny duncans. 😁

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  • 4 weeks later...
9 hours ago, Lypto said:

Do you have flatworms?

I do! I have red planaria worms and one monster looking flatworm that I haven’t IDed. I think I posted a few pictures of them both. 

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EthanPhillyCheesesteak

I just adore those majano, I need some majano for my pest tank that look that beautiful. All I have is some ugly brown aptasia, some ball nems, and of course loads of macro algae and my crab Cheeto.

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56 minutes ago, EthanPhillyCheesesteak said:

I just adore those majano, I need some majano for my pest tank that look that beautiful. All I have is some ugly brown aptasia, some ball nems, and of course loads of macro algae and my crab Cheeto.

If you're serious, shoot me a PM sometime and I can try to mail you a few.  I have the all green variant and some of the pink tipped ones that I think are gorgeous. 

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EthanPhillyCheesesteak
15 minutes ago, TatorTaco said:

If you're serious, shoot me a PM sometime and I can try to mail you a few.  I have the all green variant and some of the pink tipped ones that I think are gorgeous. 

Aw really? When I get the money maybe I’ll have to do that. I would need to pay for shipping correct? Or would you like me to pay for the majano too?

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2 hours ago, EthanPhillyCheesesteak said:

Aw really? When I get the money maybe I’ll have to do that. I would need to pay for shipping correct? Or would you like me to pay for the majano too?

I’d just ask for shipping only. 🙂

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