Ratvan's RSM 130D

[StinkyBunny]

I guess it's possible, do the dead shells have holes in them? If not, I'd still say it's a Cone shell of some sort.

[Ratvan]

4 minutes ago, StinkyBunny said:

I guess it's possible, do the dead shells have holes in them? If not, I'd still say it's a Cone shell of some sort.

Yes all of the dead Ceriths and Nassarius have the same hole in them 

Astera don't have holes in dead shells

Banded Trocus are all up on my walls and glass 

Seems to be those that stay on or near the sand 

[billygoat]

1 hour ago, Ratvan said:

 

Are these "Driller Killers"? As in will they make a small hole in the snail's shell and suck them up through it?

 

Very similar to the below holes but on Cerith Shells (and similar)

These cockles look to me like victims of moon snails (familiy Naticidae), which are very common predatory snails found all over the world. Cone snails are generally more active hunters of fish rather than other mollusks (hence the sharp harpoon), but it would not surprise me if there is some variety that drills into shells as well. 🤷‍♂️

[StinkyBunny]

5 minutes ago, billygoat said:

These cockles look to me like victims of moon snails (familiy Naticidae), which are very common predatory snails found all over the world. Cone snails are generally more active hunters of fish rather than other mollusks (hence the sharp harpoon), but it would not surprise me if there is some variety that drills into shells as well. 🤷‍♂️

The reason I said Cone was he said he was stung by it. I looked and saw that these can cause irritation too. If those snails have holes in them, then that's the one. I'd pull it and tank a hammer to it, well, feed it to Stripey and his harem.

[Ratvan]

Right snail trap it is then 

[billygoat]

3 minutes ago, StinkyBunny said:

The reason I said Cone was he said he was stung by it. I looked and saw that these can cause irritation too. If those snails have holes in them, then that's the one. I'd pull it and tank a hammer to it, well, feed it to Stripey and his harem.

Oh yeah, that bastard with the sting definitely looks super suspicious to me. Whatever happened to that guy @Ratvan? Did you get rid of him or just lose track of him? I think I'd be nervous to put my hands in the tank with that thing running around in my system. 😅

[Ratvan]

Just now, billygoat said:

Oh yeah, that bastard with the sting definitely looks super suspicious to me. Whatever happened to that guy @Ratvan? Did you get rid of him or just lose track of him? I think I'd be nervous to put my hands in the tank with that thing running around in my system. 😅

Stabby Joe? It is in the tank somewhere, I can more or less tell where it is as it is never fully buried in the sand, just kind of hunkered down a few mm under it with the top of the shell exposed. I of course have added a lot more rock since then so spotting it is a little difficult now. 

 

Also that sting made me wear gloves in the tank while working now (apart from when i'm feeding Pele of course) 

[StinkyBunny]

When we were bringing in rock from Indo and Fiji we'd get those fukn cone shells all the damn time to the point that I put a board and hammer at the rock tank to dispatch the damn things. Better safe than sorry.

[Ratvan]

I'm fairly sure I have f#cked my corals with the new light schedule. Everything looks awful this morning.

 

Kunti (My Yellow Coris Wrasse) is driving me insane.

 

I am now used to the fact that I will incur horrendous losses on my snails and inverts in my clean up crew, thankfully so far the Urchin is as of yet unaffected by her attention. I set a snail trap on Friday to try and catch my Driller Killer and found both my Yellow Coris and the "Conch" in the trap this morning. She has been released back into the main tank and the conch can now live in the rear compartment of the tank.  

 

I have come to terms that I probably cannot keep many/any corals on my sandbed thanks to the way she bombs into and out of the sand, repeatedly in the morning as her wake up ritual. Sadly I lost the Fungia Plate coral as it kept moving back towards the Wrasses bed down area and nail graveyard. The constant sand covering eventually just got too much for it. I know now that I probably could have placed the Fungia on a flat surface instead of the sand but that coral wondered all over the front of the tank. Same thing with the Lobo's.

 

She had me worried for a few weeks with her hunting and territorial swipes of the rocks. She brushes against a rock or slaps it with her tail and then turns and picks what I assume are pods off of the rock. The first few times I watched her do this i only started to calm down when i saw her start to peck. Similar thing with her territorial swiping, she rubs her right flank (always the right) against the rock that is nearest to where she sleeps in the sand and will often do this a couple of times before chasing something away (typically the Blenny or Clown).

 

Finally the latest new action that has begun to piss me off is that she'll swim to the surface to spalsh me. I sit roughly 5 foot away from the tank and feel a splash of water covering my necka nd back from the tank, turn around and Kunti is swimming on the surface splashing me (not jumping) she'll swim in circles faster and faster then stop and flick water out of the tank (in my general direction). First I thought she did this for food, so I gave the tank a few pellets, flakes etc but 20 minutes pass and she's back doing the same thing. 

 

🤷‍♂️

[banasophia]

32 minutes ago, Ratvan said:

I'm fairly sure I have f#cked my corals with the new light schedule. Everything looks awful this morning.

 

Kunti (My Yellow Coris Wrasse) is driving me insane.

 

I am now used to the fact that I will incur horrendous losses on my snails and inverts in my clean up crew, thankfully so far the Urchin is as of yet unaffected by her attention. I set a snail trap on Friday to try and catch my Driller Killer and found both my Yellow Coris and the "Conch" in the trap this morning. She has been released back into the main tank and the conch can now live in the rear compartment of the tank.  

 

I have come to terms that I probably cannot keep many/any corals on my sandbed thanks to the way she bombs into and out of the sand, repeatedly in the morning as her wake up ritual. Sadly I lost the Fungia Plate coral as it kept moving back towards the Wrasses bed down area and nail graveyard. The constant sand covering eventually just got too much for it. I know now that I probably could have placed the Fungia on a flat surface instead of the sand but that coral wondered all over the front of the tank. Same thing with the Lobo's.

 

She had me worried for a few weeks with her hunting and territorial swipes of the rocks. She brushes against a rock or slaps it with her tail and then turns and picks what I assume are pods off of the rock. The first few times I watched her do this i only started to calm down when i saw her start to peck. Similar thing with her territorial swiping, she rubs her right flank (always the right) against the rock that is nearest to where she sleeps in the sand and will often do this a couple of times before chasing something away (typically the Blenny or Clown).

 

Finally the latest new action that has begun to piss me off is that she'll swim to the surface to spalsh me. I sit roughly 5 foot away from the tank and feel a splash of water covering my necka nd back from the tank, turn around and Kunti is swimming on the surface splashing me (not jumping) she'll swim in circles faster and faster then stop and flick water out of the tank (in my general direction). First I thought she did this for food, so I gave the tank a few pellets, flakes etc but 20 minutes pass and she's back doing the same thing. 

 

🤷‍♂️

Haha Kunti... is her middle name Fanny? 😂🤣 I had no idea they were that feistY! Have you tried to catch the splashing on video? I need to catch up with your journal, sounds like all kinds of stuff going on!

[Ratvan]

2 minutes ago, banasophia said:

Haha Kunti... is her middle name Fanny? 😂🤣 I had no idea they were that feistY! Have you tried to catch the splashing on video? I need to catch up with your journal, sounds like all kinds of stuff going on!

😄

Full name is Kuntilanak (another Malay ghostly vampire) and not a bad Horror Film if you can cope with subtitles. But yes it certainly fits with how she's acting at the moment. 

I've caught her on photo swimming at the top of the tank but not yet the splashing, when i get near she flee's to the back of the rocks and yawns at me!

The fact i need a waterproof to work (plus the office equipment - computers, VDU's, Air Con etc) is slightly concerning and I need to keep the lid on 😞 

[Pjanssen]

6 hours ago, Ratvan said:

Finally the latest new action that has begun to piss me off is that she'll swim to the surface to spalsh me. I sit roughly 5 foot away from the tank and feel a splash of water covering my necka nd back from the tank, turn around and Kunti is swimming on the surface splashing me (not jumping) she'll swim in circles faster and faster then stop and flick water out of the tank (in my general direction). First I thought she did this for food, so I gave the tank a few pellets, flakes etc but 20 minutes pass and she's back doing the same thing. 

Maybe she's just flirting with you 🥰

[Ratvan]

Ok found this on here after trying to read up on this behaviour all day. pretty much bang on what my Spazz is up to

 

 

[StinkyBunny]

Dunno, you got a special needs wrasse is all I can think. I've never seen that and I have 3 in the one 80.

[Ratvan]

Morning,

 

So have been busy with the corals in this tank over the past few weeks. I have not been happy with the scape for a long time, pretty much since I started the tank. I also want to add some more sand to the sandbed as well as change up the location of the rocks. I also jumped in far too quickly and have ended up with a load of corals that I do not want, so last night the majority of these went to my LFS for store credit, I have spoken with the manager and they're going to order the corals/macro that i want in the tank. These will come direct from teh wholesaler/supplier and will not touch LFS water. 

 

The rocks are currently blocking too much of the flow that I want in the tank so i do need to change the layout, I think that I would also prefer a lower aquascape. Maybe something that would shift the focus lower in the tank and leave the open top free for swimmers. As I said I am also not happy with my sandbed, it is very fine aragonite sand which the wrasses really seem to appreciate but blows everywhere, I want to add some larger diameter substrate as well as some crushed corals. If I scape certain area's that are only small scale grain will the wrasses adapt to locate this area?  

 

So what are my best bests for rescaping with fish in the tank? Go slowly when placing the rock, but any other idea's? I could catch and place into holding buckets, but I think that the time that this will take (approx an hour) it'll cause more stress catching, transferring and releasing than If I did the work with fish in (except my Blenny he loves to hide in rocks when I take them out the tank) 

 

On 1/27/2020 at 4:05 PM, StinkyBunny said:

Dunno, you got a special needs wrasse is all I can think. I've never seen that and I have 3 in the one 80.

Sweet, special needs Wrasse. Lid is now on almost 100% of the time 😞

[Pjanssen]

If you are taking everything out to rescape, then I would also take the fish out. Use tank water with a couple piece of the rock and maybe your heater if needed. If you have a little power head you can throw that in there too. 

 

Keep in mind if you are changing out or adding sand then that can cause some issues.

 

Looking forward to seeing what you come up with. 

[Ratvan]

2 minutes ago, Pjanssen said:

If you are taking everything out to rescape, then I would also take the fish out. Use tank water with a couple piece of the rock and maybe your heater if needed. If you have a little power head you can throw that in there too. 

 

Keep in mind if you are changing out or adding sand then that can cause some issues.

 

Looking forward to seeing what you come up with. 

Yeah the fish are going to be difficult, might have to leave the Wrasses in (they hide in sand) and be very very careful when placing the rock in the sand. Blenny will come out, he rushes into the barnacles/rockwork and I can just pick that up while he "bobs" at me. Hantu depends on how much she wants to bite me, i can more or less scoop her and Pele out with my hands, I dont like netting Pele due to his horn, he is getting near being cup trained. I might leave a couple fish traps in tonight and see how that goes in the morning. 

 

I have a 10 gallon Water Proof tub that I'll be placing stuff in while working, spare heater and pump. Basically my QT tub that I have broken down as I will not be making any more additions anytime soon

 

I'll be adding crushed coral around the edge of the tank, no matter where i position the wave makers I always loose the sand and it really does bother me. , I have spent the last 3 weeks washing and rinsing this as well as some 4mm grain size, I have Prime and Stability on stand by.   

 

 

[WV Reefer]

On 1/27/2020 at 10:39 AM, Ratvan said:

Ok found this on here after trying to read up on this behaviour all day. pretty much bang on what my Spazz is up to

 

 

I had an orange back fairy wrasse that like to do the same thing. We called it his dolphin routine. He jumped several times after that with the last jump ending him for good. 

[Ratvan]

15 minutes ago, WV Reefer said:

I had an orange back fairy wrasse that like to do the same thing. We called it his dolphin routine. He jumped several times after that with the last jump ending him for good. 

I wish I could catch it on film, she swims with the dorsal fin upright and extended past the surface and make really rapid tight turns that sprays water all over the place. I'm getting used to hearing it on my lid now. Main concern is obviously water parameters and fish health but she seems healthy just weird....

[Ratvan]

 

Rescape complete, will add crushed coral little by little each day until I am happy with the coverage

[debbeach13]

Looks great!

[Ratvan]

5 minutes ago, debbeach13 said:

Looks great!

At least I go this one in focus 😄

[Pjanssen]

Hmmm. For some reason your picture is not showing up on my screen. Just a box.

Or is it a picture of super cloudy water?

[Ratvan]

1 minute ago, Pjanssen said:

Hmmm. For some reason your picture is not showing up on my screen. Just a box.

Or is it a picture of super cloudy water?

Super cloudy 😄

Fish will be re added tomorrow, the Wrasses were surprisingly easy to net...

[jack1978]

8 hours ago, Ratvan said:

Morning,

 

So have been busy with the corals in this tank over the past few weeks. I have not been happy with the scape for a long time, pretty much since I started the tank. I also want to add some more sand to the sandbed as well as change up the location of the rocks. I also jumped in far too quickly and have ended up with a load of corals that I do not want, so last night the majority of these went to my LFS for store credit, I have spoken with the manager and they're going to order the corals/macro that i want in the tank. These will come direct from teh wholesaler/supplier and will not touch LFS water. 

 

The rocks are currently blocking too much of the flow that I want in the tank so i do need to change the layout, I think that I would also prefer a lower aquascape. Maybe something that would shift the focus lower in the tank and leave the open top free for swimmers. As I said I am also not happy with my sandbed, it is very fine aragonite sand which the wrasses really seem to appreciate but blows everywhere, I want to add some larger diameter substrate as well as some crushed corals. If I scape certain area's that are only small scale grain will the wrasses adapt to locate this area?  

 

So what are my best bests for rescaping with fish in the tank? Go slowly when placing the rock, but any other idea's? I could catch and place into holding buckets, but I think that the time that this will take (approx an hour) it'll cause more stress catching, transferring and releasing than If I did the work with fish in (except my Blenny he loves to hide in rocks when I take them out the tank) 

 

Sweet, special needs Wrasse. Lid is now on almost 100% of the time 😞

I’ve done this a few times ..... never had any real issue..... except for Hotdog.  Hotdog was my Tail Spot Blenny who decided to take shelter in my MP10 while I moved everything around.  The water got so cloudy that I couldn’t see anything.  When I flipped the power back on, Hotdog was no longer in one piece.  RIP Hotdog. 
 

So, check all your equipment before powering back on. 
 

If you want to remove the current sand, I’ve scooped it out while running a siphon on a hose to suck up the cloud of nasties.  Or, run a large diameter hose to suck up the sand while doing a water change.  I also have a basic hang on the back filter with floss and carbon that I run as well.

 

Make sure your new rocks rest on the aquarium bottom after scooping sand out of the way.  
 

As far as the wrasses go, I know some people put various Tupperware containers full of the appropriate sand in the aquarium if they run a bare bottom or like what you’re doing with the larger diameter crushed coral surrounding it.  The fish seem to figure it out.  
 

Just think it all out ahead of time, have everything staged and go through it step by step.  Coral and fish are pretty hardy ...... usually.

 

LOL, late as usual! 

 

Edited January 30, 2020 by jack1978
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