66 SCA Predator Reef build

[Tired]

Woo, lots of critters! I'd be a little worried about the sifter star, though, those need really large tanks to avoid gradual starvation. 

 

Do you hand-feed them? 

[ValerieR]

On 2/3/2020 at 6:08 PM, Tired said:

Woo, lots of critters! I'd be a little worried about the sifter star, though, those need really large tanks to avoid gradual starvation. 

 

Do you hand-feed them? 

No, I haven’t had to yet. I did try once but he didn’t seem interested. I think I’d have to bury it to keep the hermits or shrimp from stealing it from him. 

[ValerieR]

On 2/3/2020 at 5:53 PM, Dirté Sanchez said:

Yeah I’ve been watching this with amazement that they all get along. I guess though sharks and other predators live on real reefs without devastating it, so I hope yours continues to thrive! It’s so cool, especially the cockatoos— they remind me of Blennies with Mohawks 😂 

The key is really getting things of a similar size with a similar adult size. Ignore that advice with frog fish though... they’ll eat things the same size as themselves. Leaf fish and cockatoo wasp fish have relatively small mouths, so compatibility is good. I think my lawnmower blenny got eaten, so it’s not a perfect world. Would be nice to get peppermint shrimp for the aptasia, but I’d need a huge one to last long enough to eat it all. I’m looking at a new sump, and may take to catching them all, dropping them in the sump, doing stuff to the upper tank and then putting them back. They’re stupid easy to catch. 

[ECLS Reefer]

1 hour ago, ValerieR said:

The key is really getting things of a similar size with a similar adult size. Ignore that advice with frog fish though... they’ll eat things the same size as themselves. Leaf fish and cockatoo wasp fish have relatively small mouths, so compatibility is good. I think my lawnmower blenny got eaten, so it’s not a perfect world. Would be nice to get peppermint shrimp for the aptasia, but I’d need a huge one to last long enough to eat it all. I’m looking at a new sump, and may take to catching them all, dropping them in the sump, doing stuff to the upper tank and then putting them back. They’re stupid easy to catch. 

That’s one way to deal with them. I had to chase my female clown fish for a long time last night before I got her in a net.

[Tired]

I would try to feed the sifter star, it's hard to tell they're starving until they do. 

 

And I meant do you ever hand-feed the fish. They seem bold enough to like it, though I'm not sure you want to encourage venomous fish to come towards your hands when you put 'em in there.

[ValerieR]

On 2/11/2020 at 9:08 PM, Tired said:

I would try to feed the sifter star, it's hard to tell they're starving until they do. 

 

And I meant do you ever hand-feed the fish. They seem bold enough to like it, though I'm not sure you want to encourage venomous fish to come towards your hands when you put 'em in there.

I feed each fish individually, but not with my hands. They chase the tongs around by now, no matter what I'm holding with them, so I don't want that sort of encouraged proximity where I can't move freely within the tank if I need to. I'm not afraid of them, and I have had them come explore my hands and perch on me out of curiosity, but other than wanting them to not fear me, I'm happy with how things are. Feeding my snakes and other animals has taught me animals aren't perfect, and sooner or later someone will make an error. May as well prevent the foreseeable. 

[ValerieR]

So bad news: Slimy the eel committed Harry Carey while I was in Reno last weekend. Not sure how, as the glass lid was on. But I came back and he was thoroughly beyond saving. I'm pretty upset, but one of my LFS gets white ribbon eels in regularly, so I'll likely get another one. Maybe I'll consider a different type of eel. I'll need to consider what would work in my tank. 

 

I picked up 3 true percula clownfish for my daughter's 13.5, because I almost never see them at any of my LFSs. They were only $10 each, so I had to. They made the 5 hr drive home ok, and with my leaf fish in the 13.5 I put the clownfish in a breeder box for the night. One managed to jump out overnight and was promptly eaten. I'm glad I got 3. 

 

 

This did prompt the decision that they were eating well enough to get moved back into the 66, and I moved them my first day back. They still aren't fond of krill, but they will eat glass shrimp, dead or alive, from feeding tongs. The big tank just adds a timer to that, or the Cockatoo Waspfish will come steal their dinner. The food interest from other fish seems to be helping though, and they both ate in record time last night.

 

The bigger one was starting to pick on the smaller one in the 13, but that's over now. They hang out side by side most of the time in the big tank. 

 

 

I added a new coral and while I floated it (before dipping), I came and sat by the tank. All 5 of them came to say hello and see if I had food. It was pretty amusing. Can you see all 5?

 

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

54 minutes ago, ValerieR said:

So bad news: Slimy the eel committed Harry Carey while I was in Reno last weekend. Not sure how, as the glass lid was on. But I came back and he was thoroughly beyond saving. I'm pretty upset, but one of my LFS gets white ribbon eels in regularly, so I'll likely get another one. Maybe I'll consider a different type of eel. I'll need to consider what would work in my tank. 

 

I picked up 3 true percula clownfish for my daughter's 13.5, because I almost never see them at any of my LFSs. They were only $10 each, so I had to. They made the 5 hr drive home ok, and with my leaf fish in the 13.5 I put the clownfish in a breeder box for the night. One managed to jump out overnight and was promptly eaten. I'm glad I got 3. 

 

 

This did prompt the decision that they were eating well enough to get moved back into the 66, and I moved them my first day back. They still aren't fond of krill, but they will eat glass shrimp, dead or alive, from feeding tongs. The big tank just adds a timer to that, or the Cockatoo Waspfish will come steal their dinner. The food interest from other fish seems to be helping though, and they both ate in record time last night.

 

The bigger one was starting to pick on the smaller one in the 13, but that's over now. They hang out side by side most of the time in the big tank. 

 

 

I added a new coral and while I floated it (before dipping), I came and sat by the tank. All 5 of them came to say hello and see if I had food. It was pretty amusing. Can you see all 5?

 

 

That's so amazing. Love the leaffish - I saw one in a DT in a public aquarium in Singapore. Beautiful fish. 🙂 

[ValerieR]

So bad news... I'm concerned that both Mocha, my biggest cockatoo waspfish, and Sunset, my scopas tang, look like they may have some sort of ich. I haven't added anything in 3 weeks, and that was the pair of Leaf fish from the 13. Neither Leaf Fish has symptoms, and have never shown symptoms. The coral I added was dipped before putting it in. 

 

Symptoms include slightly hazy eyes, and some white bumps. Not real bad... yet. Mocha has a few on his eyes, and Sunset has a few more his body as well. Sunset is hiding in a cave looking stressed. It is possible that Sunset is sick, and Mocha may be shedding. I think they shed the same way the leaf fish do, but I'm not entirely certain. I have a cleaner shrimp; I wish Sunset was using its services. 

 

I'll do a big water change tomorrow and see if it helps. There's no chance of catching her for removal and treatment. And with plans for another eel, plus the corals, treatment options are limited. If anyone has suggestions, I'm all ears. I've just got to hope the scorpionfish are resistant to it, or that I'm imagining things. Tomorrow will tell. 

 

 

[ECLS Reefer]

😢😢

[Tired]

Cleaner shrimp can help very slightly with ich, but won't cure it. 

 

I don't think I've seen ich cause cloudy eyes, but I fortunately don't have too much experience with it. Large water changes are always a good plan with any ailing fish, and close observation. 

 

If they're still eating, could you bait them up and catch them in a container to remove, instead of chasing them around? 

[ValerieR]

So the scopas tang died, but all the scorpionfish are fine. I'll keep an eye on them. I'm sad my tang died, but glad everyone seems to be doing ok and that it didn't wipe out my whole tank (knock on wood). 

 

Now adding more fish will prove interesting, because I added clownfish into the 13, which I was using to quarantine. I did that because I was "done" stocking the 66. I also added the tang to the tank first because I knew it wouldn't quarantine well in the 13, so had it solo in the 66 before adding anything else. Now I'll need to either skip quarantine, or get a very small one. I'll have to think on what to do about that.

[ECLS Reefer]

55 minutes ago, ValerieR said:

So the scopas tang died, but all the scorpionfish are fine. I'll keep an eye on them. I'm sad my tang died, but glad everyone seems to be doing ok and that it didn't wipe out my whole tank (knock on wood). 

 

Now adding more fish will prove interesting, because I added clownfish into the 13, which I was using to quarantine. I did that because I was "done" stocking the 66. I also added the tang to the tank first because I knew it wouldn't quarantine well in the 13, so had it solo in the 66 before adding anything else. Now I'll need to either skip quarantine, or get a very small one. I'll have to think on what to do about that.

That’s sad. I’m right with you on the fish struggle bus this week.

[ValerieR]

11 hours ago, Dirté Sanchez said:

That’s sad. I’m right with you on the fish struggle bus this week.

Between losing Slimy the eel and Sunset the Scopas Tang, it's been a rough February. Now I've got red slime starting and the hair algae is starting to pick up. The 13 hit an ugly patch like this, but the timing could have been better. 

 

Hope your fish struggle gets better. If nothing else, the forum shows us we've all been there. 

[ValerieR]

Good news dump. My bubble corals are thrilled with life. So there. Here are 2 nighttime feeding mode photos. Feeding them makes me happy, and the food looks like it's falling into quicksand. 

 

 

[ValerieR]

Some days I feel like my little guys are just trying to cheer me up. 

 

 

 

[William]

Sounds more like your issue could be Flukes 

[Snow_Phoenix]

Any updates? 🙂

[ValerieR]

They had ich. It killed the whole tank. I was pretty upset, and really have just barely done the minimum to keep the coral alive. Just trying to find the motivation to rebuild. I got a dwarf fuzzy lionfish yesterday, so working on getting it eating. My mantis tank is doing well, so at least there's that. 

[Snow_Phoenix]

4 hours ago, ValerieR said:

They had ich. It killed the whole tank. I was pretty upset, and really have just barely done the minimum to keep the coral alive. Just trying to find the motivation to rebuild. I got a dwarf fuzzy lionfish yesterday, so working on getting it eating. My mantis tank is doing well, so at least there's that. 

Valerie, I'm really sorry to hear this. I've lost an entire tank (except two fish, which barely made it) to Ich before, so I know how much this sucks. 😞

 

But don't give up just yet! I actually love your tank, and it had the makings of a very nice predator build. I loved your waspfish the most - I've seen them being sold here, but they usually come in very small at <3". 

 

I used to have a fuzzy dwarf lion several years back, and they're amazing fish. Tricky to feed, but I remember how my dad used to like that fish the most among everything I kept. Until today, if he follows me to the reef store, he'll always, always beeline to the holding tank where the store keeps their lionfish for display/sale. 😛

 

Hoping to see a comeback from this tank though! If you need any help, just ask the forum and we'll try to help in the best way that we can. 🙂 

[ValerieR]

The fuzzy dwarf I got is at least being a champ. He's so far refused to eat freeze dried krill off a feeding stick or from tongs so I tossed it into my floating food square for my 6 line wrasse to grab. Well, the FDL decided that looked yummy so he'll eat from that now. It's his new favorite lights-out hangout spot... just in case. The pic is dark, but it's from above from my raised bed that sits next to the tank. 

 

[Tired]

Huh, that's interesting. Are these guys known to hang out under floating debris in the wild? He might like it as a form of shelter, in addition to the food having been there once.

[farkwar]

On 9/13/2019 at 7:00 AM, ValerieR said:

My waspfish is eating frozen krill. Took a bit to convince him the first piece was edible, but he took 2 more small pieces pretty eagerly after that. I don't see the white face, so I don't know if he's a cockatoo or a different variant. 

 

 I want one

[vlangel]

On 9/24/2019 at 1:09 AM, ValerieR said:

Ok, just when I was talking about predator intelligence, Mocha goes and proves me wrong. 3 tries "hunting" a feeder shrimp. 3 fails. Even tried to hand it to him in a net. Nope. He's an idiot. No idea how he survived in the wild. No wonder he's a huge fan of me handing him food with tongs. I rarely feed live, but my LFS got a feeder in with their peppermint shrimp. I was in there showing off my new motorcycle (one of the guys there is a motorcycle guy too) so I picked it up. Had to be creative on how to get it home, but I figured it out. Mocha, however, went to bed with his dinner still swimming around. 

 

Fail 1:

 

Fail 2:

 

 

My LFS guy is fish shopping tomorrow, and said they'll look for waspfish or leaf fish for me. They'll even not put them into their tanks, cuz they're a bit Ich-y, and I'd rather check them out in their supplier water/bags and then quarantine them here. We'll see what happens. I'd better wear a backpack on the bike tomorrow. 

Hey I ride a motorcycle too!  I have brought things home from the LFS inside my leather jacket, ha ha!  Even crickets which is creepy if they escape!

[ValerieR]

Ok. Definite change for the 66. I was at the LFS for hermits for the purple spot mantis I have in my 13 and darn it if they didn't have a Peacock Mantis. I've never seen one here, and after much "this is a terrible idea HOWEVER there isn't much in the big tank anyway..." I brought it home with me. So, tentative name is Bruiser. I'm severely hoping it finds the PVC tubes I buried for the past eel instead of rearranging the brickwork. I'll need to identify and secure my favorite corals to keep them safe. My Dwarf Lionfish was NOT amused, and I doubt my 6 line wrasse will last the week. But I expect to be able to add 1-2 large waspfish still. Bruiser is about half his expected size right now, in the 5-6" range. Please ignore the algae on the side glass. I haven't touched the side glass in months. I'll scrape it off once there's an appropriate burrow for Bruiser. 

 

At the store:

 

Looking around from the back corner:

 

Lionfish (front left) and mantis having a staredown:

 

Bruiser's weaponry: