cosmicbread Posted January 24, 2020 Share Posted January 24, 2020 There have been several truly gorgeous dedicated pest tanks, on this forum and elsewhere, to which I owe a ton of inspiration. I think sometimes we need to be aware that most of these critters are only pesty because we, and our unnatural glass boxes, have deemed them so. Well...I recently found a sizable predatory whelk in my DT, didn’t want to kill something that had no choice to be in its current situation, didn’t have a sump, and so decided that an extra few gallons to care for wouldn’t be that much of a strain...😜 Big Bertha is quite the charismatic creature, now living in an Imagitarium 3.7 AIO. I’m waiting on a new light and will be upgrading the pump. Tank was set up with two pieces of rock from established tanks, live sand and some Turbo Start for good measure. Already have a colony of drab brown palys in residence, and I’m going to trawl the local groups for other “undesirables”... BB nestling in the sand this morning. FTS with rainbow. Feeding time in the DT, in order to catch her. 4 Quote Link to comment
Ratvan Posted January 24, 2020 Share Posted January 24, 2020 following, love me a pest tank. Hope you have better luck finding pests than i did 1 Quote Link to comment
cosmicbread Posted January 24, 2020 Author Share Posted January 24, 2020 Just now, Ratvan said: following, love me a pest tank. Hope you have better luck finding pests than i did Thanks Ratvan, we will see. My LFS seems to have quite a few 😛 and I've had a few bites on the FB group...fingers crossed? lol 1 Quote Link to comment
cosmicbread Posted January 30, 2020 Author Share Posted January 30, 2020 Quick update. Bertha has new roommates: about four Baby Berthas I found in my main tank, some Xenia (which I love but technically annoys a lot of people), and an aiptasia I found flailing gracefully out of my Halimeda opuntia. It is rooted deep in the halimeda cluster, so I think the whole “plant” is going to be sacrificed to this tank, unless I cut it in half or. Something. Bertha appears to bury herself and then emerges for the occasional piece of shrimp I toss in there. Scape is still unsettled. Bonus cameo of my cat and hand! 3 1 Quote Link to comment
IHaveADegreeInMarineBioBut Posted January 30, 2020 Share Posted January 30, 2020 10 minutes ago, cosmicbread said: Quick update. Bertha has new roommates: about four Baby Berthas I found in my main tank, some Xenia (which I love but technically annoys a lot of people), and an aiptasia I found flailing gracefully out of my Halimeda opuntia. It is rooted deep in the halimeda cluster, so I think the whole “plant” is going to be sacrificed to this tank, unless I cut it in half or. Something. Bertha appears to bury herself and then emerges for the occasional piece of shrimp I toss in there. Scape is still unsettled. Bonus cameo of my cat and hand! that fish looks oddly like a cat 2 Quote Link to comment
cosmicbread Posted March 2, 2020 Author Share Posted March 2, 2020 Update! Today I relocated the Den to a 5g. Added a Koralia Nano I’ve had sitting around, one new piece of dry rock with the rock from the previous system, and three mangroves from the 12g tank I broke down/upgraded. I’ll either plant them in a mud pot or train them for prop roots. I may or may not put sand in this thing. Needs a better scape. It currently houses a few gorilla crabs, Big Bertha and the baby Berthas, some eh coral I was given, and Melody the aiptasia. Also a handful of different macs. Ive been spot feeding Melody so she can grow big and strong. 3 Quote Link to comment
cosmicbread Posted March 6, 2020 Author Share Posted March 6, 2020 I recently found a small green mantis in the rock of my DT. Potentially viridis due to her electric lime color, but I’ve only ever had a good glimpse of her head so she may potentially be another species. I was able to move “Hermione” and her rock to this pico yesterday. Added sand last evening as well, and some rubble that I plan to smash into smaller pieces for her. I’ll also be adding more shells and other building materials. She tentatively took a tiny bite of thawed raw salad shrimp from me this morning. I do have a vid, just need to figure out how to get it on here without using insta 😛 I’m going to be adding a small AC HOB soon. 2 Quote Link to comment
cosmicbread Posted March 19, 2020 Author Share Posted March 19, 2020 Added an AC and did some rearranging; now the Garden is home to a kenya tree, elegant GSP of a pink variety, two trumpet heads, and some hairy mushrooms. Switched out the grow light for a more coral-y LED I had sitting in a closet and transferred the mangroves to the back chamber of the 25. Melody disappeared 😕 Kinda odd that when deliberately trying to keep an aiptasia alive it ends up going *poof* of its own accord. Hermione the mantis will often pop out of her hole to stare back at me. 3 Quote Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.