farkwar Posted December 22, 2020 How the heck you train cats to be hamsters? Quote Share this post Link to post
Tamberav Posted December 22, 2020 59 minutes ago, farkwar said: How the heck you train cats to be hamsters? Active cats tend to love it. Mostly just point a laser at it so they can see how it works and then they use it on their own. My oldest bengal used it as a kitten at the breeders and she knew how to use it immediately even after 4 years of not having one and showed the others. 2 Quote Share this post Link to post
Tamberav Posted January 4 Finally got a good picture of my frilly limpet hitchhiker. He only comes out when the lights are off but was up front this morning. He has gold sparkles around his shell. 7 4 Quote Share this post Link to post
Reefkid88 Posted January 4 That is insane !!! Pretty dang cool looking for sure. 2 Quote Share this post Link to post
mcarroll Posted January 4 On 12/17/2020 at 5:00 PM, Tamberav said: I get sick of replacing dry sides This is still an issue?? Quote Share this post Link to post
Tamberav Posted January 4 41 minutes ago, mcarroll said: This is still an issue?? Yes the MP10 dry sides ceramic shaft is too thin and fragile. MP40 do not seem to have the same problems due to a thicker shaft. My old dry sides from 2012 are more sturdy than the new ones. 1 Quote Share this post Link to post
Tired Posted January 5 That limpet is incredible! Do they have any downsides? I kinda want one, just looking at that fancy thing. 3 Quote Share this post Link to post
mcarroll Posted January 5 I don't have fancy limpets, just tiny grey ones, but they (along with my army of asterisms) will outcompete bigger snails for algae quite handily, and reproduce whether I want them to or not. I think the big ones tend to get around 1 cm long. I don't really know any downsides. 3 Quote Share this post Link to post
Tamberav Posted January 5 2 hours ago, Tired said: That limpet is incredible! Do they have any downsides? I kinda want one, just looking at that fancy thing. No downsides, just a sparkly algae eating machine. Sometimes you just need to look fabulous while eating algae. 3 2 Quote Share this post Link to post
Tired Posted January 5 I'm surprised they aren't available for sale, then. Maybe people don't usually see them to collect them? They look almost like nudibranchs, but they're something you can actually keep alive, so I bet anyone who could get a supply of those in would have loads of buyers. 1 Quote Share this post Link to post
A.m.P Posted January 5 Some keyhole limpets have sufficiently-advanced radula to eat right through corals as well as algae. But they're quite rare, the other downside, like mcarrol mentioned, is they'll kill your CUC by multiplying and just doing a more thorough job. Upside is, apparently basslet's and pink streaked wrasse absolutely love to eat them. Quote Share this post Link to post
Tamberav Posted January 5 7 hours ago, Tired said: I'm surprised they aren't available for sale, then. Maybe people don't usually see them to collect them? They look almost like nudibranchs, but they're something you can actually keep alive, so I bet anyone who could get a supply of those in would have loads of buyers. Well it would have to be a place like reef cleaners or KPA. They would not be easy to remove from the rock and being nocturnal... very difficult to find I would think. As soon as lights are on it retreats into the rock until nighttime. I do think they would be popular... just difficult to supply. There is a black one that is similar as well. LA says it can graze on certain species of SPS but I kept some and they never bothered the corals I had. I got one from Metrokat years ago and she has a good amount of SPS too. They bred in her tanks though I don’t think to any sort of pest proportions. Just enough so she could give some away. Maybe this one? https://m.liveaquaria.com/product/1752/?pcatid=1752 It looked like this: We used to see cool things and trade stuff like this more often but now that live rock isn’t readily available and some people developed a fear of hitchikers... sadly we are losing these critters and with them goes documentation on keeping them and their habits. I had a breeding colony of abalone snails in my first reef that came on the live rock and it was cool as hell. I never had to buy a snail and if one died it left that pretty shell. 2 Quote Share this post Link to post
Tired Posted January 5 What species of abalone were they, do you know? I've only ever seen the Californian ones that grow to the size of bowls and would be bad for basically every home tank, but I know there are smaller kinds. I hope that someone can eventually establish more live rock mariculture spots, particularly in areas outside the Gulf. I started my current tank with pre-cycled live rock from a LFS bin, with all kinds of life on it. When I get space for a bigger tank, I'm going to place an order from one of the places that ships rock in water. I love all the creatures. The irony of it is, one of the nastiest pests you can get, some strains of dinos, is impossible to avoid reliably. The best way to not have a problem with dinos, aside from not underfeeding, is to start with live rock. 1 Quote Share this post Link to post
Tamberav Posted January 5 13 minutes ago, Tired said: What species of abalone were they, do you know? I've only ever seen the Californian ones that grow to the size of bowls and would be bad for basically every home tank, but I know there are smaller kinds. I hope that someone can eventually establish more live rock mariculture spots, particularly in areas outside the Gulf. I started my current tank with pre-cycled live rock from a LFS bin, with all kinds of life on it. When I get space for a bigger tank, I'm going to place an order from one of the places that ships rock in water. I love all the creatures. The irony of it is, one of the nastiest pests you can get, some strains of dinos, is impossible to avoid reliably. The best way to not have a problem with dinos, aside from not underfeeding, is to start with live rock. They were tropical on some indo live rock. They got about quarter size for me, slow growers and max out at 3-4 inches I believe. Great cuc! 1 Quote Share this post Link to post
Tired Posted January 5 Sounds like a cool animal. Too bad you don't still have any- if they breed reliably in tanks, those would be great to trade around for people to have. Self-replenishing CUC, neat animals- that's a winner. And free jewelry once they die of old age. I should ask my LFS if they've ever seen any. Maybe there's one or two kicking around in a display tank somewhere from years ago, the place has been up a long time and I bet they used to get indo rock in. 2 Quote Share this post Link to post
mcarroll Posted January 10 On 1/5/2021 at 9:48 AM, Tired said: They look almost like nudibranchs Must be handy to look toxic. Mimicry rocks. 1 Quote Share this post Link to post
Tamberav Posted January 25 Jan update!! I call these guys... The Blenny Bro’s Added a tiny plate last month Walking dendro is a fav 3 Quote Share this post Link to post
ECLS Reefer Posted January 25 23 minutes ago, Tamberav said: FTS Pictus blennys for the win! 2 Quote Share this post Link to post
kimberbee Posted January 26 That frilly limpet is sooooo cool!! Make sure to get your final shot/post in by the 31st, and good luck!! 1 Quote Share this post Link to post
Tamberav Posted January 30 Final thoughts: This contest has been an enjoyable distraction in 2020. My theme was growth and I guess I achieved that personal goal. Yay! 🙂 My plan for this tank was to keep it simple. Live rock, light, flow, water changes. No testing, no dosing, no fancy additives or media. Just low stress, low cost fun! It is hard for me to think that this tank is only 5g. I have never kept such a small tank for this long of time before. The height and tons of small life makes it feel so much bigger. The live rock has probably saved my butt here. I mosssstly kept up on water changes.. but sometimes not 😉 I believe all the life that came in on it kept algae at bay as I feed a lot. Enough to look like it's snowing. The blennies, gobies, and numerous crabs/shrimp/critters do not complain! I also got some cool hitchhikers like the limpet and tunicates and lots of feather dusters and beneficial guys. I never found any bad hitchhikers. People worry so much about the bad things on rock but I never found it to be an issue. I plan to keep this tank going and see how much more it will fill in. We may be moving this spring/summer though which will pose it's own challenges to all my aquariums but going to try and keep as much going as I can (I move a lot so it is not the best hobby but I am an addict). I am glad our small forum could have something fun happening in 2020. Thanks for following along! 6 Quote Share this post Link to post
debbeach13 Posted January 30 Congratulations your tank made it to the end. I agree this contest and this site in general has been a nice distraction to the craziness. Good luck. 2 Quote Share this post Link to post
