365: Two Tanks, One Thread - Down to one tank. 😟

[NoOneLikesADryTang]

55 minutes ago, DevilDuck said:

Great looking tank! Wrasses are starting to grow on my too. I picked up 3 of them this week, possum, tiny yellow coris, and some mystery flasher wrasse. 

 

That’s awesome. I’m a big fan of possum and yellow coris wrasses. I’d love to try a bunch of possums or pink streaks in one tank. They’re such docile little fish. 
 

Also, I’ve decided I’m going to attempt for first ever solo water change on Merc(our 80 gallon tank) this week. It hasn’t been done in a few weeks, and the Tank Keeper is out of town. I’d like to lighten her load a little bit for when she gets home. Hopefully I don’t make a huge mess out of her brick floor that she loves (quite possibly more than me!). With any luck, I’ll be handsomely rewarded with “dat wrasse” when she gets home and finds out! 

[NoOneLikesADryTang]

Well, it’s official. I’m a full blown reefer.
 

I did my first solo water change on not one, but both of these tanks. I managed to do it with spilling much water at all. I’m pretty proud of myself - I think I deserve a cold beer while I take a victory lap, and admire how great of a job I did! Feel free to leave your congratulations below.

 

Update on the 80 gallon:

• CopperBand butterfly named The Monarch : He seemed to be a little slow to get an appetite for aiptasia, but has since decided he likes to party, so they get sucked up like Charlie Sheen with an eight ball. #winning
• A Picasso and Wyoming White clown fish. These came from a guy in our local reef club that was moving, and decided against trying to move the fish. 
• A tentative remodel is still planned for this tank, but the tank keeper has been taking her sweet ass time with it. I guess you get what you pay for, and since I only pay in back rubs, it’s low on the priority list. Maybe I need to threaten to withhold these magic hands until it’s done. 
• I have a bunch of frags I need to take pictures of, and try to sell and/or give away. If anyone is in the Phoenix area, and wants some zoas for the low, low price of free - slide up in to my DMs. I’ll respond, and won’t blow you off like the majority of those thots on Instagram. 

That’s all for now - I’ve got a cold beer calling my name!

[NoOneLikesADryTang]

Over the three day, Labor Day weekend, the tank keeper decided it was a good time for our semi annual tank maintenance. This is where I really get involved, all though I think it’s mostly just because I can reach everything in the back chambers without standing on a stool like her. 
 

We tore down, and cleaned our skimmer, return pump and return lines, media baskets, and really cleaned out all of the rear chambers and refilled (which, for anyone curious, is about 13 gallons, in the SR80).  We had some monster aiptasia hiding in the rear chambers, that our CopperBand obviously couldn’t get to, so it was really nice to get them out of the tank. 
 

 

 

New fish additions this month:

Pair of Yasha gobies - All though, we haven’t seen them for a couple of weeks. I’m hoping their just hiding in the rock work. 

Ornate Leopard Wrasse - My favorite local fish store has had this beautiful guy patrolling on of their frag tanks for nearly a year, and every time I go in, I ask if I can buy him. When I picked up the Yashas, much to my surprise, they said yes. I nearly gave the girl working there a big smooch. I think the Tank Keeper would have understood. 
FoxFace Rabbit Fish - We got this guy from a local tank break down. He was much larger than he looked in pictures. He’s easily 6-7” (A true 6 or 7 inches, if you’re catching what I’m throwing, fellas! Let’s just say the iPhone measuring photo tool is one of the worst things technology has done to us.) We haven’t decided if we’ll keep him, or find him a new home, and look for a smaller one. He’s very healthy, and a chunk. He hasn’t eaten much since we put him in the tank (it’s only been 4 days), but I did see him eating some nori from the clip yesterday. 
 

One other thing of note over the last month, our clowns decided to pair up, and are now calling a frog spawn home. The little male (not pictured) really loves it. Sometimes he’s in it so deep you can’t see anything but his little face barely peeking out. The tank keeper is smitten with his cuteness. 
 

 

Also, the tank keeper still hasn’t done the rescape on this tank. I have not been able to withhold these magic hands, because let’s be honest, I’d only be punishing myself. The tank keeper is smoking hot. I’ll have to keep brainstorming a new way to motivate her. I really need to get these frag racks empty, so I can talk her in to letting me buy more coral. Please feel free to leave any suggestions below… I’ll report back if any work! 

[debbeach13]

Sounds like a very productive weekend. 

[NoOneLikesADryTang]

A quick update for September. 

 

We decided to take the 20 gallon peninsula down. It ended up mostly just being a storage tank for stuff, that we didn’t want in other tanks, so I quit being lazy, and sold off a lot of those items, albeit at a significant discount, just so we could get it emptied out. I love the look of the tank, but it’s very narrow, which made it hard to clean. It was also really difficult to light, and make the tank/lighting aesthetically pleasing. It was made easier knowing the next NanoReef contest is right around the corner, and the tank keeper was on board for it. 
 

We ended up rehoming the large FoxFace. He just wasn’t happy in our tank, and we found him a 200 gallon tank where he could really spread his fins, and live his best life. 
 

The tank keeper came home from work last week, to find our CopperBand butterfly fish, deceased. We don’t have an explanation for it. He got along with all of his tank mates. He appeared to be healthy, and would always eat when we fed. It made my heart really sad, because he had been a great little fish for the couple months we’d had him. I never knew I could get so attached to fish. 

Zoa Cuddles

 

 

 

Random Goni’s 

 

 

I’m trying to talk the tank keeper in to going to a Coral Farmers Market in California next month. It’s not looking promising for me, thus far, but I still have a few tricks (Mostly just begging and pleading!) up my sleeve. Hopefully I’ll report back soon with new corals! 

[debbeach13]

Sorry about the butterfly. Those pictures are great. Good luck with the trip plans.

[The Rainy Day Aquarium]

Sorry about the copperband... Do you think you'll get another one?

[NoOneLikesADryTang]

8 minutes ago, debbeach13 said:

Sorry about the butterfly. Those pictures are great. Good luck with the trip plans.

Thanks Deb! I’m hoping I can talk her in to it. It’d be a nice little getaway for us! 
 

7 minutes ago, Chowder's Reef said:

Sorry about the copperband... Do you think you'll get another one?

I’ll probably try another one. This was our second one, and had been doing a terrific job with managing aiptasia, and not munching on corals. Our first one had a similar death. Was eating fine, and came home one day to find him dead. They may be one of those fish that are better off left in the ocean. I think in the next few years, we’ll probably start seeing captive bred CopperBands, and hopefully they’ll be better equipped for an aquarium life. 

[ECLS Reefer]

4 hours ago, NoOneLikesADryTang said:

A quick update for September. 

 

We decided to take the 20 gallon peninsula down. It ended up mostly just being a storage tank for stuff, that we didn’t want in other tanks, so I quit being lazy, and sold off a lot of those items, albeit at a significant discount, just so we could get it emptied out. I love the look of the tank, but it’s very narrow, which made it hard to clean. It was also really difficult to light, and make the tank/lighting aesthetically pleasing. It was made easier knowing the next NanoReef contest is right around the corner, and the tank keeper was on board for it. 
 

We ended up rehoming the large FoxFace. He just wasn’t happy in our tank, and we found him a 200 gallon tank where he could really spread his fins, and live his best life. 
 

The tank keeper came home from work last week, to find our CopperBand butterfly fish, deceased. We don’t have an explanation for it. He got along with all of his tank mates. He appeared to be healthy, and would always eat when we fed. It made my heart really sad, because he had been a great little fish for the couple months we’d had him. I never knew I could get so attached to fish. 

Zoa Cuddles

 

 

 

Random Goni’s 

 

 

I’m trying to talk the tank keeper in to going to a Coral Farmers Market in California next month. It’s not looking promising for me, thus far, but I still have a few tricks (Mostly just begging and pleading!) up my sleeve. Hopefully I’ll report back soon with new corals! 

See that’s why I’m afraid to get one. They’re too gorgeous to have them just up and die on me. 

[NoOneLikesADryTang]

11 hours ago, ECLS Reefer said:

See that’s why I’m afraid to get one. They’re too gorgeous to have them just up and die on me. 

It definitely sucks. The first one we had would only eat frozen brine, and was really meek, so I wasn’t entirely surprised when he passed. 
 

The second one was eating any frozen we fed, and wasn’t shy in the slightest. He was doing a great job munching on aipstasia, so it was really unexpected.