My 20g Oasis in the Las Vegas Desert

[mipster]

Looking great! I love those IM drop off tanks, they are just too cool.

 

I have to know, is that heart shaped cave on the bottom left deliberate or just a happy accident?

[DesertReefOasis]

9 hours ago, mipster said:

Looking great! I love those IM drop off tanks, they are just too cool.

 

I have to know, is that heart shaped cave on the bottom left deliberate or just a happy accident?

 

Thanks!

 

Haha, it was a happy accident when I grabbed it from the local fish store, but once I started sorting out my rock planning my scape I was definitely deliberate to display my happy find. 🙂

[DesertReefOasis]

Ok, I'm officially THE WORST at keeping my hands out of the tank....

After a failed attempt of moving my mystic sunset monti the top rock structure resulting in some bleaching, I decided to break up that top boulder to smaller pieces and glue them back down during my water change yesterday (6/9/20).  I was able to create some extra little tunnels, and had to leave 2 chunks on the sand bed... I Think I like it better how it is now, but who knows. Took a few (too many?) pics this morning before the lights come on.

 

A close up of the new top scape:

 

From a bit further back... DJ and Wiz Khalifa playing a bit of tag up there:

 

FTS:

 

Used to have the mushroom rock here, but put the excess top rock chips down here for now:

 

Put the mushroom rock on the higher sand bottom, but not sure for its forever home being so close to the favia, don't want the mushroom to get stung as everything grows?

 

Caught Ghostface Killa napping on the job:

 

Some quadruple vision of Young Jeezy and a trochus snail at the top:

I'll have to keep trying to get a decent pic during the day when Young Jeezy obsesses over Wiz Khalifa hahaha. So cute; so fun actually getting to watch the fishes interact more now. 🙂

 

Side note, my copepod population is still booming even after the water change (as can be seen on the glass in the pic of Young Jeezy and a trochus snail)... Just may have to get a spotted female dragonet... The boyfriend has a male green mandarin dragonet and says if I get a female we can rehome mine in his tank if I ever come across a leopard toby puffer for sale (as I only want to keep 4 fish total in my little tank). But I still have to research if the female spotted and male green will get along... though his tank is 110g, so may be big enough even if they aren't the perfect match? Anyone have any insight into that?

[DesertReefOasis]

Well 3 days ago (Wednesday 6/10), the same afternoon as my last post, I went back to the local fish store to look around with the boyfriend at their new stocking of fish.. and I saw this sad little target mandarin goby/dragonet that I noticed had been there for over a week now. As I mentioned previously my tank was/is Covered in copepods as my possum wrasse doesn't seem to be chowing down on them as much as I'd expected.  So I never really considered getting a dragonet until lately due to my copepod population, and that visit I easily got talked into taking her home as she looked so sad and overlooked being there for over a week and notably skinny.  She's Actively hunting and eating constantly for 2 days all around my tank. My glass never really depleted of copepods, so I knew there's Plenty in there and I had high hopes of bringing her back from her undernourishment.  I thought it was working; I thought she was plumping up this morning and fat and happy and just sleeping in... Well, she wasn't happy.  She hardly moved all morning, starting to panic I tried to spot feed with no luck and did a water change and all the tests to see if there was anything I was doing wrong in my tank that was bothering her... But all my parameters were in the normal/perfect ranges according to the tests. Midday she was gone, not moving on her side between a rock and the dropoff glass.  Broke my heart.

 

The boyfriend convinced me these guys could have bacterial diseases and not show signs so we can't treat not knowing what it is.  Also read a lot that once they're malnourished it's near impossible to bring 'em back.. I just feel bad when a fish dies in my care because who's to say they wouldn't have had a happy long life in their natural habitat, and trying to keep 'em in my tank was what killed 'em. But I'm "saving" them from the fish store - right? 😞 I debated making this post since she's already gone... but she's too cute to not commemorate. RIP Missy Elliot (or if she was actually a dude, then RIP Hippie Sabotage).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All other fishes, DJ the possum wrasse, Young Jeezy the maine blizzard (previously thought wyoming white) clownfish, and Wiz Khalifa the bicolor/flametail blenny are all happy and quite the trio in my tank so far.

[DesertReefOasis]

Found out price does matter when buying sunglasses - at least for a half decent lense to see my fishy tank through! My boyfriend surpassed me in this mark, but lucky for me I got to borrow his shades to capture a few coral and fish pics yesterday (don't worry, I'm still looking forward to one day having a proper camera/lens still). Still miss my Missy Elliot/Hippie Sabotage... But these three are lovin' life it seems:

 

 

Goni Finally starting to reach back out

 

 

 

[DesertReefOasis]

Updated pics!  Things are holding steady with new additions of a couple of cristata torches and a lepto I won at auction for $40 which I'm stoked to watch grow out. Wiz Khalifa enjoys picking at my lepto, but thankfully my it seems healthy/happy enough to continuously recover so far..

 

FTS

 

Side View

 

The new Lobo

 

 

 

Bloodsport Favia seems to be fattening up a good amount

 

Ultron Favia still constantly showing off

 

Diversity Favia half hanging in there... hasn't gotten any worse at least

 

New Cristata Torches hopefully in their final placement, ha. Just need a third one I think to fill in that previously drilled hole where the boyfriend's hammer regained its health and is now back in his tank

 

 

[DesertReefOasis]

New Addition!!!!!! (well, I guess another because p.s. I also got a blood red fire shrimp that I forgot about adding in the last update, but still no good pics of the shy fella)

 

Got this fluorescent neon looking rose bubble tip nem! So in love... It's still finding its spot as I got 'er yesterday afternoon.  Overall seems to like the very top of my rock scape as it's staying generally in the same area up there today.  But here's a pic of the acclimation and tank intro 😍

 

 

[DesertReefOasis]

Well... Shiiiii..... Apparently I fell in love with an overpriced bleached nem!! Poor nem 😞 Pretty peeved with the LFS for paying double on a nem that's prettier just because it's bleached.. just not right in my opinion.  After doing google research and forum surfing though, I think mine will still make it.  She's found a happy spot close to the light in tunnels so it's still protected from the light at the same time.  Makes it impossible to see her mouth.. but she's incredibly sticky putting 'er into the tank, and she's still open and bubbly tipped even, and saw her eat a few stranded mysis shrimp during dinner feeding last night.  So I have high hopes and high regard for finding a different LFS...

 

 

The closest Young Jeezy has gotten to it so far.. No hosting "yet"

 

 

Ghostface Killa learned that the new addition doesn't like him very much... He lasted a lot longer than I thought though before he visibly showed signs of getting stung & I shoo'ed him away with the tongs. He's tripled in size already from when I bought him!

 

[DesertReefOasis]

So the boyfriend and I have been battling what we Incorrectly Thought was cyano in both of our tanks.... Turns out to be Dino =\ I did try chemi-clean with a bubbler and took out my carbon and GFO and all.. Going into the second day and not much has changed, and after leaving the gross reddish algae alone it's gotten longer and added bubbles to its decor... After some research I'm "lucky" to think a UV sterilizer won't help either since our algae does not go away when the lights are out.  Both of us have kept our nitrates and phosphates at 0, and BRS videos tell us that may have been our problem - and here we thought we're doing so well!

 

Soooo, tomorrow is the big water change to finish out the chemi-clean process, and going to try cyphoning each day along with keeping my carbon and GFO out of the tank, and we'll see what happens over the next couple of weeks. 😬

 

Meantime couldn't resist the local fish store's advertisement of a rare lyretail hogfish! I bought this as "my fish for his tank" since the bf has a 110g.  While there I've noticed Young Jeezy awfully lonely trying to play with his reflection Quite a bit and annoying Wiz Khalifa trying desperately to be friends.  So, of course, a little lonesome davinci clownfish caught my eye and nabbed him for Young Jeezy.  So far Young Jeezy is showing a bit of dominance (as he's Barely bigger than the newcomer) - so I may be needing a female name for Jeezy! 😮  We'll see. 🙂

 

 

[DesertReefOasis]

Decided to name the lyretail hogfish "Nugget" as he reminds me of a golden nugget. 🙂 He's definitely the biggest in the boyfriend's tank amongst his tangs, yet the nicest and most consistently active! Think I done good with this one. 🙂

 

My clowns continue to warm up to each other.  Young Jeezy took one solid nip at the newcomer's tail only once that I saw, but no submission dances quite yet.  Overall they half do their own thing and half hangout together, so I think we'll be good on this front.

 

Totally getting the itch to re-rockscape though... I'm just no longer diggin' my one big arch across the top... My biggest fear is upsetting my nem the most since he's already bleached... Of course don't want to tick everything else off too much either, and I do have plugs glued to the rock though I know i can move... Hmmmm..... Looking at it more I do like the lower part of my tank with plenty of rock work I believe and still a nice sand bed for my lobo to grow out..

 

 

So here's what I'm thinking.. (don't mind the dino algae battle...) Switch those top two formations, and the current bigger top formation turn around 180 so the name would at least initially face the front of the tank, and the ledge off to the left would hang over towards the middle.  And the little arch formation currently on the upper left sandbed would turn about 90 degrees to the right so the favias would kind of be towards the back and would only have to relocate my bloodsport favia I think... Biggest concern is that the small arch wouldn't be heavy enough to hold my "floating ledge" that the cristata torch and montipora are on... Though there's superglue for that too. Overall I think this may help with flow throughout the tank, maybe.. hmmmmmm....

 

 

[debbeach13]

Just caught up on your thread. It's been a couple of months. You have been busy and a lot of new items I think the scape right now is fantastic! 

[DesertReefOasis]

2 minutes ago, debbeach13 said:

Just caught up on your thread. It's been a couple of months. You have been busy and a lot of new items I think the scape right now is fantastic! 

 

Thanks! I just think aesthetically it looks a little "off" with the bigger portion resting on top of a smaller formation to the left the longer I look at it... I also think the large top fromation is blocking a lot of my flow.  I also have the problem of not being able to sit still and let things be, ha!

[DesertReefOasis]

Man-O-Man!!!!!

 

I was going to wait for Leopard Toby Puffers... but then a LFS advertised on FB they had some "unknown puffers" !! When I inquired they said they're thought to be white spotted puffers and showed me a couple of pics.... boy were they off!

 

Turns out they had a Pair of Bennett's Toby Puffers!!!!! 😮 😮 😮 😮 😮

 

 

After some research I've found out that they're actually seen in groups as juveniles and as they grow up stay in pairs! I knew immediately the shop couldn't give two cents care about making sure they're sold together (I mean I get it, but don't get it), and also figured a 99.9999999% chance anyone else that came in to check them out would only want one.... So what else was one supposed to do?? Of course I saved them!  Next day I was setting up a barely used, professionally maintained, new-to-me Red Sea Reefer 250..... Lord help me - I have a problem.

 

 

This morning is Day 2 of the new beast's cycle. I think the pup digs the new setup 🙂

 

 

At first I figured I'd hold the puffers in my boyfriend's 110g tank, but after watching the LFS struggle to get the puffers out of their holding cell at the shop being so zippy I knew I'd never get them back out of the boyfriend's tank.  So then we figured we'd put them in his sump... I couldn't bare it after a few hours and came home and saw them in different chambers down there and decided to re-acclimate and hold them in my drop-off.  Within a few hours of waking up the next morning I watched them start to go to town on all of my corals... so within 5 minutes my drop-off is now nearly a FOWLR! What I won't do for these puffers, right!?!?!?!!?

 

 

And this little one right here ^^ scared the ish out of me thinking he had ich... then remembered they sleep in the sand bed as I watched those little grains of sand fall off his belly as he swam about... Derp!

 

 

Everyone is getting along fine in my cramped little drop-off for now (after a couple rounds of fin-nipping by the puffers and the pecking order was sorted out).  Hopefully the cycling of the new tank will fly by so everyone can have their space again though.  My new clownfish is being hosted by the nem as of yesterday, and trying to dominate lil' Young Jeezy to become the female in their pair.  So Young Jeezy is getting picked on by him, and then the curious puffers come to help agitate the situation just by being present while Young Jeezy squirms at the top.  Hang in there my dude!!

 

 

 

[DesertReefOasis]

It's been a hot minute.... One of the previously mentioned puffers did not make it.  It appears she passed due to stress.  What from? I don't know. Could've been from all the transports, or being in too small of a tank for too many days.  Though the other one of the two, now named P. Diddy, is fat and happy in his FOWLR with a dwarf angel, pearlscale butterfly, melanarus wrasse, Wiz Kahlifa the blenny, and a target mandarin dragonet.  As much as I love pairs, maybe I'm just not meant to keep them... The target mandarin in the big tank also had a mate that did not make it - just never ate, but again passed away before it even looked skinny so must've been stress... I also say stress instead of disease in both cases as nothing was visible on their bodies, and all other fish that came from the same tank in the same store to my home have been fine.

 

Back to the nano... I still need a new camera, but here are some overdue update pics:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The nem I used to have in there didn't make it.  Turns out the internet public was correct saying it was bleached and not just naturally that flourescent.  It held on surprisingly long though as I tried babying it back to health (just passed/floated away a couple of days ago).  I have a new nem on the way that is full of dense color and healthy for the clowns.

 

I just got the puffer in there.  She was too tiny to pass up - now named Squirt.  A male target mandarin dragonet is in there now as well that I had purchased to be a new mate for the female in the big tank. But the female (Lady G), literally tried eating it like P. Diddy eats a clam... was devastating.  So far so good in the drop off with the little guy now, fingers crossed it stays that way as I haven't had luck in the past with this species in this tank.... but no other choice at this point. His name by the way is 50 Cent.  Shot 9 times (by Lady G), but still alive!