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Snow_Phoenix
26 minutes ago, Tired said:

Oh, blueline fangblennies are beautiful! Shame they get too big for the tank, otherwise you could just have one little biter.

 

I had to look clown blennies up, and I'm not familiar with them, but they look like grazers. Their mouths look like they're meant to be picking at algae all day, which makes me think they may not be ideal for a tank without much grazing space. 

 

If you can't get trimmas, can you get an eviota? 

 

Antenna gobies/high-fin gobies/red-banded gobies/barberpole gobies/they of the many names are great little fish, I can't recommend them enough for tiny tanks. Though I wonder if one would get spooked, living in a tank with serpent starfish in the available boltholes. 

 

Clown gobies come with the benefit of being immune to anemone stings, but I doubt you plan on many strong-stinging anemones in a 3gal tank.

 

 

Yeah, they are actually very beautiful. And they behave like barnacle blennies sometimes - I brought home one by accident (because my LFS mislabeled it as a neon goby) until a more experienced reefer on this very site told me I actually bought a 'vampire'. :lol:

 

Immediately returned the fish to the store and got some credit for it - this was years ago, though!

 

By clown blennies - I was looking more into a specific blenny called the Pictus blenny. I haven't seen one for sale in my country for years. They used to be imported from Cebu, and stay very tiny/colorful at 2". Personality-wise, I find them more curious as compared to a TSB. I had the pleasure of keeping 2 in my entire reefing journey (both at different times). 

 

I agree that they do pick on rock surfaces for microalgae. Same goes for TSBs. My current TSB, Miko, always picks off the film algae covering the LRs in my big tank, and sometimes nibbles on the GHA growing on my wavemaker too. But he's also on a stable diet of Hikari seaweed, NLS and Formula One pellets, so he's quite fat. :happy:

 

Hi-Fin gobies are quite nice, but *can be elusive at times. I had one that vanished for 40 days (!) and showed up out of the blue, double his original size. :blink:

 

Also used to have a spawning pair of them in one of my previous nanoreefs. 

 

I think the chocolate banded serpent starfish is peaceful - I used to keep a very large one with a small clownfish in a nanoreef several years ago, and it never made any attempt to go after the fish. It was very well-fed though. I target-feed all my brittlestars and serpent star in my various tanks. Need to keep the central disc thick and firm, not sunken - or else they'll waste away very quickly. 

 

I have no plans on adding a nem to the pico - there simply isn't enough space to accommodate even the smallest of nems. So I think any YCG or GCG in it should be fine. :happy:

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Oh, the vanishing is normal on high-fins? I just got one yesterday, and I haven't seen him all day. I figure it's normal in a new fish, but he seemed pretty confident yesterday, so I'm not exactly pleased with his absence. I don't think my lid has any gaps, but who knows on a fish like that. Tiny thing, must be a quarter-inch across at most. He did do me the favor of confirming that my RFAs are, like I thought, relatively harmless to fish. Namely, he sat on one, sort of bopped upward a bit, sat down in exactly the same spot, bopped up again, and moved about 1 inch away so as to not sit on the anemone. Apparently they're just minorly uncomfortable if you're a fish. 

 

I don't know if the serpent star would try to eat a goby (a lot of 'em seem to be peaceful), but I wonder if having a kracken squirming around in there would scare the goby. I know clown gobies are more confident. As for the anemone- I've found pics of clown gobies sitting in condy nems. They seem to be completely immune to anemone stings, possibly due to their thick and nasty-tasting slime coat. I meant that, if you had a clown goby, you could add an anemone regardless. 

 

How big do you expect the serpent star to get? I love 'em, but I don't want one that fills the entire tank, for a variety of reasons including bioload concerns. 

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Snow_Phoenix
15 minutes ago, Tired said:

Oh, the vanishing is normal on high-fins? I just got one yesterday, and I haven't seen him all day. I figure it's normal in a new fish, but he seemed pretty confident yesterday, so I'm not exactly pleased with his absence. I don't think my lid has any gaps, but who knows on a fish like that. Tiny thing, must be a quarter-inch across at most. He did do me the favor of confirming that my RFAs are, like I thought, relatively harmless to fish. Namely, he sat on one, sort of bopped upward a bit, sat down in exactly the same spot, bopped up again, and moved about 1 inch away so as to not sit on the anemone. Apparently they're just minorly uncomfortable if you're a fish. 

 

I don't know if the serpent star would try to eat a goby (a lot of 'em seem to be peaceful), but I wonder if having a kracken squirming around in there would scare the goby. I know clown gobies are more confident. As for the anemone- I've found pics of clown gobies sitting in condy nems. They seem to be completely immune to anemone stings, possibly due to their thick and nasty-tasting slime coat. I meant that, if you had a clown goby, you could add an anemone regardless. 

 

How big do you expect the serpent star to get? I love 'em, but I don't want one that fills the entire tank, for a variety of reasons including bioload concerns. 

I think the star won't exceed more than 12" from tip to tip. I'll move it out before it hits that length though. With brittle stars, they usually 'curl' their arms in, so you don't really see them 'spread out' more often. Serpents seem to be the opposite - I think it's because their arms are more rigid (?). 🤔

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Snow_Phoenix

Also, this is how large my bubbletip brittlestar is in my 60G - you can see me press my hand up against the glass for scale:

 

 

So yeah, they can get fairly large. 

 

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Snow_Phoenix

Have 2 new tiny clove polyps today! 😊 :

 

IMG_20200604_133107_128.thumb.jpg.d2b25d7ffec6ee2f3e815f91adfa6a4a.jpg

 

Finally, nearly all the zoas on this multi-mix frag are open:

 

IMG_20200604_133301_165.thumb.jpg.c06cebe7345ac4225b2316fcc0e20e6b.jpg

 

^Got a few new radioactive dragon eyes coming up too. 🤗

 

And some of these brown zoas are slowly gaining a tinge of red and green in some areas:

 

IMG_20200604_133427_237.thumb.jpg.d6ac65222d7a8f63267697dcfb4e89e0.jpg

 

Would be lovely to see what they color up into. I'm thinking of sticking this frag on the pillar rock in a few days. 👍

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Everything looks great! 😊

 

Also on a side note, your journal is loading much faster now that you are splitting up your photo posts. 

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Snow_Phoenix
29 minutes ago, WV Reefer said:

Everything looks great! 😊

 

Also on a side note, your journal is loading much faster now that you are splitting up your photo posts. 

Thank you! I was worried over the photo load - I'll keep splitting it up then. Sometimes I have to post multiple times a day (a few pics at a time), but if it helps improve visibility and readability, I'll keep it up. 🙂 

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1 minute ago, Snow_Phoenix said:

Thank you! I was worried over the photo load - I'll keep splitting it up then. Sometimes I have to post multiple times a day (a few pics at a time), but if it helps improve visibility and readability, I'll keep it up. 🙂 

It definitely loads quicker now, also guess who reserved a Pictus Blenny today while shopping online? 😂

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Snow_Phoenix
10 minutes ago, Ratvan said:

It definitely loads quicker now, also guess who reserved a Pictus Blenny today while shopping online? 😂

You're so lucky! 

 

I'm so envious, but happy for you regardless. It's a beautiful fish - full of personality and loves upturned empty hermit shells to sleep in. 🙂 

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Snow_Phoenix
15 minutes ago, Ratvan said:

It definitely loads quicker now, also guess who reserved a Pictus Blenny today while shopping online? 😂

No photo description available.

 

^My first Pictus blenny, Pico, sleeping in a hermit shell ~8 years ago. 

 

Image may contain: plant, outdoor and nature

 

Image may contain: outdoor

 

These are very old pics, so the quality is quite poor. Sorry about that.

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Snow_Phoenix

I used the yellow clip-on lens again today, and the white balance is a bit off - everything is a bit too white, and corals look pale (although they have strong colors in RL): 🤷‍♀️

 

Toadstool leather:

 

IMG_20200605_175813_500.thumb.jpg.36fcf5acee95a085d6a37d31cabff583.jpg

 

Multimix zoa frag:

 

IMG_20200605_175422_831.thumb.jpg.d938d674d711e4d48cad4768a3cd184e.jpg

 

Turban snails hard at work:

 

IMG_20200605_175309_583.thumb.jpg.73051eaf57e2ca76ac457d656aab8c2b.jpg

 

Zoa lineup (a part of it anyway):

 

IMG_20200605_175136_894.thumb.jpg.2cadb49c171b8e28e58f3149aa26aed6.jpg

 

And this aiptasia runs all over the place, so it's a bit tricky to glue over:

 

IMG_20200605_175603_334.thumb.jpg.3fd5350931c5ee3d2dc1b1f7ef8acf74.jpg

 

I'll try smothering it with glue today. Doing a WC after this because the orange bam bams don't look too happy for some reason. ☹

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Snow_Phoenix

Couple of pics ahead! 

 

Got this free tiny zoa frag (2 polyps) from the LFS today. Came attached with this amazing hitchiker - a black ball sponge! 😊

 

IMG_20200606_173700_953.thumb.jpg.b510ac0717636d8718b5da98fa20e3be.jpg

 

Green favites is still growing, but taking longer than usual: 🤷‍♀️

 

IMG_20200606_173752_378.thumb.jpg.bdce0d4cef8788654bab8d19b16a832f.jpg

 

This teal discosoma slipped back to its old ways and developed brown streaks again. Also developed multiple tiny bumps on the surface. ☹ :

 

IMG_20200606_173910_131.thumb.jpg.da3d87ffb6df4912f2498b1ecfd408a4.jpg

 

Two different types of purple zoas in the pico - the first one used to be in the 60G: 

 

IMG_20200606_174403_546.thumb.jpg.4f3ab6d4277db2cd76cb85f6d5538556.jpg

 

IMG_20200606_174153_631.thumb.jpg.d24a34047a2882ab3a9d0dfa3c050f44.jpg

 

These green ones have encrusted further on the frag disc. Hoping for more new heads soon:

 

IMG_20200606_174303_358.thumb.jpg.8b185ff4c00de8b985e349596ca6fe92.jpg

 

A different angle:

 

IMG_20200606_174008_274.thumb.jpg.27c4c6ee687c11deb05d7090ce9e10b4.jpg

 

Tiny confession - I still haven't WCed this thing - eek! Kept pushing it until today, but then I exhausted myself by going out of the house to run some errands for a few hours. My body is aching for some reason and my muscles keep trembling (?), so I'll do it tomorrow morning after breakfast. 👍

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I love getting Hitch hikers like that sponge. I have the chicken liver sponge still that I got in the Pico contest, literally the only thing that has survived my reefing journey. 

 

That mushroom looks good too, is it not meant to stripe and bump? 

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Snow_Phoenix
43 minutes ago, Ratvan said:

I love getting Hitch hikers like that sponge. I have the chicken liver sponge still that I got in the Pico contest, literally the only thing that has survived my reefing journey. 

 

That mushroom looks good too, is it not meant to stripe and bump? 

It's meant to stripe, but not bump. It's weird, but I like it. 😊

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Snow_Phoenix

Finally WCed the pico - phew! Salinity is a little low at 1.023, but since I usually run all my SW tanks at 1.024, I think it shouldn't be an issue. 👍

 

Also, the freebie zoa frag I received from my LFS is a nice shade of green with a shimmer to it. I think it'll look really pretty when it colors up - I'll try to grab a pic tomorrow, but I'm not sure if I can get the *shimmer on film. 🤔

 

Tank is otherwise doing quite well - had a small issue with the recovering God of War favia and orange-rimmed blastos being knocked into my sandbed again (my snails are jerks, I swear 🙄 ) but I *think they can bounce back. 

 

Also pruned a bit of the grape, fern and cup caulerpas because they were literally growing *over and *through my zoa polyps. Not cool. ☹

 

I did manage to smother 2 out of 3 of my aiptasia today though! 🤗

 

The one on the neon GSP frag was actually quite large - so I daubed a blob of coral glue over it and around it. Can't do the same with the third aiptasia, which is still too tiny and sneakily placed between my sunflower polyps! Grr. ☹

 

And a slice of good news - the Jack O Lantern leptoseris is growing again and has regained vibrant patches of orange coloring in some areas. The meteor shower cyphastrea is also growing rather quickly - hoping to see some blue/red colors by the end of next month. 😊👍

 

My only regret with this tiny tank is its size - cute, but limited space for stocking corals (I want moar frags! ☹ ). But it does look good on my cabinet, by the foot of the bed. So different compared to my 60G. 😊

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Snow_Phoenix

Update #1.

 

Finally grabbed a pic of the shimmering green zoas and I was right - couldn't really capture the *shimmer on my phone: ☹

 

IMG_20200608_133145_050.thumb.jpg.df511a9973dfaa9fe94635bf25de0729.jpg

 

Some of the other zoas in the pico: 😊

 

IMG_20200608_134611_511.thumb.jpg.fc8748db4718eebd947de14912e9d6b9.jpg

 

IMG_20200608_134611_521.thumb.jpg.d38af8f0da8e2ac9cf450607b2fff1b2.jpg

 

IMG_20200608_134611_501.thumb.jpg.763c123f9ae5bf996eb87b8bb131127f.jpg

 

IMG_20200608_134611_498.thumb.jpg.66ace2fc4a35fafe1770b7acea053e63.jpg

 

IMG_20200608_134611_497.thumb.jpg.652b23e1219095e03ac2509a1a1ca86b.jpg

 

IMG_20200608_134611_547.thumb.jpg.ecec753d8cbabb9906eb1918d54fdf07.jpg

 

I also found out why my orange bam bams weren't exactly opening. Turns out there was a fourth aiptasia right next to the polyps. I removed the zoas from the pillar rock, smothered the aiptasia with glue and then reglued the zoas back onto the rock, but I think I *might have been a little rough and squashed a polyp. ☹

 

Hopefully the other zoas are okay. They're still very unhappy, but I'll monitor them closely for the next few days. 👍

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Snow_Phoenix

Update #2. 

 

Orange rhodactis shroom:

 

IMG_20200608_133238_783.thumb.jpg.0db8f002443708656a09f554b5730d08.jpg

 

Cyphastrea has spread out a little bit more and also regained new polyps, but the color is still too pale for my liking:

 

IMG_20200608_133400_479.thumb.jpg.e262f8f5e7cff27af4e9065d83e31684.jpg

 

John Deere leptastrea has grown a few new polyps at the base and spread out even more on the LR:

 

IMG_20200608_133447_983.thumb.jpg.9408de258e617abc434f27f03f5d2693.jpg

 

Happy duncan: 🤗

 

IMG_20200608_133545_080.thumb.jpg.c72a1e54d8aec879167f080afd4b22dc.jpg

 

New baby polyps spotted at the rim of the still-regrowing galaxea:

 

IMG_20200608_133706_534.thumb.jpg.c6134b71250dc85f4c2d41294f6b7cd8.jpg

 

Orange leptastrea appears to be getting pummeled by the flow from my HOB. Oops: 😳

 

IMG_20200608_133821_712.thumb.jpg.e414644625fe012dd437e48e808b1b37.jpg

 

Toadstool leathers are still growing - the second one has taken on an even stronger green tinge:

 

IMG_20200608_133929_618.thumb.jpg.7e400588380a027902858bb7cb706336.jpg

 

IMG_20200608_134042_960.thumb.jpg.ab52f295171da547ce115340c9635912.jpg

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Snow_Phoenix

Update #3.

 

Macroshot of the rainbow brain coral: 🥰

 

IMG_20200608_134131_456.thumb.jpg.93e5fcd036e0fb59ef2d25b12d0eaa56.jpg

 

Red bubble algae still looking good and growing slowly: 

 

IMG_20200608_134238_025.thumb.jpg.4b8cbc504aa61a1057b552f54a290f36.jpg

 

Duster worm: 

 

IMG_20200608_134322_458.thumb.jpg.0381327a844e0495f2fde24ea4e6ab93.jpg

 

That's it for now. Hope you enjoyed the pics/updates! 😊

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Snow_Phoenix

My secondary LFS managed to get some fish in today, but none were suitable for this little reef. They do have a Saron shrimp on sale though, so I will check him out tomorrow/Thursday. 

 

I did put in an order for these three fish though (subject to availability):

 

-Yellow Clown Goby

-Hi-Fin Goby

-Pictus Blenny

 

I'll take whichever fish my LFS manages to get a hold off first. (Only *one fish, not all three)

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Snow_Phoenix

Dropped by my secondary LFS just now and found a new friend for the pico! 😊

 

Meet Harvey. 🥰

 

IMG_20200609_153052_283.thumb.jpg.5e8524a43c88a46a452426ab4f70a1ce.jpg

 

IMG_20200609_153052_284.thumb.jpg.c34ed68b02976a47ff271d40667012fa.jpg

 

He's super tiny at only 1", and is missing a small part of one of his back legs , but that should regrow in a molt. 👍

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1 hour ago, Snow_Phoenix said:

Dropped by my secondary LFS just now and found a new friend for the pico! 😊

 

Meet Harvey. 🥰

 

IMG_20200609_153052_283.thumb.jpg.5e8524a43c88a46a452426ab4f70a1ce.jpg

 

IMG_20200609_153052_284.thumb.jpg.c34ed68b02976a47ff271d40667012fa.jpg

 

He's super tiny at only 1", and is missing a small part of one of his back legs , but that should regrow in a molt. 👍

Is that a Saron Shrimp? Pretty weird looking

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Snow_Phoenix
1 hour ago, Ratvan said:

Is that a Saron Shrimp? Pretty weird looking

Yep! I have a larger, older male in the 60G. That one has been with me for over 2 years, if I'm not mistaken. 

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Snow_Phoenix

The moment I added Harvey to the pico, he immediately settled around my duncan: 

 

20200609_174800.thumb.jpg.0ad56bff8ec69f2fff5b0fe46e3b826f.jpg

 

IMG_20200609_174716_930.thumb.jpg.14b8d97b5cc793853ef921af45bdd9f5.jpg

 

20200609_174851.thumb.jpg.0d1ff4255a97a024a6a9b6865533ea06.jpg

 

He seemed pretty comfortable being out in the open for a bit, so I had the chance to film him: 

 

A different angle: 

 

IMG_20200609_175112_229.thumb.jpg.bb6f36d2d58b98e5cf010de9768664d8.jpg

 

When I zoomed in, I noticed something very unique and interesting about Harvey - he had dozens of tiny blue spots! 😮 :

 

IMG_20200609_175441_753.thumb.jpg.cbc588ac58335d103fc590abb90d1e57.jpg

 

20200609_175531.thumb.jpg.f230b1f370c5b87b4a03e22644f90fea.jpg

 

IMG_20200609_175441_754.thumb.jpg.4d7c01d66208f1299eb9800bf4d552f7.jpg

 

I have kept Sarons (and am keeping one in another tank atm) before, but I've never seen any of them featuring blue spots before. 

 

These guys are completely fascinating though. They're mostly nocturnal, and can camoflage by turning either completely red or green (or striped with those two colors) when the lights are off. They also move ninja-quick if spooked, and are relatively reefsafe if well-fed. 😊

 

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