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Snow_Phoenix

Few quick updates:

 

I'll be moving this previously violet shroom to the pico. It has shriveled in my 60G and the color has paled out. It also seems to be struggling quite a bit. 😔 :

 

IMG_20200513_111945_117.thumb.jpg.f8f7bb964a48d34b65d48463d8d54310.jpg

 

My new zoas have mostly opened up:

 

Sunflowers today:

 

IMG_20200513_175954_629.thumb.jpg.df1e74b76a3c21c100376863a2945bf1.jpg

 

Mint green ones:

 

IMG_20200513_180043_910.thumb.jpg.b093d4aad81e2fdd14630f14561e24bb.jpg

 

Orange bam bams:

 

IMG_20200513_180130_462.thumb.jpg.583d053064e025a5dff6caa4e743c6af.jpg

 

Watermelons, radioactive dragon eyes & something else:

 

IMG_20200513_180243_959.thumb.jpg.2878fb93f4abd5a5edc5b0fa7e33ef34.jpg

 

Remember my red digi nub? Polyps have finally regrown ans the red color has almost returned in full! 🤗 :

 

IMG_20200513_180325_651.thumb.jpg.5bcbfd70c195f5c82fe643e1c54f99a1.jpg

 

My John Deere leptastrea is still taking time to regain its original colors 🙄 :

 

IMG_20200513_180419_199.thumb.jpg.90deae7670884d1d3933865006988a6a.jpg

 

But my green leptastrea has turned green again. Full color *almost regained:

 

IMG_20200513_111833_326.thumb.jpg.60d99e9a7a8e6d29a1dd6bef5db795eb.jpg

 

Rainbow acans have finally redeveloped green and blue stripes: 🤗

 

IMG_20200513_180525_479.thumb.jpg.dc5c05e996abfbd1ceb5b1d63bbe1fa8.jpg

 

And the two little toadstools have grown bigger:

 

IMG_20200513_180658_116.thumb.jpg.b5e80df30d3d5d224605872b3dd0b957.jpg

 

IMG_20200513_180658_114.thumb.jpg.993b27ce57a358e97cad71a127cd5a96.jpg

 

I'm very happy with the progress of this tank, and the recovery of some of the corals so far. I think the regular WCs help a lot in keeping the parameters stable. 

 

However, I am still interested in doing one tiny fish in this reef. According to my LFS, it might take months before we get any new fish into the store. 

 

That is fine by me - I can wait. My little monsters surprisingly add a lot of activity to this tank, especially at night. 

 

What I might pick up in the interim is a shrimp. There are 3 to 4 leftover shrimp at my secondary LFS - Cleaner, Fire & CBS. CBS is too large and also aggressive. Fire is beautiful but can be expensive and elusive. Cleaner is affordable and pretty too. So maybe a Cleaner in the pico? 🤔

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10 minutes ago, Snow_Phoenix said:

Few quick updates:

 

I'll be moving this previously violet shroom to the pico. It has shriveled in my 60G and the color has paled out. It also seems to be struggling quite a bit. 😔 :

 

IMG_20200513_111945_117.thumb.jpg.f8f7bb964a48d34b65d48463d8d54310.jpg

 

My new zoas have mostly opened up:

 

Sunflowers today:

 

IMG_20200513_175954_629.thumb.jpg.df1e74b76a3c21c100376863a2945bf1.jpg

 

Mint green ones:

 

IMG_20200513_180043_910.thumb.jpg.b093d4aad81e2fdd14630f14561e24bb.jpg

 

Orange bam bams:

 

IMG_20200513_180130_462.thumb.jpg.583d053064e025a5dff6caa4e743c6af.jpg

 

Watermelons, radioactive dragon eyes & something else:

 

IMG_20200513_180243_959.thumb.jpg.2878fb93f4abd5a5edc5b0fa7e33ef34.jpg

 

Remember my red digi nub? Polyps have finally regrown ans the red color has almost returned in full! 🤗 :

 

IMG_20200513_180325_651.thumb.jpg.5bcbfd70c195f5c82fe643e1c54f99a1.jpg

 

My John Deere leptastrea is still taking time to regain its original colors 🙄 :

 

IMG_20200513_180419_199.thumb.jpg.90deae7670884d1d3933865006988a6a.jpg

 

But my green leptastrea has turned green again. Full color *almost regained:

 

IMG_20200513_111833_326.thumb.jpg.60d99e9a7a8e6d29a1dd6bef5db795eb.jpg

 

Rainbow acans have finally redeveloped green and blue stripes: 🤗

 

IMG_20200513_180525_479.thumb.jpg.dc5c05e996abfbd1ceb5b1d63bbe1fa8.jpg

 

And the two little toadstools have grown bigger:

 

IMG_20200513_180658_116.thumb.jpg.b5e80df30d3d5d224605872b3dd0b957.jpg

 

IMG_20200513_180658_114.thumb.jpg.993b27ce57a358e97cad71a127cd5a96.jpg

 

I'm very happy with the progress of this tank, and the recovery of some of the corals so far. I think the regular WCs help a lot in keeping the parameters stable. 

 

However, I am still interested in doing one tiny fish in this reef. According to my LFS, it might take months before we get any new fish into the store. 

 

That is fine by me - I can wait. My little monsters surprisingly add a lot of activity to this tank, especially at night. 

 

What I might pick up in the interim is a shrimp. There are 3 to 4 leftover shrimp at my secondary LFS - Cleaner, Fire & CBS. CBS is too large and also aggressive. Fire is beautiful but can be expensive and elusive. Cleaner is affordable and pretty too. So maybe a Cleaner in the pico? 🤔

I reckon that if you can make a cave in there with space for the shrimp an it's antenna then why not? You already do regular water changes so that takes care of the Bio Load. Any non Shrimp safe fish that you own in the bigger tanks? I can't remember

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Snow_Phoenix
1 hour ago, Ratvan said:

I reckon that if you can make a cave in there with space for the shrimp an it's antenna then why not? You already do regular water changes so that takes care of the Bio Load. Any non Shrimp safe fish that you own in the bigger tanks? I can't remember

Under coralline ledge is a large cave of sorts - it's where my stars currently lurk when the lights are turned on for the day. 

 

Tentatively, all my fish in the 60G are shrimp-safe, although the yellow coris does worry me from time to time. I've seen him divebomb my cleaner shrimp in that tank, but my shrimp gave it no quarter and stood its ground. 

 

Speaking of my big tank, I actually have 5 or 6 nanofish in there that would actually be perfect for this reef. But I think I'll stick with the original plan of adding a YCG because those dudes are simply adorable. 🥰

 

Another fish I was looking into was a common damsel, like a blue devil or yellowtail. 🤔

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Snow_Phoenix

Last night, I mounted my zoas on various LR pieces throughout the tank. So far 3 of the 4 frags seem very content with their current positions and are wide open, but the multi-mix zoa frag (the one with dragon eyes, watermelons & an unidentified type) are mostly closed. 

 

So I think I'll give that frag an iodine dip, and try moving it to a different area - until it is happy enough to open back up.

 

I also transferred my violet shroom to this tank last night. It's in very bad shape - mostly shriveled today afternoon, and partially melted (maybe because I disturbed it too much while I was trying to remove it from my major LR in the 60G). 😞

 

I hope the little shroom makes it. I noticed there are 2 other small violet shrooms in my big tank - but they appear to be babies still. 

 

Bad news aside, my Sunflower zoas actually has a new polyp. It's super small, and still developing, but the colors can be seen somewhat:

 

 

I mounted the orange bam bams to the pillar rock yesterday, and miraculously, it stayed put and didn't fall off (unlike my blastos):

 

I think blasto frags are simply too 'large' to be mounted on this rock. But zoas and palys are much, much smaller, so they 'fit' perfectly into the little grooved 'pockets' on the rock's surface. I might slowly convert this to a zoa tower, in that case. My rainbow implosion palys are glued at the very top, and one of the polyps have already made a comeback, although it's still very tiny. 🙂

 

Also, my teal discosoma has become huge! 😮

 

 

It's actually now 2/3rds the size of my rainbow brain when fully open. Most of the teal coloring has returned, although some parts of it is still a brownish-green color. 

 

I'm planning on doing a WC either today evening or tomorrow. I'm slowly spacing out WCs to once a week, as opposed to twice a week. And since this tank has a lot of growing corals in it, I'm now adding 1 drop of kH buffer every morning, just to make sure the Alk levels remain above 8 at all times. 

 

Add-On; Tank currently has 35 different types of coral, and 7 different types of macro. Am planning on collecting more macro and a few more small frags (zoas and shrooms, maybe). 

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3 hours ago, Snow_Phoenix said:

Last night, I mounted my zoas on various LR pieces throughout the tank. So far 3 of the 4 frags seem very content with their current positions and are wide open, but the multi-mix zoa frag (the one with dragon eyes, watermelons & an unidentified type) are mostly closed. 

 

So I think I'll give that frag an iodine dip, and try moving it to a different area - until it is happy enough to open back up.

 

I also transferred my violet shroom to this tank last night. It's in very bad shape - mostly shriveled today afternoon, and partially melted (maybe because I disturbed it too much while I was trying to remove it from my major LR in the 60G). 😞

 

I hope the little shroom makes it. I noticed there are 2 other small violet shrooms in my big tank - but they appear to be babies still. 

 

Bad news aside, my Sunflower zoas actually has a new polyp. It's super small, and still developing, but the colors can be seen somewhat:

 

 

I mounted the orange bam bams to the pillar rock yesterday, and miraculously, it stayed put and didn't fall off (unlike my blastos):

 

I think blasto frags are simply too 'large' to be mounted on this rock. But zoas and palys are much, much smaller, so they 'fit' perfectly into the little grooved 'pockets' on the rock's surface. I might slowly convert this to a zoa tower, in that case. My rainbow implosion palys are glued at the very top, and one of the polyps have already made a comeback, although it's still very tiny. 🙂

 

Also, my teal discosoma has become huge! 😮

 

 

It's actually now 2/3rds the size of my rainbow brain when fully open. Most of the teal coloring has returned, although some parts of it is still a brownish-green color. 

 

I'm planning on doing a WC either today evening or tomorrow. I'm slowly spacing out WCs to once a week, as opposed to twice a week. And since this tank has a lot of growing corals in it, I'm now adding 1 drop of kH buffer every morning, just to make sure the Alk levels remain above 8 at all times. 

 

Add-On; Tank currently has 35 different types of coral, and 7 different types of macro. Am planning on collecting more macro and a few more small frags (zoas and shrooms, maybe). 

50 Species sounds like a nice round number 😄

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Snow_Phoenix
12 minutes ago, debbeach13 said:

I love the rock tower and think zoas and palys will be perfect. This tank is really coming along nicely.

I just glued the multi-mix zoa frag to the tower just now. It's actually time to WC the tank, but I'm feeling unwell today, so I'll try to WC tomorrow. 

11 minutes ago, Ratvan said:

50 Species sounds like a nice round number 😄

Lol, most of the future additions will be zoas and shrooms. Other corals would be lovely but I'm not sure if I have enough place on the rocks to mount them. There is still space on the glass at the bottom though. Any recommendations? 🤗

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3 minutes ago, Snow_Phoenix said:

I just glued the multi-mix zoa frag to the tower just now. It's actually time to WC the tank, but I'm feeling unwell today, so I'll try to WC tomorrow. 

Lol, most of the future additions will be zoas and shrooms. Other corals would be lovely but I'm not sure if I have enough place on the rocks to mount them. There is still space on the glass at the bottom though. Any recommendations? 🤗

I usually browse either yours or @WV Reeferthreads for coral ideas. Plus you seem to have a lot more selection then i do at the minute especially when it comes to your LFS's 

Acro's on the back glass? Lol

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Snow_Phoenix
1 minute ago, Ratvan said:

I usually browse either yours or @WV Reeferthreads for coral ideas. Plus you seem to have a lot more selection then i do at the minute especially when it comes to your LFS's 

Acro's on the back glass? Lol

We actually now have limited pieces - leftovers, mostly, which the ultra-rich folk pass over because it's not 'premium' enough. 

 

I'm trying to avoid doing more SPS. I tried to buy an orange spongides the other day (just for a change) but the worker in my secondary LFS discouraged me. Claimed it was 'too difficult' to keep for me. 😔

 

I really wanted to try it though. ☹

 

If there are any montis frags left, I don't mind. I want to recollect the purple & green encrusting ones, and the red and green capping ones for the big tank. 

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Snow_Phoenix

Updates - I did a full WC today morning. Ended up knocking over a couple of things including the major LR pieces. So I had to adjust the scape a little as I put everything back. 

 

One of my snails knocked over the ex-dying freebie frag, but I managed to pull it out from the back of the tank. The first thing that I noticed was that the green acans have mostly regrown! 😮

 

IMG_20200515_161208_842.thumb.jpg.39aea5cb3f1b1f4eeea143303f382e59.jpg

 

IMG_20200515_161343_149.thumb.jpg.9cb349720a28729b3512c33035a8a7f9.jpg

 

I spotted around 8ish heads, but I think there might be more coming up around the rim of the rock. 

 

I also noticed these tiny 'flower' like polyps (looks like ultra-mini clove polyps) have grown over the areas not occupied by the acans:

 

IMG_20200515_161442_797.thumb.jpg.ad96c7f0f49feeb39d3bc79817466a25.jpg

 

Very cool. I'm not sure what they're called - if anyone knows, please lmk as well. 

 

The new sunflower zoa polyp is still growing in:

 

IMG_20200515_161537_061.thumb.jpg.b926583e394a145063165e3a19a2aaca.jpg

 

I didn't glue these zoas to the zoa tower, but placed them next to my John Deere leptastrea. Speaking of the tower, here is how it looks atm:

 

IMG_20200515_161640_215.thumb.jpg.08ab1c070302ec5acbab2dcde4a9696c.jpg

 

I think it'll take some time before the tower is completely covered in zoas though. 🤔

 

This was my latest rescue - the tiny violet shroom. It really looks bad - not sure if it will make it in the pico: 😔

 

IMG_20200515_161726_728.thumb.jpg.77859cfec99b35af2dff10456378f600.jpg

 

The teal mushroom looks much better now. Almost back to 100% of its original color. I'll give it another week. Should be completely teal by then: 🤗

 

IMG_20200515_161825_098.thumb.jpg.c8b12f45890e959e20e6e73aba1e38c6.jpg

 

Rainbow acans looked nice and puffy after the WC:

 

IMG_20200515_162053_854.thumb.jpg.9b5531f4306d1ec8519a4a0457ab6d0b.jpg

 

The favia is regrowing too, but slowly:

 

IMG_20200515_162127_879.thumb.jpg.2c65c2641822f20b4d96d0c16419883d.jpg

 

New polyps spotted around the new mint green zoa frag: 🤗

 

IMG_20200515_180141_257.thumb.jpg.f543b7b967a2283cc7e713327dfa85db.jpg

 

I think these really are blastos. Original color is dark green, I'm guessing. This too was actually a freebie from my LFS:

 

IMG_20200515_161927_540.thumb.jpg.47c8ecc73ee5933f580dfc95426d74f0.jpg

 

20200515_161955.thumb.jpg.a278d5748a1f8b2a775b00fb706a4110.jpg

 

Benny was up at the back of the tank after the WC - he *might have been hungry:

 

IMG_20200515_180352_638.thumb.jpg.79326922f3406c3e76a8aa753e3e4329.jpg

 

My FTS today - taken without yellow lens filter, but with blue light phone filter (at increased opacity) at 75% lighting:

 

20200515_162343.thumb.jpg.ca99df76edfd69fa66cca635b75cc58e.jpg

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Your tiny polyps look like blue snowflake polyps. They can spread pretty fast, and I believe are known to sexually reproduce in aquaria, so they will cover whatever sections of the tank they like. 

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Snow_Phoenix
43 minutes ago, Tired said:

Your tiny polyps look like blue snowflake polyps. They can spread pretty fast, and I believe are known to sexually reproduce in aquaria, so they will cover whatever sections of the tank they like. 

Will they sting other corals? They actually look kinda pretty. Wouldn't mind them taking over the tank. :blush:

46 minutes ago, Tired said:

Your tiny polyps look like blue snowflake polyps. They can spread pretty fast, and I believe are known to sexually reproduce in aquaria, so they will cover whatever sections of the tank they like. 

Thanks for the ID too, btw. 🙂👍

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They don't sting, but they will crowd other things pretty badly if you let them go nuts. I've even seen pictures of them growing up palythoas stems. 

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Snow_Phoenix
15 hours ago, Tired said:

They don't sting, but they will crowd other things pretty badly if you let them go nuts. I've even seen pictures of them growing up palythoas stems. 

Yeah, I did more reading/googling after you mentioned it and some of the pics online are insane - they truly can cover everything. 😮

 

But...I still do like them, and in a system this small, I think it is okay (?) to have them cover the rock(s). Will look like a nice carpet of flowers, actually. 🤔

 

So, I guess I'm just going to leave them alone for now. Thanks for the head's up, though! 🤗

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Snow_Phoenix

Found some neat black sponges growing around the underside of Coralline Ledge today 🤗 :

 

IMG_20200516_150857_755.thumb.jpg.7d4bc3b46201b9e4b029a834ee003c99.jpg

 

Turban snails have also become more effective CUC members. Although, they can be tiny bulldozers and knock over unglued frags wherever they go:

 

IMG_20200516_151025_333.thumb.jpg.f4cbdd2a5b39546fa9ecb05dc360a25d.jpg

 

Also, I'm thinking of changing two major things. One is the cabinet this tank is currently on. The current cabinet is large but has rollers and is no longer stable - it tilted a little yesterday when I was rearranging the rocks, and that scared me. So I'm thinking of re-using an older cabinet that used to have my 20G nano on it - that cabinet is very sturdy and strong. Will need my dad's help to carry the new cabinet upstairs and do the swap though, because it's too heavy for a single person to lift.

 

The second thing I planned on doing is adding sand to the pico. Just dry aragonite which has been washed thoroughly should do. Not expecting to see a cycle, but if I do, I will temporarily transfer all the stars and snails to my 60G until the mini-cycle is over (BME, I haven't experienced any cycles by adding sand to barebottom tanks). 

 

I'll update the journal accordingly as the changes are done. 👍

 

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Snow_Phoenix

Feeding time for the little reef today :happy: :

 

Basically mixed up a bit of zoo, phyto, reef roids, selcon and Vit. C in a bit of SW in a cup, and basted the corals gently (broadcast-fed). Feeding response was quite good in some of the corals:

 

The dying orange-rimmed blastos I rescued got accidently tucked under a LR piece, so I'll have to figure out how to slip it out without upending the whole scape again. Am also planning on gluing down the pink cyphastrea on Coralline Ledge - I think I've finally found a perfect spot for it. :wink:

 

 

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Snow_Phoenix

Observed more growth in some of the corals today. 🤗

 

My purple death palys took forever to grow, and today I spotted three (!!!) new baby polyps between the larger heads:

 

IMG_20200517_153053_108.thumb.jpg.4726a153df86bfc59b15c33be3562400.jpg

 

^You can see two of them on either side of the main paly head above. 👍

 

There are also tiny mint green zoa heads that have popped up as well:

 

IMG_20200517_153628_561.thumb.jpg.f8d4775955bea4e423787e6110bd17c0.jpg

 

My red PEs are slow growers, but I finally spotted one new polyp between the larger ones:

 

IMG_20200517_153727_550.thumb.jpg.cb5f19a57edbce6785c2f0eca6e4323f.jpg

 

The sunflower zoas now have two (!) new heads as opposed to the one new one I spotted the other day: 🤗

 

IMG_20200517_153825_596.thumb.jpg.57ead987bf4113c84f53491bbbb23bd8.jpg

 

My green galaxea frag finally has some green returning to it:

 

IMG_20200517_153913_147.thumb.jpg.3c39dac89c8abf255cb945e1d44e7fff.jpg

 

The green leptastrea also has tiny new polyps growing at the base: 

 

IMG_20200517_154039_770.thumb.jpg.e15ec46fc92b933b218484eeb4462b09.jpg

 

I'm quite pleased with the amount of growth/regrowth I'm seeing. This actually makes me nervous now to add any sand to the tank, because I don't want to upset the system. 

 

Hmm. I'll definitely have to reconsider my future plans for this tank. 🤔

 

Also, I've been feeding pellets every two to three days once to the pico, and I mostly see the amphipods go for it, as opposed to my stars. So I guess I'll stick to my routine raw-shrimp target-feeding every once a week to make sure they get to eat something. 

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Snow_Phoenix

Well, I dropped by the LFS today and picked up three new frags - 2 new zoa frags & 1 new neon GSP:

 

IMG_20200518_174558_127.thumb.jpg.95aebcd7d32f35aacb5788abab670b24.jpg

 

20200518_174631.thumb.jpg.cd220da566d57e61318b329620269094.jpg

 

IMG_20200518_174558_130.thumb.jpg.7d4f6c9f20282f81dd0da4a81fb74e67.jpg

 

Found a zoa spider which hitchiked on one of the frags today - this is why dipping is important:

 

IMG_20200518_142920_923.thumb.jpg.25b8314e636ba549bf26cee5e344334e.jpg

 

Also, that dual-toned blasto I rescued from being buried in the sandbed of the 60G is slowly improving and regrowing - although the color looks different now as compared to before 🤔:

 

IMG_20200518_174359_507.thumb.jpg.2711b62be783e36f2d444824d6a0a651.jpg

 

This was one of my mini monsters last night:

 

IMG_20200518_001147_944.thumb.jpg.3ced4f81979b85a3e09c90cbed58d6d6.jpg

 

Need to feed him and his buddy some diced shrimp tomorrow. 

 

And I have some bad news. 😔

 

My primary LFS is closing down one of their branches close to my home due to lack of business because of covid. This was the first store I bought my first SW tank from, and it's heartbreaking to see it close its doors for good next month. 😭

 

Their second store, which is very far from my home, will remain open. They will spend the next few weeks moving over leftover corals and a handful of fish/dry equipment to that store. My worker friend didn't lose her job, thankfully. She'll be working at the second store once this one closes. 

 

Because it's a bit difficult and tedious to travel to the second store, I only drop by there once every three to four months. So now I have to rely on my secondary LFS for emergencies from here on out. 😭

 

It's so strange how one pandemic could completely upend the economy, businesses and the (previous) social norms of our daily life. I'm still trying to adapt and get used to the 'new normal', but it's...difficult. 😔

 

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debbeach13

It is so sad to see some of the small businesses suffering and having to close. This will never be the same. Glad they can at least stay open at the other store. It is great you found that spider and it didn't go in the tank. Nice catch.

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Snow_Phoenix
48 minutes ago, debbeach13 said:

It is so sad to see some of the small businesses suffering and having to close. This will never be the same. Glad they can at least stay open at the other store. It is great you found that spider and it didn't go in the tank. Nice catch.

Yeah - and some stores won't be able to open again at all. 😞

 

Here's the strange thing - the zoa spider didn't fall off the frag during the dipping - it only detached when I put the frag in the tank, and was blown around in the pico by my HOB's output flow. :unsure:

 

I managed to catch it with a pair of long forceps/tweezers since it was floating about (it was quite large actually - roughly half the size of a pea). I think I should have dipped the frags for a longer period of time. Hopefully there are no more spiders on any of them. 😕

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It's a shame zoa spiders are so destructive. They're kinda neat. I wonder if they have any relatives that eat macros instead? 

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