The Pico vol. 2

[sr2z]

11 minutes ago, A.m.P said:

No experience, but it's easier to find mated pairs of neon or blue/yellow line sharknose gobies and or green banded gobies (at least stateside)

If I remember, clown gobies are similiar to clownfish. They are hermaphrodites! Or something similiar

[sr2z]

It is day 3 of my first corals in the tank... I´m getting a little concerned about my Jungle juice zoas. Their polyps are super tiny (3-4mm) and I still haven´t seen them fully opened up. They do open about a milimeter or two few times a day, and I can clearly see some colour when they do so, but they never open up fully. My Lime Chillies and BamBams are doing OK. Could it be that they were fragged quite recently? Also, my GSP never opens all their polyps, only a few at a time. Thanks for all opinions 😄

[sr2z]

Soo... Because I noticed a thin layer of algae growing on the polyp of my Jungle Juice zoa, I decided to gently scrub it with a toothbrush, and use a turkey baster to clean it. I did so with all my other zoas, too. The amount of detritus I got of them this way was surprising. The Jungle juice zoa opened up almost immediately!

A) I really need to get the water flowing more in my tank. The 50gph pump just doesn´t do the job correctly. I am thinking of adding a small flow pump. What amount of flow would you guys recommend? I have a 150gph option, a 250gph option and a 500gph option (that is an overkill I think.)

B) I do not have a lot of algae right now in the tank, but even that is quite frustrating. I think I´ll add som Chaeto to the filter to help with exporting nutrients...

[Reefkid88]

I highly recommend:

 

 Neon or Sharknose goby

 Trimma gobies

 

 I loved my neon gobies. I want a mated pair for my pico,but getting them locally is pricey. 

[sr2z]

3 hours ago, Reefkid88 said:

I highly recommend:

 

 Neon or Sharknose goby

 Trimma gobies

 

 I loved my neon gobies. I want a mated pair for my pico,but getting them locally is pricey. 

Yeah, they are cool, but sooo pricey in my area. In fact, they cost 2x-3x more than clown gobies! And getting a mated pair is impossible. But yeah, I love the personalities of fish from the blenny and goby family, so I will probably get one of those. Just soo hard to decided when you have such a small tank and you can place ONE fish inside.

[Leo_ian]

i would go for the trimmas, tevage is a good choice

[sr2z]

9 minutes ago, Leo_ian said:

i would go for the trimmas, tevage is a good choice

Trimmas are nice gobies, but impossible to get here 😐... I have to do some research about what fish are readily available here and I will make a small list...

[Leo_ian]

haha same... i was hoping you could get them because i also cant seem to import them to my country

if you can you should get some from biota

 

[sr2z]

So, the list of fish readily available in my country (the smaller species) :

 

Sphaeramia nematoptera (Pajama Cardinalfish)

Yellow-striped cardinalfish

Banggai Cardinalfish

Clown gobies

Amblyeleotris gobies

Clownfish

Fairy wrasse

Diadem dottyback

Ptereleotris dartfish (love these too)

Yellow shrimp goby

Beautiful firefish gobies (I love them, but I guess they are too active for my tank)w

Almost any dragonet you can imagine

Some Elacatinus gobies (Neon gobies, freaking expensive for how small they are)

Yellow-tail damsels etc.

Very sporadically Stonogobiops shrimp gobies

Lawnmower blennies

Bicolor blennies

Some blue chromis...

 

I think that´s pretty much all.

[Leo_ian]

maybe get the stonogobiops when possible. If you want to, a 20 gallon to breed banggais and you could keep the babies in the pico

actually the diadem dotty back should be ok in that tank

[Leo_ian]

not reccomended but possible, i have seen other reefers dop it

 

[sr2z]

Yeah, I understand... Well, I will add some more zoanthids and shrooms to the tank first, so there is still some time to decide.

[Ratvan]

Personally i would be tempted by the Amblyeleotris gobies

[sr2z]

9 minutes ago, Ratvan said:

Personally i would be tempted by the Amblyeleotris gobies

Agree, they have  Amblyeleotris guttata at the moment, the spotted prawn goby. They are nice

[sr2z]

So... would a pistol shrimp and Amblyeleotris combo work in this tank or would it be too much?

Thanks

[sr2z]

Or maybe a yellow watchman goby - pistol shrimp combo? Any suggestions?

[Reefkid88]

I feel like a watchman is way too big. 

 

 I would say a Yasha or Prawn goby would be a better choice. 

[sr2z]

49 minutes ago, Reefkid88 said:

I feel like a watchman is way too big. 

 

Well, it is 7,5cm (YWG) vs 5cm (yasha etc.)... I wouldn´t say it is a very big difference.

[sr2z]

But yeah, the amblyeleotris gobies are another option

[Reefkid88]

I have seen watchmen get HUGE,I mean 5-6" kinda huge. 

[Leo_ian]

14 hours ago, sr2z said:

But yeah, the amblyeleotris gobies are another option

too big, the more common one, the yellow, get to about 4-5 inches

 

edit: i did not read the earlier post

 

blackrays are quite small and are commonly put in picos even in pairs so check that out

[sr2z]

6 hours ago, Leo_ian said:

blackrays are quite small and are commonly put in picos even in pairs so check that out

I know about them, but because they are a bit rare here, I am trying to find some alternatives. But if they show up, I´ll definitely consider them...

 

2 shrooms added today:

 

SHROOM 1:

 

SHROOM :

 

Shroom 2 is in a cup for now, to help it attach better...

 

It will be a month since I set up this tank, so I think it´s time for some calculations of the overall cost so far:

(These are the things that I HAD to buy, because they weren´t in my garage 😅)

The tank (the aquarium itself, return pump, lid, a few sponges and ceramic rings)= 43 €

DIY light = 50 €

Skimmer = 10 €

Rocks = 20 €

Salt = 8 €

CUC = approx. 10 €

Corals = 10+10+5+5 = 30 €

Overall cost = 171 €

 

A bit more than I planned to spend, but I think it is worth it.

[sr2z]

Soo, I have the opportunity to purchase an Alpheus shrimp that looks somehow like the Bullseye shrimp. I know that they don´t pair with gobies too well, so would it be possible to have this solo shrimp in the tank + add a clown goby to patrol the upper areas of the tank?

Thanks

[Leo_ian]

sure its possible, its just that you wont have alot of action

[Leo_ian]

damsels in a pico are quite cool too