Snow's 10G Critters of Chaos (TOTM)

[Snow_Phoenix]

Spot the hermit! 👀

 

 

 

 

 

 

The state of the pavona now: 😕

 

 

^The middle portion is now slowly being encrusted with coralline. I don't think the pieces will merge again, but they *might branch out individually to grow into 2 separate pavonas. Only time will tell. 🤷‍♀️

 

Zoa Ledge looks alright:

 

 

Quite happy that the mystery zoas between the Fire & Ice and Fairy Dust has now developed an outer red skirt, green ring and yellow center. Still unsure what morph it is, but I think it looks quite pretty, regardless. 

 

The firestorm looks nice too. New polyps have already begun forming from most of the new morphs. Can't wait for all of them to grow out! 🥰

[Snow_Phoenix]

A closer look at the garf bonsai revealed that the purple base is finally back! 

 

 

 

 

The duncan is no longer sulking too! 😊

 

 

 

Ironman looking fierce: 👀

 

[balaboo]

Wow, such a beautiful mix reef. Super colorful. Admire your work. 

[Snow_Phoenix]

Harvey out in the open this morning:

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

The green leptastrea is bouncing back swiftly. Still has a bald spot from where it was stung by my orange leptastrea, but new tiny green polyps have begun to grow out again:

 

 

Polyps have opened wider on new Zoa Ledge:

 

 

 

 

I think the colored up zoas are Reverse Gorilla Nipples. Still not sure what the large maroon palys are though. 🤷‍♀️

 

Toxic corner:

 

 

^Thinking of placing more random palys over here, on the sandbed. Maybe some UCs and Blue Agaves (?) 🤔

 

Need to check in with the store to see if they are available or not. 🤔

[Snow_Phoenix]

The rainbow brain certainly looks puffy and happy today. Need to stuff it with some shrimp! 😅

 

 

 

 

Looks like the trumpet head at the top *might split, but I'm not sure. Wait and see...? 👀

 

 

Superman discosoma looking large and happy: 😊

 

 

More shrooms & zoas to come in the future! 😊👍

[Snow_Phoenix]

Super old pics of my sugarcane shrimp many, many years ago:

 

 

 

 

 

 

If I have a chance to acquire another specimen, I totally would. They're very peaceful. Only way to get them is by pure chance because they come in mislabeled as peppermint shrimp. 

[Snow_Phoenix]

I managed to fix the lid. Introducing Pickle the clownfish! 🥰

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

 

 

More quick pics of Pickle:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Still need to fatten him up. 😊👍

[Snow_Phoenix]

FTS today on 02/01/22:

 

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

Saron shrimp are simply amazing at night. 🥰

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

Harvey up close today:

 

 

 

 

Gotta admit - these two are incredibly fun to watch: 😅

 

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/CZgxjJ8pd_X/?utm_medium=copy_link

 

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

WCed the tank today. Geralt of Oceania was not too pleased. 😅

 

 

 

 

Quite pleased that these two pieces are still growing:

 

 

 

Bubbly yumas: 🥰

 

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

Shrooms of Mushroom Mountain:

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

Still a bit on the skinny side, but Pickle is getting darker! 😊

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

Geralt messing with the shrooms:

 

 

Harvey hanging out:

 

 

The new ledge is still growing out:

 

 

Also, I *think I misidentified the Fairy Dust polyp. Now that it is slowly coloring back up, the colors look quite different. I remember when I picked this frag out, my LFS manager kept saying it was 'Space something-something' but he couldn't recall the exact name. 

 

The polyp being discolored didn't help. I have a mild suspicion of what it *might be, but I need it to color up more in the following weeks to be sure. 🤔

 

The one thing weird about corals in this tank is that *some of them have a tendency to change colors - not just regain them, but be it a completely different shade altogether. It is quite interesting to watch, actually. 😊

 

Also, a small hint of bad news - I won't be able to post pics directly on the site anymore soon. I only have a few MB left in my storage quota. 😭

 

By improving the clarity of the pics and making them high-res for all of my threads, each pic I post is quite large, MB-wise - a single pic is around 2 to 4+ MB. I have tried taking a screenshot of pics in my phone's gallery and uploading them, but the pics come out blurry, although they are only a few *kB each. 😕

 

Looks like I'll be migrating fully to instagram for pics. I will post the Insta-links here, but instagram links can no longer be directly embedded in NR, so any viewers will have to click the link and view it on Insta. Truly sorry, guys. 😔

 

Wish there was a way to acquire/purchase extra storage space on the site, but there isn't any, so this is the best I can do. 🤷‍♀️

 

Also, my instagram profile is set to public, so I don't think you need an instagram account to view them. (Might have to double-check this one)

[Snow_Phoenix]

Went coral shopping today! 😅

 

 

 

Trimmed some of the frag plugs a little. 4 zoas/palys & 2 shrooms: kamikaze, orange bam bams, utter chaos, rusty red nuclear deaths, ultra green radioactive (?) rhodactis & orange rhodactis. 😊👍

 

Will take pics tomorrow/day after, when they have acclimated fully to the tank. 😊

 

I also purchased 2 softie frags, but those went into the big tank. 

 

Was tempted to pick up a purple birdsnest as well, but I need to trim/trade in some of my forest fire digis to accomodate it, so I passed. 

 

Will look out for more morphs at the store. 👀

[Snow_Phoenix]

Just turned the lights on and some of the polyps are slowly opening up:

 

 

 

It appears I've mistakenly glued the rusty red nuclear deaths to this rock instead of the UCs - I had trouble telling the polyps apart because all of them were closed up when I removed them from the bag. 😕

 

I'll be removing the rusty reds later and put them together with the rest of my palys in the left side of the tank. Then trim down the frag plug of the UCs and stick that to the ledge. 

 

The UCs are quite shrunken though - I noticed that at the store. But it was the only UC frag left, so I picked it up. 🤷‍♀️

 

Orange bam bams are quite tiny too. At least one of the kamikaze polyps have opened up. And the space thingy is brightening up as well. 👍

[Snow_Phoenix]

More polyps have opened up on the ledge - am definitely removing the rusty red palys because it is already bothering my Captain Americas:

 

 

I'll leave that middle space empty, but I'll stick my UCs at the upper right corner, near the Midas. Spotted a new Firestorm polyp and was quite thrilled. 😊

 

Also, here's Geralt mooching among the shrooms:

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

Not all of the polyps are fully open, but here's the Zoa Garden today:

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/CZtq0lHp5yR/?utm_medium=copy_link

 

Also, here are the two new shrooms next to the forest fire shroom: 

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/CZtrAQ6JHd-/?utm_medium=copy_link

 

They're still quite small. My UCs are shrunken too - a healthy polyp should rival my starburst green implosion paly in terms of size, so I will have to try to nurse these back to full health. 

 

Other older, established corals are still holding steady in terms of growth & color:

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/CZtrNkLp-QP/?utm_medium=copy_link

 

And Pickle has darkened even further, although he is still underweight and has white lips because he tried to taste-test my duncan: 

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/CZtrVK1Jc3w/?utm_medium=copy_link

 

Geralt mooching in my GSP:

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/CZtraKVJZ3F/?utm_medium=copy_link

 

I'm now down to 3.28MB in storage space. I'll be going back in both my journal threads and delete excess pics as much as I can to clear up some space. 

 

Not all of my pics are posted on Insta, but there are still some (in the future) that I'd like to share *only in this forum, with all of you, as part of my tank's progress. 👍

[Snow_Phoenix]

Future frags I'm looking out for, including *some morphs I previously had, then lost:

 

Zoas & Palys:

 

Tubbs Blue

Radioactive Dragon Eyes

Watermelon

Eagle Eyes

Candy Apple

Kryptonite
Blondies

Rainbow Yoda

Red Magician

Blue Agave
Fruit Loops

Prismatic

Paly Grandis

Emerald Maul

Pink Hippo

Armor of God

Grandmaster Krakatoa --> subject to availability, extremely high price might warrant a look-but-don't-buy

 

Mushrooms:

 

Red Devil

Lava Lamp

Leopard

Pink Yuma

Purple/Orange Yuma

Wishlist (Things I'd love, but simply cannot afford! )

 

Stratosphere Zoa --> LFS has two mini colonies of this. Each polyp costs several thousand. Definitely way out of my budget. But I can still dream! 

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

I got to work this afternoon by doing some basic pruning. The cloves on my Zoa Ledge looked wonderful, but they were also growing over my Incredible Hulks and Butt Munchers - to the point that most polyps of both morphs were either shrunken from lack of light, or had vanished altogether. 😔

 

Given how persistent cloves are, I won't be surprised if they find a way to grow back on the ledge. But for now, the ledge is dedicated solely to a mix of zoas and palys - although I have to admit that my *pruning had severely pissed off pretty much everything in that corner of the tank. Oops. 😕

 

 

I also fragged off a small section of my pavona again and reglued it on a frag plug, although the coral itself is not very healthy:

 

 

Moving on, I finally removed the rusty red palys from my second Zoa Ledge and placed it next to the starburst implosions:

 

 

I also stuck the UCs to the ledge, but all that messing around has upset a lot of polyps, including the discolored Mohawks (finally found out what those weird maroon palys were!), but I'm hoping they'll settle down in a few days and open back up again:

 

 

I decided not to touch the Kedd Reds at all - mostly because I'd love to have it fully encrust the frag plug like my peacocks: 

 

 

Zoas & palys aside, the mini yuma garden looks nice today. The main teal green/orange yuma seems to be moving to a slightly more comfortable spot:

 

 

I'll be focusing on trying to nurse any unhealthy or discolored frags back to full health - that was the main purpose of this tank, and it has indeed come a long way, but I don't want to veer too far from my original goal(s). 

 

I'll keep an eye out for more zoa/paly & shroom morphs. Definitely am going to expand my collection - plus, I can always trim some of the Purple Monsters & Metallic nuclear greens to make room for different varieties. 😊

 

Stay tuned for more updates - also, I can now post more pics again on the site, so look out for them! 👍

[Snow_Phoenix]

The zoas and palys are still pissed, with most having wrinkled skirts. 😕

 

At least the Vampire in Drags still looks good:

 

 

And here are the empty gaps left behind by the eradicated cloves. You can see how shrunken my Butt Munchers have become: 😕

 

 

Also, deep blues make red hues pop! 😊

 

 

Two new shrooms are doing well:

 

 

Finally glued the forest fire frag plug to the rocks. Geralt began developing a habit of rolling it all over the place: 🙄

 

 

Favites! Saw a large, colony-sized version of this at the store. That piece was stunning. 🥰

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

Geralt pondering the mysteries of life on the peak of Mt. Acro: 

 

 

 

Harvey peeking:

 

 

Pickle is improving, weight-wise. His appetite has increased too. 😊👍

 

 

 

Lateral lines can still be seen, but are growing fainter. 

[Snow_Phoenix]

I took all these pics under heavy whites and lesser blues today - coral colors might be a tad duller than usual - sorry! 😅

 

Gold Maul vs. Vampire in Drags:

 

 

Looks like some clove polyps have survived yesterday's purge. Grr. 

 

 

Geralt stealing food from my acans! 👀

 

 

One of the forest fire digi patches on the rocks:

 

 

For some reason, I can't get a good, clear pic of my blue hairy shroom no matter how hard I try. My phone's camera has trouble focusing on the various projections on the surface of the shroom, so the shot comes out blurry. 😕

 

It's a shame because the blue & yellow highlights on the surface of the shroom stand out quite a fair bit in real life. Hopefully I'll be able to capture it clearly and accurately one day. 

 

 

Three shroomusketeers:

 

 

Cloves and palys: 🥰