Snow's 10G Critters of Chaos (TOTM)

[Snow_Phoenix]

I think I almost got it. 🤔

 

 

 

 

 

^Was initially planning on fragging the Firestorms & Space-thingys to be added to the 60G, but decided not to (for now). I'm glad the Fire & Ice polyps made a full recovery after my glue-over-a-polyp mishap 2+ weeks ago. 😅

[Snow_Phoenix]

Throwback to an old nanotank that I had in 2015! 

 

I can no longer get galaxauras here, which is quite sad. Those two bunches only cost me RM 20 in total those days. So much has changed indeed! 

(Also, this was a 16G (2' ft long) with a mix of T5HOs and LEDs, random mess of macro & corals, and 4 fish - 2 perculas, 1 anthias & 1 mandy!) 

[Snow_Phoenix]

The green leptastrea is finally showing earnest signs of recovery, but I'm unsure if it will regrow over the dead areas. If it doesn't, I'll take it to the store to get some help to frag off the dead part - it can't be trimmed off using ordinary coral cutters (tried once long ago and *almost killed the poor thing  ) :

 

 

Scrunched up blue discosoma - still opening up for the morning:

 

 

Nuclear red palys: 

 

 

Ironmans! 🥰

 

 

Pickle still lovin' her coral. 😅

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

Garf bonsai up close. PE is still minimal in the morning. Colors are intense though. Just waiting for it to grow out a bit more so that I can frag off a section and give it to my store. 👍

 

 

 

Bubbly yumas! 🥰

 

 

 

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

Shrooms are still shrunken in this morning - lights have just been turned on. 

 

Rhodactises:

 

 

 

 

 

Tricolor discosoma:

 

 

Please ignore the dead stick under the monti - that was actually a small piece of the forest fire that I accidently broke about a month back, and couldn't locate until today. Will toss it out later:

 

 

Tiny hidden green leopard discosoma:

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

Merlettis! 😊

 

 

Rainbows:

 

 

 

Weeping willow - Pickle's second favorite coral in the tank:

 

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

SPS time! 😊

 

Pavona frags:

 

 

 

Jack-O-Lantern lepto:

 

 

Forest fire digi garden:

 

 

Also, bonus pic! 😅

 

Throwback to this ultra-rare (well, ultra-rare here, evidently) two spot blenny that I snagged from the store once, years ago, because it came in by mistake:

 

 

I'd kill to get another tiny combtooth blenny today, for this nano. 🤐

[Snow_Phoenix]

Geralt of nanoreefia lounging in the GSP. 🦀🦀🦀

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

Pickle. 🥰

 

 

 

 

Garf bonsai. Hmm. Maybe the colors did run off a little. 😕

 

 

Yuma pile:

 

 

Forest fire frag is branching out very well. 🥰

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

I pinched off some cloves from the main Zoa Ledge during basic maintenance today, so some of the polyps are still closed up and sulking:

 

 

 

Fire & Ice zoas, fully recovered:

 

 

Sparkly space-thingy:

 

 

Paly Tower:

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

Grabbed a few limpets and a stomatella snail from the fuge of the 60G and tossed it into this tank. The limpets are a bit slow in processing their new location - but the stomatella has already set to work on cleaning the film algae on the glass. If I spot more stomatellas cruising around my 60G's sump, I'll transfer them over as well. It's the only thing I could think of while waiting to pick up a new pair of snails for this tank next month. 👍

[Snow_Phoenix]

Some sticks for all of you today! 😊

 

 

 

 

 

The *orangish Kedd 'Reds'. (Taken under yellow lens filter, of course) :

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

Some bubbly yumas:

 

 

 

 

Watermelon discosoma:

 

 

A small burst of color:

 

 

^Need to hoard more rhodactises. 

[Snow_Phoenix]

Pickle seeking refuge under the rainbow brain coral. 🥰

 

 

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

Decided to shift over one of the snails from.the 60G into the nano to help keep the algae under control. 👍

 

 

I'll still need to get more snails in the future. 

 

I think I'll scrub off the algae on the dead bit of the leptastrea. Not sure if new polyps can regrow over the barren patch, but I figured it's worth a shot. 

 

 

Tiny yumas are still growing. 

 

 

I'll be in and out if touch at NR for the next few days - got some family stuff going on, and it's been a bit stressful. 

 

My full set of pics of this tank are available on my Insta page, so you can view them there. 🌺

[Snow_Phoenix]

Zoa Garden today. 🥰

 

 

 

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

Please excuse the filthy sandbed, but here are some topview shots:

 

 

 

 

 

My store had a batch of fish come in, including some perculas. Do you think Pickle needs a friend? The perculas are pricey, but I considered picking one up as company for her - they're relatively small. 🤔

 

Or will that upset my current clown in any way? Pickle appears quite content, tbh. She is madly in love with her brain coral - not sure if she'd accept a tiny boyfriend (or just feed him to her coral instead  ). 

 

At the same time, I'm struggling to get any suitable nanofish for this tank, so I just figured a second clown would be the best bet with all the current limited options available. 

[LazyFish]

My clowns are getting along great with my court jester goby in my 20g they are good nano fish if you can get a hold of one. Maby a war paint clown goby could be nice too they like to perch on things. I realy like my court jester it's fun to watch it pecks things for pods and shifts sand for yummies and he can swim straight backwards.

I have had some agression issues when adding a clown I'm sure was Male with a established and rather territorial female clown in a 10g. Then again I had another pair starting with an established female in another 10g that bonded instantly. It depends alot of the females personality some are more agressive than others.

Your tank looks amazing btw.

[Snow_Phoenix]

8 minutes ago, LazyFish said:

My clowns are getting along great with my court jester goby in my 20g they are good nano fish if you can get a hold of one. Maby a war paint clown goby could be nice too they like to perch on things. I realy like my court jester it's fun to watch it pecks things for pods and shifts sand for yummies and he can swim straight backwards.

I have had some agression issues when adding a clown I'm sure was Male with a established and rather territorial female clown in a 10g. Then again I had another pair starting with an established female in another 10g that bonded instantly. It depends alot of the females personality some are more agressive than others.

Your tank looks amazing btw.

Yeah, the pairing part can be a hit or miss. Pickle is large enough, so a clown 2/3rds of her size or less *should be able to pair up with her. I honestly wanted a TSB or Pictus very badly for this tank, but nanofish are now almost impossible to come by and are severely overpriced if they are in stock. 😞

 

I absolutely love GCGs! (warpaint gobies!) Had one in my 60G and he was a great lil' fish. Tough to acquire and difficult to feed at first, but once they're settled in, they should be alright. I completely forgot about Hector's and Rainford's gobies. I think they need a lot of microalgae to forage on though - this tank has algae, but not the kind that placates such beautiful fish. 😕

 

I'll keep an eye out for more future updates at my store. If I truly can't get anything, then I'll settle for a 2nd clown. 

[Snow_Phoenix]

Dropped by the store this afternoon - so many beautiful (and pricey perculas) to choose from. They had a small group of wild-caught Occys as well, but the aquacultured percs were much healthier & more active. 

 

I took my time browsing the tanks, and kept thinking of Pickle...and how content she was with her coral. My clown is reasonably happy in her tank on her own. *I might be interested in getting a second clown, but that didn't necessarily mean *she would be happy with a mate. 

 

I thought about what's best for my fish, and what's best for this tank. And I decided a second clown might...unbalance things. 

 

I was still keen on a second tiny fish, and finally settled on a super-tiny talbot's damsel:

 

 

The lil' guy is practically a blur among the other fish that I picked up today for my 60G. Speedy too. 😅

 

I have had *okay experiences with talbots in the past, so I figured a small one wouldn't hurt. 🤷‍♀️

 

The fish is currently in QT, but will be moved to the nano after 2 weeks. Once it's in its new home, I will consider my tank fully stocked, fish-wise. 

 

The only thing I plan on doing in the near future is keep up with maintenance & WCs. The zoa frags I selected weeks ago are doing very well at the store - can't wait to bring those home next month and expand my Zoa Garden. 🤐

 

Oh! And I also purchased 3 turban snails as CUC, 1 of which was added to this tank. (It's busy munching on film algae atm heh)

 

The sandbed is still a bit filthy and there are a few algae patches here and there, but it's mostly due to me slacking back on maintenance. Once everything is back on track, the algae will be back under control and the corals will be happier (growth is still as wild as ever, but some colors have dulled a little). 

 

Hoping the tiny Talbot makes it in QT! 🌺

[Snow_Phoenix]

Curious Foxy. 🥰

 

 

 

I spotted this tiny rainbow cynarina at the store yesterday:

 

 

It reminded me a lot of a cynarina that I once had, so I reserved it via phone today. Price is quite reasonable for the size and multi-colors. 

 

I think...I might collect a few more cynarinas of different colors (eg. red, green etc.) and slowly put them next to each other on my sandbed. Thinking of 4 to 5 corals in total. 🤔

 

Simply put, they're reasonably easy to maintain and are not too expensive, quite tolerant of high nitrates & phosphates, come in various colors and most importantly - Foxy doesn't nip them. 😅

 

I notice zoas and palys don't grow too well in this tank, but I expected as much since I rarely WC this tank. 

 

The two new snails I purchased to help munch on the algae coating the rocks are actually a pair of slackers. 

 

Looks like I'll have to get another urchin to do the job. Beast & Mr. Prickles will need backup. 

 

Also, there was another coral I eyed on yesterday - a small, simple red brain:

 

 

Looks really nice and vivid. Might/might not cave in to getting one eventually. We'll see. 

 

The new fish made it through their first night in QT without incident. I tried feeding all of them a mix of frozen brine, pods & mysis today. Both the hawk & damsel were eating readily. The copperband was 50/50. The lion is still fasting, evidently. 😕

 

My mum actually purchased some very tiny prawns (with full shells) and de-shelled clams at the supermarket today especially for the new guys! Was quite thankful for her help lol. I'm not sure if the lion or copperband will go after the tiny frozen prawns, but I hope so. My regular FW LFS is closed today (every Tuesday is their weekly day off), so I can't get any live shrimp yet. 

 

As for the clams, this might sound silly, but since it has been deshelled, I'm worried the copperband won't recognize it as food and go for it. So...I *think I'll try to rubberband a small piece to an empty clam shell (have several of those in the cupboard outdoors - I used to collect them for fun 😅) and see if the fish would go for it. 

 

If it is not interested after several tries, I guess I can always chop up the clams and feed them to my other fish in my FW predator tank. 😊👍

[Snow_Phoenix]

Cross-posting is a real PITA. 🙄

 

Anyway, back to *this tank - scraped the glass and managed to remove a whole bunch of icky algae. 🤢

 

 

Also did a full filter clean-up. 

 

 

Planning on WCing the tank tomorrow. The new snail is doing a good job at cleaning up the algae on the rocks. Tentatively thinking of adding a 3rd snail to aid with clean up. 🤔

[Snow_Phoenix]

Forgot to add: the tiny talbot damsel made it through his first night in QT! 😊

 

He was also happily eating a frozen food cocktail this morning. 👍

[Snow_Phoenix]

The peak of Paly Tower:

 

 

Geralt. 🦀

 

 

Pickle. 🥰

 

 

 

 

Took a peek at the QT. Caught my damsel peeking back. 😅

 

 

He's so friggin' cute. Around ~0.75" tops. (The copperband is around ~3+" for scale)

[Snow_Phoenix]

Harvey in camomode:

 

 

 

He can go fully red as well. 🥰