Mantis Murder Manor

[Ratvan]

And she steals food from the anemones 

https://www.instagram.com/tv/Cb8F1J8sJib/?utm_medium=copy_link

 

[Ratvan]

Well one of the BTAs has managed to get in my media rack in the rear compartment 

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

5 hours ago, Ratvan said:

Well one of the BTAs has managed to get in my media rack in the rear compartment 

 

How? 

[Ratvan]

On 4/14/2022 at 4:44 PM, Snow_Phoenix said:

How? 

I'm guessing somehow made it through the weir comb, have dumped it back in the display. 

 

It's attached right next to the weir again 🤦‍♂️

[Ratvan]

So been away for a week and returned home to the tank not looking too bad. I did have an issue with GHA but that doesn't look too bad, bit of a glass clean and pinching off and should be back to looking great. 

 

Looks to me as though OG BTA is going to split again.

 

The clone

 

It does look like I need to update my mantis snacks again however, all gone except 1 hermit, the conch and an astrea Snail

 

[M. Tournesol]

It's really crazy to see the difference in temperament between different Stomatopods. yours kills everything that enters your tank. Mine have been living in harmony for more than 3~4 months with 4 hermit crabs...

[Ratvan]

13 minutes ago, M. Tournesol said:

It's really crazy to see the difference in temperament between different Stomatopods. yours kills everything that enters your tank. Mine have been living in harmony for more than 3~4 months with 4 hermit crabs...

I know it is crazy, i think it is likely to be that mine was the first inhabitant of the tank and therefore has established the tank as her territory and anything added to it needs to be beefy to survive (Conch) or will become food quickly. I think my only option for further CUC at this point would be a small urchin, but i definitely do not need one at this point. 

 

I have also noticed that she has definitely grown in size, i would say that she is close to 2-2.5" now so very nearly fully grown. 

[Ratvan]

I cleaned out the weir in the Lionfish Lair today, I typically have a few bits of rubble in here to help weigh down the weir comb as the tunze pushes it up but I like how that affects the flow in the tank and I end up with baby mushrooms I can take home to the Manor Manor 🤘

 

 

It's hard work with algae with limited clean up crew so yeah algae everywhere, might try the wandering nems in the Things with Stings work tank. I have OG and 2 splits on the rock, typically on the back of the rock.  The nem that ended in the rear filter is on the glass in front of the return flow and the Mini Maxi hates life and is hiding by the return nozzle still. Yay.

 

 

Sandbed is looking a lot cleaner with the conch still going strong but I have to do the weekly clean this weekend and see if a water change is needed

Oh and I had to dig out thr Kenya Tree from under the main rock as its attached to a Snail shell and someone went digging for it 🙄

[Ratvan]

So I get home from my wild camping trip to the seaside and the reef looks good. Vergis has been undertaking some construction works while I've been gone

 

She is expanding the main rock with rubble and shells, currently the rubble is being smashed into smaller portions so she can build a new burrow. 🤷‍♂️

whatever it is that she's doing she dies look cure when spotted. 

 

Some Whitby shots from my camping weekend too

[NoOneLikesADryTang]

What was that building? An old church? 

[aclman88]

16 minutes ago, NoOneLikesADryTang said:

What was that building? An old church? 

It is difficult, perhaps impossible, to know the true purpose of what the mantis is building.  I will say though, an old church is a very real possibility, what with all the animal sacrifice that seems to be occurring in the tank.

[Ratvan]

23 minutes ago, NoOneLikesADryTang said:

What was that building? An old church? 

Yeah it's Whitby Abbey, an old priory. Mary Shelley was born here and her plot is in the cemetery. Has gothic weekends, pagan festivals all that cool stuff

[Ratvan]

https://www.instagram.com/p/CdOf9ujLsQa/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

Out and about today

[Ratvan]

So finally the Mini Maxi has come down from behind the return nozzle, I'm sure it would as it gets 0 light there as is evidenced by how bleached it is. 

 

Now to see where it chooses next as typically I left the isolation box at work so will have to get that tomorrow

 

BTA OG Mama looks happy

 

Conch is awake and working on algae, added some more rubble to the tank which has been inspected and now pondered over

 

[Ratvan]

So having a bit of a think about the state of the display and the algae that resides there, I know that with this tank it will never look clean due to my chosen inhabitant and the lack of ability to have a robust clean up crew without regular expensive clean up crew top ups. 

 

I have been looking into DIY Algae Scrubbers lately and think that I should be able to fashion a rather budget option to see whether i can encourage the algae to grow in the AIO sections and not in the main display portion of the tank. I have some plastic craft mesh that I can rough up as well as a spare 12W Freshwater Light. I am currently thinking about whether I should add this to Chamber 1 or Chamber 2 of the Evo (if chamber 1, i most likely need to change my filtration and chamber 2 I need to reposition my heater) 

[Ratvan]

She certainly is a lot more active lately

 

 

[NatureGuy]

2 minutes ago, Ratvan said:

She certainly is a lot more active lately

 

 

Wow, she's green. Such a cool color

[LazyFish]

What about "decorative" macros growing in the display to help outcompete the algae. 

[Ratvan]

Got some cryptonemia crenulata and caulerpa taxifolia on the way either tomorrow or Saturday. Possibly also some cheato but more for the critters

[Ratvan]

One of the macro has arrived and is in the tank, also she has photobombed every picture tonight 🤣

 

Cryptonemia crenulata

 

Green Kenya

 

FTS

[Ratvan]

Mushrooms developing texture and little blue spots under the dimmed stock lights

[Ratvan]

So the DIY Algae scrubber in chamber one has been in the tank for nearly a week so far. It is fairly difficult to photographs the rear chambers on the fluval as i left the honeycomb texture on the tank which i wish now i removed. Put the blues on for this photo as otherwise the glare from the small freshwater light is a bit overpowering. 

 

I am aware of the stream of light that punctures the display, as this idea was a trial i didnt put too much effort into it, version 2 will be more robustly built and hopefully a less then janky finish (i.e dont just duct tape a light to the tank). Will give the tank another week before I do any serious maintenance other than the daily algae scrape on the glass but looks like a promising start

[DevilDuck]

Any reason why chamber 1 instead of 2? You would get less light leak.

[Ratvan]

4 hours ago, DevilDuck said:

Any reason why chamber 1 instead of 2? You would get less light leak.

Chamber 2 has my heater, its the only place i can put it and not get vibration noise. Might look into a more slimline design or try and find an alternative heater so i can place this in chamber 2

[Ratvan]

Having a look back through this thread I have noticed that I havent mentioned changing the media in my RODI unit, i will test the water when i get home and see what the TDS is like, this might be a contributing issue to the state of the tank (as well as a lack of CuC)

 

Also placed an order for a "Refugium Pack"

 

Contains

copepods, 6 x amphipods, 3 x stomatella snails , pellets food pouch ,  phytoplankton pouch ,brine shrimp pouch , reefsoup, cheato bundle ,300g live  rock rubble