Shallow Caribbean Reef

[michael_cb_125]

I just got back home from the coast. The little tank looks really good. I was expecting some algae or something, but everything looks awesome.

We spent more time getting fish for friends and family than collecting for the tank. But I did snag one nice macro algae on a little rock full of holes. 

It came from 110 feet of water, so I know it will be fine with lower lighting. Any ideas on an exact species?

 

[michael_cb_125]

I don't know if anybody else on this forum does any fishing, but here are some pictures of a few of the fish few caught. Too many to share but these give an idea of what we fish for...

 

Ignore my pretty sun hat,lol!

 

[A.m.P]

Red snapper is delicious and ono are a fun fight, I'm not 100% sure on the macro ID but the structure of it looks like some kind of brown macro adjacent to dictoya or padina and I'm leaning towards the latter.

[michael_cb_125]

The ARS sure are good eating, too bad the are "endangered" and us recreational guys can keep one per day for three whole days per year....

All these fish are fun to catch for me, I mostly use an ultralight korean Tai jigging rod and 15 pound test line. 

 

I was leaning towards padina sp. but I am not a macro guy..

[michael_cb_125]

This is not a scroll algae, but does seem calcified.

I will continue digging for an ID.

~Michael

[A.m.P]

26 minutes ago, michael_cb_125 said:

The ARS sure are good eating, too bad the are "endangered" and us recreational guys can keep one per day for three whole days per year....

Could always switch to hunting lionfish, they'll bake you a cake if you bag 100 and they taste better fried than 99% of "white fish". Boring fish to hunt though...

It's unfortunate that we all have to play ball now, largely because those before us didn't, on the bright side 20 years from now, provided people actually do the right thing, the limits might basically vanish.
Then again, up north people are still taking buckets to fish walleye, funny how that works, until the fish part stops.

[michael_cb_125]

Most of the lionfish here in NC are found beyond rec. diving depths. They are around, but sporadic. But our NC lionfish make Florida lions look tiny.

You are correct about lionfish being great fried, but the texture is very delicate.

 

Most of our fish end up as sashimi or on the grill..

 

~Michael

[michael_cb_125]

Here are a few quick shots I just took. I will try to get some better photos latter this evening.

[MortalWombat]

Great catches! The striped one is a cobia if I'm not mistaken? I watch youtube vids from EliasV occasionally and he fishes a lot of inshore in NC. Man he catches some giant reds and doormats! 

[michael_cb_125]

Yes the striped one is a cobia. That one was 42 inches. They are such a curious and intelligent fish, that it makes them easy to hook. They are amazing grilled and raw.

 

We used to flounder fish alot and have caught some door mats up to 14 pounds (that was a long time ago). This year's two week season gave us 6 fish 4-7 pounds.. This is my nephews girlfriend with her doormat from a few weeks ago.

[michael_cb_125]

[michael_cb_125]

This evening was the first time I have target fed the ricordea. The feeding response was great. I used the nyos lps pellets. Almost instant response from the ricordea as soon as they touched them..

 

Surprisingly they seemed to take the pellet better than the mysis I sprinkled over them.

 

The rock flowers are feeding and seem happy now.

 

On a side note, about five years ago one of out employees hit a doe that was pregnant. The fawn came out breathing. He knew I had a background in animal/livestock science. Long story short I raised the fawn and released her on our land, about 80 acres. She has stayed around and I still see her every other day or so, even though she has found and bonded with the local herd.

 

Well yesterday morning she was in the backyard instead of the woods. She came to show me something:

 

[michael_cb_125]

Everything in the tank is looking very nice. The macro that I collected is already starting to show growth. The outer "rim" of each frond is showing the growth. Hopefully it will grow quickly as the angelfish likes to nip at it.

 

The ricordea are looking happy. It is surprising how many are splitting. I figured they would take their sweet time with splitting, or even growing much for that matter.

 

The white claw hermits decided that astrea snail shells are ideal. I will be replacing several of the astreas that I collected since the hermits ate them and stole the shells.... It is is worth it to have such an interesting and beautiful critter.

[michael_cb_125]

[mitten_reef]

wow the ric garden all filled up!

 

@ninjamyst, all these years, your ric garden has been my fav.  that is until now. 😄

[michael_cb_125]

I was finally able to get the powerhead positioned where I want in for the ricordea. I have it positioned on the left side of the tank at the very back. It is set to pulse mode at 50% for 2 seconds and off for 8 seconds. This gives the macro algae a nice sway and the ricordea stay open nicely with good movement of the fringe tentacles.

 

I am now starting to grow coraline algae on the plastic surfaces, which I figured would start soon since the calcium based tubeworms are going nuts.

 

I have decided that no more rock flowers will be added to the tank. I will keep the ones that I have, if they stay put, otherwise they will be gone. I am pretty sure all but two have decided on a spot..

[michael_cb_125]

Since the center rock is covered with ricordea that we're collected in the keys, I was feeling guilty about not representing other areas in the Caribbean...

So I will have a shipment sometime next week with some ricordeas out of Haiti. Hopefully there will be some noticeable differences between the two like I have seen in the past.

 

I plan on placing them on the smaller rock to the back right in the tank.

I also have a red and a blue photo sponge ordered from the same place.

 

After that I will be done adding ricordea..... unless I can legally find them from other areas of the Caribbean.

[A.m.P]

That second picture may be one of my favorite shots of any aquarium I've seen in at least a year. I wish pygmy angels weren't so mean as adults, or at least didn't have such a habit of going after fleshy corals. They're so interesting and beautiful.

[michael_cb_125]

Thanks for the comments everyone.

I am still struggling with getting good clear photos. I have always had Elos aquariums with the Euro version of starphire glass. While the IM tanks may have low iron glass, it is not the quality of what I am used to. Just looking at the tank you cannot tell, but with a camera pointed at it you can see the distortion.. I guess I will have to play around more with my phone..

 

As for dwarf angelfish in a reef. I ha e kept almost every species of centropyge and paracentropyge angels. They have always been in reef tanks.

For my observations they tend to like fleshy coral mucous more than the flesh itself. I have noticed angels nip at a brain a fee times, move along, and return to eat the mucous and whatever else the coral expelled due to the prior nipping.

 

 

[michael_cb_125]

Here are a few photos from this evening.

[A.m.P]

God that angel and Latern basslet are so damn gorgeous.

[michael_cb_125]

Thanks A.m.P.!!

 

They have become good little pets, lol.

 

I can now scratch the basslets head when he come to the surface. The angel is not that brave yet, but he will come around..

 

I am waiting today for a message about my upcoming shipment. I have 30 haitian ricordea on hold, but they supplier said they should have some nice neglectus coming in as well. I may have to add some of those to the order depending on how they look. My wife is going to Disney next week, so I am going to have a reefing play week, lol!!!!

[CD_Scapes]

7 hours ago, michael_cb_125 said:

Thanks A.m.P.!!

 

They have become good little pets, lol.

 

I can now scratch the basslets head when he come to the surface. The angel is not that brave yet, but he will come around..

 

I am waiting today for a message about my upcoming shipment. I have 30 haitian ricordea on hold, but they supplier said they should have some nice neglectus coming in as well. I may have to add some of those to the order depending on how they look. My wife is going to Disney next week, so I am going to have a reefing play week, lol!!!!

Careful with neglectus, they have a reputation to eat fish 

[michael_cb_125]

I have kept many neglectus in the past without issue. I have kept them with personatus gobies without issue. I know people talk about shrooms eating fish. I am a firm believer that a strong healthy fish cannot be taken by a mushroom. I have never had it happen in 20 years of reef keeping. 

[A.m.P]

3 hours ago, michael_cb_125 said:

I have kept many neglectus in the past without issue. I have kept them with personatus gobies without issue. I know people talk about shrooms eating fish. I am a firm believer that a strong healthy fish cannot be taken by a mushroom. I have never had it happen in 20 years of reef keeping. 

I think it's up to the shroom, I've seen timelaspes of yumas reaching up two or three inches to strip heads off a duncan colony.