9 to 5 Fat and sassy GBGs!

[NoOneLikesADryTang]

They’re so cute! Your tank looks very healthy and happy!

[Merthynia]

22 hours ago, NoOneLikesADryTang said:

They’re so cute! Your tank looks very healthy and happy!

Thank you! It is doing so well. 🙂 It’s so nice to get a tank stabilized and just enjoy it as the coral continues to grow.

[Merthynia]

Well I was getting everything ready for a nice full tank shot for the end of the month shot and I managed to drop my water change cup into the water and break the smaller birdsnest tonight. I went ahead and glued the small piece onto the rockwork and moved the rest of the frag into my larger tank. I also took this opportunity to glue down more of the frags off the frag rack. SO good news is there is only a single frag in a holder now. The bad news is that everyone is completely pissed off for my full tank shot tonight. 

 

I did go to the LFS today to pick up some food for the tanks. I happened to find three super nice frags for an incredibly good price! I’ll be taking another set of full tank shots tomorrow when everything is okay again.

 

Here are some pictures from today though! 

The smaller GBG:

 

The bigger GBG:

 

 

 

[Merthynia]

Happy May Day everyone! Everything is looking much happier today! I managed to take a few more pictures. Yesterday during the fiasco I did frag off two more zoas that had been growing on the frag racks in the larger tank. These have been added to this rockwork as well. See if you can spot the rainbow hornets and the purple monsters. In the top down shot you should also see the small piece of birdsnest/pocillopora (I can’t ever tell) positioned towards the back of the rock. 

 

For the three new frags that I hinted at yesterday, I took some dedicated pictures.

The first two are very small acan frags. One is a very striking mint color, while the second smaller frag is a beautiful rainbow morph. Hopefully they will grow a bit in the tank since they are basically little acan crumbs.  

Also note the spaghetti worms. I cannot tell you how many I remove on a very regular basis, but it doesn’t seem to put a dent in their population. 

 

The last frag is this BEAUTIFUL purple rhodactis with a bright green/blue rim. I also just noticed in this particular picture the baby trochus is wearing a crown of bubble algae. 

 

 

I’d love to hear what your favorite type of coral is! Even if it is just a particular morph/coloration of a common coral. I’m always looking for something new or different.  

 

 

[NoOneLikesADryTang]

Your tank is looking great! Nicely done. 

 

4 hours ago, Merthynia said:

I’d love to hear what your favorite type of coral is!

My favorite coral changes about as often as I change my underpants… But currently I’d have to say I’m on a Goni kick. 

[Merthynia]

9 hours ago, NoOneLikesADryTang said:

Your tank is looking great! Nicely done. 

 

My favorite coral changes about as often as I change my underpants… But currently I’d have to say I’m on a Goni kick. 

Thank you! I actually looked at some goni at my LFS over the weekend. They had a couple small good looking frags but I didn’t pick one up. What is a typical price for a small frag? I was a little surprised that the tiny plain colored ones were $100.

[Merthynia]

Well it has been a gut-wrenching few days since my last post. I wanted to post multiple times before the end of the contest, but I’m not sure I’ll get much of that done. My newest Nephew was born Thursday and I couldn’t be more excited for him! I was also taking two Master’s level classes this semester. They both ended Friday with some large projects to complete by then. I managed to get both my research proposal and my project design completed and in on time after working on them until midnight multiple days in a row. Friday afternoon and Saturday morning were taken by attending the graduation ceremonies of my students. Saturday was a chance to recharge a bit so I slept and snuggled the kitties most of the day. I did get some saltwater mixed up for a large water change, glass cleaning and photoshoot that was supposed to happen today.

 

Late last night my male kitty had a medical event and we rushed him to the emergency vet. Sadly, there wasn’t anything that could be done for him so I chose to snuggle him close and let them help him go peacefully. I have never put a pet to sleep before and he has been with me for 15 years (almost half of my lifetime). I’m so glad I entered this contest, but I wish it was ending on a higher note for me. I have taken the day off tomorrow and hope to get my water change, glass cleaning and photoshoot done over the next few days.

 

Here is a picture of my sweet cuddly boy Zephyr

[NoOneLikesADryTang]

I’m so sorry for your loss. It’s one the hardest things in life to have to do. 

[kimdawg]

Congrats on finishing your classes and your nephew.  Sorry about your kitty.  That is a hard decision to have to make.  We have had to go through it with two 14 year old dogs.  Good luck in the contest.

[Merthynia]

I managed to get a large water change done yesterday and scraped the glass. I just didn’t have the energy to get any pictures taken later when things opened back up. Here are some updated pictures. No new additions, but everything is still growing nicely and the zoas/palys are really starting to look great on the rockwork.

 

Make sure to play your favorite reef-game of I-Spy to locate the green banded gobies!

From the front: 

 

From the right side:

 

Left side:

 

Left sided mushroom pile: 

 

Top down:

 

Front of the tank a little farther back:

[kimdawg]

Your tank looks great.  Good luck in the contest!  Love the mushrooms.

[Ratvan]

gorgeous tank, love the pops of colour from all over the rockwork

[Merthynia]

Got the macro lens out for some pictures yesterday. 

[Merthynia]

[Merthynia]

Got up this morning to see that my purple mushroom is splitting! 

 

Also wanted to post this adorable picture from the other day! Little goby in the mushroom jungle.

 

Today has been a rough day so far. 

[kimdawg]

I love your gobies.  If I ever move my clowns to my 75 gallon tank I think that is what I want to put in my 9-5 tank also.  Good luck in the contest!

[Merthynia]

20 minutes ago, kimdawg said:

I love your gobies.  If I ever move my clowns to my 75 gallon tank I think that is what I want to put in my 9-5 tank also.  Good luck in the contest!

Thank you! You won’t regret getting the green banded gobies if you do decide on some. They are some of my favorite fish and totally underrated since they are so small!

[Merthynia]

I found this tiny blasto polyp on the sand bed of my big tank a couple of days ago. It has the smallest bit of skeleton attached to it. I have never seen any of my blastos do anything like that so I took the opportunity to move the tiny polyp into this tank. Surprisingly it has opened and appeared quite happy every day since I moved it. Has anyone had a blasto do this before? 

I also wanted to document some of the growth on the zoas and palys. The fairy farts, purple monsters and rainbow hornets have all done surprisingly well in this tank. They will hopefully continue to spread and really liven up the look of the rockwork! 

 

Anytime that I am working on the tank or looking in the tank, these little guys pop over to see what I’m doing. They are so inquisitive. They remind me a lot of my pink streaked wrasses in the manner in which they inspect things.

I ended up painting one of the GBGs with my brand new watercolor palette the other day. It was a nice distraction from everything.

 

[Merthynia]

Large waterchange on both of  the tanks on Tuesday of this week. They are both doing great still. I did pull out several more spaghetti worms and a couple of large bristle worms from this tank as well. They are great detrivores, but I wish they wouldn't have such a crazy population boom.

[Merthynia]

Thank you to everyone who voted for this tiny tank! I appreciate everyone's comments throughout this thread. I plan on continuing to update this tank journal with pictures and info for both tanks.

 

Today marks 4 weeks since the loss of my snuggly kitty. It has been a long several weeks without him and the big tank has a bit more hair algae than I would like. It has been hard to keep up with regular waterchanges and tank maintenance.