20 Going On 90

[GAB99]

Right now, I'm loving that I have central air. Constant 76 in the house. Unless the AC breaks, then it's much worse. The winters are a problem, though. No heat, so it dips to the 60s.

Where are you again?

Neat on the bank acccount. Always nice to find extra money.

i am located in upper metro atlanta georgia so its very hot right now, highs in the 95s and nightime in the 80s plus unnesecary amounts of humidity make it much worse, tbh the weather in california and puerto rico is much much better.

as well as in the winter that it gets to the low 30s every now and then, but the heat from the lights being trapped by the canopy and the heater should help.

anyone got any help with the tang question im not concerned that she isnt eating im concerned she isnt eating enough, the others are easy i just pop in a brinshrimp cube and 3 minutes later they are obese.

You are not super far from me then. Yes, it's hot. I opted for CF bulbs which burn cooler. Not as fabulous, but it'll grow what I want.

Maybe another type of macro algae? Sorry, not a tang expert. I know they eat greens, maybe she needs another kind? Someone I'm sure will pipe in.

Liz

too late now, she died out of nowhere as she was fine this morning and i came back from driving school/subsequent errand running an hour ago. at least the body isnt stuck in the rock somewhere i found her in front poor thing

im going to assume firefish corpse + low food consumption


o i can just see the ever feared tank nuke looming not too far in the future... knew i wasnt ready for a tang, if anything else dies ill expect the royal gramma to kick followed by the duncan and the other fish

no more fish until i get a good supply of food to get them eating on, and maybe a bigger QT

once stats clear up/ apocalypse is over ill get more corals though, the bank account should still be in existence since our records show no withdrawal but i will have to wait for my trip to puerto rico to find out. that is in 2/3 weeks, my cousins/aunts/grandpa are going to an island just off PR and my dad said when he was my age the water was clear, full of fish and sea turtles, so if thats still there im sure reefs would be nearby....

*sigh* this week just isnt my week, tons of hw on top of driving school, and i count 7 dead fish over the past few days.

EDIT: shes still alive, as i only saw with LEDs on so not the best vision, just flat on the sand barley moving fins, imjust gonna put her in the qt and let her lie in peace, she tried to avoid the net but not with the same vigor as before, she also got ich, i will put medicine tomorrow and hope she gets better if she dies my dad is going to be extremely mad

 

[GAB99]

She died this morning in qt.

I forgot to mention that I did test the water and I got just the slightest hint of ammonia. From what Idk but this morning I tested again and it was gone and the Duncan is doing better (it was remaining closed for a few days till now)

Now to watch the tank for anymore sign of trouble

edit: duncan was closed again when i came home



DUNCAN Y U SO MAD AT ME

also, tang death freaked me out so fixing stock again as id much rather prefer some zippity fish and lots of corals

clown pair
firefish----------------might not replace since apparently they are not temp hardy and i cant be buying a new one every summer.
bangaii cardinal pair ---------------------have to find a male..going to take forever
longnose hawkfish
mandarin goby
canary blenny
flame angel --------------may not get since they need to be fed frequently to get them from eating the coral
leopard wrasse pair
royal gramma


no tang, i will try it again when im older and have a bigger tank and have the right food, and force my dad to let me keep the fish in qt till its eating what i want and healthy and will not hide when people show up.

that fish did not deserve to die and it was my fault

ill finalize things with dad (ugh)

but for sure no more fish until after the trip but till then corals! if duncan can look happy enough so my dad will not argue with me when i do buy corals.



is the stocking too heavy for lots of corals?
^ answer that and i will upload a picture once i get a new coral

 

[GAB99]

Ignore this

 

[lljdma06]

I don't think a mandarin is the best thing for a tank that is currently in flux which yours is. If this were me, I'd not add anything until the tank has had stable test results for a while. Sorry, I'm just extremely conservative, being that I'm in the process of setting up my own first system.

Liz

 

[GAB99]

Yeah lol
but I'm not adding all these fish at the same time that would be very silly.
And like I said, no fish for now, just corals

And since stats check out at

Ammo- 0
Nitrite- 0
Nitrate- 5
Kh-7
SG- 1.024
Ph- 8.3
Ca- 520+
Po4- 0

I added a kh/ph booster and got a candy cane frag

Id have thought they would have felt more, squishy, I put it near the Duncan since all the other holes had aips in them, its not secured so when I go get the other thing today ill get that putty to secure it

I really have an itch for a bubble coral o so bad, no frags though :c

 

[seffieuk]

Oh really sorry to hear you are having such a bad time

I agree with you, best to let the tank settle and concentrate on corals

and Psssttt, you know full well, that a Mandy is not a goby its a dragonet

 

[GAB99]

Oh really sorry to hear you are having such a bad time

I agree with you, best to let the tank settle and concentrate on corals

and Psssttt, you know full well, that a Mandy is not a goby its a dragonet

Haha ill be sure to be more precise on my fish names

But the "thing" is actually a most likely male bangaii (venting method) and I couldn't pass it up


Last fish I promise

 

[GAB99]

ok...idk what happened but ill just guess that because i impressed my dad with a 97 on the drivers ed test (its really not hard at all so i dont really care) and being able to show i learned something made him go cuckoo


so after the class i picked up my cardinal, so pretty

he wanted a fish (in particular a very dashing coral beauty to which i said no ill wait for a nice flame angel, then he wanted,in this order: firefish,bicolor blenny,diamond goby,kite runner goby??, all of which i managed to put down), i said how about a coral, the lfs guy recommended rics, my dad picked out a yellow/orange/blue one that is going to split (2 mouths)

then before i was showing him the frags and he saw some green zoos, i then noticed some green zoos attached to GSP, i recomended that since i wanted the gsp and he the zoos to get the frag and kill two birds with one stone for half the price.

then the lfs guy was pretty awseome and threw in another thing of gsp that was just floating in the tank, and there was this giant shrimpy thing living underneath it, about as big as a 0 maybe bigger.



finally when i put the new bangaii into the tank he was greeted by my not too happy female, shes staying close to him and she is flaring at him, uusually occurs when i go near the tank (the gramma has also taken into going into hiding on my approach as well) and there has been no fighting as of all main lights turning off so fingers crossed im right, i think i am but ive noticed that some days you see their little appendage and some days you dont (maybe its retractable? the males appendage disappeared after being put into the tank, ive also noticed that the female has a darker appendage than the males) but im not too concerned about that as i looked about a million times to make absolutedly sure.


also bought some epoxy to fix the candy cane coral to.... honestly #129### how does that work i kneaded it then took the frag out to attach it then it turned into a big wet disintegrating mess and i had to try twice to get the coral fixed into position, and i dont even like where it is but it will have to do until i go crazy.

idk how to tell if a ric is doing good or not but i placed it a little higher for it to get more light

the duncan and candy are doing good the duncan opened finally THANK YOUUU VERY MUCH all it wanted was food...do they need feeding cuz that would explain alot of stuff, also heard candies open at night do they need food too?

the loose gsp frag actually opened during the ride home and acclimation but since i had to glue it to a plug (got fed up with the epoxy) and my subsequent pressing down to adhere it, it only opened a little by the time of lights out

the zoos/gsp did well too and opened well, i just hope the zoos win the expansion contest cuz i put it on the rock with the red zoos and the yellow polyps.


in the qt the cactus algae actually survived i found a piece growing on a hermit shell, pretty intresting.

back in the 90 the clowns are beggining to shake and pick at a piece of rock, they only have the slightest size difference so i doubt they are up to something.


my one concern right now is the gramma, ive come to call it the apocalypse fish at times because alot of failed tanks ive read on the forums always start because a royal gramma died somewhere in the rock and caused mayhem, and this guy keeps threatening me with the itch behavior associated with ich even though the symptoms should not exist as water is perfect.

last thing, my lighting schedaule, my dad messed it up but i fixed it and here it is so if you have an opinion just post...though noone ever posts...

8am- turn on all tank lights, sump light turn off
9pm- daylight bulbs turn off
10pm- actinic lights turn off, sump lights on

good? ill get pics if all the corals and the fish cooperate, might not see gramma hes hiding all the time.

 

[GAB99]

Ummmmmm she really did not like him. Found him this morning on his side, bottom fins completely shredded and she was still watching him.

Moved him to the 20 and doing better, but still doubt he will make it, his eyes have what I think is blood, so really doubtful

I think what I will have to do if I want a pair is to buy a few more to spread the aggression, kind of like Angelfish

I hope he makes it, and if he doesn't I hope he goes quick so he doesn't suffer

What i don't get is how they get along at the store and murder each other in the tank.

He didn't make it

I found a website were I can get a pair of tank raised bangaiis
I'll move the current one to a different tank or give it to the store for 1/3 the price, when I order the pair

 

[seffieuk]

Funny write up, made me chuckle about your Dad!

Sorry about this fish, what a shame.

Re the duncans, yes, they like a good feed

 

[GAB99]

Hahaha yeah I hope he gets that way one more time for more corals!

For the bangaii once I get the money for a pair I will try to get her a 20 for herself and make that a frag tank, but for now since the last fish to go in will be the pair for now she can stay in the current 20 qt.

Eventually the frag tank and the qt tank will go into the basement and the 90 will be moved down there as well eventually


You can expect pics today or tomorrow and then the pair to be in by August, and maybe another fish??

 

[GAB99]

Ok I'm just going to go out and say that, I am incredibly stupid


the bangaii in my tank is a male, not a female. I got it mixed up the first time and didnt even bother to check before buying another bangaii which was also male

Going to buy a female first before attempting to order a pair online.

Just for you guys.

Male = 2 vents
Female = 1 vent, might be dark


I was able to exchange the dead one for another coral though (meaning pictures tomorrow to allow it to get purty) , and this time I will:

Drip acclimate
Feed the fish before putting in new one
Triple quadruple check that I have a male and the one I need is female

 

[seffieuk]

I thought it was virtually impossible to sex bangaii?

 

[GAB99]

People have had success with using the venting method, but it only works on adults, and they can retract them if they wanted to, so it still makes it hard

Not to mention that even if you have a male and female your not guaranteed a pair

Pics later

 

[GAB99]

pictures

gsp/zoo frag

yellow polyps, recovering from cyano

free gsp frag floating

duncan, notice the right one has 2 small heads

red zoos

lone shroom

my male, hopefuly

zoo/gsp frag again

chalice, if someone can confirm

candy cane and duncan

ric, i altered the light in the pic so you can actually see the ric instead of a glob of white

fighting conch rummaging

these are the only original mushrooms left on the mushroom rock, the rest dispersed in the 20 and 90, maybe getting too much light?

the lair of the gramma

clown

creepin

better pic, he never comes out to the front when i approach

clown

clown

clown next to new powerhead, bangaii is stalking me underneath

cactus algae! in the twenty for now, i might move it to the sump for it to get better nutrients

FTS with just actinics

actinic gsp

actinic frag with creepin clown, the other pics were too blurry and didnt look good these 2 were the only ones i could get

also if i do get a tang its going to be a lavender tang i think...thoughts? comments? i might order it along with the corals i plan on getting off liveaquaria, in mid-august