Donya's 55-Gallon

[Donya]

Agggghhhh dangit - poor little Duncan frag. Not safe in the mantis tank and not safe in the 55 either. It really did not have a good glue job, which I couldn't tell just by looking at it. I startled the big hermit when I walked in the room, it jumped back a tad to just barely bump the Duncan, and pop! One disembodied Duncan head. Could just as easily have been me bumping it by accident with my tongs if all it took was that small of a nudge to dislodge it.

It looks like it was set directly on the ceramic plate and then just had a ring of glue put around the outside with nothing acutally cementing the two surfaces together where they touched. So little glue! The coral had put a tiny bit of tissue on the plate near its middle that got ripped unfortunately. The ceramic plate was covered in pods and all sorts of junk that looked no good to expose damaged tissue to, so I grabbed a square of some more sterile plastic sheeting, made a big mount of super glue, and pushed the frag down on it to completely seal up where it was damaged along with the exposed skeleton. I've read of using fast-acting glue to heal this type of frag injury and thought it better to act fast than let muck get into the damaged area, so fingers are crossed. The frag is opening back up after being placed in the makeshift refugium, so I'm hoping for the best.

I guess the glue alone might have protected the frag from the ceramic plate, perhaps making the plastic alternative unnecessary, but there was so much junk on it I didn't want to take the chance. If all goes well, my plan is to take hobby knife and trim the plastic down to a small lip around the edges once the frag is in better shape and then cover the plastic in epoxy putty on both sides to make a new plug that supports the thin plastic and will work better for sticking onto rock. At least I know now not to take my local reefers' frag gluing styles for granted. I'm a tad worried about the other two now, although they do look more substantially attached.

Use a mag if you like just be sure it's one that you don't mind losing as one the gorgs attached you won't be able to use it (obviously)

That was my thinking, to just have a dedicated magnet for it and probably decorate with some rubble to make it look a little more presentable. I put a small scratch in my 20gal with a mag float due to my darned engineer goby forcing sand into the scrubbing part where I couldn't see it, so I only use magnets to hold down snail food now and do all my glass cleaning with long-handled scrubbers.

I might end up doing a platform too with a couple of magnets come to think of it...small shelf on one side and gorg on the other maybe? I really would like a way to be able to keep things out of hermity reach after this last incident, even though the problem was total accident rather than malicious intent.

 

[Donya]

Well this has just been a lovely couple of days. I have a bobbit worm! However, I spotted it eating some Halimeda in broad daylight, which is rather uncharacteristic for what I've read of the large, bad species of Eunicid worms. Since I have learned from a worm expert on another forum that a number of these worms and their relatives that will remain herbivorous (although not all will), I'm going to leave it be for the moment. Particularly since the worm popped out of the Tunicate rock, I would really rather not go injecting cream soda into the burrow openings to drive it out if its a worm that will do no harm. After a fair amount of reading last night, I realize I actually had some very similar-looking worms in a past tank that never grew to more than ~2" long and never damaged anything, so perhaps I have the same thing again. Given that I've seen no damage to anything and I had a Zoanthid frag right next to the burrow until yesterday, it doesn't seem there is anything bad going on at present. At any rate, there are only three rocks that offer any sort of hiding places for this type of worm, and all of them would be relatively easy to remove for soda treatment if that becomes necessary.

 

[Donya]

Had a go at the shelf idea...it was actually really hard to find anything lightweight enough to use with the magnet method of attachment. Ended up using a cheesey ornament that was somehow lighter than the hollowed-out artificial LR bits I looked at. I figure it will eventually cover in green and purple like everything else in the tank.

And bam! Shelf.

I probably won't keep it there but I'm not sure yet what's going on it aside from the Duncan while it recovers. Right now it's in with the Chaeto looking like this:

The unhappy head is the one that took the damage when it popped off the rock. It occasionally opens up more than that, but never when I've got the camera out.

Couple other pics to toss in...coralline attack:

Really hoped I would be able to use an urchin to deal with that. Oh well. Also, guess what my Anthelia has decided it wants to pick up more than the nice bit of old coral skeleton I offered it:

That would be the claw from my little crab's last molt and a chunk of dead Halimeda.

 

[Donya]

Well, my phyto tub has well and truely crashed this time. It has gone a bit flakey this time of year the past two years, probably to do with the rise in ambient temperature before it gets warm enough for me to actually have the AC kick in and bring it back down. I guess that's what I get for trying to culture phyto collected from a coldwater area at...well...room temperature lol. It always looked strongest in the winter, no surprise there. It somewhat figures that the time it finally decides to give up the ghost is when I finally have a use for it, not two years back when I only wanted rid of it.

I've switched to bottled phyto for the moment, some of the Kent Phytoplex stuff since that's all there is in the really close stores. I'm hoping my favorite LFS, which is a bit of a drive, will have some other things to browse when I finally get down there. Going bottled is obviously not what I planned to do in the long run, but I would rather pay a few more dollars every so often to make sure my filter feeders are getting particles of the right size than see if they'd like to go on a diet until I get something else sorted out. It's probably just a matter of kicking off the phyto tub with a different selection of phyto species and replacing the bulb on the lamp. Until then, one interesting side effect of switching to the bottled phyto these past few days is that I now have a small population of fluorescent green isopods running around.

 

[Donya]

I do wish I understood this behavior.

He digs a hole and makes a deliberate effort to cover up the shell - but not the rest of himself. He'll sit like this for quit some time too.

The first time I saw the behavior, I was messing with something on the rocks, Mr. Hairylegs came running over to get in the way of my hands, and I gave him a sharp accusatory pointing gesture in the same way I'd say "no!" and gesture at a misbehaving dog. What can I say, when you've had crustaceans for long enough, these things happen...you can call the looney bin when I start having lively debates with inverts about politics or something. Anyway, the hermit looked at my fingure for a minute, turned around, and immediately went running off to dig in the sand. At the time I assumed the digging was a frightened/intimidated response. Since then, however, he just seems to run accross the tank completely umprompted and dig into the exact same spot. Good for the sand bed, but I wish I knew what the purpose was.

 

[Donya]

Silly-looking shelf actually being utilized:

It has been doing its job quite well so far. The Duncan is happy, GSPs are happy, and so is the one random Zoanthid polyp I found on the sand bed one day.

New piece of "equipment" as well:

When I realized I was unable to reach parts of the tank even with 12" tongs, something had to be done. Now I can actually get to the bottom of the tank with my hands...and completely fill my gloves with water. Next on the equipment list to get: gloves that go up to my shoulders.

Although I don't have pics of it yet, the female maroon is also trying to host in (on?) the Tunicate. She feeds it little bits of flakes occasionally; not sure it appreciates it but it doesn't spit them back out. I got a second one a few days ago and got my hand slapped when I tried to reposition it, so I guess she owns both now. The only not-so-great part of this fish's fascination with Tunicates is that when they poop, she gets over there so fast I never actually see what happened clearly...until she spits out a bunch of green goop a couple seconds later and then tries to eat it over and over again.

I had a hypothesis about the Tunicate poo obsession: perhaps it's that it's a periodic, fast-moving event that gets her attention. She really does behave like the bubbles-obsessed yellow tang from "Finding Nemo," staring at the Tunicate's backside very intently for some time when she thinks it's going to squirt again. I wondered if I set up something similar whether she would become interested. So I indulged in a bit of...well...you'll see.

Yes, I did it. There is a bubbly treasure chest there. Well, it was there for a few hours before lights off anyway. Come morning, it was clear that Mr. Hairylegs did not approve.

Even my modification to make it dig into the sand better was ripped apart. This has happened twice now, so obviously I've got to find a better way to anchor it if I want to see how the female maroon reacts long-term. If I can't hermit-proof it, then my husband wants to put it in the mantis tank...but I don't really want a hole knocked in it straight away.

Oh, and that super live rock seems to be the gift that keeps on giving. In addition to the two Eunicids that have shown up recently, It appears I have the world's smallest gorilla crab. After he grows a bit, he might actually reach pea-sized. Makes me wonder what other things are hidden in there that I might not have seen yet.

 

[sorgan]

Mr hairylegs should be given an asbo.

 

[seffieuk]

Mr hairylegs should be given an asbo.

Seffie x

 

[Donya]

Mr hairylegs should be given an asbo.

LOL! He is quite the hooligan. And like any proper hooligan, he also subscribes to the idea that it's only a crime if he's caught doing it, so he picks up and runs off to his sleeping spot on top of the rocks if he sees me coming when he's in the process of beating on something.

There's a definite pattern though: new things are worth digging up and throwing about, old things are boring. Once something gets "old," it seems to be completely ignored. There's actually an unsecured paly frag I never had to anchor down because I just kept putting it back in the same place every time he gave it a toss. Now it's just part of the scenery and will probably be able to spread to other rocks soon. Of course, I also had to go through another week of putting it back in place when I added the two newer hermits, since they had to have a turn with it. If I can get the anchor-ish bit sorted out on the treasure chest (its a bit light in saltwater without it) and keep putting it back each morning, I'm wondering if I can just add some new toys for as distractions while the treasure chest becomes old news. Well, I can hope anyway...

 

[Donya]

Well, not a lot is happening in this tank and I'm probably going to have to get used to that for a while. Rotten schedules, illness, and car breakdowns keep thwarting my attempts to make changes. I also had a tragedy in another tank that has set me back on top of the other mess...I lost my engineer goby of 5-6 years to an impacted bowel. Not sure what I'm going to do with the tank he was in now.

On the brighter side, it is interesting watching this tank mature as-is. The Anthelia grew enough that I was able to split it and place the two pieces where they have more space/light. Xenia is doing well, Duncan looks like it might be making the beginnings of a 3rd polyp, and the complete and utter destruction of every piece of Halimeda in the tank (a combination of the small mithracid crab, Mr. "I eat asbos for breakfast" Hairylegs, and his other crabby minions) has actually revealed some more polyps I didn't know where on the rocks. All was going relatively well, and then I woke up one morning to this all over the rocks:

That type of damage is quite familiar to me, since it's what my Eucidaris metularia urchin regularly does to the rocks in my 20gal (although in much smaller amounts). However, there are no urchins in this tank as far as I'm aware, and I can't see a way that the hermits or crab would have caused it. I have seen them damage the odd fragile bit of rock, but it leaves a jagged surface, not a distinctly flat/smoothly ground one. Unless there is a rock boring urchin that can telepathically sense when I'm not watching at night, I am truly puzzled.

 

[Donya]

I need to get some more pics up for this thing...unfortunately not just showing progress! If anything, it seems to be going backwards as I have had to remove the toadstools and will have to take some other corals out soon. I have learned two important things:

1. It is possible to thwart hermity mayhem towards the treasure chest utilizing a construction similar to the one pictured but with a much larger platform. This requires lots of superglue (absurdly large amounts actually, otherwise the second item I learned applies) and very strong plastic.

2. It is not possible to thwart hermity mayhem towards rocks with any combination of epoxy putty or superglue (good thing I'm not too attached to the idea of aquascaping!). That formation of three rocks I had in the left corner was puttied and superglued in what I thought was a pretty bomb-proof configuration, but apparently the hermit-bomb is superior. Woke up one morning and it had been exploded and thrown around the tank. Glue that didn't give out took bits of rock with it. The only upside of this is that one of the mushrooms over there had apparently produced a baby that I was able to fish out.

I should have taken another picture of the treasure chest configuration before it went back in, but the modified design that seems to work is the following:

The platform on the bottom ensures that, assuming the glue and plastic hold, the ornament cannot be lifted up when even a pretty large hermit is close enough to grab at it. Essentially they end up pulling against themselves since they're sitting on what it's attached to. This assumes they don't dig it up - which would be hard for the area covered given that it is almost right on the glass bottom with a DSB. They may dig it up at some point, but we'll see. It has lasted about a month through almost daily harassment. It may well be that the nearby rock formation was demolished in frustration because the treasure chest is staying put lol.

Oh - and two more interesting things:

Interesting thing #1: I found the culprit of the rock buzz-cutting: chitons! I alredy knew there was some itty bitty ones in there since they came in on a rock, but they were too small to do so much mowing in such a short period of time. They've grown rather a lot since they first went in!

Interesting thing #2: Dardanus megistos burries shed skins. If I don't catch it literally within minutes of the act, the molt is stuffed under the sand somewhere never to be seen again. All of the hermits have been mysteriously getting larger with me never seeing exactly when they molt, and then I finally found a fresh one when I was poking around in the sand after something else. I've never had another hermit species hide its old skins like that.

 

[seffieuk]

Fasinating as always

 

[Donya]

Some more news: looks like Mr. Hairylegs might have a buddy!

Mr. Hairylegs is the one burried in the sand. He normally doesn't tolerate other hermits that close, especially when he's doing his strange sand pit thing, but this one has been hanging around him lately and finally decided to molt while literally sitting on him. I caught it a couple minutes after it happened, so I was able to snatch the old skin and determine that it's a female. Pairs staying together during molting is something I've observed in Clibanarius species (C. vittatus and C. digueti), so I am assuming that's what's going on here, although I don't know if mating has taken place yet or not. There is another female in the tank; I suppose it figures that possible Bride of Mr. Hairylegs is the more destructive of the two.

Was planning to work towards amending the lack of photos business, but the blasted camera batteries are dead again and the recharger apparently grew legs and walked off.

EDIT: I may have been too optimistic earlier, as something is off with the female that molted. Clearly the male is ok with her, but she is not behaving normally a few hours post-molt...slowed responsiveness over the last two hours, not a good sign. Keeping fingers crossed that I don't have a dead body to pull out later tonight or tomorrow morning, but not getting my hopes up since it's not the first time I've seen this happen. There is no sign of injury so far and no risk of injury since the others won't get close (because of who else is in that corner of the tank). Unfortunately, it's more-or-less what old age setting in has looked like in individuals of other species I've had over multiple years. Molts become spaced out and have a gradually slower "bounce-back" time to being active again, and then after the last one they slow down more rapidly and just stop. Haven't had this hermit for long, but of course no telling how old it actually is. It'll be absolutely @#$% luck if it is what it looks like or some other ailment, especially after losing my old C. strigatus female a while back.

 

[Didge007]

I think I am officially Mr. Hairylegs biggest fan! Fighting urchins? Throwing things? Burying himself in the sand? He is hilarious

 

[seffieuk]

I think I am officially Mr. Hairylegs biggest fan! Fighting urchins? Throwing things? Burying himself in the sand? He is hilarious

Have to agree with you, I love reading about his antics, hope Mrs hairylegs pulls through

Seffie x