Donya's 55-Gallon

[Donya]

Hmm...damsels might not have been the best idea. They went from being impressively well-behaved to one of them going "RARR I'M A TYRANNOSAURUS" but it seems more fear-based than territorial (best defense is a good offense?). I'll see how it goes. I've got other places I can put those two as well; so nothing catastrophic can happen really.

You got a lot of patience

I think I'm more likely just stubborn LOL. I would be lying if I said elephant ear mushrooms hadn't crossed my mind at times.

Maroons and tomatos are hard. I knew they were when I went for them. Mine won't bite though! Yet at least. And it's not for lack of trying. You know...for science LOL it had to be tested. Seriously though, I can't make them bite, they just slap me with their tails.

There are lots of BTA-killing maroon clown stories out there, it's just by different methods - and they're all environmentally induced in some way, so it doesn't seem beyond possibility that mine is just a version of that. The "hardness" of maroons is largely frustration with trying to satisfy their needs, which people aggrevatingly have not documented well. I've wondered about going to people at U of Maine sometimes about the strangeness since they breed these beasts. People also say they're too difficult to pair, but again it's just a matter of decoding the cryptic way their little brains work. Assuming they have brains. One wonders after the oyster incident.

Speaking of decoding cryptic behavior...



...???

 

[lljdma06]

Ok, compared to your clowns and those cardinals, my gramma's hissing at his reflection isn't so bad.

Donya, just get normal fish, like I do. LOLOLOL

 

[Donya]

My take so far on the cardinal strangeness is that I've either got two boys or a boy and a girl, which is...not entirely informative. I really wish there was more reliable behavior info from folks who have documented great stuff like how to raise the fry. It's really hard to find good PJ cardinal info. I'm reasonably sure that mister swirly dance will be a mature male based on physical characteristics, but I don't know about the other one. There are three separate dances: there's one that involves gill-flaring and the lower jaw turning jet black all of a sudden all the way back to the belly, the swirly one I got on video, and a rapid bopping side to side one. It's only the one fish who does it. Aspects are similar to the Bangaii courtship dance but overall the pattern is not similar enough that I can rule out some sort of threat display.

 

[Donya]

I have learned an important lesson this week (aside from that fish are PITAs): if you want to prove to the world that you just got some super awesome brittle stars, photograph them before they go into the tank or it will be like trying to prove the existence of bigfoot.

 

[lljdma06]

Yep, I've got one in my biotope. Darned if I know where he is 90% of the time. I may have some photos though. He may have posed... Once, dunno...

Fish ARE a PITA! My ywg is MIA & presumed dead. I can't find him anywhere! Even my panda goby isn't that reclusive.

L

 

[Donya]

I'm starting to wonder if maybe I should've had my fish this way 'round to begin with, having the damsels in this tank and clowns in something else. The damsels are so much more active/interactive and all over the tank when I'm around. My husband is apparently scarey business though; they just peer at him from on the other side of a rock.

Fish ARE a PITA! My ywg is MIA & presumed dead. I can't find him anywhere! Even my panda goby isn't that reclusive.

That's a bummer I know you keep your tanks sealed up too to make sure there are no escapees. Could it have gotten into any equipment? Years back I opened a fw canister filter that I hadn't looked at in ages and found it literally full of guppies that were even breeding in it; no idea how they got in since the intakes were guarded.

 

[lljdma06]

Awww, thanks, Donya. Yes, all my tanks are covered. The only equipment I have in that tank where I could see that happening is my Aquaclear 70 refugium. But he was way to big to get sucked up the intake tube & I regularly clean the fuge to sell the chaeto. I've looked everywhere for him. Lifted rocks, looked at the floor, everywhere. I've got a pretty strong CUC in that tank, especially when it comes to crabs, so entirely possible they made mincemeat out of a goby if he died. I got a replacement. A much larger fish. Hopefully she'll do better. On the positive, I've been testing my params to watch for a spike & my params are excellent. My sps are growing well. Nicely done, I think, with only a refugium & large water changes.

L

 

[Donya]

I been eying Fungias lately...not popped for one but it's one of those things I've wanted since I was but a noob, but never had a suitable setup for one. Even though this tank is now ideal Fungia territory, I don't think I will be able to do one given the rate my Elegance is growing. I think it will easily consume a 12"x12" spot of sand and I don't want to put a Fungia in there only to have to move it a few months down the line. Contrary to what I have read about Elegances being a bit soft as LPS go, it stings the snot out of things near it. Any Aiptasia stupid enough to move into its range gets turned into a little mound of sludge rather fast. Sort of wondering if I can move some rocks a bit to have sand exposed on both sides of the tank (Fungia on the right?) but not sure yet.



I'm going to have to give the glass a good scrub and then get a full tank vid. There's still GHA, but it's on the way out and I am soooo happy with the way the tank is developing. So much biodiversity that has come out of hte woodwork since the big hermits left. Moving the clowns out seems to have also helped with that strangely! Really liking the damsels in this tank. I can see a really awesome look in its near future too - the Caulerpa I got has grown out of the fuge and is making its way across the platforms from left to right.

I've got a pretty strong CUC in that tank, especially when it comes to crabs, so entirely possible they made mincemeat out of a goby if he died.

Omnivores are good at that. Worms too! I lost a wrasse in my sea bunny nuke event and all I found of it was a backbone after only 24h of having been missing - hungry worms can strip a carcass like nobody's business (sometimes even when it's not fully dead yet! ).

Nicely done, I think, with only a refugium & large water changes.

It's a good way to go, underappreciated in the hobby I think. It perhaps has a little more ecological planning involved than with a big sump system tripped out with everything equipment-wise, but I do like not having to worry about having something clogging an overflow or a shutoff valve get stuck while I'm out of the house and coming home to a squishy wet carpet all over the place.

BTW I recently saw a super cool HOTB refugium that was all air-driven - really cool little gadget that would also make a wicked larvae trap for Crustacean breeding projects with just a little bit of modding (basically just sticking an extra LED near the intake). All the ones I've seen previously had a pump somewhere.

 

[simonas]

the elegance is a beauty... love it ... I got something new in my tank yesterday I will show off later too

 

[lljdma06]

the elegance is a beauty... love it ... I got something new in my tank yesterday I will show off later too

Naughty Simon. Can't wait to see what you got!

I love my elegance, but I'm watching it carefully. If it doesn't thrive, I've got a spot in my old 8g for it. It closes at night & I have to feed it tonight.

Hi Donya, that HOB refugium looks promising. I've never been a fan of excessive plumbing. I'm too lazy & I'm really bad at those sorts of things. I'd love to eventually see if I can do what I do with sps in my picos with a larger tank. About 40g breeder size. I think it can be done, especially if macros play a role in the display.

L

 

[ainsy]

Any pics of that refugium Donya? - sounds interesting.

 

[Donya]

I think what I saw was a Finnex External HOB refugium.

http://www.finnex.net/images/stories/dsc_0718 copy - 550.jpg

 

[Donya]

Lost one of the two urchins I had added. Not sure what went wrong, but it was never as active as the other one and slowly became disinterested in food. I feel like I can rule out environmental stuff and acclimation since I have plenty of other healthy Echinoderms in the tank at the moment and the acclimation was probably on the order of 6 hours. I'm trying again but this time with a Lytechinus variegatus (green pincushion).

Unfortunately fish shenanigans continue, although not in the 55gal. The clowns that have caused me so much grief during their stay in it have already screwed up again in the 20gal I moved them to (the one where the damsels came from). Early last night they obliterated a brittle star that was in the 20gal with them. While I didn't see the attack in progress, the fish mouth-sized bite marks and other fallout all point to the clowns being the perpetrators. On top of the bite marks, I am pretty certain the clowns ingested bits of the star, particularly the female. Brittles/serpent stars are animals you do not want to eat because they contain things that both taste bad and do bad things if ingested. I have read that it is mainly down to saponins. Both fish are sliming like crazy (I thought it was a freak appearance of brook at first, but seems not) and are also having digestive trouble. The female is worse off than the male. Meanwhile, everything else in the tank is fine and params are great, so it's not that the star nuked the tank and made the fish sick indirectly. Since I just put brittles in the 55gal to bulk up the CUC there, any thoughts of swapping fish again in the future are written off now. The 55gal will have to be permanently clown-free.

I'm really starting to wonder if some of the strangeness I've seen is due to these fish having been tank-raised and not exposed to some criticial stimuli during fishy childhood that would shape their behavior differently. Either that or this species must have a very poor survival rate in the wild from eating toxic animals.

 

[lljdma06]

I'm really starting to wonder if some of the strangeness I've seen is due to these fish having been tank-raised and not exposed to some criticial stimuli during fishy childhood that would shape their behavior differently. Either that or this species must have a very poor survival rate in the wild from eating toxic animals.

You got a pair of really, really stupid fish. I do think that being tank-raised can leave fish without some critical "common sense" experience that a wild specimen would have. That being said, I've never kept clowns. Haha, will be avoiding them, as my LFS also has trouble with tank raised specimens. No, no clowns for me...

L

 

[Donya]

Lost the male overnight to what I presume to be digestive problems (very like a constipated goldfish and wouldn't eat). He also had evidence of a secondary bacterial infection setting in externally. The female is showing the same signs this morning, although she was passing stuff throughout the day yesterday that looked like chunky toothpaste. It wasn't really the characteristic internal infection stringy/mucousy white stuff; not really sure how to interpret it. At any rate, she's not looking good and is having moments where it's like she goes unconscious for a bit. That is unfortunately reminiscent of some saponin effects I've read about. I'll try a formalin dip with her today for the external infection, but I think she's done herself in this time.

I won't be trying any other clowns either after this if/when the female goes. There was one LFS that I know got a bit mad with a supplier for sending it a pair of fancy clowns (snowflakes or something) that were also very physically deformed due to inbreeding, but that's about the only LFS-level problem I've seen. What trouble does your LFS have with the tank-raised strains?