First Marine Tank :)

[indir-emir]

My LFS dont get many of them in, and they are pretty expensive. But i guess its good that it would deter people from stuffing them into small tanks as they are a prety big fish

They are not a beginner fish as far as im aware

Also a small update, looks like the nem found a spot it likes. Which is ok with me. Not my favourite spot, but its still in viewing position Clowns have still not shown any signs of moving into another home, and im going to take the bottle off the goni and see if they still annoy it. If they do, im gonna be spewing as i dont want to get rid of either of them but i will need to come up with something :\ Which i have no idea on what can be done

Mandarin has taking in afew frozen but does not seem that keen on frozen yet, so i will have to keep feeding her live adults. I try and gutload them with some phytoplankton mix that goes into the tank also for the filter feeders, so hopefully that helps with the nutrition value. She is however, noticebly fater. Still skinny, but is fattening out slowly.

 

[indir-emir]

Mandarin still not really into frozen, have tried live blackworms today but no go. None of the fish infact, liked it So they were binned :\ She is still eatin live brine however, and i will continue to slowly try and ween her over to frozen.

Have changed my mind about a yellow tang, am more keen on a copperband butterfly! Very nice fish. The main centre piece fish is gonna be one of the two fish i believe. Yellow tang or the copperband. I know they are finicky but im willing to source one that IS eating frozen already.

 

[seffieuk]

Ive always fancied a copper band, but as you say, best to buy one from someone you trust when they say they are eating well

Seffie x

 

[indir-emir]

Yeah have a real nice OLFS that is near me. He doesnt mind me going in to look at hte fish before hand. So i told him to gimmie a ring when he gets one that eats frozen in, so i can go in a few times and see that he IS in fact eating it.

Absoolutely beautiful centre piece fish.

Going to be sticking some pictures of clowns hosting nems/hammers to keep my #40## clowns away from my goni. *angry face here*, took off the bottle and they were straight back to it within half an hour. Going to try and buy some egg crate tomorrow and make a cage out of it to not allow the clowns to touch the goni but allow for the same amouint of flow + light to get to the goni.

 

[indir-emir]

Ok small update to let everyone know how the mandarin is going, amongst other htings.

Mandarin now is fed only frozen brine at this stage, she is a little strange though Doesnt really want to eat much from the bottle (does however eat sometimes form there). So i have decided to chuck in a few squirts of brine in her breeder net, and she eats it pretty quick smart That lateral line is getting less and less visible as we go I tried some mysis but was a no go yet. So she is coming along slowly Any ideas on her to get her to want to eat from the bottle more?

I have created an egg crate box around the Goniopora, and stuck a bunch of smaller pictures to the side of the glass where the clowns sleep (hidden away from my sight however). They seem to stare at it now and then as if to say what the hell is that haha. But no go for getting the mto try and get the nem to host them. Thought the male was hosting the mushroom this morning, but the girl controls him so i dont think that is the case

The anemone has found its spot after a bit of moving left and right, it has come back toward sthe front with more flow and light and has been there for a couple of days now. So i think it has found its spot

Will keep everyone posted on how it all goes, for those that are interested

On a non reef note, my apistogrammas have bred for me And are so far, so good. Hope that pans out nicely for myself

 

[seffieuk]

Cool about the apistogrammas

Re: the Mandy, I know you know, but for others who may be reading this thread - long term survival for a Mandy depends on the fish getting enough copepods and rotifers, their natural diet, they can't survive long term on only frozen

Seffie x

 

[indir-emir]

Oh no, let them all know for sure I want her on frozen so she has a good diet. There is somewhere between 40 and 50kg of live rock for her in the tank. She was just to skinny for my liking, so i decided its tim et ofatten her up myself before releasing her back in the tank

I cant tell if she eats frozen rotifiers, or bbs that a frozen. As well, their to small for my blind eyes to see So i work better with adult BS plus other types of food i can actually see myself. Probably not to good a thing. But i do put in some bbs now and then. Plus whatever i suck up when i feed the live adults now and then (since she takes frozen now)

 

[indir-emir]

Well just a small, quick update

Am going to pass on a copperband and have decided on a long nose butterfly fish as the 'centre piece' fish Saw one today at the LFS i regularly visit (i like it, and the business is good IMO) and could not stop looking at it, it looks so cool! So i put it on hold, and asked them to please ensure that it was eatin frozen food and I would come and purcahse it. So they seperated it and are going to get it eating brine, mysis, marine diner, marine green, etc.

They will train it to eat frozen should it not eat frozen So im happy about the business and will hapilly pay that little bit more then other stores would sell for I dont mind paying for quality, and peace of mind.

Mandarin is eating solely brine shrimp Have got her on vitamin and algae enriched brine shrimp and she loves it I put a few squirts of it in the bottle and leave it for 24 hours and change same time ever day. Tonight i noticed that it was all gone out of the bottle, with a few torn up pieces left She has hated eating out of the bottle until tonight. Only differnece is today i left it till later in the night then i usualy change the food over in as i was not at home.

So everything is progressing slowly My peps have released their larvae into the tank some time today as i see the girls molt So am going to try and see if i can see them after this post, hopefully catch one or two and try and raise it eh? Prob have no luck with it though!

Am also going to be picking up a nice torch coral with about 15heads on it Excited about that as well as the soon to be new fish!

 

[Rayne457]

That's great news about your manderine. It's great that that LFS will train the fish for you. That way you will be able to be sure it would eat what you are feeding.

 

[indir-emir]

Yes she is coming along nicely. She is definetly not keen on mysis though. Doesnt even look at it lol. She is still skinnier then id like her to be But hoping by the time i get her trained fully, she will go back and feed on some pods and fatten up anyway. Yes the LFS is quite nice. I will go in tomorrow to see how it is going. Wont take it home till the end of the week most likely. Or early next week.

Anyway, updated pics as requested

First of all, this is the clownfish hosting the goniopora :\

A moonlight shot of it (i thought it looked cool, even the clown glows haha):

Top down shot of the Goniopora to show the buds. There is about 5-6 larger ones that i can see, and other smaller ones around the goni:

Macro shot of my frogspawn coral

My little baby goni

Shot of a hitchhiker SPS coral which i was SURE was already dead. But i noticed it the other night with it polyps out and was a very nice green colour on its polyps. And appears to be coming back to life. So i will glue it to the frag plugs once i buy them soon. Can see the small polyps if you look closely:

And finally a full tank shot, current as of the 11-12-2010:

Thanks for viewing Leave a post!

:cheers:

 

[indir-emir]

Aww no newcomments since hte last FTS

Just a small update as not much has been going on

My mandarin has had her first few tastes of mysis today. And appears to like it, no spit out at all unlike the brine the first time.. So am going to start intoducing it to her in larger ratios of mysis to brine.. So she is coming along nicely However, doesnt seem to like the bottle very much lol... Will have to teach her for that.

Going to be picking up a nice big torch coral, and a longnose butterfly this weekend. Hopefully everything goes well with them both

Saw a rather large crab last night :\ Hairy one. Looked cool though... So have set up a cup with a small prawn in it and will see how that goes tonight.

 

[Yuma]

Tanks looks great, although I can't help buy wonder if you put some backing on that tank if it wouldn't really help the rockwork and corals "pop" in your tank.

Some great photos too, love that Macro shot....what camera are you using?

Yuma

 

[indir-emir]

Bloody oath it would. I keep forgetting to buy it though hahahhah I walk into the LFS and see a nice coral or fish and forget simple minded man

The camera is my Nokia N900 5MP camera, set on super macro with a very steady hand

No luck with crab yet if anyones keen on that

 

[indir-emir]

Ok another update today I purchased some more clean up crew, and a mantis shrimp Read on..

I purchased a dozen or so random clean up crew, couple of strombs, trochus, ceriths and astrea, oh and a turbo (thats what i was sold anyway, i have no idea myself ). One of them is rather large and the shell looks cool, not sure on what kind it is tho. It is the only one like that. Refer to pictures i will add below. Can anyone ID the snails positively?

I purchased a mantis shrimp as i am very intrigued by these creatures, very cool! It was purchased as a G. Falcatus, and is a very nice looking specimen too Has already killed a hairy crab haha. He is temporarily in the sump, as his home is currently in use and will soon be vacated for him. But for now, he doesnt mind being in the fuge and has taken up home in a rather large home with apiece of liverock ontop of it... So a rather large "burrow", with a couple of exit/entry holes. He is approximately 6-7cm. Can anyone positively ID him as a G. Falcatus?

I am getting my torch coral delivered tomorrow, and hopefully the butterfly in the next couple of days

And enough of that, pictures:
Firstly the mantis, side shot:

Mantis front/head shot:

Mantis, bottom shot (little blurry though, was an accidental shot, he turned over as i was taking a picture lol):

A group shot of the snails.. Getting ready to be put in the tank:

Strombus Snail:

Snail 1 - Is this a cerith?

Snail 2 - A large turbo?

Snail 3 - No clue:

Another shot of the strombus:

The large snail - It looks cool. Oh this snail has burried itself almost completely under my substrate? Havnt checked on it since lights out, so it may have moved by now.

Can anyone ID the snails and mantis for me?

 

[jameshughes1989]

Wait, you bought a mantis. From what I understand that is not a good idea! They kill fish and CUC!

Maybe someone else can input more?!

Tank looks good though,


James