Guidedbyechoes' Nano Reef Journal

[Donya]

Snails and hermits can be done by hand, just be careful if the Turbos have a good hold on something. Don't twist the shell or pull suddenly as that can injure them.

 

[guidedbyechoes]

I added 2 red tip hermits. Pretty tiny they were riding on top of the turbos. I got 2 turbos and 1 nassasarius. The nassa scared me the most. As soon as I sat it on a rock it did a barrel roll and flew off. When it landed on the substrate it looked around for a minute then buried itself. Everything was still moving around when I turned the lights off to let them have a look around. They cost me what a good lunch would cost so I'm happy that it didnt bankrupt me. The lfs near my work( not my regular) had great deals on everything cleanup crew related except cleaner shrimp. They were more expensive than the occellaris? They had the coolest looking slug I have seen but I left him alone for more research and another time. Will put up pics tomorrow.

 

[Donya]

Assuming you mean something like a skunk cleaner, the relative costs for one of those vs. clown aren't too surprising. It varies by region of course, but skunk and fire cleaner prices I've seen are usually around or above the price of the more common clown species. Sometimes it's quite a lot more for the fires. In addition to availability, I suspect the fragility of the animals is at least partly what drives the price up, as those shrimp stress easily and are also tank canaries for params heading south. CBS are a bit hardier and peppermints are about as bomb proof as you can get for a shrimp, and the prices I've seen both in stores and around the web weem to reflect that as well (1 skunk = ~2 CBS = ~3-4 peppermints).

EDIT: somehow managed to leave a bunch of words out the first time.

 

[guidedbyechoes]

Assuming you mean something like a skunk cleaner, the relative costs for one of those vs. clown aren't too surprising. It varies by region of course, but skunk and fire cleaner prices I've seen are usually around or above the price of the more common clown species. Sometimes it's quite a lot more for the fires. In addition to availability, I suspect the fragility of the animals is at least partly what drives the price up, as those shrimp stress easily and are also tank canaries for params heading south. CBS are a bit hardier and peppermints are about as bomb proof as you can get for a shrimp, and the prices I've seen both in stores and around the web weem to reflect that as well (1 skunk = ~2 CBS = ~3-4 peppermints).

EDIT: somehow managed to leave a bunch of words out the first time.

I found them much cheaper at another part of town. The peppermints were a lot cheaper though. The ones in the tank near work were fighting over a dead shrimp. I knd of wanted the skunk because of its crazy feelers but maybe I should look at something else. Everything seems alive and well in my tank. One turbo is eating way more than the othee. One hermit decided it would try to stand in front of the power head and it didnt stay too long. The nass is strutting around like it owns the place. And I still have plenty of algae left. I tossed in a few flakes this morning just to make sure the hermits would be happy. I don't think they are the species I wanted in the first place but, they aren't doing any harm so far so I shall keep them. Funny little fellows. I'm mostly trying decide the pros and cons of turning my 55 gallon cichlid tank into a mini reef. But I'll have to do plenty of thinking on that part.

 

[guidedbyechoes]

I finally found a really good new store. I purchased a misbarred percula this time and it cost what my osc. did. This one is twice the size of the old one and twice as energetic. Its been laps around the tank riding the currents. I would take pictures but about a month ago larva showed up on the glass. I've been waiting to see if they grow into something or die off. There still seem to be plenty. I am just about convinced I had an ill clown last go. Just judging by behavior. But if this one dies in a week, I've planned to go back to the fresh side. I took a look at some of the offerings on the fresh side and nothing really looked that amazing. I won't go back to african cichlids just because moving them is a nightmare with all the rock work.

I forgot to add that it is tankbred as well.

 

[@ombomb]

looking at the pics of the rock, a lot of what you have in there doesn't look like live rock to me, but what's normally sold as "ocean rock" which is normally used in african cichlid set ups

it will buffer the water but isn't porous so won't offer the same filtering capacity of live rock

i might be wrong but it certainly looks like you have a mix in there from the pics

 

[CrazyAirborne]

any updates?

 

[guidedbyechoes]

I haven't posted in a while, but yes I have some strange updates. I have since added a skunk cleaner shrimp, a purple dotty back and a royal gramma. THe clown is doing great and all are healthy. I just added the gramma yesterday and taking 15 minutes for the correct person to come and capture it from the tank. They decided to dart into a crevice in the rocks and they had to take the rock out of the water and drop out. He's fine. The dotty back and it were not getting along at first with the dotty back chasing it out of its territory. Apparently the clown decided to be its body guard and chases the dotty back away when it gets near the gramma. The cleaner has molted once and scared the crap out me when it did. I just saw part of a tail and its feelers stuck to a power head. It's fine though. It spends its time doing all kinds of crazy antics I didn't know shrimp were capable of. The clown sort of stays in one spot most of the time, it used to let the dottyback sleep next to it, but those days are gone as it seems to be protecting the gramma now. The gramma is a small fish right now but its got plenty of fight in it. It was doing its signature scary face at the dottyback already so, I have a feeling that it might chase the dotty around once it gets larger. The size of the fish inhabitants go Cleaner shrimp -> turbo snails-> clown-> dottyback-> gramma-> margerita snail-> nass. snail -> hermit. I need to up the number of hermits I have as well as add some more rock and replace my lighting from pc to t5. Some coraline algae hitchhiked on one of my snails and now I have pink and purple coraline growing. Unfortunately one of my lights blew and I am holding off on major purchases.

I had another run in with some bad luck and had a back spasm at work after I sneezed. I had to be taking to the emergency room via ambulance so if my work doesn't cover most of it money will be quite tight for a while.