My Marine Adventure

[gregswimm]

That is an amphipod you have there. It's fish food and a sign of good biodiversity

.

Scooter blennies get 5-6 inches.
A scooter blenny is also called Ocellated dragonet. You want to stay away from ALL dragonets. The vast majority of dragonets only take live amphipods or live brine(argueable whether they will take brine at all). Scooter blenies and and mandarin dragonetts that you see in the store are often close to starvation due to their picky feeding habbits. To keep one of these fish you would need a tank over 190L(per fish) with little to no copetiton for food and large amounts of LR. Dragonets need to be making a successful pod kill once every 5 seconds to stay healthy.

These fish have nearly identical care requirements:
Green Mandarin (aka: Blue/Red Mandarin, Psychedelic Mandarin, Mandarin Dragonet)
Spotted Mandarin
Finger Dragonet
Scooter Blenny (aka Scooter Dragonet, Occ Dragonet)
Red Scooter Blenny (aka Red Scooter Dragonet)

Sources:
http/www.reefcentr...239&postcount=3
http/www.reefcentr.../blog.php?b=501

Edit: I hate common names for fish >.< . So misleading, like a scooter blenny is not a blenny and black cap basslet and fairy basslets are not basslets. Only fish of the family Serranidae are basses (eg. Liopropoma swalesi). </rant>

 

[Chris7]

Cool thanks for the info Greg, I will defo not be getting a scooter blenny now lol.

They are well cute though. Will look at other blennys as i like them as a whole see whats about if i can have any at all.

I haven't seen the amphipod since and was kind of hoping it was something i could grow and keep lol. But if its a good sign then im more than happy with that. I will do another water test today and check the salinity and let you know asap.

Cheers

 

[Chris7]

OK my salinity in my tank is 1.025 and the salinity in the salt water mix i have is 1.023.

I have done a small water change and will check for salinity again in a day or two.

 

[gregswimm]

The water I get from my LFS comes at 1.0235, so I let it sit open on or off a heating pad (zoomed reptile pad) and it comes down to 1.026 in a few days.

 

[Chris7]

is 1.025 a little high for my water in the tank, i want it around the 1.023 mark dont i.

Once i get a steady reading after water changes ect can i add some fish.

 

[gregswimm]

No, 1.025 is fine; the sea is naturally 1.02779 on the surface at 60F. Inverts like it higher than 1.023.

 

[Chris7]

OK thanks.

I will do another water test this morning and get back with the results.

Do i just need to keep the salinity and the water tests correct and stable before i can add some fish. Or would you wait longer. By adding fish i mean a pair of clowns.

 

[gregswimm]

Wait for fish. Finish stocking your clean up crew and wait 60 days or so for your tank to stabilize and your sand bed to begin to be colonized. You can fit 1 more hermit (any more would be pointless as they would just kill each other),

3 turbo snails and 3 nerites are a good idea (add them once you get some algae growth), stay away from margarita and asterea snails

Nassarius snails are neat but they are strict carnivores

2 skunk cleaner shrimp/ fire shrimp/ peppermint shrimp or 1 coral banded shrimp (note, CBS is aggressive and get rather large. but still my favorite)

1 Emerald Crabs, useful for macro algaes and one of the few crabs that is least likely to cause you issues. ~95% of crabs are not reef safe

 

[Chris7]

Thanks for the tips and info Greg.

Will hold off on the fish and get some more cuc soon.

 

[gregswimm]

Anytime

 

[Chris7]

I bought 1 cleaner shrimp and 2 turbo snails. I also got 2 shells but one had a crab in it lol.

Will leave it a while now and see what happens.

 

[Chris7]

I have just come in from work and noticed a shrimp skin on the rock, I thought he was dead but it's actually shed its whole skin. Kind of looks like a double.

Is this normal.

Freaked me out a little bit.

 

[gregswimm]

Yep, scared the crud out of me the first time my CBS did it. I always have to cut my crab molts open to see if its a molt or a dead crab.

 

[Chris7]

Any ideas what these are. They open out a little more than this when the light has been on for a while.

My shrimp

Turbo Snail

 

[Chris7]

I did another water test today on PH, Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrates

PH: 8.0
Ammonia: 0ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: 20ppm

Salinity 1.026

I know the PH isn't correct, How to change this, And the Nitrate is still high along with the Salinity right.

I will read up a little about how to change these.