Pearls Of The Antilles... Llj's Planted Marine
- Thread starter lljdma06
- Start date
OP
OP
It's getting there. Just finished drip-acclimating the crew. I've got like some teeny tiny blue-legs (plus moved the blue-legs from the 2.5g), ceriths, and nassarius snails and that's it. Nothing to mean or stressful for Mr. Spinypants. Hopefully, I'll catch him and put him in his little critter keeper with some LR, so I can feed him personally. I've not seen him, but he probably came out when I wasn't around. I wasn't home the time he came out last time.
The.FL.Keys
Fish Fanatic
You shall enjoy the salty side, and if you have any questions on local species, simply ask...I view the locals on a first hand basis at least three times a week. The best understanding of a species...is viewing their natural traits, habitat, and social behavior. I think we switched positions, I have more experience with various salt aquariums, and now I'm going plated...as you seem to be venturing into a new realm as well 
Also, my favorite book on the Caribbean/Florida species:
Reef Fish Identification by Paul Humann/Ned Deloach...an amazing guide, very accurate with depicting similar species.
I can not wait to view the inhabitants
Also, my favorite book on the Caribbean/Florida species:
Reef Fish Identification by Paul Humann/Ned Deloach...an amazing guide, very accurate with depicting similar species.
I can not wait to view the inhabitants
OP
OP
You shall enjoy the salty side, and if you have any questions on local species, simply ask...I view the locals on a first hand basis at least three times a week. The best understanding of a species...is viewing their natural traits, habitat, and social behavior. I think we switched positions, I have more experience with various salt aquariums, and now I'm going plated...as you seem to be venturing into a new realm as well
Also, my favorite book on the Caribbean/Florida species:
Reef Fish Identification by Paul Humann/Ned Deloach...an amazing guide, very accurate with depicting similar species.
I can not wait to view the inhabitants
Thank you. This has been a very exciting journey so far. This is the flagship tank as it does represent a slice of the local waters.
I put up my CUC. I've got the following...
7 tiny blue-legged hermits
3 ceriths (2 teeny ones and one medium one)
3 Nassarius snails (2 big ones and one small one)
That's it. Smallish, but I'll add amore as things go. I'm uploading pictures now. Will post probably tomorrow.
Anemone is still alive. I fed him. He's not in a place where I can grab him without moving all my rock, but I can see him. I'm feeding the tank so hopefully he'll get some food. If he comes out into the open, I'll catch him and put him in the critter keep that I got. Did a waterchange today too. I'm doing about a 10g waterchange, so about 35-40% depending on how many gallons I actually have in the tank. It's not 36g, I know that. With a 4" sand bed and about 40lbs of LR, probably a lot less.
llj
OP
OP
Ok time for peeeeechurs!
Fts
Acclimating...
LR, but with a teeny, tiny Acitebularia macro on it.
You can see nassarius if you know what to look for.
Blue leg hermit shed...
Cerith snail, the largest, he goes everywhere.
Mr. Spinypants, still hanging in there. He seems to have moved to this rock which is great because I can feed him easily. The problem is that pulling him out of the crevice will cause him undo stress. If he ventures out of the rock, I'll catch him and put him in the critter keeper, but at least I can feed him crushed pellets regularly because I know where he is. He gets fed 2x a day, but I can certainly increase the amount.
I have no idea what this is a picture... Can't see on the thumnail in photobucket.
More LR
Can you spot the Nassarius?
Here he is! With a feather-duster friend... These nassarius are great, they go everywhere. I want more. Ideal for the DBS.
Hermit crab and cerith... In the crevice
fts with actinics
Tank was much cleaner this morning. CUC is doing a good job. I may expand it a bit. Plants and macros will be ordered soon, when I get paid.
I'll test params and see if I can add anything else.
Fts
Acclimating...
LR, but with a teeny, tiny Acitebularia macro on it.
You can see nassarius if you know what to look for.
Blue leg hermit shed...
Cerith snail, the largest, he goes everywhere.
Mr. Spinypants, still hanging in there. He seems to have moved to this rock which is great because I can feed him easily. The problem is that pulling him out of the crevice will cause him undo stress. If he ventures out of the rock, I'll catch him and put him in the critter keeper, but at least I can feed him crushed pellets regularly because I know where he is. He gets fed 2x a day, but I can certainly increase the amount.
I have no idea what this is a picture... Can't see on the thumnail in photobucket.
More LR
Can you spot the Nassarius?
Here he is! With a feather-duster friend... These nassarius are great, they go everywhere. I want more. Ideal for the DBS.
Hermit crab and cerith... In the crevice
fts with actinics
Tank was much cleaner this morning. CUC is doing a good job. I may expand it a bit. Plants and macros will be ordered soon, when I get paid.
I'll test params and see if I can add anything else.
OP
OP
Thanks guys. I was naughty. My params looked good this week, so I treated myself. Did a nice waterchange and then got this.
First mushrooms. They are more green in person. Like a kelly green, but they photograph blue.
Blue-legged hermits on the Haitian rock.
Another view of the mushrooms. It's a decent sized rock too.
FTS, this tank's still kind of dirty. The Nassarius aren't cutting it. I'll have to get in there and remove the diatoms myself. Or get the macros in there soon. I just need to get paid before I add the macros.
Thanks for looking.
llj
First mushrooms. They are more green in person. Like a kelly green, but they photograph blue.
Blue-legged hermits on the Haitian rock.
Another view of the mushrooms. It's a decent sized rock too.
FTS, this tank's still kind of dirty. The Nassarius aren't cutting it. I'll have to get in there and remove the diatoms myself. Or get the macros in there soon. I just need to get paid before I add the macros.
Thanks for looking.
llj
OP
OP
The mushrooms are growing. It's nice.
Tanks so dirty though. Sigh. My picos are giving me no trouble, but this is just a dirty tank. I need to get the vascular plants soon. That will clean it up significantly.
L
ben1987
Fish Aficionado
Certainly looks like your enjoying the salty side L
Mushys looked like they have settled in well, welcome to the coral addiction
Scape looks great too, one thig id say though is make sure there plenty of flow aimed at the surface of the water to increase the gaseous exchange, most of it seems to be aimed at the rock work. Also have plenty of spare shells for the blue leg hermits, nastly little so and so's. They wont hesitate to kill one another for a nice shell!
Mushys looked like they have settled in well, welcome to the coral addiction
Scape looks great too, one thig id say though is make sure there plenty of flow aimed at the surface of the water to increase the gaseous exchange, most of it seems to be aimed at the rock work. Also have plenty of spare shells for the blue leg hermits, nastly little so and so's. They wont hesitate to kill one another for a nice shell!
OP
OP
Yes, I think I'll be experimenting with that. Oh, yeah, I've got a ton of shells strewn about, but they've still killed a asteraea. Thank goodness, those snails are like only 25 cents each. I can pick up another one, but sheesh, it's not like they don't have any shells!
By the way, the urchin is still alive. He's in a critter keeper in the tank and I feed him every night. Was terrible to find, he just hides. Spines are beginning to grow back. Tough guy, I may move him when he recovers to a more peaceful tank. Then transfer him back when he gets bigger. Right now, he's about 1/2 an inch in diameter, so not big at all and too slow for the 36g in his current size. The 2.5g may be an option for him, as there's shade, less and he only competes with two scarlet hermits, who are pretty dense and slow too.
By the way, the urchin is still alive. He's in a critter keeper in the tank and I feed him every night. Was terrible to find, he just hides. Spines are beginning to grow back. Tough guy, I may move him when he recovers to a more peaceful tank. Then transfer him back when he gets bigger. Right now, he's about 1/2 an inch in diameter, so not big at all and too slow for the 36g in his current size. The 2.5g may be an option for him, as there's shade, less and he only competes with two scarlet hermits, who are pretty dense and slow too.
OP
OP
Time for an update...
An understatement for sure!
I had a string of performances in October and I really couldn't focus on my music and post here like I was before. So I took a big break. I'm kind of back. I have a lull in the performances and wanted to let you know that I was still playing around with my tanks.
The mushrooms that were settling so nicely ended up being not a Caribbean species, so out they went. The frogspawn isn't a Caribbean species, but I'll be sending that to a friend in the next few weeks.
I don't have the CUC I need for this tank. The crabs didn't kill the asterea like I thought it did, but they did kill my ceryths. I need to basically keep the blue-legs and swap out everything else to other tanks. I found a place where I can order a CUC that's exclusively Caribbean, so I'll be ordering from them soon. The perpertual ordering soon...
I got some serious cyano bacteria and diatoms.
The stuff got everywhere when I cleaned the class. Hahaha, but my army of blue-legs earned their keep and ate the cyano. Good blue legs.
You see that critter keeper in the corner? That's Mr. Spineypant's humble abode. He's still kicking. He's doubled in size and has re-grown his spines. Unfortunately, I can't release him back to the tank. I see a pest tank in the future...
I had to do a water change and then physically clean everything on the glass. The bad thing, cyano flakes and stuff got everywhere. The good thing is that my blue-legs took care of the cyano that flaked off the glass.
Ok... So I go to the LFS one day (A new one, just opened), and I see a mated pair of Yellow-headed jawfish! They were not part of the original stocking plan, but this pair just looked so healthy. Here's some video of them in the LFS.
I have the deep sand bed that they prefer. They are colonial and my tank was too small for a group unless I had a mated pair. I never saw a mated pair at any prior lfs, so I scratched them off my stock list. They are notorious jumpers, so good that I also have a lid. See, what I have to do to acclimate?
The female's larger, she drove the male away temporarily while she began to dig out the couple's burrow. Very glad actually that I didn't plant the tank yet, as she made a total mess. Also glad I didn't have much with regard to corals (just the frogspawn, and a mini colony of Ricordea florida).
Her digging...
She invited the male back and here are the two in their new home. The burrow's in the front right of the tank. I got lucky! Woohoo!!!
Some video...
Wow, that was a long update, and that's not even the tank that went through the most changes. Wait til you get to my picos. That'll be insane.
L
An understatement for sure!
I had a string of performances in October and I really couldn't focus on my music and post here like I was before. So I took a big break. I'm kind of back. I have a lull in the performances and wanted to let you know that I was still playing around with my tanks.
The mushrooms that were settling so nicely ended up being not a Caribbean species, so out they went. The frogspawn isn't a Caribbean species, but I'll be sending that to a friend in the next few weeks.
I don't have the CUC I need for this tank. The crabs didn't kill the asterea like I thought it did, but they did kill my ceryths. I need to basically keep the blue-legs and swap out everything else to other tanks. I found a place where I can order a CUC that's exclusively Caribbean, so I'll be ordering from them soon. The perpertual ordering soon...
I got some serious cyano bacteria and diatoms.
The stuff got everywhere when I cleaned the class. Hahaha, but my army of blue-legs earned their keep and ate the cyano. Good blue legs.
You see that critter keeper in the corner? That's Mr. Spineypant's humble abode. He's still kicking. He's doubled in size and has re-grown his spines. Unfortunately, I can't release him back to the tank. I see a pest tank in the future...
I had to do a water change and then physically clean everything on the glass. The bad thing, cyano flakes and stuff got everywhere. The good thing is that my blue-legs took care of the cyano that flaked off the glass.
Ok... So I go to the LFS one day (A new one, just opened), and I see a mated pair of Yellow-headed jawfish! They were not part of the original stocking plan, but this pair just looked so healthy. Here's some video of them in the LFS.
I have the deep sand bed that they prefer. They are colonial and my tank was too small for a group unless I had a mated pair. I never saw a mated pair at any prior lfs, so I scratched them off my stock list. They are notorious jumpers, so good that I also have a lid. See, what I have to do to acclimate?
The female's larger, she drove the male away temporarily while she began to dig out the couple's burrow. Very glad actually that I didn't plant the tank yet, as she made a total mess. Also glad I didn't have much with regard to corals (just the frogspawn, and a mini colony of Ricordea florida).
Her digging...
She invited the male back and here are the two in their new home. The burrow's in the front right of the tank. I got lucky! Woohoo!!!
Some video...
Wow, that was a long update, and that's not even the tank that went through the most changes. Wait til you get to my picos. That'll be insane.
L
This is great! I am excited to see what all goes in and how it turns out. Your tanks are always fun to watch! I have been having the same trouble keeping cerith snails. Would love to have them for eating algae, but the hermits have other things in mind it seems.
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