Tina's Twin Bommies

[bagu]

it looks fantastic! awesome! sublime! love it!

leather looks fantastic ;D in all its glory

and also, hows the Bangii getting along?

 

[TigerIssey]

Thanks Gary and Bagu.

Bagu the Cardinal is doing great. The only problem I have so far is that she is totally unimpressed by flake or granular foods. I am having to feed frozen everyday at the moment, she is a bit picky with that too. She does not like prawn but will eat enriched brine shrimp and she loves mysis. She will eat from the nano mix too. Yet again I am soaking flake or granule in with the frozen once defrosted and rinsed in an effort to get her to eat some flake. She needs to be able to do this probably by the end of October as it is possible I will be going away again with mom this time and will need to employ an automatic feeder. At a push I could get my neighbour to do a little, but want it as automated as possible.

With the actinics on it seems to glow now.

 

[Anguilla82]

whats this 'sea view' and what does it do??

 

[TigerIssey]

To be honest I think its just baby oil without the fragrance. It is a liquid that you rub all over the background, it sticks to the surface of the glass then you use a credit card to smooth out any bubbles. It stops the light loss between a stuck on background and the glass. It is a little expensive £3.99 but I am sure baby oil would do the job just as good.

 

[Anguilla82]

ahhh gotcha.

 

[bagu]

Thanks Gary and Bagu.

Bagu the Cardinal is doing great. The only problem I have so far is that she is totally unimpressed by flake or granular foods. I am having to feed frozen everyday at the moment, she is a bit picky with that too. She does not like prawn but will eat enriched brine shrimp and she loves mysis. She will eat from the nano mix too. Yet again I am soaking flake or granule in with the frozen once defrosted and rinsed in an effort to get her to eat some flake. She needs to be able to do this probably by the end of October as it is possible I will be going away again with mom this time and will need to employ an automatic feeder. At a push I could get my neighbour to do a little, but want it as automated as possible.

With the actinics on it seems to glow now.

awww poor little girl

ive tried the same thing by mixing granules/flake with frozen but my fish just sift it out =/ i hope you get her going on it! would starving her for a while and "forcing" her to eat granulated be a silly question?

Bagu =]

 

[TigerIssey]

At the moment with her being a juvenile fish and constantly growing, I am a little reluctant to do that. There may become a time when I need to but am happy to persevere by soaking at the moment. Will keep you informed of how I get on.

My refractometer arrived today, after calibrating and testing the water, the calibration of the hydrometer with the LFS was not too bad. It was 0.001 out. I have corrected this by topping off and removing water down to my top off line on the sump.

Got the second air pump sorted so I now have the copepod culture going and the BBS hatchery going.

Visited LFS today, they had a royal gramma and a cherub angel or coral beauty angel. Neither of which can go in until after the Mandarin. There were no Mandarins in the delivery either, the first time for months. Typical, Murphy has a lot to answer for.

 

[Buddyboy67]

Lovely set up..great aquascaping too..love the open area for swimming space, nice job!!!!

 

[TigerIssey]

Thank you Buddy boy.

It has taken some getting there and I have contended with various algaes on the way, I think now it at the stage where it it more mature and will tick along a little more. I am looking forward to being able to complete the fish stocking at last, but that needs doing in a specific order.

I did want the aquascaping to be different, so scoured the internet and magazines looking for inspiration.

 

[TigerIssey]

Because I have adapted the background so that the whole tank is brighter I have done another set of photos for you to see the difference the backing has made.

The only missing photographs are the clownfish, they just did not want to be photographed today at all.


Zoas to start with

On the bottom of the rock with the yellow zoas on you can just make out below what I believe are some sort of Tunicate or Sea squirt.


Just for Bagu - The Leather

One I have not shown you in a while, the Pachyclavularia or GSP

Pom Pom Xenia - not quite as expanded since swapping protein skimmers but still doing well and pulsing.

Rhodactis Mushrooms - Just for you Trod

Caulastrea - 20+ heads now

Frogspawn

Hammer

Duncan - Seems to be liking its new position - I believe there is a second mouth growing.

My beautiful Pearl Bubble - The size of this now is immense, it will I think need to be fragged before long.

A close up first

On my bubble that is a little sick still I can see this growing

After reading This Thread I believe it is the same white sponge which Buddyboy says is a sign of a healthy mature tank.

A hermit crab

Yellow Watchman Goby - Seti

Flasher Wrasse - Ankhesunamum

Yellow Tailed Midas Blennie - Thutmosis

Bangaii Cardinal - Hatshepsut

To finish of the photos

Full Tank Shot

I am really starting to be pleased with how the tank is looking. If I can see the back of the hair algae on the left hand side after changing the bulb, I will be really pleased.

 

[Trod]

Absolutely gorgeous T. you should be very proud of all your hard work.

 

[SkiFletch]

GREAT pictures TI. If I may suggest, since they both grow slow, spot-feed the bubble and the Duncan, ESPECIALLY the duncan. They really respond well to direct feedings

 

[TigerIssey]

I am spot feeding at least once a week, do you think they would benefit from being fed more often?? I only did it once a week because of the bad cyano I had, I seem to have seen the back of that now so should be OK doing it more often if you think they will benefit from it.

 

[SkiFletch]

Heck yeah, if you're gentle with the feeding, you can get them 3-4 times a week.

 

[TigerIssey]

I am quite gentle, always think I will damage something. I gently squirt at the plyps and wait for them to trap whatever I am feeding. Basically all my LPS and the Rhodactis and zoas are targetted.

I started to add a little phyto to the tank this week too, my leather certainly seems to have benefitted from that, it will of course help the pod population that I am needing for the Mandarin.

Will up the feeding from now then.