a 10gal stomopod nano

[1979camaro]

hoenstly i couldn't tell you about the clown, i don't know enough about mantis shrimp behavior...if i recall there are two varieties? "spearers" and "crushers" so i suppose if your guy will be a crusher it might not be a problem? who knows...i could be all confused, this is just what comes to me off the top of my head

but I can say clowns are good hardy little fish and a perc or fale perc would be a good inhabitant for a ten (provided the mantis won't eat him)

 

[S.Reef]

Umm...not with the mantis shrimp. It will be consumed rather quickly.

 

[something]

damn it all, thats what i figured.

Ok, some new questions about water quality. Im in college so i dont have access to RO water and have to use the tap. I realize water quality isnt an issue for mantids but i figured it might be for the corals im thinking about. Should i buy distilled water for water changes when i get the corals, or should i just let the water sit in a bucket for a day or so? I always treat the water for chlorine and chloramine.

hopefully some new pics today
thanks all

 

[1979camaro]

might check out the local LFS...most of them sell water (both RO and premixed salt)

 

[something]

Step 5....tank continues to progress, the numbers in bank account continue to fall

Well, after looking all over for Jeff's place we finally gave up and checked out our LFS for some more LR. With full intentions of only buying a few select pieces we walked out with over $40 in LR, HAAAAAAAAAAAAA , great stuff *laughingc ........... <--- extreme sarcasm

Anyways I got some pics, the tank looks great and the pvc pipe is well hidden. We also got a new member for the tank, a not so emerald green crab. He only has one pincer, and freaking huge eyes, but im puzzled as to what to name him. Im looking forward to starting a diary of all the stuff that happens in my tank for you guys, should be a blast.

Some new stuff:
-Red broccoli algae (im guessing its algae) is spreading, i saw it growing on the food pellets i put in for an ammonia source.
-Found a set of 60w fluorescent bulbs that i used in one of the fixtures i have. Im not sure if i should, its one you normally put in a light fixture (i.e. a lamp)
-forgot to pick up test kits, both me and my room mate were rather frustrated that we couldn’t find Jeffs place.
-Bought 25 Nassarius snails for $20 (including shipping) from some dude. Dont know if i got ripped off, my guess is that i didnt though.

Ok, now onto the pics *thumbsups


Ok, heres the new crab. He's an Emerald green crab, but he's not green, and he has some wicked big eyes

I need a name for this guy, im thinking either "red steckled elbermung", "the pardack", "da huuuuuuuudge" or "pinchy" All those names, with the exception of "pinchy" (simpsons) are from strong bad

he got mad of having a camera in his face

Here he is showing off his fine backside, yow!

Heres the tank as of now, the pvc is completely hidden

I just liked the way the light hit this peice of LR

What the crap is that green thing??

I think i have a very small fan worm here, take a look

Any advice or comments are more than welcome, tell me what you think!

 

[1979camaro]

the green thing could be bubble algae...hard to tell because the picture is kind of out of focus...can't tell on the last one for the same reason

ya know, I should have warned you...Jeff's is hard to find. I had forgotten how long it took me the first time I went there. If you are going on Victoria (I believe) eastbound all there is is a little tiny sign on a building on the north side of the road...there isn't a parking lot in front...instead, you drive down this little alley and its in the back there...

 

[something]

phew, just got through one hell of a zoology final, fun stuff...cough....yeh.......fun...


Gonna check out Jeffs place again today, ill bring my camera and take some pics of the corals and stuff he has. All goes well with the crab, he's chillin on the LR.

Ive decided to name the mantis "thunderclese" (pronounced "thun-dur-kleese"), and the crab ill name "three ham omlete". If you've ever watched the Brak Show on Cartoon Network you'll know what im talking about, if you havent then you'll probably think im a spaz.

ps, i finally got Jacs photo editing reinstalled on my comp, so i can resize the pics to be a little smaller next time around*thumbsups

 

[1979camaro]

congrats on finishing up the final...damn things are a pain

good luck finding jeffs...just drive slow (yah, i know...its LA so you might get killed, but try ) and keep your eyes peeled, its there

 

[S.Reef]

Looks very nice. Want to see pictures, as soon as you get the shrimp.

 

[something]

ARGH! I hate it when i find out ive been ripped off, jeffs sells LR for $3 a pound!!!! Thats more than $5 less than my lfs!

Wandering through that store i realized that it was the best fish store ive ever been too. Unfortunantly i could not stop myself from buying some stuff. I ended up buying a tube/fan worm, here are some pics:

i also bought some hermits, but they all scurried away when i dropped them in after acclimation

ill keep you guys updated

 

[1979camaro]

nice worm...and really good pics too! glad you liked jeff's!

 

[something]

Yeh, i can finally resize the pics i take. A lot easier on the eyes, thats for sure.

Here are some of the blue legged hermits i bought and another pic of the fan worm:

S. Reef:
one more question about the clown, would the mantis eat it even if it was only a N. Wennerae?

 

[something]

Update: Thunderclese is California-Bound

Just got a email from some dude in MI about a mantis shrimp he got in a shipment of TBS LR. Hes looking for a nice home, so i emailed him back and asked for species name and maybe some pics and other info. I also got an email from some dude with some corals for sale, i emailed him back too and asked for some specifics. All goes well in the underwater world; the fan worm is really fascinating and the hermits are amusing to watch.

Well, i take that back, ive been having trouble regulating temp with all the lighting i have on the nano. Im buying some sort of stand or something to place the lights on so they dont heat the water up too much. Other than that its good, looking to do a water change this weekend as the nitrites are inbetween 0 and .5 but the nitrates are at 10ppm. Does anyone have any advice or specifics on water changes? This will be the first large water change.

 

[1979camaro]

im glad things are going pretty well!

i think, as far as the light/heat issue, you have hit upon one of the major issues which develop in nano tanks...but, with some fiddling you can probably get it resolved.

as far as water changes, on a tank of that size i would probably try for one gallon a week...then again, i dont know much about mantis shrimp so maybe they dont eat a lot and there is no need for that frequent of a water change...

your crab is nice, and they are fun to watch scurry around...i hope thunderclese doesn't make him into a snack

i wish i could offer some insight into the clown/mantis issue, but i reckon you will just have to wait on sam

 

[S.Reef]

Im not familiar with that particular species...but in general they shouldnt be trusted with any fish. Umm...if its a smasher type you may be able to keep a clown, but my recommendation is no.

As for water changes Mantis shrimp arent that picky. I would do a weekly 10-15% water change.

 

[something]

Oh crap..... transportation

OK, so here's the deal. At first i thought i could get a friend to take care of my tanks over break. He lives near the campus and everything, but they require that you turn off your stuff in your room over break. So im gonna transport them to another friends house over break who lives in claremont. Her dad owned lots of tanks back in the day so i feel a bit better about it. We're probably gonna do the transport sometime tomorrow, so ill leave the water change till then. My LFS seels R/O SW at about 79cents a gallon or distilled SW at 50cents a gal, ill make sure to get some before we go. Heres my plan, give me some input:

-Drain about 75% of the water out of the tank
-Put animals in bags (feather duster, hermits, crab, etc)
-transport aquarium and have SW waiting at house
-Set up tank again and wait till it settles
-Acclimate animals and reintroduce into system

Im also having an algae problem, im presuming its because of extra food and/or nitrates. Ill try to get some snails before i leave, hopefully the water change will help.

 

[something]

Some new coral questions

been doing some looking at different types of soft coral. I liked the look of buble coral but read that they're agressive as all hell. I also looked at leather coral and "christmas tree" coral, i didnt get much info on either, but i read they're not too hard to raise. at 25watts of PC and 20watts of fluorescent do i have enough light to raise them? If not i could possibly upgrade to 25watts of PC and 60watts of fluorescent, the reason i downgraded was becuase the fluorescent was seriously screwing with my tanks' temperature. If i have to upgrade ill have to figure something out.

thanks

 

[1979camaro]

your plan to move the tank seems fine to me. just keep the LR wet, thats the most critical thing

leather corals are all pretty easy to grow, ive never heard of "christmas tree coral" but i have heard of "christmas tree worm" and "kenya tree coral"

bubble corals aren't so good in a small tank because of their long sweeper tentacles

the algae problem is probably either phosphates, silica, or nitrates

 

[something]

first of the cycles done

Well, its official today, the nitrites dropped from .5 to 0ppm

nitrates, on the other hand, are at an amazing 20ppm; i really need to get around to doing that water change soon. Im sure thats what the brown algae is from, but silica could also be an issue. I heard that you can buy silica bonding phosphates to take care of that, but you have to dose the tank with phosphates, true?

camaro:
check here
Its the 8th and 9th soft coral down on the list (4th page). They both look cool


I added a red backround to my tank but i kinda takes away from the tank, so i plan to switch it out with a dark blue backround so the corals and whatnot will stand out a bit more


yet to hear back from that dude with the mantis

 

[1979camaro]

Sphaerella sp

my books tells me, in their infinite wisdom, that this coral is also known by the scientific name Studeriotes so that might help you some. They are not photosynthetic (which no doubt means feeding is a pain since the polyps look tiny). The book also says they requires strong alternating current (probably difficult to provide in a shallow tank) and "tend to collapse with little chance of recovery"

sounds like a bad choice

for a similar look i would consider capnella (kenya tree), or paralemnalia or lemnalia (spaghetti)...all of these are photosynthetic and pretty easy to keep.