Ten gallon nano has begun
- Thread starter lordroad
- Start date
Jumped the gun...
Ok, first, an apology for the multiple three posts... i've been here for more than six months, and it's time i get my post up anyway *twirlysmi
I jumped the gun several days ago and purchased fish. I did this for a couple reasons... one, by all indications, my tank is stable... coraline algae, diatom phase over with, am, ni 0, nitrates under 5, ph 8.4, weekly water changes to keep things fresh, plus a thriving starfish. Also... you guys aren't going to believe the deal I got on these fish. *thumbsups
I intended only to get one fish. I decided on a true perc... guess how much I got him for? 14 dollars.
The store opened last month and they have amazing cut rate prices. They also have strange box fish I've never seen before, including a baby box fish that looks like a decapitated fish head floating around.
The store opened on my wedding day, and I've been going in an average of 3-4 times a week. They have this awesome 260 gallon show tank they're still setting up. Cool thing about this store is they're making it an LFS/coffee fish viewing type place to hang out. I'm really glad I got in on the ground floor with the owners, a really nice couple from Atlanta... wish I'd known them earlier so I could have invited them to the wedding and got some hardcore store credit for a wedding gift.
I bought the clown four days ago, I believe. I was worried because I really wanted to wait the full month, which would be this Sunday. But I couldn't pass up the sale on the clown.
For the first two days the clown would only eat brine shrimp, wouldn't touch the formula 1 pellets i dropped in. I crumbled the pellets, and he started going for them, but spitting them out... until finally he kept some in. I added mysis shrimp to his diet, and now he's eating pellets, mysis, and even algae on the tank glass.
Two days ago I go to another LFS for another astrea snail. I end up buying the snail and a firefish goby. I only wanted one fish for my tank to keep the bioload low, but i said what the hell. I have an open cover tank and these fish are known to jump, and that's why I decied against going with the firefish before and went with the clown. However, this particular firefish had been at the LFS in an open tank for 2 months, so I decided to risk it. As the risk was 15 dollars, i said hey, i can risk that.
Both fish look great and are eating vigorously. I target feed the star and the mithrax crab, and i have to fool the clown so it won't steal the baby shrimp/seawood and algae flake. The goby's mouth is small, like the clown, so the pellets have to be crumbled. their favorite food is mysis shrimp, though.
Here's a video I took during feeding time. Dialup beware. Hope you like the music, and a 75 pound bag of Instant Ocean to anyone who remembers what it's from! (just kidding, but you will have my eternal respect)
(Sorry, link removed--the video was eating up too much bandwidth. PM me if you're interested in seeing it... oh, and the tune is from Super Mario RPG, on Midas River...
Ok, first, an apology for the multiple three posts... i've been here for more than six months, and it's time i get my post up anyway *twirlysmi
I jumped the gun several days ago and purchased fish. I did this for a couple reasons... one, by all indications, my tank is stable... coraline algae, diatom phase over with, am, ni 0, nitrates under 5, ph 8.4, weekly water changes to keep things fresh, plus a thriving starfish. Also... you guys aren't going to believe the deal I got on these fish. *thumbsups
I intended only to get one fish. I decided on a true perc... guess how much I got him for? 14 dollars.
The store opened last month and they have amazing cut rate prices. They also have strange box fish I've never seen before, including a baby box fish that looks like a decapitated fish head floating around.
The store opened on my wedding day, and I've been going in an average of 3-4 times a week. They have this awesome 260 gallon show tank they're still setting up. Cool thing about this store is they're making it an LFS/coffee fish viewing type place to hang out. I'm really glad I got in on the ground floor with the owners, a really nice couple from Atlanta... wish I'd known them earlier so I could have invited them to the wedding and got some hardcore store credit for a wedding gift.
I bought the clown four days ago, I believe. I was worried because I really wanted to wait the full month, which would be this Sunday. But I couldn't pass up the sale on the clown.
For the first two days the clown would only eat brine shrimp, wouldn't touch the formula 1 pellets i dropped in. I crumbled the pellets, and he started going for them, but spitting them out... until finally he kept some in. I added mysis shrimp to his diet, and now he's eating pellets, mysis, and even algae on the tank glass.
Two days ago I go to another LFS for another astrea snail. I end up buying the snail and a firefish goby. I only wanted one fish for my tank to keep the bioload low, but i said what the hell. I have an open cover tank and these fish are known to jump, and that's why I decied against going with the firefish before and went with the clown. However, this particular firefish had been at the LFS in an open tank for 2 months, so I decided to risk it. As the risk was 15 dollars, i said hey, i can risk that.
Both fish look great and are eating vigorously. I target feed the star and the mithrax crab, and i have to fool the clown so it won't steal the baby shrimp/seawood and algae flake. The goby's mouth is small, like the clown, so the pellets have to be crumbled. their favorite food is mysis shrimp, though.
Here's a video I took during feeding time. Dialup beware. Hope you like the music, and a 75 pound bag of Instant Ocean to anyone who remembers what it's from! (just kidding, but you will have my eternal respect)
(Sorry, link removed--the video was eating up too much bandwidth. PM me if you're interested in seeing it... oh, and the tune is from Super Mario RPG, on Midas River...
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I target feed the star once a day with sun dried baby shrimp on a skewer... the star also eats the uneaten crumbled pellets too... do you think i'm feeding too much?
and i also spot feed the crab once a week. there's still bubble algae growth, so i know he's got food...
per snails all i got are 2 cereth and 2 astrea. i'll be sure to pick up 2 margarita snails next time i'm at the lfs thanks camaro.
and i also spot feed the crab once a week. there's still bubble algae growth, so i know he's got food...
per snails all i got are 2 cereth and 2 astrea. i'll be sure to pick up 2 margarita snails next time i'm at the lfs
thanks camaro.
no guarantees on the margaritas, but mine ate some tufty like stuff
i don't think you are feeding to much
i also don't think you jumped the gun that badly...if your tank was stable for 3 weeks you were probably ok to add the clown; since things were still stable a week later the firefish was probably ok too...sooner than i would have done probably, but not some sort of catastrophic problem
i don't think you are feeding to much
i also don't think you jumped the gun that badly...if your tank was stable for 3 weeks you were probably ok to add the clown; since things were still stable a week later the firefish was probably ok too...sooner than i would have done probably, but not some sort of catastrophic problem
Tragedy
Ok, here's a testament to doing things the right way...
My firefish goby leapt the tank for the second time in an hour. First time, I was watching my margarita snail chew cud off the glass, when I happen to look to my left and see this horrid colorful larvae thing on the carpet. naturally, i shouted, as it looked just like one of those fake rubber neon lures you can use for fishing. in a second i realized it was the goby... and then i realized, oh ****, i made a big mistake...
i scooped him up with my net, dropped him back in. he was fine for about an hour longer, all scared, but not hoppy... so i leave the room for ten minutes, and when i come back, no sign of him. instantly i know he's jumped again cause my nose picks up on this fresh fish smell, the kinda smell you get if you ever go fishing as much as i do, or used to, before i moved to western NC...
took me about three minutes to find him. he had jumped onto the bookshelf, between the books, and was drying on the bottom shelf between the karma sutra and orson scott card's "enders game."
i didn't bother this time trying to scoop him up with the net to avoid the oils on my hands. i picked him up and placed him in the net and lowered him into the water... waited about a minute, no activty, then took him out to flush him. while i was talking to my wife, he flopped around.
i immediately returned him to the tank within the net and looked closer. no gill movement, but sudden jerks now and then. i waited about five minutes and the gills started.
then i release him. he goes to the bottom, and bam, the starfish, picking up on the fresh fish smell faster than i had, wraps two tentacles around him and tries to suck him into the live rock. for newbies like me, i never knew starfish can be such predators, but man, they are hardcore... like the deep sea squid in that wonderful B-movie Deep Rising.
gobie gets away, swims to the other chunk of rock, and languishes for the next five minutes. when he keeps getting tossed around in the current, i realize that's the end of my goby nano experience.
Moral of my story:
Do not buy jumping gobies, even if you have seen them in the same open tank for 2 months at the lfs. i came to that store every thursday to see new fish, and those two firefish gobies had had their same tank with the snails and crabs for as long as i have been going there (6 weeks or more).
Always trust what you read and do not assume saltwater is freshwater. (I have bala sharks, notorious jumpers, and portions of my freshwater tank is open, but they have never jumped out in seven months.)
And finally... time is money, and fish are money... in other words:
1 firefish goby: 17 dollars plus tax
1 sony digital camera and funny fish film: 200 dollars
1 drying goby on the carpet between the karma sutra and ender's game: priceless
Ok, here's a testament to doing things the right way...
My firefish goby leapt the tank for the second time in an hour. First time, I was watching my margarita snail chew cud off the glass, when I happen to look to my left and see this horrid colorful larvae thing on the carpet. naturally, i shouted, as it looked just like one of those fake rubber neon lures you can use for fishing. in a second i realized it was the goby... and then i realized, oh ****, i made a big mistake...
i scooped him up with my net, dropped him back in. he was fine for about an hour longer, all scared, but not hoppy... so i leave the room for ten minutes, and when i come back, no sign of him. instantly i know he's jumped again cause my nose picks up on this fresh fish smell, the kinda smell you get if you ever go fishing as much as i do, or used to, before i moved to western NC...
took me about three minutes to find him. he had jumped onto the bookshelf, between the books, and was drying on the bottom shelf between the karma sutra and orson scott card's "enders game."
i didn't bother this time trying to scoop him up with the net to avoid the oils on my hands. i picked him up and placed him in the net and lowered him into the water... waited about a minute, no activty, then took him out to flush him. while i was talking to my wife, he flopped around.
i immediately returned him to the tank within the net and looked closer. no gill movement, but sudden jerks now and then. i waited about five minutes and the gills started.
then i release him. he goes to the bottom, and bam, the starfish, picking up on the fresh fish smell faster than i had, wraps two tentacles around him and tries to suck him into the live rock. for newbies like me, i never knew starfish can be such predators, but man, they are hardcore... like the deep sea squid in that wonderful B-movie Deep Rising.
gobie gets away, swims to the other chunk of rock, and languishes for the next five minutes. when he keeps getting tossed around in the current, i realize that's the end of my goby nano experience.
Moral of my story:
Do not buy jumping gobies, even if you have seen them in the same open tank for 2 months at the lfs. i came to that store every thursday to see new fish, and those two firefish gobies had had their same tank with the snails and crabs for as long as i have been going there (6 weeks or more).
Always trust what you read and do not assume saltwater is freshwater. (I have bala sharks, notorious jumpers, and portions of my freshwater tank is open, but they have never jumped out in seven months.)
And finally... time is money, and fish are money... in other words:
1 firefish goby: 17 dollars plus tax
1 sony digital camera and funny fish film: 200 dollars
1 drying goby on the carpet between the karma sutra and ender's game: priceless
to prevent this in the future, try covering you tank with that white egg crate stuff (light diffuser) available in the lighting section of your hardware/home improvement store (Home Depot, Lowe's, etc)
i feel your pain too--I had a goby die without me having a clue as to why...it only lived for two days in my QT
i feel your pain too--I had a goby die without me having a clue as to why...it only lived for two days in my QT
Well, everything is going swimmingly. All crew members are accounted for... clean-up and fish. My starfish is growing quite quite large and braves the light to come for shrimp pieces. The mandarin is still active and lively, and his food is still abundant.
The coolest thing is the scroll algae. It now covers the entire rock, as you can see.
The bryopsis hair algae no longer grows. I keep several patches of it for the pods and for aesthetics, as it looks kind of cool growing a big jungly heap on the back of the glass. Crap collects on the front viewing panel, as you can see, and I haven't been diligent enough with scrubbing.
Having a little difficulty with the pod quart jar production. I'll post more about that in the mandarin specific thread.
Next step is some zoos, but I'm almost afraid to introduce a new variable as everything is going so smoothly.
And let me know when you're moved and ready for the scroll algae, Camaro. I've had a patch that looked like it was dying for weeks now, and it's still growing strong.
The coolest thing is the scroll algae. It now covers the entire rock, as you can see.
The bryopsis hair algae no longer grows. I keep several patches of it for the pods and for aesthetics, as it looks kind of cool growing a big jungly heap on the back of the glass. Crap collects on the front viewing panel, as you can see, and I haven't been diligent enough with scrubbing.
Having a little difficulty with the pod quart jar production. I'll post more about that in the mandarin specific thread.
Next step is some zoos, but I'm almost afraid to introduce a new variable as everything is going so smoothly.
And let me know when you're moved and ready for the scroll algae, Camaro. I've had a patch that looked like it was dying for weeks now, and it's still growing strong.
Attachments
I just got some button polyps, here are a few shots...
I acclimated them for more than hour and then let the bag fill with tank water so the coral never touched the air... is there any way to do this without getting store water in your system?
The polyps all opened in about ten minutes. You can see a nasty white string on the left of the cluster, is this anything to be worried about? It appeared in the bag.
I acclimated them for more than hour and then let the bag fill with tank water so the coral never touched the air... is there any way to do this without getting store water in your system?
The polyps all opened in about ten minutes. You can see a nasty white string on the left of the cluster, is this anything to be worried about? It appeared in the bag.