lanman

Holacanthus bermudensis ??? Photo

My greatest pleasure has been from visitors who, upon seeing my tanks for the first time, park themselves in front of the tank for 10-20-30 minutes, just completely boggled by all of the stuff inside, and the activity taking place. "THAT's a coral? A real, LIVE coral?? You mean it's actually growing?? Why is that pink thing opening and closing its hands? Can the fish see me? Your shrimp has polka-dots! Oh, my god! It eats out of your hand! Can I feed it? That snail is going crazy!" And on... and on... and on... Love it! bob

Well, I know nothing about Anemone's but what I find on the internet: Large sea anemone, up to 1 m diameter, very distinctive. Three feet??? Man, that's BIG! bob

Is that under normal lighting?? Does she do advertising work? (Flashing neon 'EAT AT JOE'S') I've seen some 'neon' fish before - but that one takes the cake. ('BETTY CROCKER!') bob

I work 5 minutes from them, but live 55 mins from them. Either you need my job, or I need your house! bob

Thanks... a few of them opened back up today; the rest are still angry. I blasted away with the turkey baster as soon as I realized the stuff was just going to sit there. I had three little bitty aiptasia on one zoo frag. I have one more on a Kenya tree coral frag; which I'm going to attack when I move it soon. To my frag tank, of course. The aiptasia were causing a few of the zoo's not to open anyhow - so in the end I hope to have a net gain in open zoos! bob

From a link someone just posted: (http://www.marineaquariumadvice.com/library.html) "(Q) I purchased a Green serpent starfish a couple of months ago. It seems to be healthy because, it is usually searching the aquarium for food. One of my friends warned me that these starfish are very good predators so they will eat my small fish and shrimp. Should I get rid of this starfish or is there anything I can do? It hasn 't eaten any tankmates yet, but I don't want that to happen. I really enjoy watching it and I get a lot of comments about how cool he looks from people that see my tank. (A) First, I must say that sometimes there is no hard and fast rule; you just have to go with your intuition and experience. I believe that a captive animal's behavior is greatly influenced by the environment and conditions in which it is maintained. Having said all that, my answer depends greatly on how frequently you feed this starfish. If the animal is not target fed at least a couple times a week, then its tankmates are at a greater risk. Sometimes people purchase these starfish with the idea that they are strictly scavengers and will get enough to eat from the leftovers in the tank. Personally, I do not blame the starfish if it starts eating its tankmates; I blame you for not feeding it enough! Like I said before, there can be exceptions to most anything, but I think this starfish is better behaved when it is not starving to death. I know that a lot of people claim to have lost fish to the Green serpent starfish, and in some cases I am sure that it is true. However, usually the starfish is only doing the job you purchased him for, being a scavenger. They simply find dead or dying animals and do what they are supposed to do, and sometimes this leads to them being blamed for the demise of tankmates. I have a Green serpent starfish in my reef tank that is about 17 inches from tip to tip. I have kept it for about four years now with small fish and shrimp without any problems. I trust mine; but then again I make sure it is well fed! " bob

Distilled is probably purer. By a little. Don't forget to put salt in it - you're not topping off from evaporation. bob

It killed my aiptasia, it appears. No sign of it for three days. Unfortunately, the zoanthids nearby have stayed closed up for three days, as well. Will they eventually open?? bob

Hmmm... talk about hitchiker's - I have a Koi in my pond that must have hitchiked in on a plant. I only bought three $2.49 goldfish. But now that I have a Koi - maybe I should protect my pond. It's in a tight corner with a fence on two sides, and a gazebo on another side - but I've heard those blue herons will do just about anything for a pond full of fish. bob

How long do they need to cure? bob

More to hang out with now! They have hired two new ladies. The one I dealt with today was very nice and attentive. bob

I got some today at MS... let me see if I can find a price. Yeah - 20 of the flat, smooth on one side, about 2.5" disks - $6.99. bob

Thanks! I loved cowries when I was diving in the Philippines (1969, 1980). I've seen Pacific deer cowries, but never Atlantic. bob

Mine is almost identical to yours, but IN the sump. You said it is a 'separate' tank from your sump? I assume then, that you have a separate 'overflow' or pump to your sump. You can run into logistical problems with that - so design carefully; if the return pump quits working, but the overflow (or pump) keeps pumping.... you have much water on floor. i.e. - if the main pump in the sump keeps pumping water to the tank, there will be water available to overflow into the refugium (until the sump gets too low). And if the refugium return pump isn't working.... wetness. You would probably be better off running your overflow from the main tank through the refugium and then to the sump. If you can. That means the refugium would have to be lower than the overflow, and higher than the sump. That's why I ended up putting my refugium in my sump. bob

Okay, Jason - I've been wanting a small cowrie, and all I've found for sale is tiger cowries (big ones). What kind is it, and where did you get it?? bob

Hoping you got the sand from the top 1" of his sand bed. Stuff below that can contain all kinds of junk you don't want - but eventually it will settle down and start doing its job. With that good cured live rock, you'll be ready for anything in no time. Just let it cook a bit more, get your proper lights, etc... If you have a skimmer, you should be able to get nitrates down to zero pretty easily - but 5 or 10 isn't going to kill anything listed as 'easy'. Sounds like you are well on your way. bob

That isn't good enough. I knew it was there somewhere, and drove past 4 times before I spotted it. It's the 2nd door left from the bowling alley. bob

I'm a member of the Melissa fan club, too! When I first started, she was very helpful and sweet. I got my first tank there despite the prices ($100 more than internet), because I knew I could go back and ask all my dumb questions. ?bioballs? ?foam filter? ?RODI? Of course - then I found WAMAS and have been inflicting you guys with my dumb questions ever since! bob

Zoanthus Zingledingus Eagle-eye Mimicans (Checkerboard variant) to be exact bob

Pretty normal for star polyps. I've found that the hermits and snails only eat the dead parts. And that some star polyps recover from transplantation a lot better and faster than others. They seem to just sit there for a week or so, and then all of a sudden they start spreading like crazy. And you can even get them to grow up the back of the tank, if you like. I had a 3"x3" piece of pink-center star polyp that I glued to a rock; and there's only about 1"x1" left - but now it's finally starting to attach and grow. bob

Meanwhile, the doctor is trying to figure out how to work this into an article for a trade magazine, and a $million grant for studying the effects of palytoxins. Hope you're well soon! bob

Actually - hard to tell it from the picture, but the shelf is sitting directly on the concrete foundation of the house. And all but 2" of the tank fit onto the shelf, so I think it's probably balanced well enough. I reckon an earthquake could slide it off of there, but we don't have a lot of those out here. I'll keep an eye on it, though - and if it moves at all from vibration, I'll shore it up. bob

What did you start with? Fresh live rock that had or had not been cycled at the fish store or in someone's tank? 2 weeks is REAL early if you got live rock that had recently arrived from FIJI or somewhere (voice of experience). If that's what you have - then you have about 3-4 more types of algae to go through before your tank stabilizes. How does it smell? If it smells like the Anacostia waterfront - then you have a lot of cycling to do yet. HOw doe it look? Water clear? How was the rock transported? Even if it was cycled - if it was mailed to you, it probably has to cycle all over again. Continue testing your water. You should see ammonia go up, then eventually start to fall, nitrites go up and start to fall, then nitrates spike - and depending on what's in your sand bed, it might take a while to fall. Depending on what you started with, it might take 6-8 weeks before your tank is ready for some basic corals. Be patient, have fun! bob

I'll be there. Another newbie. bob