L8 2 RISE

Quick Photo Update.

Those are the ugliest, worst, ugliest, and absolute worst fish. But if you must have them............. odd numbers, they get very large, very fast. IMO they are always ugly, but when they're big they're even uglier. Even if they're nocturnal, you will find that they will always insist on being out in the open flaunting their ugliness, day and night, especially when they get bigger.

Can you click through different screens with the arrows? Or does it stay on Ch3 even when you do that?

I've used a couple Smart ATO's, they're sweet except sometimes they glitch and start beeping/not working for no apparent reason. Just have to unplug then plug back in again. That said, I really like the avast, however the tunze osmolater is widely considered the safest and it's what I would go with.

I was thinking the same as Coral Hind. Looks like Codium in a tight growth pattern. It will feel somewhat hard, but still pliable. Similar to maybe a very green stick/sapling.

Agree that those are watermellons or at least not Candy Apples, and I think it's some sort of bivalve, doesnt seem like a barnacle to me. Either way, harmless

pairs can go together in the same tank and all will still mate (or you can go with the single male, multiple females). I have not done it but have read about others who have. Ruby Reds do not need a sandbed, but some of their close cousins do (such as morrisoni) because they sleep in it. The problem with no sand is that there will be less Pods to eat. In terms of tank requirements, I estimate that you need about 15- 20 pounds minimum of well established LR per fish, however if you supplement pods you can obviously do much less. For tank size based on their swimming habits/ size, I would say a 10 gallon is as small as I would go, but again they definitely like moving around all of the LR in the tank, so bigger is better.

Congrats! Glad they're doing well for you. I agree with you that it is a female. They also love reef frenzy for me. LRS is really doing awesome things with their food. Dave, why would you want to isolate them in small tanks? I think the larger the tank the better for these guys. They are constantly moving about and exploring/eating and like to have a decent amount of room for mating (including height).

Cool!

^ I wanna know how much! All SO nice

lol, yep, I figured, just be patient, take your time and don't add anything for a few more weeks!

At first I thought hydroids, but I don't think it is, it looks like it's just algae/part of the cycle I typically see in a newly cycling tank. How long has your tank been set up for?

WOW! That's not a bubble tip is it? Ritteri? Looking forward to seeing what you come up with next! If you can't find any, I have some of your red table that I got from Corsi a while ago!

You'll need to find out if it's tempered or not before anything can be done (unless you like gambling). If it's not tempered, it's easy enough to do yourself, or maybe you could bring it over another member's place to have them help you. It's very easy, however there are very few (if any) local stores that will drill it for you given the risk.

Cool pic Paul! Crazy how small they are compared to others. Yes, Dragonets are one of the more commonly bred fish among hobbyists, and yes, ORA did breed them but unfortunately stopped due to a lack of demand (which is a huge shame and we, as hobbyists, should feel very guilty for not supporting a captive breeding effort because the fish were $10 more). Ruby Reds AFAIK have never been successfully bred. They are one of the misnomered group of "Scooter Blennies" in Synchyropus, which apparently are even harder to breed. I don't expect to be successful, but I would like to give it a shot.

Males are larger and have a very large, striped dorsal fin. Females have a very small, black dorsal fin. You can see how the male uses these these fins in his mating dance on my video in my build thread.

Paul, how did she do? Have they mated? Dave, thanks for the advice I hadn't really thought about that. Left it the way it was and they seem to be doing well. She released eggs for the first time on Jan 14. I just posted a better video of them mating over in my build thread here: http://wamas.org/forums/topic/57917-sam-and-his-moms-57g-rimless/?p=641422 (page 3, post 60) I think I'm going to just keep the updates about these guys there from now on.

Thanks! I go into a lot of discussion on this thread here: http://wamas.org/forums/topic/70866-ruby-red-dragonets-mating-dance/ about the process I went through to get these fish. I have had the male for over a year, and at the time of this video I had only had the female for 10 days. So, no, it wasn't hard to get them to pair. The hard part is getting them healthy enough that they are capable of surviving by the time you get them in your fish tank. The females are especially hard to find healthy- hence it being over a year before I finally found a female.

Finally got around to editing a better video of the Ruby Reds Mating. While I was home they did their dance almost every night. Jan 14 was the first time I saw them release eggs, which were quickly gobbled up by the anthias. This was my first time editing together a gopro video, let me know what you think! https://vimeo.com/118376191

Skimmer is a massive air pump... So is overflow and surface moving from curculation. No need for one

Air water ice all the way!! Would never go with anyone else!

I HATE them. Stick a needle down the tube, superglue it, snap it, crush it, or all of the above. They do damage the corals around them, and they can spread if left alone. More importantly, to me at least, I have had parts of their tubes get stuck in my finger so many times just from grabbing the rock or accidentally bumping into one and IT HURTS LIKE A ...... Also, they're ugly.

Cool coral with that cleaner shrimp, what is it?

Can you share the link where you got it for $43? I can't find it for that price. EDIT: nevermind, I was looking at the 12000 not the 1200

Cool set up! Definitely following this! It looks like you're using the Real Reef rock which I'm guessing you got dry, is that right? If it were me, I would buy a couple small pieces of live rock and tuck them into your aquascape somewhere. This will help introduce pods, hopefully small brittle stars, stomella snails, bristle worms, and other beneficial bacteria and animals from the ocean. I understand some people don't like to do that because they don't want any of that stuff in their aquarium, in which case something like Dr. Tims, cycle, etc are all helpful. When starting with any large amount of dry rock though, it's extremely important to take your time! What kind of timeline are you looking at/planning on?