Pants

It will not happen all at once either. He'll probably be spitting them out a few at a time over a few days.

When people say "cycled" they mean they have allowed the tank to have ammonia levels build up (from poo and dying plants/animals). Then they waited further for the bacteria living in the live rock that break down ammonia (first to nitrite then to harmless nitrate) to reproduce to sufficient numbers to keep ammonia levels low enough that it is never toxic to the animals you keep. If you add fish right away then ammonia (and nitrite) levels can get so toxic the fish die long before the bacteria reproduce enough to break down the ammonia. So to get a good "cycle" you need: Bacteria A place for the bacteria to live/reproduce Ammonia When people leave tanks for weeks/months to "cycle" they get all three of those from the live rock they bought. Often new live rock will have a lot of stuff dying which provides an ammonia spike. If you rock doesn't have much die off then you won't get much ammonia which means your bacteria won't reproduce to levels sufficient to handle all of the dirty fish poo and uneaten fish food. This is why many people get a second cycle when they add each fish - not enough bacteria due to not enough ammonia to suport more bacteria. You can set up a new tank and have fish immediately if you add live rock and a bottle of bacteria. This bacteria in a bottle has had a bad rep because until recently the bacteria you bought couldn't survive in your tank (it was all a scam). But a microbiologist isolated the correct bacteria for your salt water aquarium and he now sells bottles of it so you can get started right away. So if you use his product (DrTim's nitrifying bacteria) you can skip the cycle.

I have all mated pairs in my tank (2 bangaii cardinalfish, 2 ocellaris clowns, 2 yellow watchmen gobies). The cardinal fish started breeding right away. But just the past month we got our first clownfish eggs (well the first we saw before they got eaten), and now we have observed the first goby eggs (though it would have been easy not to see them). Also we have snail eggs (haven't seen that since soon after adding the cleanup crew). It seems like everyone is very happy right now. The clownfish eggs got eaten pretty quickly (cardinals kept nipping at them until it became detached). The Yellow watchmen eggs seem to be well protected so I imagine they will hatch. The two gobies rarely leave their eggs. It is just sort of exciting so I thought I'd share.

So good to see him doing well in a real aquarium (not a quarantine). How is he settling in now?

I woke up this morning and couldn't find the new baby :( I searched around for quite awhile thinking the daddy fish must have eaten him. Then I found the little guy in a corner under a rock and noticed something odd. There were two! So we have two tiny baby fish not one. I don't have live brine yet (should by tonight) but I think they are eating the frozen rotifers.

We had an exciting day. We moved the male into the tank with the baby fish hoping we'd have better luck collecting any babies he releases and that it would give us a chance to fatten him up before he picks up more eggs. He released two babies and one was DOA. So we now have the father, the 2.5 month old, and a brand new fry all in the tank together. I'll try to get some decent photos tomorrow. Hopefully the fish will all get along... We've seen a little chasing where the father has chased the 2.5 month into his fake urchin so i added some PVC towers to sort of divide the tank and if we need to we have a full tank divider prepared. We have 2 fake urchins now so I'm hoping everyone can find a place. The 2.5 month old has his spots now which means it pretty much looks just like an adult only smaller.

Yes. Within minutes of posting I was thinking about selling him I got several emails. My only concern now is the male is holding eggs again and he had less than a week to eat between this brood and the last.

I wanted to thank those who brought samples to the Spring meeting. I got at least 1 dino I was after and perhaps a second interesting dino as well as some algae for the website. I am still collecting more so please keep me in mind if you get an algae bloom, particularly if is dinoy (brown-gold slime often with bubbles trapped in it). I also thought people might be interested to know about the dinoflagellate bloom in the Baltimore Inner Harbor. It is still there if you want to go down and observe. The media is referring to it as a Mahogany tide (a common term in the area for dino blooms). The dino in question is a Prorocentrum sp. so much like those in some of your tanks.

Nothing too much to update on. We have stopped feeding any live food since he is eating a variety of quality frozen food now (cyclops, PE mysis, spirulina brine). He seems to have hit a growth spurt and while exploring more he still spends most of his day in the fake sea urchin. His dorsal fins are getting very long but the body is still very small. The spots on the pectoral fins are starting to be pretty noticeable. I'd like to get him bigger before sending him off to his new home and I am hoping that is in the next month or so.

The baby is now eating frozen spiraling brine in addition to the frozen PE mysis and cyclops. He has hit a bit if a growth spurt. I think he is leaving the urchin to hunt most of the day. The father must have released the rest of the new brood because he is eating again. The babies all got eaten before I could save any. The father is now half the size of the mother since he has been carrying eggs most of the year. I'm hoping to separate him somehow so I can get him caught up in size.

That photo doesn't look like dinos. Reefcleaners has a nice guide to pest algae: http://www.reefcleaners.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=54&Itemid=81 Dinos will be slimy golden brown and bubbles will often get trapped in the slime causing tendrils of the brown slime to rise up off the surface.

Yes. Not for research but just to take a couple photos for the website.

My research interests are solely dinos, but I would like samples of all types so I can add them to the website and help people ID their algae.

I am PhD candidate studying dinoflagellates. I am new to keeping marine aquaria and so I got excited when I was reading about hobbyists' struggles with dinoflagellate pests (yes scientists can be weird like that). The descriptions I read online sounded just like the group of dinoflagellates I am currently studying. I started using reef forums to request samples of people's suspected dinoflagellate blooms and found the results interesting enough to want to look deeper. My sample size is currently very low (8) and there may be other interesting dinos causing people trouble so I'd like to get a lot more samples. I'll be attending the Spring WAMAS meeting (not just for this but as a member) and would like to request that anyone who currently has a pest algae in their tank to bring a sample of it with them to give to me. Containers: Disposable tupperware with a decent lid Plastic bags as long as they seal securely Containers with screw caps (that don't leak) Labeling Please label your container with your WAMAS forum name or alternative contact info (like email address or phone number). I've found that some people don't really care what I discover and others like hearing the details and seeing the photos and I will respect either desire but I may want to contact you later purely to ask for more algae or to ask a couple questions about your tank. Collection Technique Make sure you have enough water in your container to completely cover the algae. I do not need a lot of algae, but extra is not a problem. Since you want it gone anyway give me as much or as little as you want. If you collect the algae early please be sure to store it in a way that prevents evaporation and roughly maintains the temperature of the tank (room temperature is fine as long as you don't let your house get too cold). Usually setting it on a shelf/table next to the tank will be good enough. Some things I have found so far: Hobbyists are doing a good job IDing dinoflagellates and so far I have found 3 major types of dinoflagellates causing problems for people: 1) Prorocentrum sp. 2) Ostreopsis/Gambierdiscus 3) A tiny dino that I have strong suspicions are Symbiodinium sp (hopefully getting to the bottom of that soon) Commonly referred to as Zooxanthellae in the hobby. 1 & 2 have the potential to be toxic which would explain reports of snail death or fish avoiding the area. I suspect the variable success people have ridding their tanks of these pests has a lot to do with trying to treat these three groups as a single pest. What works for one will not work for the others. I don't know if it is related but several people with dino blooms have had miscalibrated salinity measurement (hydrometer/refractometer) tools and had mistakenly been keeping their tanks over 40ppt. I've been attempting to build an identification guide so people can ID these on their own. While it is not usable yet there are some pictures. www.algaeid.com. I'll be adding more photos and descriptions as I gather more information. Here are some more photos: Below are a couple photos at of two species of Prorocentrum taken from people's aquariums. These are similar to species like Prorocentrum lima, Prorocentrum hoffmanianum, Prorocentrum levis, and Prorocentrum arenarium. This is the group I work on. Their genomes can be 100X bigger than yours and they are responsible for diarrhetic shellfish poisoning. The noodly looking bit inside the cells next to the circle in the middle are the chromosomes inside the nucleus. Here is a photo of a species of Ostreopsis. Ostreopsis does not have many named species but this is similar to the unnamed species causing harmful blooms in Italy and similar to Ostreopsis siamensis. The toxins these produce aren't widely studied but are pretty nasty. Said to be similar to ciguatera toxins produced by the dinoflagellate Gambierdiscus which these are closely related to. I don't have a photo of the third because it is so small that it wouldn't look like much. I've been using the third species to train an undergraduate student and she is currently sequencing its DNA to get a better species ID.

How old is the tank?

He is now about 5 weeks old and growing fast. Eating frozen mysis and cyclops. He has out grown the Rotifers. He is starting to spend some time away from his fake urchin. I think he is hunting. The tanks has a lot of stuff to eat in it. I am starting to think about finding someone to buy him. The male is still carrying the new clutch despite having less than 2 weeks to fatten up between clutches. I've cut an intricate egg crate divider to put in th DT to fit around the live rock that I plan to use to separate the male from the female after he is done with this clutch. He is so much smaller than her now I want to give him plenty if time to eat and grow before he accepts more eggs.

I have a supplement I've used a. Few times with both the live brine and the frozen food that has vitamins, Garlic, and HUFAs but the lil guy doesn't seem to like it.

I'm thinking of switching entirely to frozen food after the current brine shrimp are used up. We have frozen cyclops and rotifers and I may pick up some frozen daphnia as well. Any opinions on this?

Baby fish is doing well. He actually looks quite fat. I am getting sick of hatching brine though. Hopefully we'll get him 100% on frozen soon. I'm thinking of adding an eggcrate wall to the tank to separate the male from the female and see if I can harass him into eating the eggs or spitting them out so I can fatten him up more.

He is now significantly smaller than the female because he has eaten so little this year. I think I've read that they will keep taking eggs until they starve.

The baby fish continues to grow. I think I've got him taking frozen food now (cyclops and rotifers) but I am continuing to feed brine. The bad news is the father is already holding a new clutch of eggs. I really don't think he should spend another month not eating so soon. Any advice?

Congrats seems you got off pretty easy if it is working.

I'm heading to the airport Saturday afternoon but that is the only thing I have planned. I live about 3 minutes from Mr Coral.

That sounds like maybe a bacterial or fungal infection on the fish. Coral Hind, you sure you're not thinking diatoms? I'd love to have them all. Some local people have passed stuff off by meeting at a local fish store or other location. I'm in Frederick and commute to College Park each day so i pass Congressional and Aquarium One every day. What sounds convenient?

I'm a doctoral candidate studying dinoflagellates and have been trying to get samples from people's tanks to see which species are causing issues. Any chance you could save some that you are removing and give it to me? As far as raising pH I haven't met anyone who had success with that method and the start of that method was all based on a reading of a paper on a dinoflagellate species that couldn't possibly be the pest you folks are dealing with. It seems like hydrogen peroxide dosing is the best method of treatment. Many of these species are toxic. Have you noticed any paralysis in snails or avoidance of the effected areas by your fish?