MaeganWink

So I made a livestock order through Liveaquaria for some things I couldn't get as quickly locally. Everything was pretty standard except one thing...I ordered 5 engineer goby juveniles and guess how they were packaged? 5 gobies, two bags. Yeah, that turned out about as well as you'd expect. There was a dead one in each bag from fighting. I've reported the loss, but I'm more angry at the idiotic packaging. I got a bonded pair through the process, which is what my students wanted, but I didn't want to kill fish to do it. Thanks, Liveaquaria. Probably won't be using them again. They also seemed a bit big for "juveniles" though I'm not experienced enough to judge that one truthfully. Am I out of line for being kind of pissed off?

@Jsack Just let me know when you're ready to rehome some and I'm happy to take a few for one of my classroom tanks.

Marine Science Saltwater Tanks Liberty High School Introduction: I teach Marine Science (among other things) at Liberty High School in Fauquier County. As a semester-long project I have students manage saltwater aquariums. This is meant to be a student driven project, meaning most of the research, problem solving, and work should fall on the students. I am supporting them and doing legwork where they cannot. Funding: Some equipment/supplies were worked into my science budget this year, but otherwise nothing additional from the school. +$500 WAMAS grant for livestock Tanks: Two 55 gallon bowfronts A ~20 gallon frag tank 55 gallon sump connected to the three previously mentioned One standard 55 gallon tank One 30 gallon biocube One 18 gallon biocube One 65 gallon all in one red sea system All were donated. Current stage: Stocking tanks Needed Materials: Organisms, additional clean-up crew, and pod culture Incoming donations: None Desired Organisms (things my students specifically want): Tuxedo Urchin Neon/Allen's Damsel Chalk Bass. OR Forktail Blenny Engineer Goby Bi-Color Dwarf Angel Jawfish Purple Firefish Redfin Fairy Wrasse Yellow Clown Goby Six-line Wrasse Captive-bred Manderain Pulsing Xenia Tiger Pistol Shrimp Tank 1: 55 gallon bowfront -Mushrooms -Clowns x 2 (one semi-naked) -Coral Beauty -Molly Miller Blenny -Green Chromis x 2 -Benggai Cardinal -Peppermint Shrimp x 6 Tank 2: 55 gallon -Sailfin Tang (Note: I realize as he grows he'll have to be rehomed to a bigger tank) -Chorus Wrasse -Watchman Goby -Talbots Damsel -Sharpnose Puffer (incoming) Tank 3: 55 gallon bowfront -Mushrooms -Xenia -Spotted Hawkfish -Clowns x 2 (one mocha) -Bubble tip -Royal Gramma (incoming) Tank 4: ~20 gallon frag tank -Pom Pom Xenia -Misc. Xenia -Leathers -Birdsnest -Frogspawn (?) -Green Trumpets -Palys -Green star polyps -Skunk cleaner shrimp (Incoming) Tank 5: 65 gallon all in one red sea system -PJ Cardinals x 4 -Longnose Hawkfish -Filefish (bonded pair) -Striped Fang blenny -Orange Luzon Seastar -Hawaiian spotted puffer Tank 6: 18 gallon acrylic biocube -Mantis Shrimp (Gonolactylus smithii) Tank 7: 30 gallon acrylic biocube -Tiger Sand Conch -Spotted Porcelain crab -Chocolate Chip Star (incoming)

Just a heads up, I'm making a huge update post (or two if all the pictures don't fit) soon. Went from having 3 tanks to 7, plus other developments, so incoming!

If you have some to spare, I'd love to get two from you for my class tanks. I don't know what you're selling them for.

Why so many all of a sudden? xD

So I just found these all over the glass of one of my tanks. To be fair, it's a tank I plan on breaking down, but I still would like to know what it is and if it's something I should be worried about in terms of hitchhiking to another tank when I move rocks and such. At least a dozen on my glass, all moving.

A bit far out from Arlington, but I love Capital Aquarium in Manassas!

Yes, I meant sea hare. The reason is my current system doesn't handle the nitrate load well enough. The new system will, as it's not just a simple hang on the back like I've got now. But again, I don't want to bring over the hair algae to the new system. Found someone to lend me one, so this can close now, thanks guys.

Odd question, but anyone have a nudibranch I could borrow? I have a ton of hair algae in one my one tank I'm having a hard time getting rid of. I know I'd get rid of it eventually, but I wanted to tackle the issue before I moved everything into my new tank and new system. I'd rather not have the hair algae take root there if I can help it. I'd buy one, but I'd be worried about keeping it alive longterm...don't want to starve it.

Hey everyone! I'm getting the last pieces of my new classroom setup and the one issue my Uncle was unable to help me with was a good idea for how to mount the lights. I'm going to be using two LED lights (like the one shown in the attached pictures), with one hanging over each 55 bowfront tank. However, I'm not sure what the best way to hang the lights is. I can't hang from the ceiling because a) it's a fire hazard for the school and b)the ceiling tiles are super flimsy anyway I wouldn't trust them. I'll attach the pictures of my LED lights and the setup.

I mean, I have a 14 gallon setup that is currently empty. It used to have a mantis shrimp but I left it all running after he passed because I wasn't sure how quickly I'd get a replacement...So if you're desperate there's that, but it's not set up specifically for that sort of thing. Hopefully there's someone with something more specifically tailored for this that can help you, though!

Super sad, found my mantis shrimp dead this morning. Water parameters fine, snail and hermits that were in there as food were fine. He had already completed a molt recently, so I don't think it was that (unless they molt like once a month). He was eating silversides fine, even if he wasn't actively hunting the things I offered him. I'm assuming it was just some sort of invert disease or condition...but if anyone has ideas, let me know. RIP Mike Tyson.

Nah, the snails are nassarius I got from the shop. It's not the snails I was trying to identify, it was the anemones xD

It looks like this one http://www.wildsingapore.com/wildfacts/cnidaria/actiniaria/snail.htm Buuuut I can't find anything else on it. I guess I should remove them. Very sad. xD

Found these cute snails with little anemones attached to their shells! I was wondering if anyone knows what kind of anemones they are? They don't look like Aptasia to me. I just want to make sure they won't infest the tank before I let them loose. Right now they're in a critter carrier in my tank, so separate but still getting the same water through tiny slots. Any ideas?

Mantis shrimp pictures, since they wouldn't fit in the last post.

First I want to say I appreciate all the encouragement. It's certainly been a crazy process and probably not something I would do if it weren't for my class. Updates: The Clown n' Friends tank sprung a leak a few months ago. I tried to fix it (as I originally had when it first leaked), but the leak was too great to accomplish with organisms inside. SO instead I had a back up 55 gallon that I swapped out with it. This meant I had to move all the fish to other tanks temporarily (I couldn't get the new tank in that same day but the old tank wouldn't hold enough water overnight) so that was chaotic. Got the new tank set up and moved most of the fish back, though a few decided they were going to live in new homes and refused to be caught. Also have lost a few fish, all new additions that didn't pan out. One Talbot's damsel got into a fight and died of his injuries, and two different species of file fish passed due to not eating well (at least that's my best guess). Also one out of my Benggai trio disappeared over spring break. I'm assuming maybe the other two paired up and then beat him into the grave, but not sure, never found him or a body. New balance of organisms is as follows... Clown n' Friends Tank Ocallarius Clowns x 2 Pajama Cardinals x 3 Spotted Hawkfish Royal Gramma Fanged Striped Blenny (snuck over in a rock from puff tank) Scarlet Red Hermit Nassarius Snail x a lot Turbo Snail x a lot Green Sea Urchins x 13 (will be finding new homes for some of these) Xyenia Green Star Polyp Fighting Conch Some other unidentified coral Invertebrate Friendly Tank Peppermint Shrimp x ??? (haven't seen them all since the chaos of the leaking tank) Longspine Urchin Chromis x 2 Firefish Benggai Cardinal x 2? Aptasia Eating Filefish x 2 (bonded pair, captive bred) Engineer Goby Molly Miller Blenny (refused to be moved back to clown tank) Emerald Crab Fighting Conch Scarlet Red Hermit Nassarius Snail x 3 Turbo Snail Puffer Fish Tank Valentini Pufferfish Tiger Pistol Shrimp Watchman Goby Talbot's Damsel Yellow Chorus Wrase Rainford Goby Coral Beauty The new urchins are all from a Urchin Embryology Lab I just did with my students. Very fun, plus we get to keep them. I also have a smaller acrylic tank (I forget the exact size) that houses a Mantis Shrimp! He's super awesome and the students love him. He's a quirky little guy. Still working on my getting the 55 gallon bowfronts set up in a whole system. My uncle plans on helping me with the plumbing since he used to build tanks for a living. I am still looking for a light that I can use over the two bowfronts to grow hard corals, but that's a lower level priority. Here are some pictures.

Interested in the bubble tip anemone, the cleaner shrimp, the serpent stars, snails, and hermits all depending on price.

So the one tank in particular is still giving me problems. I'm still getting readings of about 80 with nitrates. All fish seem fine, though some of my corals seem unhappy. Last week I added purigen to all my filters, which helped the other tanks but didn't seem to make a difference for this one. I rearranged rocks looking for anything rotting, haven't seen anything. All fish are accounted for. I'm honestly at a loss for the source. Aside from a couple of small corals, I haven't increased the bioload from the past 4-5 months when everything has been fine. Could excess algae cause a nitrate spike? Not sure what else to do. I plan on doing a larger % water change once I get my R/O system in (should be any day now), but until then it's not feasible for me to go to the store to get that much water. Any other thoughts or suggestions?

So I had my students do a 20% water change today. How soon would I be able to get accurate readings for nitrate and salinity levels?

Not the best picture, but we've got a pair of clowns in one of our class tanks. There are no anemones in the tank at the moment, since the water isn't really stable enough, but the one clown LOVES to nest in this one coral. It's rather hilarious...and luckily it doesn't seem like the coral is any worse for the ware so.

I am working on grants, it's just there is redtape on my end (school has procedures I need to go through) to apply for grants, so I haven't completed any yet, including the one through WAMAS. But it's definitely on my list, especially for equipment, since WAMAS would actually understand the need, while other grants might go "but you already have equipment even if it's subpar" xD

Yes, they are all similarly stocked. I know the HOB filters aren't the best, but they're all I could manage to start, considering my school only gave me $250 to do all three tanks...I've gone well into my own pocket money at this point xD Grants are an option I'm working on for improving equipment, but it is what it is at the moment.

It is possible, but these are highschoolers. They know if they are caught messing with the tanks it's an immediate referral. So I would hope not, but...