traveller7

fwiw: PetsMart seems to be liquidating the seachem sands, might want to drop by and check out a few locations. I picked a few 20 and 22lbs bags up for $6.99 ea this weekend.

A couple of issues with the dialogue: 1. A remote deep sand bed in a garbage can/bucket should not have sand critters or light added. We just want prefiltered high water flow, no way for detritus to settle, and denitification. Shimeks arguement on grain size is moot in this case. Better to look toward Calfo's concepts for the application. 2. Have used silicate sands, ceramics, plastics, oolithic arag, etc., and can't tell the difference in diatoms or any other slimes; but then I use a shovel to feed my fish and YMMV :D

Grats

Based on my experience, the suggestion would be throwing good money after bad. Quite a few of the blue carpets available are S. gigantea, death magnets which rarely make it 10 days. fwiw: I have yet to see a long term successful manual division of S. haddoni, maybe you can be first, or join the others that have failed.

One of my favorites, beautiful, not shy, it wants a big space, and mine ate some very expensive little anemones :( YMMV

Clowns mature beyond 1 year, breed at 2ish, and live beyond 30. Unfortunately 6 months is not enough of a data point. One female maroon will easily take over a 300gal tank. Add clowns with extreme caution. Hi Wreck, Grouped clowns quite a few times, none what I would call a long term success. Only example I would call a success is Marina's 10' clarkii complex tank with about 10 specimens long term. Even then, there were the odd men out and sub-Females. I would expect a dominant pair to form, a bunch of juveniles to begin sorting out next in line, and maybe another pair to form. The rest will be beat to a pulp and barely get to eat. Make sure you have a cover, the ones close to next in line frequently get chased out of the tank. You likely have another 4-6 months before real havoc begins, but as the numbers dwindle the beatings on the juveniles get more focused. In my experience, once you drop below 7 (1pr 5 juvies) it gets brutal. Best of luck to you all, fish are fish, who knows what they'll decide to do in the end. The odds are not great though. Cheers.

Disagree with the "tank raised" being less aggressive. Every tank raised black and white ocellaris I have owned has been quite aggressive. Not to mention tank raised maroons, tomatos, etc., etc. At the end of the day, it is best to keep only two clowns in a tank at a time. Maturity, pairing behaviors, breeding, etc., all change as time goes on and groups are unstable long term.

Yikes, there goes the neighborhood. Welcome aboard Ed

someone must have compromised that account our built it up to scam folks....

Yep, part of the reason I am so demanding of species names or actual collection location when buying from importers/wholesalers. Location is really all you can get, but with most species that is enough. You might have heard, naming conventions for clowns is a disaster :D

Odonus niger and Melichthys niger are quite different yet are frequently interchanged on wholesale lists. Have a picture of the one you were looking for? Odonus niger http://www.fishbase.org/Summary/SpeciesSum...FTOKEN=32688806 Melichthys niger http://www.fishbase.com/Summary/SpeciesSummary.php?id=966 M. indicus is different as posted above. http://www.fishbase.org/Summary/SpeciesSummary.php?id=7634 fwiw: Black Durgeon applies to them all in the wholesale trade.

If the bulkhead sucks air at the top, you get a micro bubble action on the intake. To avoid, raise the other bulk head a bit (45 degree fitting on the inside should be enough) and use a valve to back off the frag tank input to proper flow rate until it is full submerged. Make sure to have enough flow available in the other down pipe to handle the extra flow. If the bulkhead is not sucking air on the intake, i.e. it is already fully submerged, you'll be better off putting a tee on the frag tank side. Say a 1.5-2" feeding a 3-4" fitting, top of the T open, and the bottom either a reducer or a cap. If necessary, force the water to flow through another T and down another 12" sort of like a bubble trap in a sump. Good luck

Sounds like she has developed a taste for LPS and quite likely the BTA. It will pass on ocassion, maybe dietary changes. Only sure thing I have found is to keep them in colonies of 3+ anemones which seems to spread the damage to a tolerable level. Good thing about maroons though, they can play in a FOWLR tank just fine. Might be time for a new home.

Yep. A. percula - Picasso pattern.

Maroons frequent eat the tentacles of hosting anemones, especially BTAs. Not certain as to the reason.

Definitely. No doubt. Not a chance. Progression would be: Juvenile (CB available stage) Pair (two that don't kill each other after they sort out whose boss) Pair Bonded (the inseparable type) Mated Pair (after they lay viable eggs, 2 females pretending don't count, but it does occur)

Then it appears you are both on the right track. Keep up the good work

It appears a bit bleached in the center and base of the tentacles, but nothing I would be in a panic over. Likely the reason it is out a bit more at night, feed it then if it becomes necessary. Keep an eye on the coloration, it if begins to fade toward white, it may need some action.

Bob, Under the best of conditions, I have had a golfball sized BTA without minimal zoox, no tentacles(chewed off nubs), grow out and recolor to a 6" diameter tentacle covered specimen in 90 days. The keys: -will it eat(try fish based meals cut in 1cmx1cm sized cubes every other day) -is it hiding from the lighting(check it at night and see if it comes out more) -are any tank mates pestering it?(shrimp, fish, crabs, eunice worms, etc.) Good luck

Your lighting is plenty for haddoni. A healthy captive specimen should grow from 6" to the 12" mark in 6 months, likely hit 16" by the end of the year. Eventually hit 20" if well cared for. Tangs seem to be incredibly common food stuff for S. haddoni in our aquaria. I don't recall too many accounts of the dwarf/pygmy angels being eaten, but tangs are going down a few times a year in RC posts. If it was going to be a centerpiece, I would focus on a larger pair of clowns with haddoni tolerance and avoid fish that blunder around like tangs. Fwiw: I have a pair of large clowns that love to feed shrimp to the anemones, wiped out a colony of scarlet cleaners. Be cautious there too. Mike, I share your opinion and apply it to all anemones actually

BTAs frequently attach to the underside of rocky ledges and extend the tentacles toward light. The only alternative it may prefer would be a rocky cave providing more protection for its base. The zoa's and BTA will likely exchange some damage, not sure who will win.

They cut easy, but recovery is a trick.

Good feedback Wreck. Most of the folks I know have been using NO Fluorescents as well. Definitely recommend darkening the sides and whitening the tank bottom(paper on the outside bottom). For light cycle, 12+on/12-off is a good place to start. Single tank environments allow you to tweak lighting to egg hatch, fry eating rots, fry eating bbs, etc so be prepared to tweak away. For instance, to help keep fry from overeating bbs, shut off the light when gut loaded. In a multitank breeding set up, that may not be possible. Have you been breezing through the Breeder Forum on RC? Atticus, Billsreef, JHardman, and MarinaP have some solid experience and post quite a bit.

Black Saddlebacks, A. polymnus like these juveniles:

Yep, now focus on tweaking hatch day with temperature: too early they are not strong enough to eat, too late and they don't have enough yolk to sustain. 2F increments have quite an impact on hatch time. You'll be shocked at the water quality the fry will tolerate, minus ammonia of course. Feeding at the stage you are working is easily a twice daily requirement and coupled with a light cycle. Your persistence will reward you