davelin315 November 15, 2009 Share November 15, 2009 OK, as a father of four under 9 I seldom have time to do any of the stuff that I found to be exciting in college and law school, but as an admitted fish and coral geek, staring at the tank can be fun! So, yesterday was my first free Saturday in the past 2 months since we have a 1 day hiatus between fall and winter sports beginning/ending/having an off weekend so I ran around and did some tank stuff. I also took the chance to do some more tank maintenance and removed the majority of the dead coral mounts from my tank and pushed some of my sand back to where it belonged and changed the direction of the flow a bit from the closed loop. Of course, I did this until the ligths went off so I was tempted to stay up late and see what was in the tank (I also stayed up late trying to catch a hitchhiker crab). Anyway, I got carried away and broke out the flashlight to see what was in the tank, staying up well past my bedtime! Anyway, I found quite a few things that I hadn't thought would be in the tank. For instance, I found that the cleaner shrimp and coral banded shrimp I added awhile back are still in there. I haven't seen them in months and figured that they had gotten eaten by an overzealous fish or the hitchhiker crab in my tank, but there were there and the cleaners are all about 3x the size of when I added them and I saw some eggs on them as well. Now, if only I could get them to come out and set up a cleaning station like they had when I first introduced them. Speaking of hitchhikers, I got a good enough look at my hitchhiker crab to figure out that it's a black mithrax crab. Jury's still out on whether this one is going to turn into mantis food when I catch it or if it can make a living in a sump. It has the reputation of being 90%+ an algae eater, but crabs are crabs and my population of anthias dwindled down to zero recently... I also saw that I have an incredibly large population of mysid shrimp in my display. I knew that I had them in my system in great numbers, but I didn't realize how many of them were in the main display. I have one absolutely huge mandarin and was thiking of adding something else in my display that is strictly a live food eater, but didn't want to go that route as I felt like he and his future mate (still can't find a female red mandarin!) would need all of the available pods and food, but from looking last night at how many pods there are in addition to all of the mysids, there's still plenty to go around if they hunt. Last but not least, I found a fish that I added over a year ago and have not seen since I added it. I always assumed it had died, but it was in there last night. I can't remember what it was bought as, but trying to look it up on identification sites the closest I can say is that it resembles a convict blenny but with tiny eyes and is somewhere between that and a goby (head of a goby, blennyish body with a dorsal fin that wraps around to the anal fin that goes up to the caudal fin) with an orangey/yellow color and swims with a snakelike motion. If you happened to have seent his guy at Aquaco (not the yellow feather blennies) over a year ago and remember what it was, let me know! I emailed Sean to see if he still had records from old purchases, so we'll see if I can get a good ID on this guy so that when I see it in another year+, I'll know what it is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trockafella November 15, 2009 Share November 15, 2009 In the words of Whodini "freaks come out at night" I was doing some late night looking the other night and saw all kinds of things going on... Brain corals with ridiculous sweepers, a fat mandarin trying to wedge himself in a sleeping spot and a lot of other nocturnal behavior.. Its amazing, like a whole new worls when the lights go out.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flowerseller November 15, 2009 Share November 15, 2009 Try putting a red light on the tank you can turn on after the lights go out.. The animals can't see it or ignore it and the fun begins as they go about their normal activities for you . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davelin315 November 15, 2009 Author Share November 15, 2009 Got a reply from Sean that it's a Lycopod Goby or a Brotula (based on research). These guys are nocturnal and are supposed to be difficult to get to feed in captivity and have a reputation for being difficult to keep because of this, but obviously the nightlife suits it just fine! Now I know why I never saw it... Hmmm... nightlife in the redlight district... interesting... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trockafella November 15, 2009 Share November 15, 2009 Got a reply from Sean that it's a Lycopod Goby or a Brotula (based on research). These guys are nocturnal and are supposed to be difficult to get to feed in captivity and have a reputation for being difficult to keep because of this, but obviously the nightlife suits it just fine! Now I know why I never saw it... Hmmm... nightlife in the redlight district... interesting... Nice..!! I will have to try the red light... Is it similar to reptile lighting..? Do you suppose some fish (or inverts) might be workin the corner of some live rock.? Better watch out for the reef police... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davelin315 November 15, 2009 Author Share November 15, 2009 Nice..!! I will have to try the red light... Is it similar to reptile lighting..? Do you suppose some fish (or inverts) might be workin the corner of some live rock.? Better watch out for the reef police... I guess that's why those cleaners stay hidden during the daylight hours... they only want to come out to ply their trade at night! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trockafella November 15, 2009 Share November 15, 2009 Thats is to funny...!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flowerseller November 15, 2009 Share November 15, 2009 Nice..!! I will have to try the red light... I used a 4' 40w tube with 2 red covers over it. It worked great and I might have to fix one of these up again. I guess I thought it could get off topic, just hoped it wouldn't go there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davelin315 November 15, 2009 Author Share November 15, 2009 I wonder if those PC bulbs that are painted red would work. They have them at Lowes and Home Depot but I haven't picked one up yet. Do you think the intensity of the light makes a difference? The red spectrum itself is pretty weak as far as frequency is concerned, the weakest of the light we can see, so I wonder how this actually works for animals. Is it truly that they can't see it or is it that they simply don't notice it because it gets filtered out of the water so much? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L8 2 RISE November 15, 2009 Share November 15, 2009 It's that they can't see it. When we're working with turtles, we only use red light because the turtles don't see it, or just see a little shadow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zygote2k November 15, 2009 Share November 15, 2009 Nice..!! I will have to try the red light... Is it similar to reptile lighting..? Do you suppose some fish (or inverts) might be workin the corner of some live rock.? Better watch out for the reef police... Don't you mean the 'tang police? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyInVa November 15, 2009 Share November 15, 2009 I have lost track of time doing this as well. I usually will watch the tank with a flashlight several times a week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trockafella November 16, 2009 Share November 16, 2009 Don't you mean the 'tang police? That is exactly what I meant..!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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