LanglandJoshua August 2, 2011 Author August 2, 2011 I am thinking of some fish to add, I had done a post asking if mandarin gobies would be safe with an anemone in the tank, I will try it. Now I am wondering if a pink tailed trigger would be good. Some places say its aggressive, others say its submissive. Some places even say it is guaranteed to eat any inverts, but I love my shrimp and hermits. They can be fun to watch. The most aggressive fish I have in the tank right now are my two B&W clowns and a very calm royal gramma. I love triggers, and would love to be able to add such a unique fish. I remember seeing one behaving well in Pipers(Paul's) 110gal tank. If I got this trigger, I would get a baby. So that it would grow up knowing the others to be of similar size or larger. I have actually heard of balla sharks growing up with a small guppy, later in life when they saw a guppy that looked the same they wouldn't harm it. The guppy lived a full life, all others were food(my fathers old freshwater tank). Absolutely none of my fish have shown any signs of aggression, except the chromis who just bicker with each other. I believe these colorful fish would be the perfect things to add(for color and movement). Of course if its going to cause an issue, then I can find something else. Any ideas, alternatives, advice would be great. Thanks in advance!
LanglandJoshua August 2, 2011 Author August 2, 2011 (edited) Another concern is that one site mentioned the pink tailed trigger would eat smaller fish, I have some neon gobies. I got them to help make sure that my fish are parasite free. I like to have at least one "grooming" critter in the tank. Be it a cleaner shrimp, or parasite eating fish. After some research I am thinking of a blue jaw trigger. Most sites I am seeing claim it to be less aggressive than the pink tail, which is my over all goal. Will this one have the same potential issues as a pink tail? They "need" hard shelled shrimp to wear down their teeth? That does not sound good for my peppermint shrimp... Edited August 2, 2011 by LanglandJoshua
GraffitiSpotCorals August 2, 2011 August 2, 2011 Yea I put some peppermint shrimp in with my pinktail and one excaped him but the other was gone in seconds. He inhaled it. So I would definatly think twice about what you wanna do, pretty sure any trigger will be the same and the pinktail was very nice to other fish unless it was food sized. Plus mine was about 5 inches and I think my 6 foot tank was too small for him once he hit that size, he loved running back and fourth so I got him a bigger home with someone else.
LanglandJoshua August 2, 2011 Author August 2, 2011 My tank may only be 5' wide, but it has a good swim path and TONS of caves. About half the tank is cave for hiding space and homes. I also plan on getting a baby (1-2"). If I feel the need I will add a fish trap and sell it. The shrimp I have are about 2-2.5". I want more, if I need to there are other places I can put them(sump area with rock). Just to let them grow. But I'm worried about my crabs and snails (mostly snails).
BowieReefer84 August 2, 2011 August 2, 2011 Just replenish inverts. Both triggers and puffers teeth never stop growing from what I understand. They NEED hardshell food to help grind them down. At the end of the day raw oysters on the shell are probably about the same price as snails and hermits... I would keep them in the sump, and replenish the display periodically? This is just me talking. I am sure there may be better ways.
LanglandJoshua August 2, 2011 Author August 2, 2011 On the same page worth that, I am considering a maxima clam. But don't have to have one. As for the shrimp, I don't want to spend that much money. I've also has these guys for a long time. They were the ones that were breeding, well trying. I uprooted the system, so the process is starting again.
LanglandJoshua August 6, 2011 Author August 6, 2011 (edited) Ok, here are some pics of my RBTA's. I moved the green ones to another place in the tank and freed up the in tank refugium. Then started to split one RBTA. Unfortunately the anemone got its foot into a crevasse. One I couldn't see. So I was unable to get it out and lay it flat without any "unneeded" harm. All I can do is wait and hope, normally it heals fine(GBTA's had little trouble). Since I start from the mouth and out on the body, I'm not worried about missing the oral disk. Its more a matter of keeping it even, and looking good. Which is second priority to survival. So far the survival rate is out of 5 splits, 90% survived(9 out of 10). The one that died was when I tried with scissors...I missed the foot because of how it was laying. Enough chat, here are the pics. The white inside was shrimp, I had fed them earlier today. Edited August 6, 2011 by LanglandJoshua
LanglandJoshua August 7, 2011 Author August 7, 2011 I have some plans now for moving forward with this "sustem" here they are. First I am covering floor to ceiling with a wood paneling to match the room as closely as possible. Then I plan on setting up the "old refugium" into an anemone tank. The 160 is so large, with so many hidden rubble patches I don't need the refugium. I am sure even the mated pair of mandarins wont be able to eat all the pods. The refugium is 10 gallons and I plan on letting the mag7 that pumps the water into it be the only source of flow. There will be an either 75W or 150W metal halide pendant on it. Any suggestions would be appreciated. While I am working out the final plans, here is what I believe the final hardware list will be. x2 lumatek 250W/400W ballast with single end mogul elite reflectors x1 MH 250W 10k x1 MH 250W 14k x1 MP40ES(might add a second to make sure there is enough flow) x1 Reef Keeper Elite(with ATO switches) x1 Reeflow Dart 3600GPH x1 chiller(not sure what is needed yet, suggestions would be great) x1 AVAST pegleg skimmer(only for aeration right now) x1 Mag 7(anemone cloning tank) x1 800W Titanium Heater with JBJ TRUE TEMP Digital Controller x1 75 GPD RO/DI 6 stage Chloramines *DELUXE* system Here is the final fish stock list, * fish I already have x1 mated pair of Mandarin Gobies x1 Pink Tailed Trigger x1 Royal Gramma* x1 mated pair B&W clowns* x1 Watchman goby* x1 Engineer goby* x2 Neon goby* x1 Cleaner wrasse x5 Chromis*(have3) x1 Blue hippo tang(maybe two? possible?) x1 Orange Shoulder tang x1 Foxface* All of the fish that I plan to add will be bought as babies, or juvenile. So that they can grow, if one gets too big then I may need to remove it. But would prefer not to. Of course the fish's health comes first. The tank has over 300-400lbs of live rock, I am not a good judge. But there are over 20 rocks that I have seen similar sizes weigh 8+lbs, several I know to be over 15lbs. Unfortunately it was never truly weighed by me. I bought it all used, the sellers told me what it weighed when they bought it. Or a close estimate to what several purchases would add up to. So there are plenty of caves and hiding spaces, as well as filtration. I also plan to keep 8-10 peppermint shrimp, and two to three types of large starfish. Plenty of hermits, snails, and possibly other inverts. As for coral I plan on keeping mostly LPS(must keep shoulder tang well fed!), with some sps from monti's to possibly some birdsnest. Of course at least two to four anemones, and lots of zoanthids with a few paly's thrown in with some maxima clams. There may be something I left out, or missed. If you see it, please let me know! Last thing I want is to get a bunch of stuff and go...oops... Unfortunately my biggest worry is the trigger, and all my inverts/possible clams. With this sized tank, I really NEED my cleanup crew. If you have had a Pink Tailed Trigger, did it eat your inverts? I have heard some do some don't. I do feed a LOT of food, so it should never be underfed. I use mostly pellets, but once a week or two I cut up some frozen shrimp and toss them in, as well as feed the anemones. When I get the tangs I will be feeding nori regularly(my foxface wont touch it, but loves pellets and will eat some hair algae). If need be, the pink tailed trigger will be removed from the list. But after seeing how active and entertaining they can be, one day I will have one! If not in this system, then another. Thanks for any ideas, or advice. This is one of the reasons I love WAMAS! Pictures of dry PVC and wood get tons of interest. Even more confusing is how lists of fish(like above) don't bore you guys to tears. I know I've poured over at least 5-6 sites(conservative count!), and couldn't(wouldn't) count the hours of reading. With that, GOOD NIGHT. Thanks for any help!
trockafella August 12, 2011 August 12, 2011 Cant say Ive heard that Orange shoulders are big LPS eaters. I have one and ive never seen it even consider it, the rabbit will eat your zoas/lps and clams if its not happy with your feeding, and it will eat the most expensive zoas first. Hope yopu dont pay the electric bill there, that list looks like a lot of eneergy consuming items. IMO you could be much more energy effiecent with some of the items on your list. For example, I dont see the need for a metal halide over a refugium, or a mag 7 for it.
LanglandJoshua August 24, 2011 Author August 24, 2011 I was looking at my tank now, and remembering who got me into this hobby. My Oceanography teacher Mrs. gerbassi. She was the first to tell me about WAMAS, and being a senior in highschool I knew everything. So I figured I wouldnt need a club to help me run MY tank. It would be PERFECT! I was wrong! Then I remembered how I met Paul and Amanda(Piper27). They finally convinced me to join WAMAS, by inviting me over and blowing my mind with their great tanks! From then on its been nothing but learning. Sometimes the hard way, others from advice. So I wanted to thank you guys for the help! You ROCK!
LanglandJoshua September 1, 2011 Author September 1, 2011 I finally decided to be on the safe side, and not get the pink talked trigger. But I do want the orange shoulder, which I plan to get monday. One person mentioned my foxface might eat zoas. It must be crazy happy, because it has never went for the zoas. That I have noticed....but I have at most seen it eat food off a zoa. Hopefully I will be able to build a wall around the tank and its corner by next week! I had been wanting to skin the stand. But it seemed too unnatural. Then I realized, instead of making the tank look good on its own. I needed it to match the room. I am also looking again at LED's, waiting to get an estimate for my RBTA refugium. Once most of the hardware is cared for, I will take my time with the live stock. Another great thing is most of the snails have spawned. Resulting in dozens of little guys all over the place! Even the bristle worms have spawned. I'm doing something right? The tank still has a little more rock than I want. But its nice to see signs that the critters are doing well. I did see some kind of clearish stuff hanging on the foxface. Like it got a sunburn that was peeling. But after some time in my cleaner goby's (blue stripe) cleaning station I can't find any sign of what was on it yesterday! So that is great!
LanglandJoshua September 8, 2011 Author September 8, 2011 (edited) I received a small order of two corals, a clam, and some snails/shrimp earlier today from Pacific East Aquaculture. When I opened the box I was thinking about how they charge for packaging the boxes. I had always felt that if your shipping stuff, you factor that in the price. However when I opened it up I realized the charge was more like an insurance policy! I have seen other places pack items in one or two bags, but never 4-5. I really just stopped counting since I just wanted to see what I got! It was like they were shipping their own stuff. Not like the norm of a shop that does not care how the live stock arrives. Since they can't guarantee the safety of the livestock during shipping, it usually feels like they just dont care. So a big thumbs up for the patience to secure all those bags! Everything was very healthy. One if the shrimp molted, the favia and acan had great color! They were overgrown off the plug! Within 5 minutes of placing the maxima clam in my tank (after 40min acclimation time), the mantel could be seen clearly. Within an hour the mantel was fully out, I added some reef chilly from BRS. That seemed to coax the maxima to open just a bit more! Now the next few days will show how these corals will do in my system. I am now looking forward to watching all of these grow, I hope these LPS will grow onto the rock. Enough about the box, here are some pictures and links to video! Edited September 8, 2011 by LanglandJoshua
jaddc September 9, 2011 September 9, 2011 Nice! Love dr. Macs. Solid business. BTW the gbta and zoa frags i got from you are growing fast in my tank. Your set up is awesome! Keep up the good work.
LanglandJoshua September 22, 2011 Author September 22, 2011 (edited) I got some great new fish from Petland this past weekend! Finally got some time to put a video up, all the coral are growing well. The Hollywood Stunner is growing to the rock its on, the kenya trees are huge! My show RBTA is pushing 5". Its just amazing to watch everything grow out into something so beautiful! The fish just pull it all together, I hope to get a young Orange shoulder tang this Saturday. To make it all that much more beautiful, I FINALLY got a magnetic aquarium cleaner that is ACRYLIC SAFE! Here is what I got at Petland, 1X Pink Margin Wrasse 1Xmystery damsel(if you know the specific type PLEASE TELL ME! It looked great at the store and was so calm that I had to get it!) 1X male mandarin goby 1X female mandarin goby 3X green chromis(one died...found it on a CC intake. Then the cleaner crew worked their magic.) So enough chat, here are some pics(not that good), and videos! phone has a fun little "cartoonizing" feature, thought I would share. Cartoon Pink margin wrasse King Hermit approves! Da Box Da Fish bags Pink Margin Wrasse(had to put the box lid on top of it, the little bugger nearly jumped out a half dozen times!) SO MANY BAGS! The "damsel" such a cool looking fish! Laying down on the job... Floating Mandarins Mandarins in acclimation bucket, nibbling on some brine shrimp!(video is a couple minutes long, and they dont do much.) CLICK THE IMAGES TO VIEW VIDEO! Chilling out in the in tank refugium, before I let them out.(I was worried that the "damsel" might attack them. But my neon goby was fine, so I thought they would be too. They are still doing well) The damsel and foxface were establishing their pecking order. (The TV show was something that came on while I was dealing with my tank, and kinda an odd show) I put some food in to convince the wrasse to come on out. On the first day, I hardly saw it. Now its out in front and looking great. Sometimes even looks right at me! Edited September 22, 2011 by LanglandJoshua
jaddc September 23, 2011 September 23, 2011 Christmas in September!! Fun! Did you pull out more rock or did you decide to leave it all in there?
LanglandJoshua September 23, 2011 Author September 23, 2011 It's still there, it never sold. I still have my 75, stand, lights, and overflow too.
LanglandJoshua October 6, 2011 Author October 6, 2011 (edited) Just had the new tanks first sighting of baby peppermint shrimp! I cant wait for the oceans of little reflecting eyes that I had in my 75! It will be at least a couple months before that comes. But in the mean time, their successfully breeding! I can't wait to start seeing the generations get bigger! You can watch them, one tiny molt at a time. I believe that since I have seen them get to about 1/4th inch in the past, at about the 1/2-3/4ths" mark they will start moving out like their parents. But it took about 3 months to get the last ones to 1/4th". I can't wait to get a good photo if these little guys! Also, there are two new peppermints in there from pacific east aquaculture. So maybe they will be able to hatch eggs too. The more they put out, the more likely it is that they will have fry survive the onslaught of fish, coral, sponges, feather dusters, CLAMS, and others...it's amazing they can survive! Edited October 6, 2011 by LanglandJoshua
jaddc October 6, 2011 October 6, 2011 Just had the new tanks first sighting of baby peppermint shrimp! I cant wait for the oceans of little reflecting eyes that I had in my 75! It will be at least a couple months before that comes. But in the mean time, their successfully breeding! I can't wait to start seeing the generations get bigger! You can watch them, one tiny molt at a time. I believe that since I have seen them get to about 1/4th inch in the past, at about the 1/2-3/4ths" mark they will start moving out like their parents. But it took about 3 months to get the last ones to 1/4th". I can't wait to get a good photo if these little guys! Also, there are two new peppermints in there from pacific east aquaculture. So maybe they will be able to hatch eggs too. The more they put out, the more likely it is that they will have fry survive the onslaught of fish, coral, sponges, feather dusters, CLAMS, and others...it's amazing they can survive! Neat! Considering what they face in the ocean I think their odds are better in your tank...
LanglandJoshua October 6, 2011 Author October 6, 2011 Same here roni, I didn't expect it to be so active. But this guy comes right out in front and has no fear if the other fish. I love it! Jaddc, I suddenly feel much better about my mandarin gobies!
LanglandJoshua October 7, 2011 Author October 7, 2011 Just got my new MP40WES, my only source of flow had been one reefflow dart(3600gph). Now I have this mp40 really kicking things into gear! Sadly though with all the rock I have, I can hardly get a wave more than +-.5" I'm kind frustrated. But its far better than it was. I seven sat through the auto tuner... My favorite part was turning it on for the first time! I set it to full power, and it got some stuff rocking and rolling. I am considering a second mp40 further down the road. Just to get some nice standing waves. Since there is a large overhanging lip, as long as is just rocking a bit, things should go well. I don't want to clean up messy floors....
LanglandJoshua November 14, 2011 Author November 14, 2011 (edited) It's been a while since I posted a video. Thankfully I found a couple of my favorite frags that disappeared about a week ago. They are starting to recover! I will try to get some pics tomorrow. The video does not look as good online as it did on my phone. This is before rock change http://static.photobucket.com/player.swf?file=http://vid968.photobucket.com/albums/ae163/wolfsfang2/video-2011-11-14-10-12-08.mp4 Here is after, just made some space on the left side for coral and swim space. http://static.photobucket.com/player.swf?file=http://vid968.photobucket.com/albums/ae163/wolfsfang2/video-2011-11-14-17-25-55.mp4 Dave - I am planning on getting a RKE with net this next week. After that I am setting up my ato. Then I can work on the paneling. I would rather healthy coral and fish over a pretty stand for now. The plan also includes dosing pumps as well. This is what I am expecting to really help me take this tank to the level I want it, so I'm very excited. Edited November 14, 2011 by LanglandJoshua
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