Sharkey18 November 30, 2018 Share November 30, 2018 (edited) I'm going to follow Dave's example and formally announce a return to the hobby. I walked away from reef keeping in 2016 amid a financial crisis in my business. For the past 3 years I've been completely consumed with reorganizing and fixing those issues and in 2018 we turned a corner and are doing really well. Phew. Of course all of that left no time to maintain a decent reef tank. While I did not take my tank down, it was pretty seriously neglected. I went with a "fish only and whatever else can survive with no maintenance" system. A few months ago I realized I was markedly less stressed than I had been, and thought, "Hey, what's that giant box of water doing in my living room.... " I started messing around and almost immediately all of the joy (and obsession) came back. I now have the time and the interest and have jumped back in. Part of that was a return to lurking around the WAMAS forums. I posted here and there in the past few weeks. So I am super excited to "see" you all again. I re-did all my rock, added new pumps, and am really happy and excited about my "new" tank. My biggest current issue is finding some fish. My existing fish have gotten quite used to living alone. I recently got a shipment from Live Aquaria that was delayed by UPS so everything arrived dead. That is traumatic for me so I am now looking to buy locally. My tank is a 250g and has: 2 small tangs (Scopas and bristle tooth), 1 large rabbitfish, (only addition during my hiatus to control algae) 2 clowns, 1 algae blenny, 1 single bad ass female lyre tail anthias 1 bad ass carpenter wrasse 1 ancient bent Bangaii I am looking for some fish additions that might make the tank seem less empty but not %$#* off the current inhabitants. I tried adding more Lyretail anthias but the existing female hunted them all down and killed them. Same thing with the wrasse when I tried to add other wrasse (same sp). Open to suggestions! Edited November 30, 2018 by Sharkey18 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lynn.reef.nerd November 30, 2018 Share November 30, 2018 Hello! Welcome back. I'm very new to the hobby and always happy to see more experience people coming back. More knowledge for us newbie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Origami November 30, 2018 Share November 30, 2018 Hi Laura! Glad to have you back. Ready to volunteer some more? ;-) I have and love to watch my two Lamarck Angels. The first was given to me by John Coppolino and, after a few years, I added a second, hoping for a pairing. The first then changed from female to male and yesterday I happened to stumble on the two as they engaged in a mating/spawning ritual. Anyway, they're beautiful fish and can hold their own (very easily) against the tangs and the rabbitfish, and would do just fine in a 250. Something you might consider. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YHSublime November 30, 2018 Share November 30, 2018 Welcome back! Do you still have your plumbed out tank, or separate holding tank? You could always catch the fish you currently have and re-introduce! Or at least catch the bullies and then add them back at the end!? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharkey18 November 30, 2018 Author Share November 30, 2018 Thanks Tom, A few questions: #1 are the Angels reef safe? #2 I can volunteer for anything that can be started and finished in one day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharkey18 November 30, 2018 Author Share November 30, 2018 Hey Isaac, Part of the neglect involved taking down all of the other plumbed tanks so I only have the main tank and the sump. It was hard enough to keep the one tank running so all the others had to go. I just want to focus on this tank now. I could put some in the sump though.... if I can catch them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Origami November 30, 2018 Share November 30, 2018 5 minutes ago, Sharkey18 said: #1 are the Angels reef safe? #2 I can volunteer for anything that can be started and finished in one day. 1. Some are. Genicanthus Lamarck is "Reef Compatible." Both of mine are model citizens - not nippers. This seems to be true of most/all Genicanthus. Other genus: Pomacanthus, Chaetodontoplus, Holacanthus... not so much. 2. Touche. Wait! Can we string a series of one day efforts together? With the right daily milestones, we can start and finish just about anything in one day. ;-) The story on my Lamarck is that John gave it to me when it became a "third wheel" to a couple that had paired up in his tank. It was a smallish female when I received it. I gave it a home and it lived alone for a long time. Slowly it grew. Reading more about them, I became intrigued with the idea of introducing a smaller female and seeing if the larger female would change over. The male and female differ in appearance. So it was pretty easy to see when things started to happen. As the larger female started changing over to become male, it grew larger and it's stripes changed; it's tail began to get long streamers; and, over time, an orange dot appeared on its forehead. It's cool to watch happen over a relatively short time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CallMeJus November 30, 2018 Share November 30, 2018 Welcome back! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GraffitiSpotCorals December 1, 2018 Share December 1, 2018 Glad your back! Also glad my old Formosa made it through all this time, very exciting!Sent from my Moto Z (2) using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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