Our Tbs

[patsan]

I really like them. Are they easy to keep? I've never seen a wall one like yours Nick. It's really nice!
Nick, do you have a full tank picture?

[patsan]

How does one know if an urchin is dropping eggs or pooping? I see these white things near a couple of the urchins. I certainly don't want urchin eggs in there. That's what I first thought it was, but then surmised it might be poop. It would be a lot of poop if that's what it is. I can't really get pictures...they don't show up in the picture.

[bobt2]

pat, did your coral open today?

[patsan]

Originally posted by bobt2
pat, did your coral open today?

Yes it did. Much more than yesterday, but not 100% yet. I can still see a few places it need to open. But I'd say that about 95% of it is open.
He just didn't have flow on it in the store, so it looked fuller than what I see in my tank.
I'm really pleased with what I got there. I saw he had some of the stuff I asked about. I just didn't know if they were easy corals to keep. I really at this point only want to get easy things until the tank is a lot more mature, and I get more experience. I don't want things dying.
He had like clearish bubble corals too.

I think I am going to put an order in today at reeftopia for a cleanup crew. I need to spend $125 to get free shipping. Between the 2 tanks, I'm sure I can manage that. If you want anything, just let me know...I can add it to the order.

I noticed one of the peppermint shrimp missing from the TBS tank. I've only seen 2 of them for the past 5 days. I wasn't too concerned at first because I figured it molted. But now it's too long, so I think it's gone. Now I'm trying to figure out what happened to it. Did the flower anemone eat it or one of the serpents?....or did it just die.

I saw the pistol yesterday. I was just checking out the tank, and in the corner of my eye I saw something move inside a cave on one of the rocks. Sure enough, it was backing up. I only got to see it's long orange arms, and it slowly went under the rock. I wouldn't have had time to even take a picture.

[bobt2]

i'll look at their site and let you know. i'm taking down two of my tanks to make room for a 75? tbs tank.

[jnb]

yes, very easy - pic to come of whole tank

Originally posted by patsan
I really like them. Are they easy to keep? I've never seen a wall one like yours Nick. It's really nice!
Nick, do you have a full tank picture?

[bobt2]

pat, i didn't see anything on their site that interested me.. thanks anyway. keep me in mind for next time.

[BrianPlankis]

Originally posted by patsan
I really like them. Are they easy to keep? I've never seen a wall one like yours Nick. It's really nice!
Nick, do you have a full tank picture?

Walls can be very pretty when large, the only downside of a wall hammer instead of a branching one, is it is much more difficult to frag and they typically don't recover as well from fragging. If you want something you can frag, go with branching, if you want a showpiece the walls are great.

B.

[patsan]

Not a problem Bob.

I don't know much about fragging Brian. But I do understand what you're saying.

Has anyone ever ordered from fishsupply.com? I was looking at the sponsors, and they seem to have some nice things on sale.
I did a search to see if anyone has left feedback for them, and I don't see any. Just wondering if it would be something to try. They have some fish on sale for really decent prices.

[jnb]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by patsan
[B]I really like them. Are they easy to keep? I've never seen a wall one like yours Nick. It's really nice!
Nick, do you have a full tank picture?

this is before moving everything over to the 120


this is the 120 before final aquascaping - the lights had just come on so the hammer and fish are still sleepy and not out like they will be later and only 4 of the six lights - remembering I am using a tek 3 foot instead of 4 foot

[patsan]

Hey that's nice Nick! What are these things?

[jnb]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by patsan
[B]Hey that's nice Nick! What are these things?

thanks - it evolves how did you do those arrows so fast - anyway I numbered them in white

1 is that algae some reefers like - halimeida or something with harder round leaves and underneath it is what I call a big hairy mushroom that has a two inch baby - the other morning the big guy had a skunk cleaner atenna hanging out of its mouth and I was missing one! next to it - just so I make sure you realize what you are looking at there, is some more algae referred to at number 2

2 if you are referring to the green clump of algae - one guy told me it was bryzoa (sp?) the kind people hate - another guy told me no, it was kind of a bubble algae - I like it - its texture and color and it is not taking over and my new kole tang loves it... I also got some female emerald crabs for the other bubble algae

3 is a orange fungia plate coral shorter tentacled who is a pig

4 is an open brain coral who has and still is going through all kinds of coloraization adaptations who I realize is also a pig

5) I can't say but some of the healthier stalks almost look like that bush algae I have seen diving

[phil519]

Originally posted by garagebrian
Discussion ended when the turtle took a deep breath, yawned and snapped down on the hook, biting THROUGH the hook and returned to rest on the bottom. I never went swimming in that river again.

B.

Call me chicken but I'll snorkel in the ocean but I'm a little paranoid of leeches and snapping turtles in lakes (yes yes the ocean has huge sharks and various venomous critters but I never said I was rational). While headed to shore once after a day of fishing up in maine, the fish that were tied to the boat attracted a snapping turtle which promptly snapped the fish in two. Needless to say when you see your father franticly swinging an oar trying to free the fish from the turtle - you decide never to dangle your feet in lake water again... I guess these days perhaps we all should be more concerned about that snakehead fish.

Pat - while this vendor has less variety, the minmum is only $60. I also have noticed one of my peppermints died. I'm beginning to think that the lysmata I purchased was not of the wurdemanni (carribbean) kind, but the californica (eastern pacific) kind - which doesn't live long in reef temp tanks. I dunno when I look at the shrimp they are much darker than I expected them to be...and darker colors are supposedly a characteristic of the lysmata from the pacific (which btw could care less about aiptasia).

Well for you sushi lovers - I believe the larger sea urchins from the pacific are harvested for their eggs...I think it's called "uni". You could google it and see what the eggs look like. Unfortunately I removed all of my sea urchins. Wish I didn't as they appear rather novel in the tank. Anyways no worries on the eggs pat - they need to go thru a microscopic / planktonic type state first before being tiny urchins...even then I believe the male urchins in the tank have to release sperm into the water column to fertilize them. Oh and I don't think they lay sticky eggs - I'm pretty sure they shoot them out into the water column also.

I forget who has part one only and who has the whole package on t his thread. I noticed that of my package...

the peppermints don't really provide much cleaning as far as I can tell...
the astreas work great in my tank
the cukes didn't last in my tank (likely because my water parameters weren't ideal)
the serpent star hardly stirs the sand as I had hoped

just some observations.

[lossman]

We've got part one and two and what I observe is that the clean-up crew are pigs!! If we put food in the tank for the anemone and others that don't get around, or if we put traps in the tank, the first ones out looking for a free meal are the stars, the peppermints and the hermits. Most traps don't work anymore as the peppermints or stars steal the bait before any crabs (or mantis!) could ever think about getting close to them.

The peppermints will be coming out this weekend as I notice they were tormenting the discosomas and last night two peppermints viciously attacked one of the ricordias. We got rid of most of the urchins a couple of months ago but now have three more in the tank and one in the fuge. Plus we have the pretty pink pin cushion urchin. Those will be coming out this weekend also as I have noticed they are seriously eating the coralline algae. We'll box them all up and take them to TBS to see if they want them and will give us some store credit for them.

I think the problem with the cleanup crew is they have done their job, now they need more food than what the tank can generate for them as we only have one small fish in there. Since we live so close to TBS, if we find we need to replenish the crew, we can always go on a weekend for some.

Sally

[phil519]

speaking of peppermint thieves...back in the day in science class I recall reading about pavlov's experiment where he ran a bell and fed his dogs...then just rang the bell and noticed how the dogs would salivate thinking food was coming.

Well when I had my condylactis I used a pair of tongs to feed it. Occasionally the peppermint shrimp would steal the food. Now i've noticed when I use the tongs to grab something in the tank - the peppermints immediately come out grabbing at the tongs. It's pretty funny (also I'm incredulous how the mere action of them grabbing the tongs you can actually feel a slight tug...similar to when I feel a fish tug my line when fishing).

Frankly though even if you were to add more fish, I feel as if those peppermints have tasted fish food and will now want that first more than fish poop. I know I would!

[lossman]

Originally posted by phil519
Frankly though even if you were to add more fish, I feel as if those peppermints have tasted fish food and will now want that first more than fish poop. I know I would!

LOL, I'm sure you are right. I think the mear sight of the traps sets those peppermints off now. They think "FREE FOOD!!! YEAH!!!"

LOL

[bobt2]

i guess i'm crazy than, i spot feed my pepermints along with the rest of the tank. i like the way they rush out of their cave to get the food on the feeding stick.

[H2OLUVSME]

Originally posted by lossman
LOL, I'm sure you are right. I think the mear sight of the traps sets those peppermints off now. They think "FREE FOOD!!! YEAH!!!"

LOL

as you catch your peps move them to the sump until you get out the nasties. then you can catch them again and move them back up at least they wont be stealing your bait in the mean time.


Danielle, great pics!! thats is one of the best pics of a porcelain i have seen anywhere!

Phil, nice pics also. thats wierd about the clown eating the xenia stalk. are you sure it wasnt just contracted. ive seen my xenia (and a lot of other soft coral) shrink down to nothingness (just like an anemone) before a growth period. my kenya tree does this about weekly now, and every time it comes back there is a new branch or three as far as the zoa (im 99% sue it is) just dont burry it

Pat, my corals were allready IDed i see the top is a frogspawn and the bottom is a hammer/anchor coral (depending who you ask). they have pretty much the same requirements as most other LPS corals: moderate to heavy flow and light. i think they prefer the moderate levels, but can handle pretty much any levels of each. they can tolerate less than perfect water quality also, but show best colors under good quality and frequent feedings.

Jnick, my anchor coral opens up tons more than it used to. i moved it from down about 6" and over to the side of a halide as opposed to right under it. i get a lot more extension out of it now.

Jnick/Brian, if you ever do decide to frag a "wall" style hammer/anchor coral, you need to section the fragging area off with a rubber band. i know it sounds harsh to kill a section of it off, but then a dremel tool or something similar can be used to cut the coral without heating up any live flesh/skeleton.

[H2OLUVSME]

oh and Pat your button polyps.....



....like these, are palythoa, not zoanthid.

[patsan]

Originally posted by H2OLUVSME
oh and Pat your button polyps.....
....like these, are palythoa, not zoanthid.

Thanks. Do they come in many colors?

[H2OLUVSME]

Originally posted by patsan
Thanks. Do they come in many colors?

ive seen them (in person) in different intenstities of the same colors. i had a friend that gave me some that were entirely green. when i put them into my tank they turned to the same brown with green centers.

one of my other friends gave me a few yellow with green centers and i really like them, but they turned brown in the mushroom reef. i guess it depends on your light what theyre going to look like.



these are some of the yellows that i have in my TBS tank.

ive seen them in many colors on websites, but no where as diverse as zoas. very similar in care though.

does nobody like me anymore Pat?
i went to a family reunion and you guys put up 5 pages or whatever. then i come back and make a few posts and the conversation stops

[greenbean36191]

It's because you smell bad.

[drk70]

Originally posted by H2OLUVSME
does nobody like me anymore Pat?
i went to a family reunion and you guys put up 5 pages or whatever. then i come back and make a few posts and the conversation stops

Don't take it personal Landon. Sometimes I feel the same way.

[H2OLUVSME]

Originally posted by greenbean36191
It's because you smell bad.

well........that makes sense

[krajacich]

You know what might make the conversation start up again, Landon? You should post some more pictures All of us here are suckers for pictures!