My humble tank pictures

[RandyO]

Here is a frag of Red and Green Acanthastrea i received in February 2004. It was 3 polyps with a tiny piece of a 4th polyp.


Here is a picture from June 2004. The red and green frag is up front and closed up a little since this was a night shot with the flash. The large colony to the right is my red and gray.


Here it is in October 2004 under 10K MH lighting.


Here it is in December 2004. This is just after my 150 tank broke, and all the acans had to be put in my 40 breeder with PC lighting. I never knew how great they could look under this lighting.


March 2005 Back to 10K MH lighting.

[RandyO]

Both of those color morphs originally came from a LFS in the LA area called Tongs. A friend of mine was able to get a frag off both colonies about 6 years ago. Since then he grew them out and I was luck enough to get a frag of each color morph. Back then we called these corals Micromussa. It was not until October or November 2003 that we realized they were Acanthastrea. It took a while to get used to that name.

[vpham24]

Tongs had a piece like that, I think it was stolen by someone during the day. They have a lot of them brought in now. They do sell them now, before they just put them on display only. I guess now they have to sell them in order to bring in more.

[vpham24]

Well trained. Dinner time.

[vpham24]

Acans are very hardy and here's another example of it. When I fragged my original colony, I had a piece of skin chipped when I broke off the frag. So I decided to keep it and see how it would turn out. Well, if you pay attention to the square box it's now a little baby with a big stomach. That white thing that is twice its size is a piece of shrimp that its trying to swallow. Pretty cool to me.

[RandyO]

My 150 gallon tank in November 2004. This was just before the bottom of the tank cracked. The only casualties were a few fish that could not be found until it was too late.



Here is the new tank.
May 2005

[vpham24]

Randy, that's nice man. What's that orange thing down at the bottom left. Are those yumas? The tank that cracked for me also have a centered overflow. The center brace does not exists, it was hold together by 4 inches wide glass pieces.

How long did it took you to set up the new one? I had no backup tank, so I had only 8 hours to clean up the mess and get the new tank up. That was a hard day for me.

[RandyO]

Originally posted by vpham24
Randy, that's nice man. What's that orange thing down at the bottom left. Are those yumas? The tank that cracked for me also have a centered overflow. The center brace does not exists, it was hold together by 4 inches wide glass pieces.

How long did it took you to set up the new one? I had no backup tank, so I had only 8 hours to clean up the mess and get the new tank up. That was a hard day for me.

In the second picture, the orange coral on the bottom right is a Scolymia coral I've had for many years. In the first pic, the orange things in the middle left are a patch of orange yumas.

Both of my 150's did not have a center brace. They have a 3" Eurobrace around the whole top.

I'm embraced to say how long it took me to set the new tank up. When the tank cracked in early December, I still had a tank setup in my basement fully running, but completely empty. I was able to fill it up with almost all my corals from the broken 150. It took about 3 months to order, and then receive a replacement tank. Then I dragged my feet for another 2 months. Once I set my mind to it, it was only a couple full days of work to take the broken tank off the old stand, re-modify the stand, get the back of the new tank painted and up on the stand, re-plumb the new tank, and then turn on the valves to fill the tank up.
I still have the tanks in my basement set up and running. One tank is completely empty again, but I won't be too hasty in breaking it down. I've learned that they can come in handy.

[RandyO]

Here's an interesting pic.
This is how I carried my Acan collection from the basement to the first floor kitchen.

[RandyO]

My orange Scolymia in it's new tank.



Here it is crammed in the temporary setup.

[vpham24]

Dude, I like that green with purple rings. Got any growth on that yet? I'm waiting for John to grow out that pink acan, the one like Jen. He guy is not feeding right now, so I have to wait awhile. hahahaha

[RandyO]

Originally posted by vpham24
Dude, I like that green with purple rings. Got any growth on that yet? I'm waiting for John to grow out that pink acan, the one like Jen. He guy is not feeding right now, so I have to wait awhile. hahahaha

Hey,
That one is also one of my favorites. It started as a 3 polyp frag in September 2004. I didn't see any new growth until January or February 2005. You can see the ring it has put out in this pic. Some of the babies don't have the nice green color, but they get it once they receive enough light.



This is one of the best pics I have of this piece that can show the babies. Once they are in the tank, it's much harder to get a full shot of the coral.

[JenDub]

Randy those pics are insane. Nice "little" collection there. How big is that scoly

hehe...vpham my pinky just got two new babies on it last night or at least me noticing last night, I would show pic but can't.

[vpham24]

See that, as soon as I mention Jen, her head perks up.

Jen I'm sure you can get a pix or two. I had one just like that, but due to my wonderful tangs, I have nothing but the frag rock left.

[vpham24]

Randy, is this Hillae?

I got this one last November. This was how it looks then.



Now it looks like this.

[RandyO]

Originally posted by JenDub
Randy those pics are insane. Nice "little" collection there. How big is that scoly

hehe...vpham my pinky just got two new babies on it last night or at least me noticing last night, I would show pic but can't.

Little? I guess in today's standards it is. Back in September it was one of the top 5 biggest in the country. OK, maybe top 10. That was before colonies were coming in on a regular basis.

The Scoly is about 10" in diameter when fully expanded. It is huge. It was much happier in that pic where its crammed in my little 50 gallon. It should adjust to it's new home after a few weeks. I've left plenty of bottom space for him, and a couple friends.

[bugsy714]

hehe, I think Jen was being sarcastic when she said little, that's quite a collection you have!

That sounds like a massive scoly, ever eat any of your fish?

[RandyO]

Originally posted by vpham24
Randy, is this Hillae?

I got this one last November. This was how it looks then.



Now it looks like this.

It looks like A. echinata to me. The same species that the Rainbow Acan is. It's not the same as the A.subechinatas that are more common. Nice piece. But I doubt it's hillae.

[RandyO]

Originally posted by bugsy714
hehe, I think Jen was being sarcastic when she said little, that's quite a collection you have!

That sounds like a massive scoly, ever eat any of your fish?

I wasn't sure.

Never got any fish, but has eaten a few snails. My clownfish use it as a host.

It is massive. I couldn't take it out of the aquarium with one hand. It wouldn't close up. I ended up sliding it into a container and scooped it out of the 50 gallon to move it to the new tank. The weird thing is that the skeleton is small. Smaller than many of the Scoly's I've seen come into the LFS. This one just fills itself up with a ton of water.

Here are a couple pics from January 2005.

You can see how the fleshy part climbed it's way up the side of the rocks.


Top Down shot.


I wish these pictures could show the true colors of this coral. It is so bright in person. When relatives come see my aquarium, it's always everyones favorite piece.
I guess non-coral people like the movement. They always ask, "Is that thing alive, and is it moving?"
It's just swaying in the current.

Xenia is a people pleaser too.

[vpham24]

Randy, Xenia is a people pleaser. That scoly of yours is huge. What do you feed it?

Got a question for you Micro nuts, I got one of my micro sitting on the sandbed with a little current going and it looked happy. Yesterday I switched the powerjet to blow a little more toward its direction and the darn thing depressed as close to the skeleton as possible. How much current do these guys needs and how much light. I moved it down and away from the current and noticed a more happy micro.

[vpham24]

I'm starting to notice a few babies on that piece. I don't have very good luck with these micros. Will someone please help a brother out with some suggestions.

NOW EVERYONE, it's not fun with just me and Randy posting pix and stories. Please, Please, Please join in.

We would like to SEE and hear your stories. This should inspires all of us and those who are starting out. This is not Acan, Micro or Xenia specific thread. Throw anything in, you got a pix, throw it in.

How about some happy flowers?

[vpham24]

How about something to lighten things up a bit. I found this picture, it depicts a map of the mall. For those of you who have wife, girlfriend, you know what I'm talking about right?

[JenDub]

Randy I was being verrry sarcastic. Your collection is fantastic!!!! Just seeing it all in the tub is impressive. Looking at your full tank shots, you could miss somethings in the rocks. That's why I made that statement, sorry for confusion

vpham love the fun pics...I think everyone is scared to post pics, which is sad cause all of us have sold/traded frags here and there. We all make up a big part of this LPS Forum. I will eventually but I am going to let the dust settle. I will draw them for you....do you like crayons and stick figures?

[vpham24]

Jen, that's OK, as long as people are willing to share their thoughts is fine. I think sometime we spent too much time trying to get the latest and greatest, so we neglect to enjoy what we have. I had someone asked me how do they get these beautiful creatures without going broke, hmmm, that's a pretty good question. My thought is that what you see now with these pictures doesn't always come straight from LFS looking spectacular. Some of my most beautiful one was once ugly and cost little to nothing compare to what is now.

The thing I enjoy the most about this hobby is that you will never know how your piece will turn out. It could change within weeks, months or years. But you can get something as ugly as my original acan, and it turns out to be a beautiful swan. That's because we took the time to take care of each and everyone of them. How many times have you guys changed the water a month? Doesn't that breaks your back everytime? Yet we do it over and over.

Seeing a tank like Randy is an example of what we all, well at least for me, inspires to reach when we start out with one coral or one fish. I've learned a lot from this forum over the years, and a lot of it has something to do with the great folks willing to share their experience. So why are we stopping here? Where's all the Acan geeks? Where's all the Micro geeks? Why does it always have to be a picture of something beautiful? I'd love to read or hear a good story any day. Sorry for being philosophical, but I hope that my humble tank can help bring back why we're in this hobby in the first place. We all know why. Why are we here on this forum? To share our beauties, to show off our hard work, to make friends and most of all, to help those who needs a little help. I gotta admit, I need help all the time.

OK, get on to this pix. How about this scared dog.

[JenDub]

OMG I have never laughed that hard!!!