Our Tbs

[FireEater]

Originally posted by phil519
I think (but could be wrong) the foxface has a sharp dorsal spine on it's back - similar in sharpness to the way tangs have that barb in their tail. Not something you want have your hand poked on.

THIS FISH IS VENEMOUS. The pelvic, pectoral and dorsal fins of this fish can cause extreme pain. Severe reactions can occur if allergic. If stung soak injured area in hot water and seek medical attention.

Be careful around him. You will notice that when he gets spooked all his fins raise up quickly.

Mark

[dazld]

Hi you guys, It's been so busy here, but I've been enjoying the tank and am still finding things. The lady I bought the tank from didn't test the water, she said there was no need. I disagree and tried to find the Salifert test kits here in Raleigh, but no go. I finally, in the interest of time, bought Tetra, which were available most places. I had to buy the calcium test and the nitrate test separately. The fish store guy told me (kindly, he intended to save me money) that I really wouldn't need them. BUT, as it turns out, the calcium was so high it was off the charts. She was dripping Kalk and since she didn't test I guess it just built up. At this point I have it down to about 600. My nitrites are ok but my nitrates are very high. I admit I don't understand all the relationships between the chemistry yet. I've been doing water changes and have replaced the bulb in the refugium and planted halameada and feather algae. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong...I'm flying by the seat of my pants with all this. When I replaced the bulb for the refugium I discovered that something was living down there. The seller never mentioned that. It took a few days to get a good look but I'm sure now. I have a gorilla crab...and I don't want it. I really don't want to kill it either. It's up for grabs if anyone knows someone who might want it. I'm not expecting a bidding war here. Free To Good Home! Also, my salt was really high. She included a hydrometer but as it turns out, it was way off. I had my water tested with a refractometer at the fish store and long story short, at this point its still a little high (.26), and I'm going to get a refractometer. I haven't bought one because I have a friend who says he has two and just has to dig them up. So, do feel free to jump right in and tell me what I don't know. I'd tell ya more but I'm just too tired. I'd try to do pictures as well, but about 30 min before I went to see this tank the first time my 'main' computer fried and I'm still trying to get that straightened out. That's the one the camera is hooked up to. That's it for now. Patsy

[dood68]

Hi ya all havent posted in months, ive been way too busy but i had to make time for this.




i finally got the little rat fink!!! allthough the cost was way too high, i am pretty sure this is the creep that killed my LMB and my royal gramma.
that's all i got
thanks for listening

[dazld]

I'd love to know HOW you caught it!!!

[drk70]

Patsy, just dispatch the gorilla if you are sure that is what it is. If there is actually someone out there that wanted them I have plenty.

[dood68]

well it's taken me three months so i'm not sure you want to follow my advise, i tried bottle trap and it did not work.
so about a week ago i started dropping small pieces of silversides near where i had seen it every night. two nights ago it played tug of war with the silverside and i let it win.
i reapeted the same last night.
tonight i just held the tweezers until it came out of it's hole. it's kind of like catching lobsters with your hand, you have to aim for the tail or it will be gone by the time you try to get it.

[drk70]

Whatever works, right!

[dood68]

absolutly!

[drk70]

Not to rub it in but here is what I got today from Pet Solutions.

Candy cane pistol and two skunk cleaner shrimps.









and a purple firefish





I aslo got some snails (cerith, astrea and nerite) but nobody want to see pics of them.

[dood68]

shweeet!

[Fred_J]

Patsy
With the calcium that high I would check the PH and Alkalinity. They are all related.
Fred

[bkelley02]

That big gorilla in my tank is starting to cause me some serious headaches. He's been on a mission to move every bit of sand in my tank lately! I almost had him last night though! He was on top of the rock and I just missed him with tongs. If I had a claw, he was mine!! I'll be making a stop on the way home from work today though! I did manage to get two more small gorillas though. Only two more that I know of other then the huge one.

[bobt2]

am i missing something here. when you mail order fish and only get 1 or 2 don't the shipping costs kill you. a $6 fish and $30 shipping is double the cost of the fish locally.

[patsan]

I think it depends on the fish you order Bob. Some of them aren't available locally. Pet Solutions pricing looks to be good to me compared to some of the LFS prices I have seen. It's only $20 to ship from there also.
An example is the blue tang Dennis got locally. He paid a couple of dollars more for it than I paid getting from Pet Solutions including shipping.
I went to a LFS and I could have gotten a blue tang for about the same price I could get it online including shipping, but I also get a guarantee online, which I wouldn't have gotten from the LFS.
I can see your point if you were only ordering a $6 fish though. Then it wouldn't be worth it IMO.

On a positive note, last night I discovered a new coral growing in the TBS tank. Can't get a picture of it with the angle, but it's a baby star coral! Right now it's about the size of a dime. It's near the one on the top that the clown stays by. I was so happy to see it.

The foxface looks exactly the same as yesterday. When I turned the lights on this morning, I guess it was mad....cause it looked just like Mark's picture. Within 2 minutes, it looked just like the picture I posted yesterday. Still has that black blotch....it hasn't turned yellow there yet.
Everything else also seems to be doing fine so far. Just checked the ammonia level in QT and it's good...none detected.

[bobt2]

pat, i guess i'm spoiled i have 3 places within a 20 min. drive that i would buy livestock from. theres a few more i wouldn't even buy fishfood from!

[patsan]

Originally posted by bobt2
pat, i guess i'm spoiled i have 3 places within a 20 min. drive that i would buy livestock from. theres a few more i wouldn't even buy fishfood from!

You're lucky. Not everyone has that many places so close to them.

DooD.....how come you killed the mantis? That guy has been looking for one, and even has a FedEx account, so it wouldn't have cost you anything to ship it to him.

Brian, please keep us informed about the nudi's. I find it so interesting! Can't wait to hear and see the outcome. Your zoanthids look really nice. I love that orange one.

[drk70]

Originally posted by bobt2
am i missing something here. when you mail order fish and only get 1 or 2 don't the shipping costs kill you. a $6 fish and $30 shipping is double the cost of the fish locally.

I ordered the shrimp, pistol and snails too so the shipping really isn't bad. I agree if you order 1 fish that cost less than the shipping it isn't worth it. I would just add it to an order when you may need other things.

I only have 1 place close by that I would even consider buying fish from and like Pat said they almost even out on some fish because this LFS is alittle high on their pricing.

[H2OLUVSME]

Originally posted by phil519
Now...what does img mean in that context - or is that a fat finger...?

that was definatly a fat finger i think i must have fat ones a lot because i think you asked about that before. ill have to go back and look and see if i messed up again im sure i did....

[drk70]

Originally posted by bkelley02
That big gorilla in my tank is starting to cause me some serious headaches. He's been on a mission to move every bit of sand in my tank lately! I almost had him last night though! He was on top of the rock and I just missed him with tongs. If I had a claw, he was mine!! I'll be making a stop on the way home from work today though! I did manage to get two more small gorillas though. Only two more that I know of other then the huge one.

I'm not too good with the claw but what I use most of the time is a piece wire from those survey flags (I would think a coat hanger would work too, just thicker) and sharpen the ends to a point. I bent one end like a hook (so you can get under a rock) and leave the other straight. I either get behind them and flick them off the rock and pin them on the glass or poke them right through their shell.

[BrianPlankis]

Its time again to play name that hitchhiker with your insomniac host garagebrian!

Ok, first was still lights on, tunicates?


I woke up around 5am this morning for a pit stop and my usual cirolanid check. No cirolanids, but I saw this worm out and about. It can move fast, covering about 8-10 inches in 2-3 seconds, but before it bolted for its hole, here are the best shots I could get, I need to clean my glass! It lives in a hole in the sand under the edge of a live rock in the back corner of the tank normally.





It did appear similar to a featherduster worm on the body with very short spikes, about 1/2 to 1/3 the length of a typical bristleworm spike. The clear feeding tentacles can easily reach 10-12 inches from the front of the worm.

Any guesses?

Oh yeah, quick nudibranch update: The larger of my two nudibranches laid another mass of eggs last night between 8-9pm. A total of 3 egg masses already. Again this bucket is terrible for pictures, none came out clear.

B.

[BrianPlankis]

Hey all,

Here are some pictures of my corals adjusting to the main tank under actinics only

LOVE this one and that is exactly what it looks like in the tank, SOOOO bright, I can't wait until I have 20 of these


Some zoas that look rather bland under 10K, bright peach under actinic:


Some that look rather bland with brown skirts in 10K, pink center with reddish skirts, also notice my orange on orange have a green ring under actinic


My yuma ricordia and two other zoas:


I need to rotate the yuma to get a full shot, looks like purple with orange and a green mouth.

B.

[drk70]

Here is a pic of my blue tang. The pics are kind of dark because I adjusted the exposure but it shows the color of the tang better.





BTW, nice pics Brian.

[dood68]

Originally posted by patsan

DooD.....how come you killed the mantis? That guy has been looking for one, and even has a FedEx account, so it wouldn't have cost you anything to ship it to him.

Pat it wasn't my intention to kill it. it took me a long time to finally nab it and in my freaked out state of mind i squeezed too hard. it was torn at the middle. so i put it in the freezer, i thought that was the only humane thing to do.

[patsan]

I wonder how often those nudis lay eggs? This is fascinating.

DooD...you squeezed it with your hands? OMG I'm afraid to even touch a baby crab.
Landon....did you have time to look and see what kind of angel fish we have?


Everyones pictures look great. Dennis, your tang looks so big compared to mine. Here are 2 shots of my tank. You can see the tangs in there if you look close:

[H2OLUVSME]

your tank looks great Pat!

i dont have the book that i know i saw them in. Scott Micheal's pocket guide only has a few genicanthus angels in it, and the Japanese swallow tail is not one of them. he does have the blackspot (which i believe us to have) listed as a genicanthus melanasomthingorother. i will get the real names for both of them out of the mega Scott Micheals book this evening when i stop at the LFS. today is delivery day so ill be going by right after work.