the joy of little fishes: sk8r's tank 07; 3 pix.

[Sk8r]

Just got some nice images.
The focus of my tank is small fish: in their 54g world, they're lords of all they survey, the pep shrimp are always out and walking around, the ywg is the largest guy in the land, the little gobies and jawfish have no fear whatever, the firefish looks for trouble and the chromis, being a chromis, has not a thought in his head: he just goes, constantly, a school of one.

[ErikJL]

Nice looking tank. It looks very natural.

[snagged by reef]

sk8er,,,do u have any other tanks?

[Sk8r]

Thanks...another Spokanite, too!
This is the final civilizing of a re-build. I moved in March, went to a basement sump with way too much pump, all sorts of problems, including a 2 week delay in getting set up, lost a bunch of specimens [had some nice sps]; had to tame the flow, [T nozzles], and cope with a malfunctioning kalk reactor, and finally I have gotten several things fixed at once. I made my own kalk reactor, got the sand to lie still, got the calcium levels up where they need to be, and in general, all of a sudden everything is dividing and growing in every direction. Coralline---gets an every two week scrape with a razor, and it's a bit overdue. This was, shall we say, a tank candid shot. This is the way it mostly is. I'm hoping as soon as this growth proves out to be a trend, to start repopulating my tank.

I'm particularly glad to see the montipora [orange thing in the upper right] start putting up peaks, preparatory to branching. I lost every single sps except that one, it wasn't looking good two months ago and I feared I'd lose it, but now it's turned bright and started to grow. Hurrah! If that takes off, I'm going to start with some montiporas, maybe replace my bubble coral. Wish I hadn't sold that one: this new config can accommodate it.

The fox in the center was a gappy mess and half dead when I bought it: I fragged it in mid gap, puttied the two S curves together [staggered] and both sides took off. It's growing new mouths.

No other tanks: this is my one and only. A wedge-shaped box into which I pour all spare money.

[snagged by reef]

Looks good...i see u alot on this forum and expected this enormous 500 gallon sps, lps softie, "you name it" reef tank. took me by suprise to see a 54 corner. the candy, hammer, and frogspawn look friggin tremendous!! i have a hammer amounst many other lps and sps and was looking into a frogspawn and torch also. frogspawn i will have soon but i've heard several bad things about torches.

[lakwriter]

very cool idea to do a "small fish" tank. nice aquascaping, too. looks great for having a recent move.

[Sk8r]

Thanks!
That hammer's got more than 30 heads and is now working on an expansion: started with maybe 8. The candycane started with 3. The fine-tentacle torch is so mild I had the hammer touching the frog [it still can if it wants] and the torch also touching the frog. That went on peacefully for a month, but was then getting a bit more argumentative. Neither side took damage, but I moved the torch out of reach. The torch can only reach about 6 inches downcurrent, and he's right next the overflow---fixed *him*. ;0

The montipora is spreading onto the base rock, but that's ok. I can harvest any wild bits for frags.

I am absolutely delighted with my small fishes: I have a 120 type skimmer on this tank, big fuge [20g, big for a 54.] SO I figure I can have some more of these little guys. I'm attracted to the trimma gobies, tangaroas, yashias, a scooter blenny: I have a psycho mandy who, after costing me big bucks of imported pods, learned to eat everything and anything. So she's cool. And I'd like another yellowheaded jawfish---cool beyond belief, and very out and about in this kind of tank. Make a noise like cyclopeeze and she's all over you.
Nobody in this tank is scared of anybody...which means they're always out and showing off.

The coralline just took the overflow, which was black; and why not? It's what you want a rock pile to look like, so I'm cool with it. Some bubble back there, too, but it comes and goes. The peps ate the last of the aiptasia.

I really like the tank config, too: easy and cheap to light, [for mh], that's a fake canopy, completely open on top. The lights just sit up there. The hose vanishes through the floor, headed for the basement, comes back the same way. Two holes you can't even find in the carpet if you pulled the hose out. And---that tank stand is on mega glides on carpet. Two people actually can move it a bit without a problem, despite it weighing about what a fridge does.

Tank size is great: big enough for a lot of corals, small enough to look full of corals before you've broken the bank. I think it's an Oceanic reefready.

[2fishy]

Nice tank, Sk8r! Love the fish choices, too!

[ACBlinky]

Originally posted by Sk8r
...and the chromis, being a chromis, has not a thought in his head: he just goes, constantly, a school of one.

I like your tank, and love the writeup! Little fish are often ignored in favour of flashy wrasses, large angels or bossy old tangs, I'm glad you reminded us how fun they can be! It's so nice to see a non-nano tank dominated by tiny little guys, and I like that it appears settled and mature as well, pretty but not unnaturally perfect.

[McTeague]

I really like the small fish!

small fish > big fish

[Silverfin]

Your Catalina Gobies are really cute, and the clam looks like its lovin' life (along with everything else!)
Love the little Fire fish....My Dad(KyleO) just got a Fire fish for his 30gal along with a Cardinal fish just Friday...

[Sk8r]

THey're actually stonogobiops nematodes---or highfin red-striped gobies. WHich is why we call them Raspberry and Teacake. Poundcake got added when Raspberry sump-dived and we thought we'd lost him. We think Teacake is a female. But now Raspberry and Poundcake get along in spite of that.

The clam NEVER would stay in the rock until I found a pedestal for him/her/it. Now it just luxuriates.

Love the firefishes, too. The blue gudgeons and scissortails are others of that ilk, also the blue stripes and Helfricis, but one dedicated jumper is about all I can keep up with. Argumentative little guys.

Re the chromis---I figured if I had two, I'd soon have one: they really fight among themselves. And this is just about enough water for this guy to have fun. He's of the blue color [they also come in green] which is a rare color in the marine world, and very bright: I like that.

Here's a shot of the jawfish: that opal lower fin is something else, with a bright yellow head and white body. He's made a burrow at the edge of the gsp, and the little rascal has encouraged growth of gsp up on the side glass. And Mr. YWG absolutely rules the tank with his tiger pistol shrimp. He loves sitting on the fox coral: makes him look taller. Oh, and there's Mika the mandarin. Into everything, eats anything.

[steve1963]

Great pics.

[thor32766]

love the pearly head how long have you had him?

[Sk8r]

I've had Moonbeam [the pearly] about 8 months. Never has grown, absolutely peaceful, even when the highfins kept taking her burrows and squabbling. Now they've settled in one burrow, she's made her gsp-lined den, and all is peaceful. The jaws are strong enough to carry shells: she's quite the architect, and when she's building, she comes out and spits mouthfuls of sand. Eats cyclopeeze, Formula One micro sinking pellet---tries to eat mysis, but it's pretty larger for her. You'll notice I wander between 'she' and 'he'. I'm not sure Moonbeam is clear on it, either.

Mika the Mandarin, however, can eat mysis, pellet, cyclopeeze, pods, amphipods---you name it. THat tiny little mouth can really stretch, unlike the little jawfish.

[SparkPlug]

how big is your pearly jaw fish ?

we just lost ours 2 days ago .....he was the star of the tank.
jumped into a rear chamber and was stuck to the recirc pump on the skimmer.

ours was around 4inches.

[Finding Emo]

wow, and you moved that? I was under the impression that there was no possibility of moving a tank and having anything survive...obviously not...

[Sk8r]

Our little guy is about 2". So sorry about yours. I've never had a jumping problem with him. I do block the overflow with plastic needlepoint canvas [hobby store] which is cut to fit, and tilted so a fish that lands on it can wriggle back to the water. Hard to field those that decide to jump, for sure.

Yep, I moved it. Same city move. First, I went to the new place, and I set up the plumbing---I drilled through the floor to the basement, for the sump. The morning before the move I got up at OMG-thirty and broke down my tank, running all fish and corals to the friendly lfs to be boarded. 10Am. Moving date chosen so the store would be open.

I then emptied and dried the tank, bucketing in tank water all the rock.

I threw out all sand [a bed overturned is useless] and got new.

I had moving men get it to the new place, loaded last so it could be unloaded first. I stowed hoses in it, and had it ride ON its stand because of the fragile bulkhead connections on the tank belly.

They got it there. I started setting up.

Here is where it got bad. The lfs, so wonderful in all other respects, accidentally sold my new sump that day. I was hosed! They had to order another one---which got stuck on a truck somewhere.

THe lfs kindly went on boarding my corals and fish, feeling bad about the sump. But I couldn't begin to set up, and my rock cooked in those tubs.

Sump got there. I started setting up. The hose didn't fit, between tank and new sump. I went through every adapter known to man, making dozens of trips to the hardware store. GOt it, finally.

Got my rock [phew!] into the tank, half-cooked. Got new sand in.

Started what I knew would be a mini-cycle. It was gruesome. I set up my refugium in my sump, meanwhile, and that worked. But the tank spiked ammonia on the 3rd day, and all my beautiful rock that had cooked was just gray, except the coralline. It went on to establish the sandbed in only a week---and with something like stability, I was able to go to the lfs and get my fish and corals and put them all in, violating every principle of good reefing: they just went IN. I was out of buckets, and trying to cope with the move. Nobody came down with anything...thank goodness.

Two things survived the cooking: one aiptasia and the roots of the caulerpa I'd tried to eradicate.

But the lps came right out. The softie gps did. The fish all thrived. I was very, very careful of feeding.

Only one problem: the new pump had to be throttled way back, and killed some of my corals by blasting sand at them or knocking them off.

I fixed that, again with the help of the lfs, and RC, [thank everyone for their sane posts and advice] and I got the upstairs sandbed stabilized. I later reasoned it was the REFUGIUM sandbed which had been carrying the tank, more than the one upstairs. Now they're BOTH working and life is good. The chemistry has always been stable, from the get-go, and the corals are now starting to divide and grow like gangbusters. I think one of the highfins is gravid, to boot.
So that's the story. Yes, a tank is FAR tougher than you might think, and thank goodness I pitched the sandbed before the move or fishmarket on a hot day doesn't begin to describe the situation I would have had.

[Purple Penguins]

love that your tank is small fish, I also go in the same direction, I love my yellowhead jawfish, constantly moving around searching for new pieces of debris to steal for its hole and tries to take on the algae blenny at any chance it gets, one of my best fish choices.
today I picked up a black and white aussie ocellaris for my one tank, once my friends tank is ready in 3 weeks my current pair are going over there and my new clown will come out of QT and have the tank all to herself, she's an evil little bugger, her tank mates were hiding under rocks and in holes to get away from her

Love your tank, nicely done

[SparkPlug]

yeah we moved our 29gal biocube in new england weather last week..... not a fun ordeal.... i couldn't imagine having a sump delima like yours ...that would stress me out.

i just threw all our LR and Corals in a large rubbermaid with a heater and 2 koralia's and left the fish sand and about 5gal in the tank and hauled a$$....lol.

[snorvich]

I love your tank! As a diver, I used to go down on a little corner of the reef and just stop. Slow breathing, no kicking. And eventually everything would come out. Just like your tank. Just wonderful.

[Sk8r]

Thank you all for the kind words!

Snorvich, I've only had one tiny experience of snorkling, at---I think it was Marine WOrld in CA. I got the chance to go into their big swim-through reef, and the rule was, you can only swim forward, no back. So I took my time. I let human waves of screaming youngsters splash past me, as I advanced foot by foot; and when things were about to get quiet, I'd swim down to the deepest I could, oh, maybe 10-15 feet, grab onto the rockwork and just wait, holding my breath, while all the little guys came out of the rock. I was enchanted. I could have gone another hour at this, but I was there with a very thin friend, whose rented wetsuit didn't at all fit, and when her lips turned totally blue it seemed time to pack it in. I loved that. And it definitely influenced my tank.

[Mavrk]

Looks great! I am trying to keep my fish on the small side with my 90. I find the YWG and pistol shrimp combination to be very cool. I am planning on doing that myself. I was wondering if you got them at the same time, or did you get them separately?

I was tempted to get a yellow tang, but after seeing one full grown in a tank (I've seen them while diving, but size is not as apparent that way), I think I will skip it and stick with smaller fish.

I currently have 2 chromis and an ocellaris. I plan on getting another ocellaris this week, and am now thinking of getting a YWG while I am at it. Anything special I should know about them?

[Mavrk]

Oh, one more thing (if you don't mind)... I have heard the pistol shrimp while diving, can you hear this outside the tank? If so, how loud is it?

[lhoy]

Love the concept of this tank. Fun to watch something different.

Lee