That is always a good practice....and..
Your tank is hungry....drop a 1/2 of a raw shrimp in by the front glass in the am....by noon if there is any left retrieve it...but my guess it will be gone!
Richard TBS:grinyes::grinyes::grinyes:
Journey's journey into SW Aquaria
- Thread starter journey0820
- Start date
That is always a good practice....and..
Your tank is hungry....drop a 1/2 of a raw shrimp in by the front glass in the am....by noon if there is any left retrieve it...but my guess it will be gone!
Richard TBS:grinyes::grinyes::grinyes:
Just a quick update...photos to come this weekend.
I read in many places that folks have trouble with the sponges. However, in Bob Fenner's book he talks about these particular types of sponges that TBS sent me and says that they are pretty hardy as long as they are fed well. So, I'm hopeful. Even better news is that they look like they are doing well. All now have "mouths" that are clearly visible and there is no slime or die off on any of the sponges. In fact, my decorator crab dropped a ball of sponge off of his shell recently. I couldn't get to it without moving a bunch of stuff around but I was sure it would die. I found it today...attached to a rock and doing well!
Another cool thing...I have had lots of gorilla crab hitchikers. I have heard that they can be a pain when they get bigger - eating coral, etc. Well...they've had fun attacking one another. Entertainment for me, food for the aggressor and his tank mates!
I've also discovered a very small, very cute nudibranch on the sea fan. This is definitely his home in the wild because he blends in really well. He's very pretty - frilly and white. I saw another person with a TBS tank with a similiar hitchhiker. We'll see how he does in here!
I read in many places that folks have trouble with the sponges. However, in Bob Fenner's book he talks about these particular types of sponges that TBS sent me and says that they are pretty hardy as long as they are fed well. So, I'm hopeful. Even better news is that they look like they are doing well. All now have "mouths" that are clearly visible and there is no slime or die off on any of the sponges. In fact, my decorator crab dropped a ball of sponge off of his shell recently. I couldn't get to it without moving a bunch of stuff around but I was sure it would die. I found it today...attached to a rock and doing well!
Another cool thing...I have had lots of gorilla crab hitchikers. I have heard that they can be a pain when they get bigger - eating coral, etc. Well...they've had fun attacking one another. Entertainment for me, food for the aggressor and his tank mates!
I've also discovered a very small, very cute nudibranch on the sea fan. This is definitely his home in the wild because he blends in really well. He's very pretty - frilly and white. I saw another person with a TBS tank with a similiar hitchhiker. We'll see how he does in here!
Your tank is gorgeous! I'm actually communicating with Richard now about setting up my tank in the coming weeks. Other than the scary terrifying mantis shrimp, have you found any other undesirable hitchhikers? Have you seen any of the scary things that were discussed earlier in this thread (cockroaches and rolly pollys)? I'm just curious as it seems almost too good to be true!
Hi there...Thanks for the compliments. I love that tank!
There is no hitchhiker that I could find at this point that would change my decision to order from TBS. It is just too awesome of a reef experience to do otherwise.
I have hairy crabs which supposedly are not good. They are killing each other off so I'm not worried about it. They are easy to trap and kill so if they become a problem, I'll do that. The only thing I worry about, which I'd worry with any LR or coral purchases are those bad isopods but again, they can be trapped. They are just so gross I'd prefer not to get them!
So, heck yeah...go for it! It is truly a reef experience. In this set up, all of the organisms are coming from the same location so the likelihood of your good organisms surviving are better than in situations where your rock is from one place, sand from another, organisms from others.
The tank is doing great. All water params at 0 except for nitrate which is still trying to work it's way down (around 40). My new Ricordia coral is doing well - everybody in the tank is great except for our favorite little guy the Caulerpa crab...we don't know what happened but we found the peppermint shrimp and a crab sharing his carcass for dinner. We loved that little guy. If you know where to get a new one, let me know. If the nitrate gets down we may add a fish next weekend!!! Whoo=hoo.
Our hitch-hiker fishie is doing great. He cracks us up. Whenever I peer in at night he comes up to the glass right by my face and follows me around.
What is really weird is how many new creatures we keep finding. Last night I found these coral-like polyps inside of a clam shell. I've stared at that spot alot...never saw them before! I also found a small see through shrimp with a bright band around him. We are always finding something new!
Work has been crazy busy so my time has been split between work and staring at the computer...less time to log in here but I'll try to update more this weekend.
THANKS!
Update on Tanks: All params at 0 except nitrate which still hovers around 40. As a result, I think, I've grown new caulerpa and some green algae so hopefully that will bring it down. The CUC is happy about the algae growth and eat all of the time. My remaining sea cucumber is happily grazing on the glass. I thought he would be a sand bed feeder but he's a wall and rock cleaner instead. I don't know who I should get to take care of the sand bed. My crabs and snails only hit the top layer. Any ideas?
