Okay. Livestock. I'll try to be brief and dates are approximate.
Fish
2 engineer gobies August 17
melanaurus wrasse August 17
ocellaris clown August 17. died Mayish 18
bi color blenny August 17. died December 17
yellow tang August 17
one spot foxface September 17
flame hawkfish September 17
yellow eyed kole tang November 17
hippo tang November 17
platinum percula clown March 18. died June 18
yellow maroon clown July 18. died October 18
2 banggai cardinals October 18 (mated pair)
Inverts
2 skunk cleaner shrimp August 17. died ?
assorted snails August 17
assorted hermit crabs August 17
red tile starfish September 17. died December 17
pink rose urchin November 17
large arrow crab November 17. died January 18
another red tile starfish January 18. died May 18
maxima clam January 18
sea apple May 18
derasa clam May 18
5 peppermint shrimp Juneish 18. I know there's at least 1 left
harlequin shrimp January 19
Lessons learned:
1. Clowns scare me! The ocellaris and platinum clowns each found their way into separate overflows and perished before I could get them out. The maroon clown was a rescue from a local store where he was getting beaten up badly. He made a full recovery and his fins had completely healed before he just died. Fine one night, dead the next day. Gonna stay away from clowns for awhile.
2. Engineer gobies are awesome but move more sand than you would believe. Anything in the sand near the rocks will get covered. And they get huge. Here is a pic of Gregg doing the sexy dance for Mazey in April 18. They've gotten much bigger since then.
3. Starfish are not for beginners. I had read that they were hard to keep and that mortality rates are extremely high. But I know better than the rest of you, right? WRONG! It took me 2 tries to learn my lesson.
4. Okay, sea apple. I actually researched this before I got it. If it were just me, I would have stayed away, but my wife (who doesn't ask for much) was captivated by it. It gets target fed Brightwell Phytochrome daily and seems to be doing well. I've had him for just over a year. He is the only one in a large tank and I run GAC in the reactor 24/7 just because of him. Even still he makes me nervous and probably won't get another. Having said that, it's the first thing people notice and comment on when they come over.
5. Harlequin shrimp are awesome if you have a large tank with an asterina star problem. This little guy keeps them in check like you would not believe. I'd love to have another, but I'm afraid there wouldn't be enough for 2 to eat. I was a little worried initially about the melenaurus wrasse, but they completely ignore each other.
6. The urchin does a great job keeping the tank clean. He cleans the coraline algae from the rock work and back of the tank, allowing for new growth which I think is important. But anything that's not glued down really really well becomes a hat.
Well, that's enough for now. It occurs to me that this is not coming together much like a build thread, but it's the only way I can think of to get caught up.
