Firefishy went on an adventure to the back chambers today...
Working from home, heard a splash and was like, what the heck was that?! Managed to get him out by shutting off the return pump and ATO, removing the end chamber caddies, and fishing him out with a net (
note to self: buy a smaller net!). After returning to the display area, he hovered in a few spots around the tank clearly over-exerted and panting from his excursion before retreating into his hidey hole. I noticed his tail fin seemed a little split either from the frantic darting or maybe from the return pump.
Black cardinalfish (Toothless) and Firefish (house has settled on Firefly) seem all right together. Zero aggression so far and it honestly seems they set off a startled chain reaction when they get too close to each other (which probably caused Firefly's morning adventure). They do give each other space during feeding time, but they're both getting food (frozen mysis and pellets). Firefish has spent more time in its hole than when he was alone, but comes to hang out throughout the day. I think the presence of a tankmate takes more energy out of the little introvert.
I cannot tell when Toothless sleeps. She found a cave in the bottom right of the display to hang out in regularly, but will cruise the tank bottom even with the lights off. I assumed she'd be nocturnal because of her coloration, but is now out with the lights on too. She does seem slightly more bold at night, but doesn't just stay in one place during the day like the Banggai cardinalfish I've seen. Maybe this fish is more of a power napper than a deep sleeper... Unlike Firefish who only eats free floating bits, this fish will eat sunken pellets off the sand bed and picks at food from the rocks as well as free floaters. Pretty peaceful so far and is definitely still giving Firefly the side-eye.
So many different types of algae growing now on the rocks, glass, sand, and back of astaea snails. There's long brown stuff, long green stuff, fuzzy green stuff, fuzzy red stuff, leafy green things, brown dust, green dust, and I am sure other variations. My nitrates have dropped to 1.7ppm and my phosphates are undetectable again even though I am feeding for two fish now.
More CUC tomorrow! Ordered a fire shrimp, a tiger conch, a scarlet reef hermit crab (went overboard on the extra shells), and two lightning dove snails. Will see how these guys handle the algae with the other snails.
Questions
- Do fish fins heal?
- Is there an attachment or netting for the 40L IM AIO I could install between the back overflow divot and the cover to prevent the firefish from accidentally jumping through that space again?
- Should I be worried about the dropping nitrates and phosphate levels? All the algae is clearly growing and I assume it'll sort itself out over the next few months. When should I actually be worried about algae affecting the health of my tank?
