My first tank ever!

[ManOfSalt]

Thanks a lot man! I have a side business that I run from my house and the only time I have to work on it is when i get home from my main job.....ya....dooooont really get a lot done =x

 

[vlangel]

Bicolor blenny are a really cute fish with tons of personality!!!! You will love it when it peeks out of little holes and crevices in your rock. I can't wait to see it. That is cool that you got frogspawn too. That was one of the first LPS I got. They grow pretty fast so maybe its just as well you didn't get the biggest one. Mine is huge, even in my little tank. I should frag it but I just can't bring myself to cut it. What color is it? Mine is pink with green tips but I've seen them green with pink tips and even yellow but those are more rare. I'm very excited for you.

 

[Daddio]

Love jawfish if your tank is covered... wait... can't you just go diving there like the dentist from from Finding Nemo? P. Sherman, 42 Wallaby Way, Sydney,

 

[ManOfSalt]

Bicolor blenny are a really cute fish with tons of personality!!!! You will love it when it peeks out of little holes and crevices in your rock. I can't wait to see it. That is cool that you got frogspawn too. That was one of the first LPS I got. They grow pretty fast so maybe its just as well you didn't get the biggest one. Mine is huge, even in my little tank. I should frag it but I just can't bring myself to cut it. What color is it? Mine is pink with green tips but I've seen them green with pink tips and even yellow but those are more rare. I'm very excited for you.

I managed to spend the entire day staring at that exact thingy. This fish is just awesome. He loves darting in and out of rocks! The frogspawn is awesome! It's orangish-brown with green tips I love your frogspawn. I hope it grows to be massive.

Love jawfish if your tank is covered... wait... can't you just go diving there like the dentist from from Finding Nemo? P. Sherman, 42 Wallaby Way, Sydney,

Hah! Someone told me now that I have my tank, I'm never going diving again. Oddly enough, i haven't been diving since I got it and I used to go every weekend ): bad sign!

 

[ManOfSalt]

Well yet another eventful weekend! The new inhabitants are settling in quite nicely and all is well! More on that later. First a few interesting that have happened:

My biggest Chromis fish (Happy) had a go at eating one of my resident Nudibranchs LOL. It was a funny sight to see - Happy just comes darting out of one of the swim throughs and spits the nudi out haha. The nudi lands on a rock and just goes about it business eating algae. Funny stuff.

Also, my Nerite snail managed to venture outside the tank! There's a little hole at the top where the lid attaches and it must've slid straight through. Good thing they can live outside of water. Who knows how long it was out there lol.

And I finally attached my lights to timers Going out of town soon so it's less stress on my house sitter, and automating stuff is fun. Going to start out with a nice even 12 on 12 off and see how we go. The blue LEDs are only programmed to come on for about 4 hours a day from 8pm to 12am. Both of them turned on together tend to generate a substantial amount of heat. Until I can get a chiller sorted out i'll mostly only use the white light. I think I'll go that same route with my skimmer.

 

[ManOfSalt]

The new inhabitants!

The Bicolor Blenny - Took about a day for him to start eating and get used to being out around the chromies. He just loves the rock work. He loves to dart in and out of different holes. It's good to know theyre all connected! He's got a couple nice big rocks to squirm in and out of. His appetite turned from curious to voracious in a matter of hours. He rips little sticks to shreds that are covered with hair algae to get to it. He's making quick work of it which is great because there's plenty of it. He doesn't mind his tank mates now, but whenever me or Sarah go by the tank suddenly he SHOOTs back into the hole.

He also had these white spots at the LFS and when he first went in. I thought it was Ich at first, but I read that a lot of Blennies do different color changing things when they're either stressed or angry. If that's the case, they're gone now so that must mean he's happy! He certainly looks like it. Oh well I'll look into those spots a bit more. Anyway here is some media of him. Had to be subtle because he's quite camera shy:

[video=youtube_share;hBW3C7yShT4]http://youtu.be/hBW3C7yShT4[/video]

and here's the frogspawn. Opened up quite a bit since picked up from the LFS. Must mean it's happy!

 

[vlangel]

O my Micah, that blenny is so adorable! I loved it when he went into the hole in the rock up top and came out a different place. Very cute. That is the smaller frogspawn??? Holy moly, the other one must have been a monster.

 

[ManOfSalt]

Thanks Dawn! Ya he's been doing that quite a bit. He just loves these rocks. Between that and having an abundance of algae to feast on this may as well be his chocolate factory lol. Which would make me Willy Wonka!

That frogspawn was actually smaller in the shop lol. It must like it much better here!

 

[ManOfSalt]

So I found out that those white spots that I saw are a characteristic of this particuar Blenny. Apparently they show up when he's either stressed or when the lighting changes. Cool stuff! It freaked me out man I thought it was ich.

 

[ManOfSalt]

My Blenny witnessed his first glass cleaning and did not take it well lol. After I finished cleaning, I noticed the blenny was no where to be seen which at this point is not normal. He's always about grazing on algae. So I looked around his house and there he is barely peeking out of one of his holes COVERED in white spots. Stressed out to the max! The poor thing. I managed to snap a pic right when he came out to see if the coast was clear

Then he calms not even a minute later

and then has diplomatic discussions over algae with my nerite snail

 

[vlangel]

From what I can see of your rock work there is enough grazing to go around. Perhaps that's why the discussion was diplomatic? My rock never looked that alive. I love that. You may have to get in there and prune it from time to time. I guess that will be the lawnmower Blenny's job.

 

[ManOfSalt]

Thanks Dawn! Ya those vines especially love to run wild. There's one growing out of my sand and making its way to the rocks lol. If it doesn't look too ugly or harm fish I may just let it go crazy we'll see. My Blenny loves to tug at it and get the algae off. He is indeed doing his job well. In addition to the bicolor Blenny, I might add a Tang to help out! I really have to find one I like though. Not really into the yellow, the hippo is a great color but im not too into the shape, the scopas is alright looking...ehh we'll see.

 

[vlangel]

Micah, haven't heard anything about your tank for a few days, everything going well? My guess its taking a back seat to wedding plans. As far as tangs go, have you considered a sailfin? They have an awesome shape although their color is ordinary. A dejardini ( not sure of the spelling) is the same shape as a sailfin with cooler colors but their price tags reflects that too!

 

[ManOfSalt]

Good guess Dawn! Its been a mixture of that and just having lots of people over. Those Sailfin tangs look quite nice indeed! I like their designs. I think ill have to look into that! I want to add a tang before I go out of town to help with some of the algae in the tank.

All has been well thus far! I added 3 more chromis to the mix and now have a nice school of chromis fish. However, I just took one out because he had spots on him. They look a bit flesh colored as if bits of flesh have been removed. At first I thought it was Ich because in the light they looked white. But when I got a hold of him they looked a bit flesh colored. taking him to the LFS today to see what's going on.

The blenny has been going well also. He's constantly grazing on the hair algae and has removed a lot of big patches. This has revealed these really nice bright blue pieces of feather algae which look very awesome with the LEDs. pics to come soon!

 

[ManOfSalt]

so I just came back from the LFS and it turns out they my chromis DID have flesh spots. He's missing some scales! It's suspected that something has been attacking him :O! Not sure if it's the other chromies or something in the rock. I saw the blenny sort of nipping at the chromis fish that nip at him. They were probably treating him like their own how they all playfully nip at each other and he wasnt a fan. Oh well, it's not a parasite at least. Ill put him back in and see if I cant monitor closer

 

[vlangel]

I hope your chromis will be OK. Better tell him to toughen up!

 

[ManOfSalt]

He's quite the outsider that chromis. He only eats brine shrimp when the rest eat pretty much whatever gets thrown in the tank! He's doing ok so far. Hopefully he grows his scales back.

The chromies have been getting quite aggressive. I notice it when one stays very still, then begins to move his fins back and fourth very fast while staying in one spot, then just charges at one of the others. It happened when I put a bit of seaweed pellets in the tank. Not sure what it is but ill keep a look out.

Other than that all is well in the aquarium. 6 fish, 2 LPS coral, 3 snails and a shrimp all alive and well (apart from the chromis with missing scales). I'm going to see if I can't my hands on a Sailfin tang to add to the mix. If I can't then I'll go with a couple of sand sifting gobys. I saw them in the LFS the other day. Quite cool looking. In term of coral, i've been looking at some goniopora that look quite cool, but not sure about it. Oh well we'll see what happens. Looks like I havent posted a FTS in a little bit so here's one.

 

[D_Reep1106]

Hey, I love how the LR looks, makes me kinda regret going with dry rock to be honest. That worm you keep posting pics of looks like it could be a fireworm, worth checking into cause I'm pretty sure they can be pretty harmful, but I'm no expert of ID's so check for yourself. Great looking build btw I always enjoy a school of chromis.

 

[vlangel]

Gonipora are very beautiful but I have always been afraid to try one because they are not an easy coral to keep. Great looking FTS .

 

[ManOfSalt]

Hey, I love how the LR looks, makes me kinda regret going with dry rock to be honest. That worm you keep posting pics of looks like it could be a fireworm, worth checking into cause I'm pretty sure they can be pretty harmful, but I'm no expert of ID's so check for yourself. Great looking build btw I always enjoy a school of chromis.

Thanks !! Ya those worms have been giving me all kinds of paranoid thoughts due to what i've read so I've been monitoring them very very closely. It's only going to get worse because there's heaps of them and one of them is around 7" long! So far though, they've been amazing CUC. Their only interest is algae from the rocks and leftover food from my shrimp's dinner. The 7" one sniffed out my heliofungia but just ignored it. I'll probably purge the massive one soon. He's gotten used to the shrimps feeding time so he likes to race in and snatch it up before the shrimp grabs it. I have to shoo him away until the shrimp manages to pick it up!

Gonipora are very beautiful but I have always been afraid to try one because they are not an easy coral to keep. Great looking FTS .

Thanks Dawn! Ya I'm hoping it won't be too precious of an add as I've heard some interesting stories myself. Hopefully since I use good quality NSW it'll take care of all of it's nutritious needs.