Paul B
10K Club member
Excellence Award
Reef Tank 365
Reef Of The Month
Article Contributor
Rock Pool Reef Keepers
My tank seems to be evolving. I was looking at it today and noticing that I am leaning more towards sponges, gorgonians and long tentacle LPS corals than ever before.
I think that is because I have been able to find more interesting things than before even though there are quite a few LFSs near my home. They usually seem to cater to Noobs because that is their bread and butter but I prefer a weirder type of tank which is the reason I don't have any tangs or angelfish. I just find them too common and boring.
I realize I am in the vast minority on that but after you have kept those types of fish for many years, the thrill is gone.
I also love sponges and they seem to grow wild in my tank. I have some bright red ones and some very old blue ones as well as some brown ones that crop up in different places. Sponges do not need light nor normal food and prefer to live on filtering bacteria out of water along with some minerals.
I also find gorgonians fascinating as they take up a lot of vertical room and sway in the current. I know many people prefer SPS corals and although I have a few of them, I find them very boring. I think my problem is that I find too many things fascinating so I want them all.
Like most people my original goal was to just get some fish to live a while. Now my fish never seem to die unless they jump out as they often do. I try to cover all the holes, but they usually manage to find one. I recently found a dead wrasse in the bucket I have under my tank with effluent from the skimmer. Yuck, what a way to go.
There are a few fish I have never had and some day I will get them. Pinecone fish and flashlight fish come to mind but pinecone fish are very expensive and flashlight fish lost their lighting ability rather quickly, at least that's what I heard.
This week my mandarins spawned again as did my bluestripe pipefish and fireclowns. It seems they are all in competition as to who can spawn the most. My bangai cardinals have stopped spawning and I think that is due to lack of enough food as those guys can really eat. I stepped up production of hatching brine shrimp which is the reason for the surge in mandarin and pipefish spawnings but am having trouble finding very large clams which is the main food in my tank. I still get clams but for some reason very few places sell chowder clams any more. In the summer I can collect them myself.
I think that is because I have been able to find more interesting things than before even though there are quite a few LFSs near my home. They usually seem to cater to Noobs because that is their bread and butter but I prefer a weirder type of tank which is the reason I don't have any tangs or angelfish. I just find them too common and boring.
I realize I am in the vast minority on that but after you have kept those types of fish for many years, the thrill is gone.
I also love sponges and they seem to grow wild in my tank. I have some bright red ones and some very old blue ones as well as some brown ones that crop up in different places. Sponges do not need light nor normal food and prefer to live on filtering bacteria out of water along with some minerals.
I also find gorgonians fascinating as they take up a lot of vertical room and sway in the current. I know many people prefer SPS corals and although I have a few of them, I find them very boring. I think my problem is that I find too many things fascinating so I want them all.
Like most people my original goal was to just get some fish to live a while. Now my fish never seem to die unless they jump out as they often do. I try to cover all the holes, but they usually manage to find one. I recently found a dead wrasse in the bucket I have under my tank with effluent from the skimmer. Yuck, what a way to go.
There are a few fish I have never had and some day I will get them. Pinecone fish and flashlight fish come to mind but pinecone fish are very expensive and flashlight fish lost their lighting ability rather quickly, at least that's what I heard.
This week my mandarins spawned again as did my bluestripe pipefish and fireclowns. It seems they are all in competition as to who can spawn the most. My bangai cardinals have stopped spawning and I think that is due to lack of enough food as those guys can really eat. I stepped up production of hatching brine shrimp which is the reason for the surge in mandarin and pipefish spawnings but am having trouble finding very large clams which is the main food in my tank. I still get clams but for some reason very few places sell chowder clams any more. In the summer I can collect them myself.
