- Joined
- Feb 6, 2020
- Messages
- 347
- Reaction score
- 1,145
- What state or country do you live in
- Other International
I keep a pet habitat tank with a macrodactyla doreensis anemone and two polymnus clowns. The setup is made with a 60l tank, custom glass cover, a Ocean Revive led light, a mame bubble skimmer, a nano powerhead and an integrated filter. I have a simple type of filter for water purification so I could probably say that the water I use for the tank is only halfway filtered tap water. I do water changes two times each week and I have to clean the sand often but since I don't mind spending lots of time on the aquarium, a nano pet habitat is hugely rewarding.
Right after the smaller fish arrived from the LFS, I noticed it had a semi big cotton fungus outbreak and I dosed with melafix and pimafix and the cotton fungus was gone in a week. The small fish still seemed very insecure afterwards and it constantly fled from the bigger dominant fish. After being kicked around a little by the established female, the smaller fish got a Popeye damage to one eye and I separated it in a plastic breeder. After a few days of dosing epsom salt, it's eye returned to normal and I released it again.
The established female could not follow the smaller fish through all the escaped routes in the LR, so the bigger fish gave up the chase and instead practised luring the smaller fish into the anemone. For the first six months the smaller fish was hesitant and it took a lot of luring for the big fish to recruit it but after full recruitment, the pair is very playful and harmonious together.
The biggest fish is careful, always pushing the smaller fish out to see if any food is around when I make water changes, while remaining safely tugged inside the anemone. Being the female she attempts to make the smaller fish interested in a good spot to place eggs but I don't think the smaller fish is entirely ready for breeding yet, also because the biggest fish tends to eat almost all of the food I give them. I kinda hope that they just won't breed ever because I really don't have room for additional tanks and I wouldn't want a whole school of fishes in a small nano tank like this one.
I feed the fishes a variety of different brands of dry foods and live copepods, rotifers and ghost shrimp. Once in a while I get fresh caught pandalus borealis shrimp and feed them a tiny piece or two but I prefer feeding the anemone dry food because it makes too much of a mess when it eats the coldwater shrimp imo. I use drops of pure garlic oils on their foods a few times each month and I also dose a few drops of salifert amino acids to the water column a couple of times each month.
I thoroughly enjoy keeping the pet habitat and I could not ask for a greater blessing that seeing the polymnus enjoy their tank each day.
I hope that you are all doing well and that you are having a wonderful time keeping your pet nanos or reeftanks. Have a fantastic day!

Right after the smaller fish arrived from the LFS, I noticed it had a semi big cotton fungus outbreak and I dosed with melafix and pimafix and the cotton fungus was gone in a week. The small fish still seemed very insecure afterwards and it constantly fled from the bigger dominant fish. After being kicked around a little by the established female, the smaller fish got a Popeye damage to one eye and I separated it in a plastic breeder. After a few days of dosing epsom salt, it's eye returned to normal and I released it again.
The established female could not follow the smaller fish through all the escaped routes in the LR, so the bigger fish gave up the chase and instead practised luring the smaller fish into the anemone. For the first six months the smaller fish was hesitant and it took a lot of luring for the big fish to recruit it but after full recruitment, the pair is very playful and harmonious together.
The biggest fish is careful, always pushing the smaller fish out to see if any food is around when I make water changes, while remaining safely tugged inside the anemone. Being the female she attempts to make the smaller fish interested in a good spot to place eggs but I don't think the smaller fish is entirely ready for breeding yet, also because the biggest fish tends to eat almost all of the food I give them. I kinda hope that they just won't breed ever because I really don't have room for additional tanks and I wouldn't want a whole school of fishes in a small nano tank like this one.
I feed the fishes a variety of different brands of dry foods and live copepods, rotifers and ghost shrimp. Once in a while I get fresh caught pandalus borealis shrimp and feed them a tiny piece or two but I prefer feeding the anemone dry food because it makes too much of a mess when it eats the coldwater shrimp imo. I use drops of pure garlic oils on their foods a few times each month and I also dose a few drops of salifert amino acids to the water column a couple of times each month.
I thoroughly enjoy keeping the pet habitat and I could not ask for a greater blessing that seeing the polymnus enjoy their tank each day.
I hope that you are all doing well and that you are having a wonderful time keeping your pet nanos or reeftanks. Have a fantastic day!


