stanleo
Valuable Member
- Joined
- Jan 11, 2014
- Messages
- 1,508
- Reaction score
- 1,977
- Location
- Statesville, NC
- What state or country do you live in
- North Carolina
So I think this is exciting, the cleaner shrimp shed two days ago! That's the second time (I think, my husband is the one who said he saw the shed last time) in the almost three months that I have had him. It's exciting because my last tank was years ago that I didn't start and when I took it over from my husband it was a disaster. I tried keeping cleaner shrimp in it and they always died after three months, never shed and I couldn't figure out what I was doing wrong. But with this tank, I have been managing it from the start and all the inverts I put in are thriving. Only lost four hermit crabs.
The tank is clean and stable. I have made many mistakes along the way like getting fish before it was cycled fully, jumping the gun on getting a BTA (but it's doing great now), not using a grounding probe from the start, getting a non photo synthetic gorgonian without knowing it, and a lot of others I can't think of right now. And I am still not doing some things that successful reefers swear that I should like I have yet to dip any of my coral before putting them in the display and haven't set up a QT yet for new fish. I am going to when the fish room is built but I don't have the space right now. I got the dip for the coral the other day but I forgot to use it on the new pieces I just put in. I know I have been lucky in that regard. I don't actually plan on getting any new fish till I have my fish room and QT setup.
I have lost a few fish. The fish I put in before the cycle was complete: two green chromis and an azure damsel. I had another azure damsel I ordered online that died the night I got it but the other one is still going strong. A clown fish that died the day I brought it home from the LFS. But again, the other clown fish is fat and happy. Two glass cardinal fish died a few weeks after getting them, but I still have one of those. And two firefish gobys that I got after the tank cycled (I really hated loosing those). But I haven't lost a fish in four months and these that I have are going strong.
My tank is 11 months old today. One more month and I will hit the year mark. I have learned a lot over the last year and I know I have a ton more to learn, but I am proud of this tank and what I have achieved with it. And that is in no small part due to the wonderful people on this forum (a community really). So I wanted to say thank you. Thanks for answering all my questions (even the dumb ones). Thanks for not laughing at me when I do something wrong but also for telling me when I do. Thanks for letting me share what I have learned with other people (even though I still don't know what the heck I am doing). And thanks for reading this long winded post. I love my tank and I love all of you for getting me here!
Merry Christmas everyone! (Or whatever you celebrate)
Gabe
The tank is clean and stable. I have made many mistakes along the way like getting fish before it was cycled fully, jumping the gun on getting a BTA (but it's doing great now), not using a grounding probe from the start, getting a non photo synthetic gorgonian without knowing it, and a lot of others I can't think of right now. And I am still not doing some things that successful reefers swear that I should like I have yet to dip any of my coral before putting them in the display and haven't set up a QT yet for new fish. I am going to when the fish room is built but I don't have the space right now. I got the dip for the coral the other day but I forgot to use it on the new pieces I just put in. I know I have been lucky in that regard. I don't actually plan on getting any new fish till I have my fish room and QT setup.
I have lost a few fish. The fish I put in before the cycle was complete: two green chromis and an azure damsel. I had another azure damsel I ordered online that died the night I got it but the other one is still going strong. A clown fish that died the day I brought it home from the LFS. But again, the other clown fish is fat and happy. Two glass cardinal fish died a few weeks after getting them, but I still have one of those. And two firefish gobys that I got after the tank cycled (I really hated loosing those). But I haven't lost a fish in four months and these that I have are going strong.
My tank is 11 months old today. One more month and I will hit the year mark. I have learned a lot over the last year and I know I have a ton more to learn, but I am proud of this tank and what I have achieved with it. And that is in no small part due to the wonderful people on this forum (a community really). So I wanted to say thank you. Thanks for answering all my questions (even the dumb ones). Thanks for not laughing at me when I do something wrong but also for telling me when I do. Thanks for letting me share what I have learned with other people (even though I still don't know what the heck I am doing). And thanks for reading this long winded post. I love my tank and I love all of you for getting me here!
Merry Christmas everyone! (Or whatever you celebrate)
Gabe
