Confessions of a nooby aquarist

[porthosandjazz]

Originally Posted by 1journeyman
They don't get big in aquariums because they die. Your local fish store woman is giving you bad advice.
Anemones do not have to be close to each other to hurt your tank. They can shed stinging cells and chemically attack each other in the tank.
Sheesh. Are you serious? They seem oblivious to each other. The bubble tip is so busy moving around, I don't think he even knows there is another anemone in there.

 

[ophiura]

When happy and situated, they do not typically move much. Moving a lot is a sign that it is not quite "happy" though I hate applying the word to that. Corals and relatives, like anemones, are often extremely aggressive. There can be a war before your eyes that we are often oblivious to...

 

[porthosandjazz]

Originally Posted by ophiura
It is not necessarily a question of a bigger tank. They can move...and many corals will secrete toxins in the water as well whether next to each other or not. It is just a risky combination of things. What kind of lighting do you have?
Personally, I STRONGLY suggest you find a new LFS, because the advice given (for example on the lion) is JUST PLAIN WRONG. They will eat anything that fits in their mouth, and will try to see what will fit.
Engineer gobies get quite large, and make lots of tunnels in the sand under the rock. This can be very risky in some respects.
The horseshoe crab will just not likely survive long term. They are often blown around by our pumps, which people think is "fun" but really it is extremely sad because it is an animal that is being blown around. If behaving normally, they are rather boring, because they are bulldozing below the sand (eating things you don't want them to eat).
Animals we keep should have the potential at least to get as large as in the wild. If not, we have to ask why not...and often it is due to our husbandry.
Again, I strongly encourage you to find a new LFS, or at the very least NOT buy another thing without a lot of research before hand. They are, plain and simple, giving you very wrong information (whether they know it is wrong...hard to know for sure).
But it would help to have your specific water parameters, including alkalinity, calcium and such. That is a huge bioload, and there may be some problems brewing that can be spotted.
I would say yes, you have been lucky..but it hasn't been tested for very long
Ok, that horseshoe crab part almost made me cry. That is so sad. He is so incredibly adorable. He does bury himself most of the time, but he's still one of my favorites. I had absolutely no idea. I really wish I had come here first.
I will reply to the rest of your message. You have been an AMAZING help. Thank you thank you so much. I also realize that sadly I will eventually have to get rid of one of my other favorite fish.. the emperor because of the coral. I didn't realize that as adults, they will eat all of my coral. *sigh*

 

[porthosandjazz]

Originally Posted by ophiura
When happy and situated, they do not typically move much. Moving a lot is a sign that it is not quite "happy" though I hate applying the word to that. Corals and relatives, like anemones, are often extremely aggressive. There can be a war before your eyes that we are often oblivious to...
I figured as much. But why is he not happy and the other anemone is fine? I provided him with tons of light and flow. *sigh*
I will have to really work with this.
I will keep you guys updated.
I am getting a lot of good information. Thank you so very much!
Looks like I got myself into a real pickle

 

[ophiura]

The problem is that not all species want the same light, or same flow, or same proximity to one another.
They are not cookie-cutter. That is one of the problems with trying to mix a lot of things, I am afraid. There are anemones there from the Caribbean and from the Indo Pacific just to start.

 

[ice4ice]

WOW ! Getting a headache reading all this what he's done thus far ... LOL !!

 

[thud]

Originally Posted by porthosandjazz
large spider decorator crab
sally lightfoot crab,
arrow crab,
teddy bear crab,
horseshoe crab,
70 blue hermit crabs,
fuzzy dwarf lionfish,
emperor angelfish,
foxface rabbitfish,
copperbanded butterfly fish,
fire shrimp, pistol shrimp,
2 cleaner shrimps,
1 coral banded shrimp,
choc chip star fish (which ate my 2 flame scallops),
blonde naso tang, pipefish,
3 feather dusters, 1 huge colt coral,
1 bubble tip anemone,
1 florida condii anemone,
2 more clownfish (on the opposite side of tank as other clownfish),
10 snails,
2 cleaner clams,
3 emerald crabs,
5 mushroom polyps,
frogspawn coral,
bicolor blenny,
green mandarin fish,
blue hippo tang,
a valentini puffer,
white sebae anemone,
pink tip hatian anemone,
yellow gorgonian,
red gorgonian,
engineer goby,
dragon goby,
3 anemone crabs,
3 curly q anemone,
a yellow cucumber,
a lettuce nudibranch,
1 peppermint shrimp,
3 large xenia colonies,
a volitan lionfish,
a ringed pipefish,
and a fuzzy dwarf lionfish
Thank you so much!
I changed my list to vertical so you all could see how bad the addiction is. I am already looking around for 225 gallon tanks :embarassed:

my god.

 

[earlybird]

Originally Posted by thud
my god.
I passed this thread up early b/c I thought it was a joke. Yikes
I want to see PICTURES

 

[ophiura]

Not a joke, but believe me, not unusual. Kudo's to porthosandjazz for stopping in, reading, and making some changes

This can be fixed, and long term success can be reached!

 

[porthosandjazz]

Originally Posted by Ice4Ice
WOW ! Getting a headache reading all this what he's done thus far ... LOL !!
Yeah... me too...
Btw... it's SHE...

 

[porthosandjazz]

Originally Posted by ophiura
The problem is that not all species want the same light, or same flow, or same proximity to one another.
They are not cookie-cutter. That is one of the problems with trying to mix a lot of things, I am afraid. There are anemones there from the Caribbean and from the Indo Pacific just to start.
Yeah, I realize that... NOW.
I guess I thought I could manipulate the water pump heads to give more or less flow. And put things that need less light under shadows of rocks... But the anemone keeps moving, so that plan went out the window

 

[porthosandjazz]

Originally Posted by ophiura
Not a joke, but believe me, not unusual. Kudo's to porthosandjazz for stopping in, reading, and making some changes

This can be fixed, and long term success can be reached!
Yeah. It's not a joke. I had no idea how involved this hobby is.
I thought it was easy... just add fish and then enjoy.
HAH!
But actually, it's much more rewarding this way. Having to LEARN about what is in your tank... it really helps and makes it more interesting. Otherwise, you can just go to an aquarium to look at fish.

 

[porthosandjazz]

Originally Posted by earlybird
I passed this thread up early b/c I thought it was a joke. Yikes
I want to see PICTURES
I took some pics...

 

[1journeyman]

Originally Posted by porthosandjazz
... I will have to really work with this.
I will keep you guys updated.
I am getting a lot of good information. Thank you so very much!
Looks like I got myself into a real pickle
No, your pet store got you into a pickle. You are doing the right thing by researching... sure it would have been better to do that first but many of us have been lead astray by folks that are in the business and show/do know better.

 

[ophiura]

With a couple of changes in the fish list, and removing a couple of the anemones, I think you will have a real nice system going there

 

[turningtim]

First welcome to the boards, great folks around here!
I haven't seen any test results for water parameters? If you want to keep a swf/reef tank you MUST test your water alot. Right now you have moved the tank and added quite a bit of load to the system. To really help us/you out the water test are the way to go. How are you testing salinity? Have you done any water changes (WCs) since you have had the tank?
There is no doubt that you have to cut back on some critters and you should do it as quickly as possible. One thing you will learn about this hobby is that it takes no time for things to go terribly wrong and a LONG time to get the tank back in shape.
No worries, I've been exactly where you are a couple years back! The folks around here know whats up and helped me a bunch!
HTH
Tim

 

[b0bby1]

are your pipefish and mandarin dragonet still alive?

 

[aquaguy24]

tank looks good..just need to cut back on some of the live stock...

 

[porthosandjazz]

Originally Posted by 1journeyman
No, your pet store got you into a pickle. You are doing the right thing by researching... sure it would have been better to do that first but many of us have been lead astray by folks that are in the business and show/do know better.
I did research, but like I said... I only had two days worth of time to prepare, and I was working 12 hour shifts that whole time. So basically, I bought three aquarium books, brought them to work and studied them from like 1-4am when it was slow at work.
I learned about water changes, learned that you have to test salinity, ph, keep water temp stable.... learned that you have to dedicate a lot of time and effort, learned a lot of other stuff.
Just didn't learn that you shouldn't go crazy and buy everything that suits your fancy

 

[porthosandjazz]

Originally Posted by ophiura
With a couple of changes in the fish list, and removing a couple of the anemones, I think you will have a real nice system going there

Sigh... I think I may have to remove the bubble tip. He's the only one that's not doing well. He keeps moving all over the tank.
But the other anemone and the three curly q's are doing GREAT. Do you think it will be ok to keep the curly q's? My husband loves them... they were all over Bonaire, and it reminds him of scuba diving there.