hlcroghan's 29 gallon thread......

hlcroghan

hlcroghan

Active Member
8.4 is the high range of acceptable but not over what it should be. It has always stayed right there though.
The live copepods don't last due to my mandarin eating them all.....lol. I don't know if that would help....
I may cut back feeding like you say though. They always look and act hungry to me. I know this is normal and I am probably being paranoid but I have to stay away from the tank if I don't want to feed them....lol.
 
hlcroghan

hlcroghan

Active Member
OMG, did not even realize I hit 5 pages!!!

Anyway, thought I would give an update on the tank. Everything is well.
and I wish I had gotten a pic of one of my nass snails last night. i never realized how long their mouth is......LOL
I used a pipette to feed my fish and corals. Of course the pipette is clear plastic, right? Out pops my little half inch nassarius snail and latches onto the end of the pipette, sticks his mouth in there and starts stretching it to eat the phyto and fish food. That things was like 3 inches long!!! No joke!! Creepy as all h-ell too!!
So weird the things you see in this hobby......
 
hlcroghan

hlcroghan

Active Member
Thought I would post some updates on my tank. Everything is still doing well. I will try to get some pics up tonight since I would like to see the differences in the growth myself.
Some addtitions are
a yellow clown goby
purple tipped frogpawn which had some dead areas and I am trying to nurse back to health. It looks good so far.
Three tiny frags of a red mushroom, two purple mushrooms and a metallic green mushroom.
My mandarin, LB, green clown goby, and clowns are doing great......as is my porcelain crab and his bubbletip. The bubble tip doesn't really have fat tips anymore but has really gotten huge (like double the size) and is always begging for food...lol. His little mouth pooches out everytime I feed the tank and his color is great. The duncans and zoos have really taken off. I have 5 more heads on the duncan and the zoo heads have doubled since I added them into the tank. Look for some pics tonight......
 
worrballer

worrballer

Member
Can't wait! I really like my 29 and enjoy looking at what others have done with theirs.
Glad to hear you mandarin is doing good too. Do you add copepods or is the fuge enough?
 
hlcroghan

hlcroghan

Active Member
LOL, I have anwered this question so many times, I almost laugh now when someone asks. I love talking about Sparky though so ask away!
I don't have a fuge and I only add pods maybe once a month. I was very lucky when I bought him that he really likes frozen foods. I feed him a varied diet of krill, mysis, enriched brine, cyclops, and phyto. I kind of just mix it all together and add garlic and vitamins and I hand feed him with a pipette. Actually I feed my whole tank that way, corals and all. So far so good. He is not super fat but not boney either. I will eventually go to a bigger tank. Prolly a 90 gallon or a little larger and I will turn my tank into a fuge for pods and stuff like that.
There is also a LFS near to me that has a lady that breeds amphipods that I can buy. I added those a couple time here and there. He really likes those as you can imagine.
 
worrballer

worrballer

Member
Just because they are so hard to keep people want to learn the secrets lol. That is awesome, I bet it is the pipette. If i didn't have to look for food then I'd eat pretty much whatever came down the pipe lol.
 
hlcroghan

hlcroghan

Active Member
I suppose you are right..:) I really think it has more to do with the individual fish than my expertise though lol. He was eating brine prior to my purchase. I also don't count him as a success yet. I want to try and reach a year before I say that I successfully keep a mandarin in a 29 gallon. And.....my tank was only set up on Valentines Day.
I actually really enjoy feeding my fish that way. I think it makes them more outgoing and friendlier.
Honestly Sparky is the most active fish in my tank and not afraid of me at all. I can't really hold him in my hand but he will kind of let me pet him sometimes. But when I have that pipette he will almost chase my hand around the tank...lol
 
worrballer

worrballer

Member
That is pretty funny. I hear you about that one year mark. I guess that can determine "long term" with sparky.
And your feeding procedures are great. No better way to get acquainted with your tank. Can't wait for pics.
 
hlcroghan

hlcroghan

Active Member
Thank you so much!! I really appreciate your compliments. It sure has been a lot of work and a ton of research. It is one of the best parts of my day though...:)
 
hlcroghan

hlcroghan

Active Member
yeah.........lol. Little bugger was hiding from me. Nobody would hold still except Peanut who was a little camera hog. I did get the pic with the LB and Sparky together. They are buddies for sure. They hang out together all the time.
 
worrballer

worrballer

Member
That's pretty funny. I don't have any fish that "hang out" but my clown acts like the mediator between my royal gramma and any new fish.
My clown is everybody's friend lol. I just picture him saying, "Whoa whoa, just relax, everyone rrreeeeeelllllaaaaaxxx."
 
hlcroghan

hlcroghan

Active Member
Yeah my clowns are not that friendly. They pretty much hang out together. The female rides the PH all day long..lol. She thinks the whole tank is hers except for the LB cave. No one...and I mean no one goes in there..not snails crabs or anything. He tosses them out. Sparky sometimes settles towards the entrance and he is nice to him. He gently tanks his little "arm" in his mouth and escorts him out..lol....
 
worrballer

worrballer

Member
Ya I heard that lawnmowers can become a bit territorial.
So... when do you plan on getting a background on your tank? lol
 
worrballer

worrballer

Member
Oh and I was looking at your pics again, what is this thing? Looks like majano or some sort of rock anenome, or is it just a duncan retracting?
 
hlcroghan

hlcroghan

Active Member
Yeah it is just one of the heads retracting........I think the goby brushed across it right before the pic was taken or something.......there are like 20 heads on that duncan now. When I got it there was only 15.
As far as the background I don't know if I will or not. Coraline has pretty much taken it over but I may do black eventually to make the colors pop.....brat!! lol
 
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