KAT74's 29g Biocube Diary

K

kat74

Guest
Originally Posted by Blazin2k6
Awesome setup. I love how you have all those zoanthids. I have become fascinated recently with the zoanthids as well. I just purchased a Duncan yesterday. Those are always quickly becoming my fave coral. Very awesome. Your entire tank looks so beautiful though. How do you keep the sand looking so clean ?
Thanks for the compliment!
I recently became addicted to the zoanthids too, as well as ricordeas. The zoanthids, with the exception of the very rare, expensive or hard-to-find ones have not been that bad for me to find. The ricordeas, on the other hand, if there is a LFS around here that sells them, they want $40-$60 each for them to start. I've been lucky to order them from some online vendors.
With regards to my sandbed, I guess I have a pretty good clean up crew! Between the dwarf blue legs, scarlet hermit, electric blue leg, nassarius, turbo and astrea snails, and two conch's, they do a good job!
 
nacl+h2o fish

nacl+h2o fish

Member
KAT74....
Sorry about the fairy tail wrasse attacks on your blenny!

Very much appreciate your opinion on the pix of the table....
Trying to decide what would look best????!!!!!

I have searched on-line for aquarium stand designs.... although this is a pedestal, basically a 12" high stand. Want it obviously to be SUPER strong and maybe include some storage behind a door. I also need to protect the table and the pedestal from salt water damage.... inevitable! Probably will use polyurethane (on the table) and epoxy paint for the pedestal. The tank's frame is black (duh!) so I am thinking the pedestal should also be black to match???? !!!!! even on the medium brown oak table?
Any thoughts?
 
K

kat74

Guest
Originally Posted by NaCl+H2O Fish
KAT74....
Sorry about the fairy tail wrasse attacks on your blenny!

Very much appreciate your opinion on the pix of the table....
Trying to decide what would look best????!!!!!

I have searched on-line for aquarium stand designs.... although this is a pedestal, basically a 12" high stand. Want it obviously to be SUPER strong and maybe include some storage behind a door. I also need to protect the table and the pedestal from salt water damage.... inevitable! Probably will use polyurethane (on the table) and epoxy paint for the pedestal. The tank's frame is black (duh!) so I am thinking the pedestal should also be black to match???? !!!!! even on the medium brown oak table?
Any thoughts?

Hmmm... the black pedestal on the medium brown oak table might be an eyesore, but I'm only speaking here as a "girl", where "everything has to match"

Maybe post a question asking other Red Sea MAX owners what they are using for a stand? They might be able to help!
Thanks for the sympathy regarding my blenny.... just wait til you see the heartbreaking pics I'm gonna post this evening when I get home.
 
nacl+h2o fish

nacl+h2o fish

Member
Dear KAT74...
I am not looking forward to the pix you are going to post later of your blenny!

The Red Sea Max's matching stand (?quality) is black to match the tank. At a $140.00 price, it will more than cover my Lv.Rck. and pay for the cost of materials for me to build a pedestal!
Have you ever noticed how a large black object in a room can be 'kinda' dominating & objectionable? Although a tanks bright lights and appealing display should draw the visual focus !!!?
My experience, (in my past life as a 'high end' electronics consultant), taught me that a black framed flat panel plasma/LCD display didn't distract the viewer from the most important thing: the picture! So.... anyway my thought was to keep the pedestal that's supporting the tank black so as not to distract from the focus of the display.... even though it's on a medium brown oak table.
 
K

kat74

Guest
Originally Posted by NaCl+H2O Fish
Dear KAT74...
I am not looking forward to the pix you are going to post later of your blenny!

The Red Sea Max's matching stand (?quality) is black to match the tank. At a $140.00 price, it will more than cover my Lv.Rck. and pay for the cost of materials for me to build a pedestal!
Have you ever noticed how a large black object in a room can be 'kinda' dominating & objectionable? Although a tanks bright lights and appealing display should draw the visual focus !!!?
My experience, (in my past life as a 'high end' electronics consultant), taught me that a black framed flat panel plasma/LCD display didn't distract the viewer from the most important thing: the picture! So.... anyway my thought was to keep the pedestal that's supporting the tank black so as not to distract from the focus of the display.... even though it's on a medium brown oak table.

Well, once you get it set up, post pics!~ I am sure that it will look just fine with the tank set up!
 
K

kat74

Guest
Okay.... the next pictures are not for the blenny lovers or faint hearted...
These are pictures of what the yellowfin fairy wrasse did to my beloved blenny. I posted a thread in the "Disease and Treatment" forum for advice on what to do, if anything, for the blenny, and how to catch this meanie fairy wrasse!

another shot...

The other side of him is fine, no marks at all:


The meanie

my sweet blenny in happier times

 
K

kat74

Guest
Well, wish me luck for tomorrow.... I'm gonna try the thing that Beth suggested; using the large zip lock bag in the water with food in it. HOPEFULLY, that will work. If not, I have no other choice than to remove everything from my tank to get him out.

 
detguy313

detguy313

Member
wow that fairy did do a number on the blenny...i have had a few fairys that are very aggresive never a yellow fin though but all fish are different..i know your pain on trying to remove a fish..i had to take everything out of my 180 once to get a couple fairys out..it was an all day project and was not fun at all..but i did get to do some cleaning and change the rocks like i really wanted them so things did work out..hope all goes well for you and that blenny..if you want a wrasse maybe try a flasher wrasse..all the ones that i have kept seem to be alot less aggressive than fairys and i kept them with 3 blennys never a problem..and imo flashers seem to show of thier color more often than fairys
 
detguy313

detguy313

Member
i also just saw those blastos in there too..those are my favorite corals..can be picky sometimes but mine have done really well.also i got a pic of another wrasse that i like alot too and is reef safe that would do good in your tank..it is the possum wrasse..the one that i have is one that was just named they stay the same size as the yellowfin..i think i paid $40 for mine..i have never seen mine go after any fish he just sticks to himself coming in out of caves
 
nacl+h2o fish

nacl+h2o fish

Member
Originally Posted by detguy313
i also just saw those blastos in there too..those are my favorite corals..can be picky sometimes but mine have done really well.also i got a pic of another wrasse that i like alot too and is reef safe that would do good in your tank..it is the possum wrasse..the one that i have is one that was just named they stay the same size as the yellowfin..i think i paid $40 for mine..i have never seen mine go after any fish he just sticks to himself coming in out of caves


detguy313,
Never seen one of these... so please forgive me in advance for all the questions!
Is that the 'juvenile coloration' for a "Possum Wrasse"?
How long has he been a member of your tank?
Wondering if it gets more territorial and aggressive when it matures?
Any blennies in your tank's community?
Thanks
 
nacl+h2o fish

nacl+h2o fish

Member
Originally Posted by KAT74
Well, wish me luck for tomorrow.... I'm gonna try the thing that Beth suggested; using the large zip lock bag in the water with food in it. HOPEFULLY, that will work. If not, I have no other choice than to remove everything from my tank to get him out.


Somehow I don't think disturbing your LR, etc is a good idea!
The idea is to rescue the blenny... correct? Maybe he would be easier to catch and the LFS would hold him for a few days while you capture the
wrasse?
Just a thought....
 
K

kat74

Guest
Okay, something sort of "comical".... I've been talking to my LFS about this blenny and wrasse issue. I have not been able to catch the wrasse despite using the large ziplock bag this morning and have decided to leave him be for the time being.
My blenny is not intimidated one bit by the wrasse and today, I've been paying attention to their behavior around each other. The blenny will go up to the wrasse and "lean" towards him and this will aggravate the wrasse and the wrasse will nip at, charge at or swim furious circles around him. Surely, my blenny doesn't actually *like* being nipped at, right? Well, he will go back for more! When the wrasse does this, he just stays still. When I told the owner at my LFS about this, she actually researched something about this and came back with this... maybe the blenny thinks that the wrasse is a CLEANER wrasse and goes up to him to be cleaned and the fairy wrasse being a fairy wrasse and not a cleaner wrasse, gets aggravated by this and tries to tell the blenny to back off because he's not going to clean him. She sent me a link to a Crimson Cleaner wrasse, which looks similar to my fish, so this theory is quite possible! But then again, how would my blenny know what that cleaner wrasse looked like?
This would certainly explain why my blenny goes up to him and leans towards him and stays still while the wrasse nips at him. Other than that, the wrasse doesn't really bother the blenny.
Picture of the crimson cleaner wrasse

I'll keep my eye on him and see....
Fish... who woulda thunk that they would be so comical.
 
nacl+h2o fish

nacl+h2o fish

Member
KAT74
What is so enjoyable about this passion for reef keeping is what we learn!
Your fairy wrasse and blenny may be from oceans half a world apart !
To your point, how would the blenny know this not a friend... a cleaner wrasse?
I love this stuff!!!
 
K

kat74

Guest
I'll post some pics later, but my blenny is all healed up! Quick healer!

The blenny and wrasse now seem to have a mutual understanding of each other and there hasn't been anymore problems noted.
 
paintballer768

paintballer768

Active Member
Glad to see the blenny is ok. I was going to recommend maybe some Selcon or something to help with his immune system and keep him healthy. That or maybe garlic Ive heard gives good results.
And IMO dont pay too much for the ricordeas. Just get a few and give it some time. Rics are slow growers but I figure in a year or so each may split and you have double. My LFS was selling them in their frag tank for 5$ each as "Rock Anemone." Boy were they wrong
 
K

kat74

Guest
Originally Posted by paintballer768
Glad to see the blenny is ok. I was going to recommend maybe some Selcon or something to help with his immune system and keep him healthy. That or maybe garlic Ive heard gives good results.
And IMO dont pay too much for the ricordeas. Just get a few and give it some time. Rics are slow growers but I figure in a year or so each may split and you have double. My LFS was selling them in their frag tank for 5$ each as "Rock Anemone." Boy were they wrong

I'm glad to see my blenny ok too! He's my favorite!
I always add garlic plus, zooplex and some amino acid type supplement to their food, so I am sure that that helped with the healing some!

I've been pretty lucky I guess when it comes to buying ricordeas. The most I've paid for one is $16, and that was for an orange one. The others were between $10-$12.00 each for the green and blue ones. The LFS around here rarely get them and when they do, they want $40-$60 EACH for them. I'm going to a conference in Tampa next September and I told myself that I am going to be on the hunt for ricordeas when I go because I've heard that you can buy ricordeas for so much cheaper in Florida. I'm hoping to run into that LFS that has them labled as "rock anemone"....
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top