Oyster Reef Ecosystem Tank Plan

[Chasmodes]

One of my dreams was to duplicate the oyster reef environment of the Chesapeake Bay as best I can without predation. My plan is to have a 120g corner quarter cylinder tank with a live sand from the Chesapeake Bay and perhaps some of the rock there for the live rock. I'll purchase some porous base rock and take my time getting the bio filtration going. I'll have a refugium/sump too, probably 55g.
Animals will be collected from the Bay that live side by side in this environment:
Chasmodes Bosquianus - striped blenny
Hysoblennius hentzi - feather blenny

[hr]
goby
Skilletfish
Northern pipefish
Ghost shrimp, hermit crabs, snails, etc. for clean up crew that live in the bay.
just about any critter that comes in on the rocks (fish will not be introduced for 6 weeks after the tank cycles and they are QT'd to reduce parasitism).
I may try my luck at some of the other species of fish too eventually.
The actual reef will be an oyster reef but I'm not sure if that will include live oysters or not. I was thinking that if live oysters would be the best way to go to perhaps separate them from the fish in the fuge...my concern is that if one of them dies that I'll have pollution and kill the fish. So really I'm leaning on just using empty dead oyster shells and maybe have one or two oysters in the tank that I can monitor.
The Chesapeake bay is brackish and the salinity varies based on rainfall and runoff, but these fish have bred in captivity with a salinity of 1.015 or so. Also, the environment is colder and there are no coral growth issues.
Has anyone done this? What do you think? The blennies will be my main focus.
Here is a web page that has some excellent film clips of the critters (check out the blennies) that I'm interested in collecting for this tank:
Chesapeake Bay Clips
No mantis shrimp will be in my tank!!!

 

[salt phish]

you will have to dump atleast on can of motor oil in to make them feel like they are in the bay area....lol just pickin sounds like a neat tank....

 

[sharkbait9]

I say go for it. One of my tanks was built with north Atlantic water inhabitants, It was a great tank, every time I went out scuba diving and something caught my eye, I scooped it up and placed in the tank. My only suggestion would be to check with your local municipality/ wild life conservation and check and make sure of what you can collect and what is prohibited. I know in jersey reef rock is not allowed to be harvest, I had to buy my own dead reef rock and place a underwater marker buoy. The funny thing is the water in shark river inlet is perfect no trats trites ammonia ph is 7.8 so on and so fourth. I had a few co inhabitants that may have been frowned upon, but everything I had was placed back into the ocean once they were getting big. Good luck with your project and don’t let any one discourage you.

 

[mythrenody]

Sounds like an awsome idea,I would check to see if there isn't any legallity issues. I didnt think any Blennies or anything like that lived in bay

 

[Chasmodes]

I had a feather blenny before (hence my user name

) that I caught in the Bay but didn't keep it in a cool water or brackish system. I acclimated it slowly to full salinity and the fish lived well for a long time. He was my favorite fish of all time. He'd actually swim up and sit in the palm of my hand and I'd feed it before the other fish would get anything. I spoiled him rotten! I've always wanted the striped blennies too. They're very colorful when they are in their breeding colors

 

[Chasmodes]

OK, my plan is coming together finally. I'm going to order a 120g acrylic quarter cylinder tank this weekend (including stand and canopy). I'm going to use fluorescent lighting. No need for high output. This is a temperate tank, but I won't need a temperature. I set up a FW tank with fluorescent lights that will be my SW temporary quarantine tank when I collect the critters and the ambient water temperature is 68 degrees...just about the average for the bay. However, I'm going to plumb this system just in case I decide to add a chiller later on.
Live rock: I'm going to collect some native rock from the shores of the Chesapeake complete with critters to seed home made oyster reef rock (DIY rock made with portland cement, rock salt, and whole oyster shells in a 2:1:1 ratio). I may throw in some mussel shells too.
Aquascape: Live sand, live rock described above to create the oyster reef, foam walls with embedded oyster shells on the back that will also hide plumbing, and I might add a foam reconstruction of a wood piling that I will try to simulate the reef life that grows on them too, or add real sessile critters to grow on it). My top priority is the oyster rock/reef though...
that I'm in the process of making now and will post pics when I'm finished). I'm not going to have any live oysters or mussels, too much of a chance that they won't survive. However, I will feed my blennies oyster eggs and frozen chopped oyster and they should be fine since that is their major food source along with other bay invertebrates. Local rock
The striped blenny, Chasmodes bosquianus, will be the feature fish of this tank. All of the fish are very tolerant of water quality fluctuations because they occur in their native habitat (these are all year round residents in the bay). Salinity averages 15-18 ppt but varies to near seawater concentrations. Summer surface water temperatures in the shallows where these guys are found often approach 90 degrees and winter temperatures are in the 40's (most of these fish seek deeper waters during the coldest time of winter especially if the bay freezes).
My set up will be simple, tank, fuge, mechanical filtration, strong skimmer, fluorescent lighting (no corals), "moon" lighting to try to stimulate day/night cycles (I hope to adjust each week to match local lunar cycles too in an attempt to induce the blennies to spawn), LR and LS biologicial filtration. Algae control will be with snails and hermit crabs found locally, and any other critter that I catch that can do the job combined with the low light levels. There will be no predators of blennies (i.e. toadfish, blue crabs, striped bass, etc.). I may try my luck with spot (croaker family) once the tank is established.
My initial cycling of the tank will be with bay live sand and local rocks. I'm hoping that this will be quick since I should be able to establish a biological system with the local stuff quickly. I will speed up the process with the shrimp method.
I'm not that concerned with pollution since I'll be collecting the sand where these fish live year round. Hopefully I'll be able to filter any pollutants out later on if they become a problem.
I can't wait for the tank to come in. More than likely, some of the critters might not be available to me until spring because cold temps are already here. But I might get lucky and have this set up by the end of November complete with a few specimens!!!!

 

[haze123]

also if you dont feel like wating for summer theres a few good fish stores in the maryland area im sure you know about that sell fish and others that are native to the bay. So you can always do that if you have no luck finding any around this time. Im sure you I still see people out there fishing.

 

[ginarox]

when finished we would like to see pictures....pleasssssssssseeee....have a great day...

 

[Chasmodes]

Originally Posted by ginarox
when finished we would like to see pictures....pleasssssssssseeee....have a great day...
Yes, will do for sure! And hopefully your day is just as great!!!
If I can locate a good source of oyster shells on Saturday I hope to have some DIY oyster reef rock made by Sunday afternoon. I'll take pics if I can get that far.

 

[stanlalee]

my friend is working on his doctorate at VIMS (virginia institute of marine science) and has kept several of the local blenny's without issue. they can take a wide variety of salinity and temperatures. Keeps some local toadfish too. Only thing is these local blenny's seem rather drap colorwise compared to ornamental blenny's and are a bit more aggressive than the ornamental blenny's too. dont think he's kept any of the others.

 

[emeralcrab]

I just got a tail spot blennie, he is really shy, know anything about them? Are you the blennie expert....

he is really cute when he sticks his head out.
Good luck with your oyster reef.

 

[turbulence]

I think fresh water tanks are boring and dull

 

[stanlalee]

Originally Posted by Turbulence
I think fresh water tanks are boring and dull
there's no mention of freshwater tanks here. Chesapeake bay and surrounding waters and rivers are brackish prior to flowing out to sea. the blenny's and fish in question can be kept in full saltwater and with other full saltwater inhibitants. I'm sure at some point they go back and forth between brackish and full salt areas depending on weather, time of year, food , spawning and who knows what else..

 

[Chasmodes]

Emeral Crab - I'm not a blenny expert but I have taken a liking to them so much so that they are my favorite group of fishes. I haven't owned tail spot blennies before. But I know that they are very personable and comical. Like most blennies I'd imagine that they'd be shy at first but once they get used to the tank and establish their territories, travel routes and perches that he'll give you much enjoyment. I've heard that tail spots love algae but will also take other foods. Blennies in the genus Ecsenius are generally known for having very comical and interesting antics, so you are sure to have fun with your blenny! Good luck with him! I'll try to find some more info on him for you...but I'm pretty sure that I've covered it above.
Turbulence - this isn't going to be a fresh water system. It will be a brackish system but over time will probably be more toward the salty range (slow acclimation) so that I can add some of the species found further south of me if I want to that might be more sensitive to lower salinities. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, and one person's opinion is a matter of personal taste. There are reefers who love their reefs and FO people that think reefs are boring and prefer more aggressive fish. Some think that fish aren't worth buying unless they sport pretty colors. Others find beauty in all well thought out systems, and yes, even fresh water. In this tank, the fish are more camo colored (except during breeding season when the male striped blennies get quite colorful), but what they lack in color they certainly make up in personality. These guys are as alert and interesting as most, if not all, blennies that you can purchase in a store. Also, I've collected seahorses and pipefish from these areas often prized by marine aquarists elsewhere. There are plenty of invertebrates and crabs to be found in the bay too. And, lastly, I've been a saltwater aquarist for many years and this is a tank that I've always dreamed to own - a breeding population of striped blennies. I've owned flame, queen, blue, heralds, potters angels; red lipped and bicolor blennies; puffers, boxfish, groupers, pseudochromids, wrasses, triggers, damsels, batfish, hawkfish and others over the past 30 years and only a few of those get me as excited as these blennies. In my first SW tank 30 years ago I had some tropical SW fish in a FO tank and added (after a week of slowly acclimating him to a higher specific gravity) a Hypsoblennius hentzi blenny that I caught on a deep water trawl in the lower Chesapeake Bay and he turned out to be my most favorite fish of all time. I respect the opinions of everyone and their rights to like or dislike any type of tank, but I can assure you that when all is said and done this will be the most favorite of my tanks...and, ain't that what counts the most? It will be fun, interesting to me, mean something ecologically to my daughter and me, and most of all I'll have a system that is pretty unique in the aquarium world. I'm hoping also that I'll learn something about the best way to maintain a system like this so that others interested in doing this will have some groundwork done for them. Peace, my friend, enjoy your tanks and hopefully when this is set up soon I'll have some pics that you may enjoy and perhaps a video or two. Anyone who likes blennies will love this tank!!!!!!!!

 

[theappe]

I'll just wait for the pics!

 

[Chasmodes]

Update! I’ve ordered and paid for an aquarium for my oyster reef. Rather than a quarter cylinder, I’m having a custom cubish style tank built. It’s going to be 36”x36”x18”, 100 gallon acrylic. The sump/refugium will also be acrylic, 36”x12”x18”. I’m going to have a mud style natural filtration system, no skimmer, with live rock (DIY rock as stated earlier). I’ll have pics once the tank has been built and delivered to me. I’m estimating 4 to 6 weeks or so. That said, I’ve been lazy on the DIY rock project. I made a batch of my oyster rock but it turned out poorly. I hope to make another batch soon. When I do, I’ll post pics of those rocks if they turn out OK.
I'm stoked!

 

[Chasmodes]

Well, I am so stoked, I picked up my tank last night. It's a custom acrylic cubish tank, 36"X36"X18", about 100 gallons.

Here is the sump, 36"X17"X18", the fuge is on the right, but I'm planning on natural filtration right now, no skimmer at this point in time, so the middle section will be used in that capacity as well. The return section is on the left.

Next steps are:
1) completion of the stand
2) plumbing
3) purchase lighting and pump
4) collection: I'm planning on using all local live rock (actually cinder blocks that are in the bay) and live sand until the tank is established. Concurrently I'll be making my own DIY live oyster rock and once that becomes biologically viable as a filter then I'll remove the blocks. I'll be using bay live sand too. Once the tank has been established and some time elapses (allowing fish parasites that might be introduced initially to die off) then I will begin collecting and adding fish.
Now all I need is more time to get this rolling!

 

[earlybird]

Very cool idea but you'd have to include some blue crabs to mimic it right. I once caught a bluefish in the bay that was crazy. I released him and he jumped back into the boat in a last attempt to bite me.

 

[Chasmodes]

I thought about it. Small ones would be OK but they grow extremely fast, and adult blue crabs will prey on the blennies. Since the blennies are the feature fish of this tank I'm leaving the predators out. Their natural enemies in the bay are the blue crabs, striped bass, and oyster toadfish, so those won't be in this tank. Anything that can coexist peacefully along side the blennies will be welcome in this tank!
Good thing that blue didn't get a hold of ya, they have some nasty teeth!!!!

 

[chilwil84]

sweet idea i lived in bmore for a few years and miss the area