Welcome to Canreef.. Ask any question you like and people will be happy to give advise and help. You should take a run down to penticiton and visit Leah very nice person and has some nice tanks also. The photo's are good you even got the three fish in one pic at the same time hard to do, because thay are always swimming around...LOL

Bill

Thanks! The skunk clowns seem to be quite shy, until mealtime. I wish I saw them more aorund the tank. They love their hiding spots though. When it is supper time they all go after the pellets that I put in for my Mandarin and then they head to the flakes. So, when it is dinner time it is not too hard to take pictures.
I have a question for members on here. Brisstle worms...anyone know a good way of ridding them? I tried using hermit crabs and well the star fish feed on them. I went through all of the substrate bit by bit(there were tons of them, and it took way too long to do this!) I really don't want to do a fresh water rinse due to the population of amphipods and copipods that my mandarin feed on. Any suggestions???

Stephanie,

Love your pictures especially your puffer and mandarin. :mrgreen: :biggrin: And like Bill said if you happen to be coming to Penticton just pm me and come for a visit anytime. It would be nice to meet another female reefer. :wink:

Welcome to Canreef Stephanie! Yay another girl reefer on the board!
Bristleworms are a beneficial part of your clean up crew and really do no harm. Remove the large ones when you see them but you can cut their populations by reducing the "leftovers" when you feed! Cut your feedings and perhaps try frozen...less waste. If you can decrease their food supply they will decrease their numbers all on their own. I've had a severe overpopluation of brittlestars and found just cutting back the amount I was feeding reduced their numbers. But really...they are helping out the tank so now big worries.

Leah, you have no problem with your stars being with your crabs? I had a pair of Pom Poms and numerous of hermits and snails, but seem to find remnents of shell bits around where my yellow brittle star hangs out. What is your secret? I loved the cute Pom Pom crabs! They look like lil clowns all painted up! They even bred a few times, but I never saw the lil ones get bigger around my tank after she finally decided to let go of them. Really neat thing to see when she is carrying around caviar. Maybe they turned into fish food. But the adults did turn into starfish food. :cry:
I am considering getting rid of my star fish just so I can home more hermits and maybe save a spot for the pom poms again.
About Penticton, I don't go down too often, but definately when I do my bf and I would love to see how you run your tank. Well, I would like to see the set up and well I think he just likes the fish. The work of it doesn't interest him! LOL

I have two tanks set up... the 95 has the brittle, sandsifter and blue starfish in the tank... and the crabs I did have, 2 sallylightfooted have long disappeared. :sad: So to answer your question no chance they will survive long.

In my 72 I have the 2 pom-poms and 2 blue porcelain crabs along with a blue and purple linkia....so they are safe. :wink:....unless the newly discovered hairy crab gets hungry.....:cry:

I guess with the two responses from our females members, there aren't many females on here! What is up with that? I thought there would be more female reef enthusiasts compared to men. Maybe there really aren't alot of women taking the time to take part on the forums. :wink: Are there many on here from Kelowna?

Not sure bout Kelowna but I can say for certain that here in Calgary the Men outnumber the Women in the hobby atleast 4 to 1! I work at Red coral on Saturdays and we don't get too many reefchicks coming in! There aren't many of us out there! Perhaps the hobby is a kinda jump in and get "dirty" kinda hobby...not for most chicks!:lol: Not many girls wanna get dirty cleaning skimmers or mess around with BRISTLEWORMS!:lol: But I can say there are some great guys in the hobby with great advice especially here on Canreef!
:wink:

Carmen,
you are probably right with the whole reason. Yah not many women out there I think are okay with the whole gettign dirty thing. I definately am not one to worry about my nails or hair. I am all about activities that allow me to do anything. Even getting my nails broken and dealing with the dirties of natural things. I don't even let spiders, or scrapes and bruises limit my choices. Definately grew up being a tomboy! Anyway, I am doing some research on here about the LED lighting for tanks. Have you heard anything? I have found out it can last for 15 years. That in itself is a grab for me. No light changes all of the time, no heat, can be controlled with different light levels and colors. And the biggest grab is the cost, Hense, the main reason I haven't went to a larger tank. You working in a store, have you seen the setups offered, if any, and what is the cost?

I agree.......yay!!!! another reef Girly:wink: