It was a big night for livestock for my tank last night. Did a refresh on some of my cleaning crew; 20 nassarius snails, 5 turbos, and 3 emerald crabs (one male and two females). In addition I added a RBTA to my daughter's tank and a plate coral to mine.
Also I'd like to talk about my ambitions as a reef keeper. When I was six years old my parents gave me my own fish tank, since I am allergic to cats and dogs (I love my two dogs now though) and my mother is terrified of snakes. The first fish I asked to put in it was a yellow tang... Of course being six I didn't know that there were essentially two environments that fish are found in: freshwater and saltwater. Naturally my heart was broken because I only had a freshwater tank so I left with a few guppies and the good old flying fox algae cleaner. As the years went on I wanted to make the jump to saltwater but didn't have anywhere near enough money to do it on my own. So I planned to set up my first marine tank the "right" way. Meaning I would have to wait until my finances were such that I wouldn't have to buy low quality gear and that I could keep whatever I want (within reason).
Last night I finally got my yellow tang... I fell asleep in my chair watching him swim so gracefully and slowly. I really got an excellent specimen too, his yellow color is deep and rich and there are no flecks of other colors. His fins are all intact with no nips or tears. He ate twice for me last night and once at the LFS before I left with him. There were no problems at all acclimating him, I did the drip method just to ensure success, and as soon as he was released into my tank he started doing slow laps around the rock work. Within an hour he wasn't shy at all and wouldn't hide if I came to have a look. It's interesting that even though he is just about flourescent yellow his skin does not react to the purple night lights; he's black as coal under them.
For me this was an event that closes the loop on a lot of my ambitions in aquaria. I have a thriving reef tank done my way and my yellow tang "Maui" to enjoy it.
Livestock list as of now:
- 2 green (blue) chromis
- 2 pink skunk clownfish
- 1 hippo tang (Dori; my daughter picked the name)
- 1 yellow tang (Maui)
- 1 green brittle star
- 4 emerald crabs (three females and a male)
- 40+/- blue and red legged hermit crabs
- 3 peppermint shrimp
- 2 skunk shrimp
- 1 sand sifting star
- 1 black knobbly sea cucumber
- 1 spider conch
- 2 lettuce nudibranchs
- 1 green carpet anemone (Sarlacc The Magnificient)
- 1 RBTA
- 1 metallic yellow rock flower anemone
- 30 nassarius snails (give or take)
- 15 turbo snails
- 10 astrea snails
- 10 margarita snails
- 1 rock crab living in my sump
Coral list:
- 1 six headed torch coral colony (green)
- 1 metallic orange ricordia colony
- 1 daisy polyp coral colony
- 1 green star polyp colony
- six colonies of assorted zoas and palys (some are brand name some are beautiful no-name)
- 1 metallic green plate coral (started extending its feeding polyps within five minutes of being in my tank)
- 1 blue staghorn frag
- 1 ponape birdsnet frag
- 1 frogspawn frag (which seems to be growing like I'm giving it steriods...)
- 1 red, white and blue acan frag that is doing well but isn't thriving where it currently resides
- 1 blue mystery coral that hitchhiked in on my live rock
On a side note my ORP reading was 258 after my daylight cycle. The setpoint for my ORP controller is 250 so my ozone generator hasn't produced ozone in a couple days now. It's almost like my ORP hit a tipping point and is increasing on its own now.
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