Fishoholic's 2012 nano contest entry

[fishoholic]

I think heaters hate me, woke up this morning and the tank was sitting at 73.4 Amazingly everything (maxi minis, sexy shrimp and crabs) seem fine. Turned the P.O.S. (marineland stealth) heater up higher and the temp is slowly going back up. Unfortunately the replacement heater I asked to be ordered in never came in yet so I will be making a trip to big als for a new heater today.

Two days ago I pulled the BTA out and put it in my 80g. It got fairly annoyed by the porcelain crab and wasn't recovering in this tank, with the sexy shrimp constantly irritating it, hence the move to the 80g.

I talked to Ken and he thinks he has some dwarf clowns so I might get one to add to this tank (in a few weeks) and a friend of mine owes me a RBTA so if I ever get it from him I might add those to the tank and hope it works out. I'm thinking a split from an anemone from a friends tank should do better then the other one I had in there, plus there is no longer a porcelain crab in there to anger it. Still leery of how the tiny clownfish will be with the maxi minis (not knowing if the maxi minis killed the last one or not) but since I don't know for sure I kinda want to try again. I'll just be extra careful not to turn on the overhead room light (when it's dark) so I won't have to worry about spooking a new clownfish.

[kien]

Pics? :-). I like your stocking idea. Be careful of the clown/anemone PO-PO tho. They may object. :-) .. Trust me, I know

[fishoholic]

Originally Posted by kien

Pics? :-). I like your stocking idea. Be careful of the clown/anemone PO-PO tho. They may object. :-) .. Trust me, I know

I would not keep a full grown normal size clownfish in a 2.5 gallon tank or a large bta. The RBTA my friend has (according to him) grows no larger then 3" and then splits (mostly only gets to 2" before splitting) so if it stays small in my tank it won't be an issue and if/when it splits I can sell/trade the splits. Or if for some odd reason it grows large I'll sell it or move it over to my bigger tank. The clownfish Ken has he breeds, he gets dwarf ones every now and then (kinda like the runt of the litter) which only grow to an inch in size. I figure a single 1" clownfish should be ok. Haven't got either yet though, so no pic's, and it'll probably be awhile before I can set up meeting times as both guys are busy and hard to find a time to meet with.

[kien]

Originally Posted by fishoholic

I would not keep a full grown normal size clownfish in a 2.5 gallon tank or a large bta.

Yup, I agree and I wouldn't do that either! :-). Plus, in my experience I don't think clowns actually need that much swimming room, do they? Any clown that I've owned has always found a spot in the tank that they liked and stayed there, forever! My two clowns now certainly NEVER leave their 'nem. Even during feeding time they wait patiently for food to drift by. Anyway, mine aren't very active swimmers at all. I'm not sure if they would notice a 150g tank or a 10g tank.

[fishoholic]

Originally Posted by kien

Yup, I agree and I wouldn't do that either! :-). Plus, in my experience I don't think clowns actually need that much swimming room, do they? Any clown that I've owned has always found a spot in the tank that they liked and stayed there, forever! My two clowns now certainly NEVER leave their 'nem. Even during feeding time they wait patiently for food to drift by. Anyway, mine aren't very active swimmers at all. I'm not sure if they would notice a 150g tank or a 10g tank.

Ya the two clowns in my 230g never leave the RBTA. I figured if I can get a dwarf clown hosting in a small bta it might work out in the small tank. Ken's clowns are hosting a bta in his tank so my odds are good, and if it doesn't work or I feel like the tanks to small I'll rehome them.

[fishoholic]

Found something bizarre in my tank, looked kinda like little white inch worms? not sure what they were but I scooped them out just in case.

Tried to take a pic but they were really small so it's hard to see them, I circled them in red

[fishoholic]

So as I've mentioned I have bad luck with heaters, the POS one I'm using now (marine stealth) has to be turned up to 84 to keep the tank at 76 at night and down to 82 during the day to keep it around 78-79. Unfortunately one morning I forgot to turn it down and the tank was at 82 Shortly after that I lost my nassarious snails and one of my scarlet hermit crabs. So I have the 3 sexy shrimp, and one hermit crab and 4 maxi minis. Might have a porcelain crab, but I'm not sure, I haven't seen him since the tank got to 82 but he hides in the very back of the tank were it's hard to see him in the first place. The glass (acrylic) needs a good cleaning as I've been somewhat forgetful in doing so :reface:

Still waiting on getting a new bta and dwarf clown.

Mentioned in a different thread that I tried to get a good ehiem heater for this tank but unfortunately petsmart replaced my order with dog vitamins!

[Myka]

Laurie, 82F shouldn't hurt any of your inverts. My 90-gallon hits 85F everyday for the last almost 4 years. There are many inverts in there.

[fishoholic]

Originally Posted by Myka

Laurie, 82F shouldn't hurt any of your inverts. My 90-gallon hits 85F everyday for the last almost 4 years. There are many inverts in there.

I was thinking that the swing in temp: 74 at night then 82 in the day, in such a small 2.5g tank, was what did the snails and crab in. However one crab and the sexy shrimp survived so who knows I did get a new 25 watt hydro heater that I added earlier today (which so far has kept it at 78) so here's hoping it won't drop too much at night. I turn the furnace down at night, which is why it gets colder at night, but still I thought the heater would keep it between 76-78.

[fishoholic]

The new hydro heater seems better but it's been warmer so hard to say for sure but so far it seems to keep the tank between 75-79 mostly 76 at night and 78 during the day.

Was a bit neglectful over the month of Dec. and I finally got around to scrubbing the acrylic clean (took almost and hour which is ridiculous for such a small tank!) Note to self clean tank with NanoMag scrubber more often!

The tank hasn't changed much other then the maxi's have moved around a bit and unfortunately one of my sexy shrimp jumped overboard and was found dried up on the desk

New FTS (couldn't get the colour quite right but it's somewhere between these two pic's)





I also must admit I'm getting bored of the maxi mini's so I am thinking of selling them, and turning the tank into a mini reef instead. There is a super cute tiny tailspot blenny (that Doug mentioned would look cute in there) that has me thinking of going this route. Not 100% sure yet, but being a fishoholic a fishless tank isn't very appealing.
Help me decide by letting me know which way you would go