Caribbean Biotope Seagrass Tank

[Michael Hoaster]

The Blue Spotted Jawfish is a living jewel! PVC tunnels - awesome! You could put 45s on each end, so they have front and back doors! You could probably house two jawfish, if you segregate their pipes. I've heard they're fun to see interact, stealing rubble from each other n' stuff.

[nawilson89]

Originally Posted by Michael Hoaster

The Blue Spotted Jawfish is a living jewel! PVC tunnels - awesome! You could put 45s on each end, so they have front and back doors! You could probably house two jawfish, if you segregate their pipes. I've heard they're fun to see interact, stealing rubble from each other n' stuff.

Don't get me all excited for something I can't start until after the Holidays!

[Michael Hoaster]

[nawilson89]

So we definitely need a video of the grammas. They look awesome.

[cksss]

Beautiful Atlantic Blue Tang!
Does it feed on the algae you are growing in the tank?

[Michael Hoaster]

Yes, a video would be great! I'm still working it out in my head, but I'll try to make it happen.

The Blue Tang does eat the algae growing in the tank. It doesn't eat when I feed the tank, it just cruises around grabbing snacks. I bought some sinking algae discs, but he never found it. I'll try again, but he doesn't look like he's starving. I think he'll eat a lot more when he gets bigger.

[Michael Hoaster]

I thought it would be a cool idea, getting a harem of grammas, but nothing could have prepared me for the eye-melting beauty! They've gotten less shy and they're starting to associate me with food. So, in theory, I should be able to get some good pics of them. In practice, I'm still struggling.

Here's 3 from today:

[nawilson89]

These looks really good. No wonder why Royal Gramma are some of my favorite fish! It must me a marvel to see them interact in a group setting!

[sam.basye]

Very cool!
I've found that it isn't all that difficult to get a few good pics of one fish, but as soon as you're trying to get two or more fish to swim still near each other and cooperate with the camera, it becomes 100x more difficult. You just want to cuss all the fish by the time your done because every picture has something wrong with it or you finally take a perfect one except for the one fish that is blurry or looking at you funny. Lol

[Michael Hoaster]

That's true, nawilson89, the interaction pushes it off the charts!

Sam.basye, you are right about that. Right now, I'd settle for one good pic of one fish! It shouldn't be too long now, as they get more comfortable with me - and the phone…

[sam.basye]

Here's pic of my rogue shrimp.

He's a Caribbean variety: Dark emerald green w' translucent blue tail.


His Lair

[Genera]

Ah! You ordered from KP Aquatics! Very nice place. Where'd you get your macros from? GCE?

[Michael Hoaster]

Yep, macros from GCE (Gulf Coast Ecosystems), seagrasses from Florida Pets. Both companies, as well as KP Aquatics, are excellent, in my experience.

[Genera]

I did a rescape, so these pictures are incorrect now, and the 90 is only about 2/5 full, but here's a few pics. I also ruined my Caribbean biotope, I added a blue damsel... :/ Oh well. I'm getting another group of females and a non-blue morph male too. I really need some brittle stars to clean up the poo from all of those mollies which have since been removed (except a few fry that got sucked up into the filtration)

Yup, he's a male. The males from the Philippines & Japan are completely blue with dark bars on the fins, while the females lack the black spot and have fairly clear fins.


Here's my volley or basketball sized clump of Caulerpa lentellifera, C. prolifera, C. brachypus, Gracilaria sp, Chaetomorpha sp, and many more. I also have a giant colony of C. paspaloides, individual pieces look like mini palm trees.



The long way before the rescape
http://s356.photobucket.com/user/ser...h.jpg.html?o=4

Originally Posted by karimwassef

Yo - Grass guys!

So I found a strange hitchhiker in my sump chaeto mass... a refugee from almost two years ago who has survived and is fighting for room...

In some cases, it's nearly out of the water. I have a surge so the water line goes up and down - so being exposed like this is usually temporary but I'd think it would grow down towards the constantly submerged region...

Red bubble caulerpa???

I think a couple of bubbles came in by accident in the water the chaeto came in with and just disappeared. It looks like it got a foothold in the corner and has been staging a comeback.

Just thought you'd get a kick out of it. Surprised me.

It's Botryocladia sp, I have some too.

Here's my Red Grape farm, I also have a frag of it I made that is approaching the size of a tennis ball

[karimwassef]

Very pretty when in a big bunch. Maybe I'll transport some to my DT. See if tangs will leave it alone.

[Genera]

Originally Posted by karimwassef

Very pretty when in a big bunch. Maybe I'll transport some to my DT. See if tangs will leave it alone.

Doesn't seem to be appealing to herbivorous fish, the bubbles are filled with a jellylike substance. It does spread fairly quickly though, I have small bubbles covering a few rocks. And you have a 12 foot skimmer?!?!

[karimwassef]

lol yes. Maybe I'll give them a dedicated zone in the refugium.

[Michael Hoaster]

I like the blue damsel, Genera. Nice pics too!

Are you are adding a group of females to start a harem? Why add a second male? Do you have a thread for this tank? Love to hear more!

[Genera]

Originally Posted by Michael Hoaster

I like the blue damsel, Genera. Nice pics too!

Are you are adding a group of females to start a harem? Why add a second male? Do you have a thread for this tank? Love to hear more!

I put an empty light bulb in my tank , and yes, I have a batch of females ready to go soon, 5 of them. I'm adding a second male because I'd like to see how they interact, and if it doesn't go well, I have a place for him to go afterwards. I can pretend that someone didn't want their damsels so they threw them into the Caribbean. I wish I had a thread, but I don't... :/ I plan to downsize/upgrade this tank into 40 breeders in a few weeks/months, and I'm going to attempt to make a few indoor ponds made of pond liners and cinder blocks, with glorifying touches, I'll attempt to make threads for those. I just have to convince everyone to allow me so. On a side note, I'm into the freshwater and other parts of the hobby as well. I have a snake that lives with a 7-legged spider, and I have a few planted tanks emersed & submerged, along with sunfish (found them in a freezing stream with the lake frozen over so I took them in, will be releasing in the spring), white cloud minnows, and a pair of huge goldfish (giving to someone with a pond). I'm also in the process of cleaning/redoing my fish room, to make it look less like a big mess (and sound like a giant bumblebee), and more like a relaxing place.

[nawilson89]

Originally Posted by sam.basye

Here's pic of my rogue shrimp.

He's a Caribbean variety: Dark emerald green w' translucent blue tail.


His Lair

It's safe to say. That's not a pistol shrimp. That's something that ate the shrimp and is wearing it's skin.

Originally Posted by Genera

I put an empty light bulb in my tank , and yes, I have a batch of females ready to go soon, 5 of them. I'm adding a second male because I'd like to see how they interact, and if it doesn't go well, I have a place for him to go afterwards. I can pretend that someone didn't want their damsels so they threw them into the Caribbean. I wish I had a thread, but I don't... :/ I plan to downsize/upgrade this tank into 40 breeders in a few weeks/months, and I'm going to attempt to make a few indoor ponds made of pond liners and cinder blocks, with glorifying touches, I'll attempt to make threads for those. I just have to convince everyone to allow me so. On a side note, I'm into the freshwater and other parts of the hobby as well. I have a snake that lives with a 7-legged spider, and I have a few planted tanks emersed & submerged, along with sunfish (found them in a freezing stream with the lake frozen over so I took them in, will be releasing in the spring), white cloud minnows, and a pair of huge goldfish (giving to someone with a pond). I'm also in the process of cleaning/redoing my fish room, to make it look less like a big mess (and sound like a giant bumblebee), and more like a relaxing place.

I think I speak to everyone when I ask "What happened to the eighth leg?"

[Genera]

Originally Posted by nawilson89

I think I speak to everyone when I ask "What happened to the eighth leg?"

I don't really know! I found it with 7 legs. Maybe a fairy ate it and regurgitated it to her foster children.

[Genera]

New scape?

[Genera]

Ah, here we are. I got a HUGE clump (about the size of a child's head) of Halimeda, and I finally got a bunch of these tiny shrimp hitchhikers I've been trying to get! I think they are mysid shrimp, not sure. I also got a bunch of pods, worms, stars, etc. The thing is this monstrous Halimeda clump was $10! Don't mind me, but LiveAquaria sells 1.5-3in clumps for $15. I'm also mixing 10 gallons of water to put in, too see what it would look like filled up a bit more.

Halimeda


Don't worry, these are good worms.


Pretty sure these are mysid shrimp, I've been wanting to establish a colony for a while, and now I have a bunch.


Mollies again


FTS? I think it looks ok.

[Michael Hoaster]

I attempted to shoot a video of the tank today. Too many reflections! I'll try again tonight. In the meantime, here are a few pics:


The grammas have started to spread out a bit. Of course they still mess with each other.




Mister Pederson makes a rare photographable appearance.




In the Meadow.




Maybe my best pic so far of a gramma. Still not near good enough…

Happy New Year!

[Michael Hoaster]

Getting there…



Here's the weird macro that started out nearly black and is now nearly white.




These fish are so freaking cool! See the blenny bombing the photo, saying, "Hey I'm still here! You guys aren't THAT pretty!"