Studio Reef at year 15

[rhdoug]

Studio Reef was started in 1999. It is an Oceanic reef-ready 58 gallon tank that I got from a fundraiser in CT, from House of Fins. They set it up as a fish-only, and after a few weeks I returned the "cycle fish" and traded them in for live rock and reef-friendly fish. I still have the rock and the mushrooms that were attached to it. Many of the other animals have been with me for a long time -- the sebae anemone and the yellow leather for 12 years. The green bubble coral (on the left) for 10 years, the green lobo (left center), the gigantic hammer, neon green candy cane, red&green brain (lower left on sandbed), and a brittle star that is hiding in the hammer 9 years. The breeding ocellaris pair have been clowning around in there for 8 years, spawning continuously for the last 6-7. I know, I don't have any SPS. Sorry. Actually there is an encrusting montipora (sunset or pokerstar) growing near the base of the leather.

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Hope you enjoy it, thanks for looking.

 

[SantaMonicaHelp]

Awesome pics! I definitely enjoyed! :clap2:

 

[stunreefer]

Beautiful tank, well done :thumb:

 

[Aqua fire/medic]

Wow! Very nice

 

[fishroomlady]

awesome!! love to see a tank that has been around for such a long time!

 

[rhdoug]

Thanks everybody. Here is one more showing the extensive sponge growth on the rock. Starting at the base of the leather, and going diagonally down to the left, all the white patches are sponges. The ones in front of the sun corals just to the left of the anemone, have grown long thin tubes since I took this pic a couple of months ago. You can see them in some of the previous pics.

 

[Fin]

Awesome tank and a job well done to keep a reef that healthy for so long. Definitely enjoyed seeing your tank. Thanks for sharing the pictures!

 

[SeahorseKeeper]

Gorgeous!! I love the blenny pic!!

 

[rhdoug]

Thanks to both of you. The blenny frequently sleeps in that yellow leather. In fact he is in it right now!

 

[Fish76]

Very cool, especially the fact you've had them for that long.

 

[gacolt]

great job.your tank is older then some of the members on this site.keep it up

 

[flip_]

Amazing tank

 

[Zero Nitrates]

Wow! Your tank is amazing. Not many been around that long. Great job.

 

[xcorallusx]

awesome tank, love your livestock selections

 

[rhdoug]

Thanks everybody. At this point the tank has become a member of the family! Here is a link to a video from 2005-present. It shows my original pair of gold bar maroons which lived in the same sebae anemone that is in the pics. I raised a few batches of babies back then, and it shows them at various stages of growth. Unfortunately I lost the pair (and all the other fish in the tank) due to a heater electrocution event in December 2005. I was fortunate in that I had decided to keep one of the babies. He just turned 9 years old and lives in the 10 gallon tank he grew up in, which has been converted to a GSP species tank. He shares his home with 1 urchin (5 years) and 1 scarlet hemit crab from Studio Reef. He is a tiny fish, I doubt if he is much more than an inch and a half long.


[video]http://vid1254.photobucket.com/albums/hh610/rhdoug/various/2005 gold bar maroons clownfish and babies web audio_zpsbaesze5h.mp4[/video]

This picture shows the babies at 15 days old. So tiny.