13.5 Fluval Evo Build Thread: Mixed Reef (Photo Heavy!)

[SauceyReef]

I can’t resist taking photos of the bleeding apple Scoly every chance I can haha. The teal discoloration spot just keeps growing! Of course the neon goby has to photo bomb every shot

just found out somone sells Scoly pillows! Buying two

 

[SauceyReef]

Here’s a better one

 

[SauceyReef]

I added some sexy shrimp yesterday and my possum wrasse started hunting and tearing them apart! It literally was carrying one around in its mouth. I chased it away, fed the tank a lot which seemed to appease the beast at the moment, and somehow all 4 were still alive. I woke up the next morning and I believe they are all 4 in the back chambers, or maybe one or two dead. I know I have seen 1-2 back there. I will leave them back there for now and give them a month or two before I try reintroduction. Crazy seeing multiple sexys have been in the tank for years!


I guess my Possum Wrasse is just getting to be about that full grown size where a small Sexy Shrimp floating around looks like a nice meal. I need to be more careful next time.. Hopefully they are all alive in the back chambers. I sometimes forget this thing is a little pirhana.

 

[SauceyReef]

Just picked up a frag of some Frankie’s Acid Trips and Deathstars from a local reefer near me! I’ll be happy if they look even half this good from the photos online.

 

[SauceyReef]

I am satisfied! During acclimation. I’ll get some in tank photos before lights turn off.

 

[SauceyReef]

Nice and opened up!

 

[Cthulukelele]

I added some sexy shrimp yesterday and my possum wrasse started hunting and tearing them apart! It literally was carrying one around in its mouth. I chased it away, fed the tank a lot which seemed to appease the beast at the moment, and somehow all 4 were still alive. I woke up the next morning and I believe they are all 4 in the back chambers, or maybe one or two dead. I know I have seen 1-2 back there. I will leave them back there for now and give them a month or two before I try reintroduction. Crazy seeing multiple sexys have been in the tank for years!


I guess my Possum Wrasse is just getting to be about that full grown size where a small Sexy Shrimp floating around looks like a nice meal. I need to be more careful next time.. Hopefully they are all alive in the back chambers. I sometimes forget this thing is a little pirhana.

Possum wrasse are voracious micro-predators. Anything that looks like an amphipod is their favorite snack as adults. Rough way to find out I'm sorry bud

 

[Cthulukelele]

Nice and opened up!

Your zoas look great!

 

[SauceyReef]

Your zoas look great!

TYVM! Been chasing an affordable death star for like 2 years now.

Possum wrasse are voracious micro-predators. Anything that looks like an amphipod is their favorite snack as adults. Rough way to find out I'm sorry bud

Yes! It is super cool until it does not work in your favor! I had heard of others with Possums + Sexys so I gave it a try - They were fine together for near two years. I think when I introduced the last batch, everything went wrong. They were very tiny, let them out at the top and they floated down, I hadn't fed the tank before this, and I had cut back Rods Food a month before just feeding mysis.

A predator saw his chance He even killed one of the 1.5 year old Sexys right after murking all the 4 new ones. Now the lone Sexy Shrimp survives in the DT, somehow! Oh one of the smaller ones made it in the back-chamber somehow also.. So after buying 4 new ones, back to 2 lol..

 

[SauceyReef]

Some of the corals were looking super colorful tonight! Not sure if it was the water change, the extra work I’ve been putting in the tank, or something else. I wish I had a camera that could capture the maxi minis colors. It’s looking wildly rainbow!

 

[SauceyReef]

 

[SauceyReef]

We caught the Blue Neon Cleaner Goby cleaning the Possum Wrasse today!

 

[SauceyReef]

As I am getting my nutrients stabilized, the cyano is almost entirely disappeared, but now bubble algae is starting to appear in some spots. Very interesting how algae’s and other micro organisms bloom and die off depending on certain param levels.

 

[SauceyReef]

Update: I made it to my first Frag Swap! LEAR in Ohio. It was honestly way cooler than I thought it would be. I had a lot of fun. I went in hopes to get a GMK. Got some death stars and Frankie’s Acid Trips a couple weeks before that were doing well, so thought it would be a good time.

Amazingly since being in the bag acclimating it has remained fully open! As of yesterday it had 2-3 babies coming off! Woke up this morning and my Euphyllia Frogspawn fell right on top of it! Of course my luck.. Hopefully it wasn’t to long. Nothing seems melted.

 

[SauceyReef]

I made a big move yesterday. I traded the Possum Wrasse for a Hellfrichi Firefish! I want to make a shout out for Possum Wrasse - it was potentially the coolest fish I have ever had in my 15 years of reefing. The only reason I finalized this trade was because it was eating my sexy shrimp, it needed a bigger tank, and someone in the area wanted to do the trade!

I was extremely anxious about doing this, and virtually couldn't sleep the night before I had to catch the wrasse. I bought a breeder box, and had been scoping where it slept each night. Of course while trying to grab the fish while sleeping, it went all wrong! It shot out of my hands, but than kind of fell back asleep while mid-swim after a couple seconds lol. I just scooped it out of the water with my hands and placed it in the breeder box (still cant believe it). After that everything went fine! The hellfrichi found a nice spot in my tank, and seems good already. Maybe in the next month I will actually see it and get a photo!

Again - shout out to the Possum Wrasse for being an AWESOME fish for 2 years. I really never got any good photos of the fish due to its dark color and being very shy of the phone, but here are some cool possum wrasse photos I found online.

Photo by Lizantude

 

[SauceyReef]

Photo by Fathom - 60g Reef

Here is one of the many lovely Possum Wrasse photos by our fellow reefer @Paul B

 

[SauceyReef]

I took a full tank shot yesterday as the tank was looking good! Finally getting all the algae under control and my nutrients stabilized. I think the aiptasia will be a never ending battle. I gave my frag rack to a local reefer to be cleaned by their Berghia Nudibranchs. We traded a couple zoas, and I got these two kinds. I was supposed to get BamBams, but I think they are Orange Oxides and Circus zoas. They have been starting to form these cool blue lines and dots! Not sure if its damage from all the dipping I did, but I like it.

 

[SauceyReef]

Update: I believe the Masked Gobies are spawning! The smaller of the two is constantly digging and cleaning around this spot in my one rock cave and sandbed around it. I’ve never seen it pickup sand with its mouth before. Now it does it all day.

 

[SauceyReef]

Some more misc. photos before I remove them from the phone. I swear this masked goby uses the Scoly as a sofa

 

[SauceyReef]

A cool time-lapse I took of the scoly.

Scolymolia Reef Timelapse

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