14g (now 20g) Anemone/Ricordea/Goby Cube

[Matt Miller]

Looking good! Your fish looked like he didn't want to be filmed lol.

 

[TriggersAmuck]

Looking good! Your fish looked like he didn't want to be filmed lol.

She's a feisty clown!

 

[TriggersAmuck]

Update 1/4/2021 - Happy New Years!:

Added the following this week:

• Red Striped (Trimma) Gobies x 2 (so so tiny, even compared against my smallest gobies)
• Another siting of the tiniest hi-fin/red-banded goby! (Feels like a new fish since I never see it!)

The Florida Ricordea still are looking good. Not super-fragilistic, just good. I'll take it.

 

[TriggersAmuck]

PS: Did I say what an absolute jerk my Fire Clown is? Sometimes its hits just startle, but last night it just downright hurt! I rather be swiped and scratched by my cat!


Hmmmm.....that dwarf lionfish idea is sounding more and more tempting!

 

[TriggersAmuck]

Some pics from today:

3 Musketeers

Wee little peppermint goby #1

Wee little peppermint goby #2 (Clownfish chowder)

 

[TriggersAmuck]

Update 1/14/2021:

Added the following today:

• Rock Anemones x 7 (Bringing total to 15)
• Ricordea Florida x 8 (Bringing total to 14)

Kudos to Reeftopia for their excellent service and livestock! I think the tank is at a good stocking level now, and except for a few replacement snails I plan to let this just grow out for the foreseeable future.

I will try to get a non-blue video up over the weekend. Now to plan what the next nano is going to be (which happens to be a 1 foot cube/7.5 gallon Mr. Aqua). Debating between a freshwater planted high tech tank or a really minimalist softy/LPS tank.

 

[TriggersAmuck]

Busy Day in the 14 gallon {Goby | Anemone | Ricordea} cube reef tank!​

Added some Red Striped Trimma Gobies as well as more Ricordea Florida to the 14 gallon cube tank over the past couple weeks. Not often that you see several of the gobies out at once. There are no less than 10 fish in this tiny cube tank, but you would never know it due to their size and shyness! While the female Flame Clownfish never shows interest in them, I'm sure it has crossed their minds. It is fun to watch the sexy shrimp try to ward off the Fire Clown by flipping their tails wildly at her, like some comical Monty Python riot!

Looks like it is time to get out the test kits, as the long hair algae is slowly but surely making a reappearance. 3 of the 5 Chestnut Turbos have passed away (not sure how/why/what), so this may have something to do with it. Also, I have been trying to feed a little heavier since adding the new gobies and cleanup crew.

 

[Matt Miller]

Looking good, lotsa life in there. I'm envious of that rifht now, but gives me hope.

 

[TriggersAmuck]

Update 1/23/2021:

This week:

• Removed what little sea lettuce was remaining as it was consistently dwindling after being bleached. Not sure if this was an insufficient nutrient issue or lighting one. (Though long hair algae is starting to reappear so I suspect that nutrients aren't the issue).
• Added a bag of Chemipure Blue in the sea lettuce's place.
• So for now at least, my AquaClear refugium experiment of a year's length is finished. Now to decide if I'm going to put an Intank media basket in the filter or not. I know that all media does best with active delivery, but man, those inserts are expensive.

 

[TriggersAmuck]

Looking good, lotsa life in there. I'm envious of that rifht now, but gives me hope.

I took a good many months getting to the point of having much in the tank. Really just fish for the first five or six months. Out of the 'nems I added at the half year mark, I think only one survived til the present. Dealing with dying/dead anemones is no fun, as it usually necessitates an emergency water change to clear the water. My advice: be patient and enjoy each phase for what it is.

 

[TriggersAmuck]

Also, I think anemone specific tanks are tricky if you are starting from a dry/sterile start, as they simply take much longer. If you had any inclination of putting softies/polyps/LPS in the tank, you would probably promote more biodiversity by adding any of these in those interim months rather than risking 'nems.

 

[Matt Miller]

Also, I think anemone specific tanks are tricky if you are starting from a dry/sterile start, as they simply take much longer. If you had any inclination of putting softies/polyps/LPS in the tank, you would probably promote more biodiversity by adding any of these in those interim months rather than risking 'nems.

I wasn't planning on anything else for mine, but now that I know I can have fairy farts in my tank I need some zoa's!

 

[Matt Miller]

Do you use the black foam blocks in chamber 2? I still have mine in but thinking about using 2nd chamber for refugium eventually.

I feel like I read they just collect junk and slow flow so might as well take out now.

 

[TriggersAmuck]

Do you use the black foam blocks in chamber 2? I still have mine in but thinking about using 2nd chamber for refugium eventually.

I feel like I read they just collect junk and slow flow so might as well take out now.

By 2nd chamber, I believe you are talking that on the Waterbox? I only have an Aqueon standard cube tank (no all-in-one chambers, i.e. old school). If you are talking the AquaClear hang on back filter, all I have in it right now is a big bag of Chemipure Blue. (Only the intake sponge does any mechanical filtration, as I left the big block sponge out). I think the ease of being able to do daily rinsing of the intake sponge goes a long way towards good husbandry. (My wife would probably disagree . The larger block sponge doesn't really lend itself to that as much.

 

[Matt Miller]

By 2nd chamber, I believe you are talking that on the Waterbox? I only have an Aqueon standard cube tank (no all-in-one chambers, i.e. old school). If you are talking the AquaClear hang on back filter, all I have in it right now is a big bag of Chemipure Blue. (Only the intake sponge does any mechanical filtration, as I left the big block sponge out). I think the ease of being able to do daily rinsing of the intake sponge goes a long way towards good husbandry. (My wife would probably disagree . The larger block sponge doesn't really lend itself to that as much.

Hah, yes I was talking about the waterbox, sorry I follow too many cubes and assumed yours was the same lol.

I've got the intake media basket in 1st with floss, chemipure and another sponge filter. 2nd I've got heaters and 2 big block sponges I should probably take out. I might wait till I have more algae and set up as a fuge but that's down the road.

 

[runcis]

I like your clownfish very much, looks so pretty! But sort of squeezed among all those rocks... You should get a bigger tank, now there is some disbalance between all that life and the size of the tank.

 

[TriggersAmuck]

I like your clownfish very much, looks so pretty! But sort of squeezed among all those rocks... You should get a bigger tank, now there is some disbalance between all that life and the size of the tnak.

Thanks Runcis! The clown definitely deserves a bigger tank (like the empty 125 gallon/6 foot tank sitting across from it), but on the other hand it is the typical clown that sits in its two anemones for a majority of the day. It has no competitors fish wise (all the gobies are far too small for it to feel are competitors) and so has the whole tank to itself. If the clown continues to grow I will eventually take it to a LFS which always welcomes relocations. I have kept enough bigger tanks that I just don't want to return to those problems. (All the way up to 330 gallons, though that was a university tank I single handedly took care of for a year).

As to the 'nem/Ricordea life, I know the video is hard to present the overall scale of the tank, but there is PLENTY of room for all of the current inhabitants to grow/split/spread out. I'm always aware that a nano tank may burst at the seams one day, but so far (1.5 years) this one is showing limited enough growth that it is serving its purpose. . I have been careful to not put things like Xenia or Zoanthids in which would definitely take over the tank in short order.

 

[runcis]

Thanks Runcis! The clown definitely deserves a bigger tank (like the empty 125 gallon/6 foot tank sitting across from it), but on the other hand it is the typical clown that sits in its two anemones for a majority of the day. It has no competitors fish wise (all the gobies are far too small for it to feel are competitors) and so has the whole tank to itself. If the clown continues to grow I will eventually take it to a LFS which always welcomes relocations. I have kept enough bigger tanks that I just don't want to return to those problems. (All the way up to 330 gallons, though that was a university tank I single handedly took care of for a year).

As to the 'nem/Ricordea life, I know the video is hard to present the overall scale of the tank, but there is PLENTY of room for all of the current inhabitants to grow/split/spread out. I'm always aware that a nano tank may burst at the seams one day, but so far (1.5 years) this one is showing limited enough growth that it is serving its purpose. . I have been careful to not put things like Xenia or Zoanthids in which would definitely take over the tank in short order.

Thank you!
I mean - don't you think you're getting long hair algae back again because of too many inhabitants/too heavy feeding/too small space?
Myself I was searching for a good balance (fish-invertebrates-rocks-quantity of water-physical size of tank) in my 53 gal cube for almost 2 years till I thought to have found it... and then I bought a speckled butterflyfish ...and have ordered a a new 110 gal tank
" ...no matter what we breed, we still are made of greed...";Cat

just thinking aloud

 

[TriggersAmuck]

Update 2/10/2021:

• After adding a few more (Chestnut) turbo snails a couple weeks back the long hair has almost completely disappeared in this tank, only one small clutch of it is really noticeable (viewable on the right mid side of the tank) where the snails and purple urchin can't get to.
• The rock anemone which was added at the same time as those snails went south after about a week. It really has been hit or miss with the anemones in this tank, and yet those that survive past the first few weeks refuse to die.
• I am also getting a nice garden of Aiptashia (and one clutch of bubble algae), probably introduced with some of the livestock at some point (no live rock was used in the making of this tank). Will have to decide whether it is worth doing anything about it, as the sting of a BTA or rock 'nem will certainly win over an Aiptasia's any day.

 

[TriggersAmuck]

Why is my Fire Clown so mean to me?! I went to do an 80% water change today, and the moment my hand and hose hit the water's surface the rascal hit me, the result being that he completely jumped out of the tank and landed in a small basket nearby (where I couldn't immediately see him). I should have grabbed a picture to remind him how this could have ended, but of course my first priority was getting him back in the tank safe and sound (why, I'm not sure).