30g Sunlit Indo-Pacific Macro-Softie pseudobiotope nano

[Common Blevil]

I finally upgraded from 14 to 30 gallon, so
this is my tank.

Inhabitants for now are softies(xenia,
anthelia, zoas, sarco, gsp) and
macroalgaes(caulerpa(hopefully most of it
died), halimeda, halymenia, gracilaria,
chaeto), fish are 2 green clown
gobies(Gobiodon histrio), 2 wheeleri shrimp
gobies (Amblyeleotris wheeleri) and their
shrimp(Alpheus randalli), 1 starry blenny (salarias
ramosus) and 1 male azure
damselfish(Chrysiptera hemicyanea).
Unfortunately his girlfriend died because of
a container with rocks crushing her when i
was transferring.

This is an easy tank
without much filtration. For now it has no
skimmer, only Tidal 55 and a few
powerheads + a surface skimmer for skum. I
will get a jebao gyre pump next week. For
light i have 100 w freshwater lighting as an
addition to the power of the sun. The
sunlight is in the tank from morning to
evening, and from 12 am to 4-6 pm it is
blasted by direct sunlight.
Updates will follow, probably my main goals with 30 g are - making a harem of Chrysiptera and after starry grows out making a pair of tailspot blennies, if Chrysiptera won't destroy them. A group of some kind of peppermint Lysmata shrimp would be nise. Also i want to find out if coarse substrate is better than sand(i already think it is but might be proven otherwise) and if bigger tank will make it easier to keep macroalgae. Stay tuned)

Old tank thread:
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/13-5-gallon-macro-softie-nano.1034611/



Transfer thread:
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/planning-to-upgrade-how-to-do-it-best.1095459/

 

[p1u5h13r4m24]

That is a very nice simplistic system good job!

 

[keepingfishwithnoidea]

GOOD LUCK

 

[DarthRaiderBob]

Good luck with the tank! Looks good.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

I like it! It's always cool seeing people do sunlit tanks like that!

 

[Common Blevil]

Tank photos:

Clown gobies - Kawunchyk (little watermelon) who is a tank resident for half a year, grown like twice his original size, bigger and more outgoing and new goby Krokodylchyk debilchyk (stupid little crocodile) that i got from lfs a few days before starting the tank. He had some lymphocystis and ripped fins but ate voraciously so i decided to give him a chance. Older goby kicks him sometimes but they have enough space in the tank to both feel comfortable. I hope they will pair up in a few months...

Kawunchyk

Krokodylchyk
Of course no tank starts without cyano...

My pair of wheeleri gobies. Bigger one has a lot of names, Grandma Wheela, Gobik Bobik or The Big One are most commonly used ones. That goby lived in the lfs for almost a year before i got it. Smaller one is without the name, but is braver than the bigger one.

Pair of gobies.

I did not take any photos of starry blenny named Blevil. Damsels are also without individual photos.

 

[Common Blevil]

New corals: green kenya tree capnella, red and blue discosoma. I'm not expecting capnella to be green under my lights, but I've heard it's not as boisterous and fast growing as regular one.

Fish pics:
PS: male damsel looks so cute and derpy when in a barnacle

 

[Common Blevil]

Also, i don't know if i told it in a previous thread but i view my tank as a indo pacific pseudobiotope. All livestock should come from that region, that's the reason for no emerald crabs, peppermint shrimp and royal grammas and photosynthetic gorgonians, even tho i love those animals. The only livestock i have that is probably not from indo Pacific is a small bush of gracilaria(that is probably hayi) and maybe some of my zoanthids, but for now i don't care that much. Overall all the species i have are probably interacting in the wild in one form or another. I don't have sps for clown gobies but i made up a story for myself that their acro colony died and was grown over by anthelia and xenia. The reason it's not a biotope is because marco rocks and dolomite gravel doesn't exist on reefs in the wild, but are a good substitute for live rock and coral rubble (can't wait for them to turn grey-pink tho, I can't stand having mature live rock next to white-green new rock sitting on the white gravel...

Ps: i also finally got my jebao MPC-70, it's my first wavemaker with different wavemodes. I like creating wave action similar to what I've seen in the wild. It is not 100% ideal, but i dont have money for a second one to make it super perfect. For now...

 

[Common Blevil]

It's really weird that i only now decided to put that in a description despite the previous tank being conceptualised as a pseudobiotope almost at the start.

 

[Crabs+Shrimps-69]

Also, i don't know if i told it in a previous thread but i view my tank as a indo pacific pseudobiotope. All livestock should come from that region, that's the reason for no emerald crabs, peppermint shrimp and royal grammas and photosynthetic gorgonians, even tho i love those animals. The only livestock i have that is probably not from indo Pacific is a small bush of gracilaria(that is probably hayi) and maybe some of my zoanthids, but for now i don't care that much. Overall all the species i have are probably interacting in the wild in one form or another. I don't have sps for clown gobies but i made up a story for myself that their acro colony died and was grown over by anthelia and xenia. The reason it's not a biotope is because marco rocks and dolomite gravel doesn't exist on reefs in the wild, but are a good substitute for live rock and coral rubble (can't wait for them to turn grey-pink tho, I can't stand having mature live rock next to white-green new rock sitting on the white gravel...

Ps: i also finally got my jebao MPC-70, it's my first wavemaker with different wavemodes. I like creating wave action similar to what I've seen in the wild. It is not 100% ideal, but i dont have money for a second one to make it super perfect. For now...

I'm almost certain peppermint shrimp are found in the info pacific, just not Lysmata Wurdemanni.

Majority of, if not all of the inverts we have access to in Australia are from the indo pacific, since we can't import invertebrates in Australia and Australia's greet Barrier Reef is located there.

That species is Lysmata Vittata.

However, it's possible that species is located in a different ocean Australia occupies, so I would recommend you double check where that specific species is from before adding them.

 

[Common Blevil]

I'm almost certain peppermint shrimp are found in the info pacific, just not Lysmata Wurdemanni.

Majority of, if not all of the inverts we have access to in Australia are from the indo pacific, since we can't import invertebrates in Australia and Australia's greet Barrier Reef is located there.

That species is Lysmata Vittata.

However, it's possible that species is located in a different ocean Australia occupies, so I would recommend you double check where that specific species is from before adding them.

I know that there is that species there, but i don't know where the peppermints found in my lfs come from. I live in europe so 90% of animals already primarily indo pacific, fortunately a lot of my favourite species are indo Pacific too. I know that we're sometimes getting Lysmata kuekenthali, but my reefer friend told me they can be aggressive and eat other inverts. She didn't keep them, but heard that from multiple people. Also thank you for telling me about vittata, i heard and read about them, but didn't think much. And overall i don't like how they look as much as i do peppermints. Now's there's a small chance wundermanis in the lfs are actually vittatas. And even if they are not, it is a pseudobiotope, i think i will be able to live with a bit different genetically but similar morphologically species of shrimp. The same thing exists somewhere in the indo Pacific and who will count the numer of stripes on the abdomen and segments of setae to tell that it's a non native species?)))

Because having a saltwater tank and being shrimpless is kinda sad to me, shrimp are so fun and I want to keep them again!

 

[Crabs+Shrimps-69]

I know that there is that species there, but i don't know where the peppermints found in my lfs come from. I live in europe so 90% of animals already primarily indo pacific, fortunately a lot of my favourite species are indo Pacific too. I know that we're sometimes getting Lysmata kuekenthali, but my reefer friend told me they can be aggressive and eat other inverts. She didn't keep them, but heard that from multiple people. Also thank you for telling me about vittata, i heard and read about them, but didn't think much. And overall i don't like how they look as much as i do peppermints. Now's there's a small chance wundermanis in the lfs are actually vittatas. And even if they are not, it is a pseudobiotope, i think i will be able to live with a bit different genetically but similar morphologically species of shrimp. The same thing exists somewhere in the indo Pacific and who will count the numer of stripes on the abdomen and segments of setae to tell that it's a non native species?)))

Because having a saltwater tank and being shrimpless is kinda sad to me, shrimp are so fun and I want to keep them again!

I've never heard of Lysmata kuekenthali!

Peppermint shrimp aren't the only shrimp found in the info pacific.
Redline cleaner shrimp and Hymenocera picta harlequin shrimp are also found there.

 

[TangerineSpeedo]

Nice set up!

 

[Common Blevil]

I've never heard of Lysmata kuekenthali!

Peppermint shrimp aren't the only shrimp found in the info pacific.
Redline cleaner shrimp and Hymenocera picta harlequin shrimp are also found there.

I'm planning to buy what is available and what i have money for. That's the reason for no possum wrasses(for example), these guys are expensive and rare!

 

[Common Blevil]

So. Firstly i went on vacation for 10 days and my roommate was checking the tank. Everything was ok/thriving except the blue discosoma, for whatever reason it bleached. But it is still not dead and it left a child, so i will see if any of them will survive.

Secondly i gave away one of the damsels and my second clown goby a week before vacation, they were severely beaten up by relatives. So i was left with a damsel pair and one gobiodon. Unfortunately the goby passed away when got to it's new home, damsel was fine. It also appeared that the goby i bought passed the disease to my first goby and i think it will pass soon. Every other fish is fine.

Thirdly i got a juvenile sixline. She is small and her name is susie. I think she won't cause trouble for a year or two, and i always loved this fish even before starting an aquarium hobby in general. The only other fish like that is copperband butterfly, but i don't think it will be amused of my 30 g). When i let her out of the breeding box at night i was worried that she will be beaten up by a female chrysiptera, that was constantly swimming around the box. In the morning she was hiding in the rock and female damsel was swimming nearby, fortunately my starry blenny was "protecting" susie (aka sitting near the sixline and not letting the damsel attack). I think blennies just don't like the commotion. So, the funny thing was, when i returned, susie was without even a scratch and swimming in the damsel-less part of the tank, and female chrysi was missing a few scales and had a small chunk of her tail bitten of. So, she messed with the wrasse and it bit her in the wrAsSe... But i don't think that i will like keeping the sixline in this volume of water long term, I've seen adults and they are big fast meanies... I won't be able to have enough hiding spots and crevices for a fish that big in a 30 g. But at the same time she has 2-3 years to be an adult... We'll see how it goes.

Susie

Tank when i returned and tank now

 

[Common Blevil]

I'm also hoping i will be able to grow some jade plants, coleus and tradescantia on the windowsill, so i guess the background will be even crazier. Plants in addition to houses, trees and sky, typical indonesian biotope that fishies there see every day i guess ...

 

[Evensong]

Love this daylight build!

I kept a sixline in a 26g for a year or so before I had to take the whole system down. Really fun and active fish for a small tank. I could see it eventually outgrowing that size, but mine was happy, healthy, and peaceful. It was the last fish I added, after a pair of clowns and a cherub pygmy angel.

I'm curious what you consider to be similarities between the sixline and copperband butterfly?

 

[Gumbies R Us]

So. Firstly i went on vacation for 10 days and my roommate was checking the tank. Everything was ok/thriving except the blue discosoma, for whatever reason it bleached. But it is still not dead and it left a child, so i will see if any of them will survive.

Secondly i gave away one of the damsels and my second clown goby a week before vacation, they were severely beaten up by relatives. So i was left with a damsel pair and one gobiodon. Unfortunately the goby passed away when got to it's new home, damsel was fine. It also appeared that the goby i bought passed the disease to my first goby and i think it will pass soon. Every other fish is fine.

Thirdly i got a juvenile sixline. She is small and her name is susie. I think she won't cause trouble for a year or two, and i always loved this fish even before starting an aquarium hobby in general. The only other fish like that is copperband butterfly, but i don't think it will be amused of my 30 g). When i let her out of the breeding box at night i was worried that she will be beaten up by a female chrysiptera, that was constantly swimming around the box. In the morning she was hiding in the rock and female damsel was swimming nearby, fortunately my starry blenny was "protecting" susie (aka sitting near the sixline and not letting the damsel attack). I think blennies just don't like the commotion. So, the funny thing was, when i returned, susie was without even a scratch and swimming in the damsel-less part of the tank, and female chrysi was missing a few scales and had a small chunk of her tail bitten of. So, she messed with the wrasse and it bit her in the wrAsSe... But i don't think that i will like keeping the sixline in this volume of water long term, I've seen adults and they are big fast meanies... I won't be able to have enough hiding spots and crevices for a fish that big in a 30 g. But at the same time she has 2-3 years to be an adult... We'll see how it goes.

Susie

Tank when i returned and tank now

The tank looks like it cleaned up nicely!

 

[Common Blevil]

Love this daylight build!

I kept a sixline in a 26g for a year or so before I had to take the whole system down. Really fun and active fish for a small tank. I could see it eventually outgrowing that size, but mine was happy, healthy, and peaceful. It was the last fish I added, after a pair of clowns and a cherub pygmy angel.

I'm curious what you consider to be similarities between the sixline and copperband butterfly?

The similarities between them is i liked them as a child) Copperband is my favourite from when i was like 4 years old, i discovered sixlines a bit after. I like fish that have a patterns consisting of a few different colors and not like only one color with a few accents. The only dream fish that are left for me are falco hawk, a pair of flame angels and a 30-50 g with macroalgae and a family of peacock blennies. I'm unlikely to get any of those any time soon anyway, but i like to dream.
I also love tailspot blennies to death(unfortunately literally) and i even know how to pair them, but both my attempts at keeping a tailspot were very good until one jumped out(i had a lid) and another one died of some kind of tumor(for no reason) They weren't kept together btw. I like their gradient brown-orange body with an iridescent blue head(they look very cool in sunlight) and the eyespot on the tail, their quirky personality and ease of care, but I'm really scared to take another one. It's like with clown gobies. They don't want to pair and are either wery finicky, mortally malnourished or die of disease...
I would like to have a tank filled with nano fish, but they are so expensive and i can't get ones in good condition even if they look good at the shop...

 

[Common Blevil]

The tank looks like it cleaned up nicely!

Yeah! My absence was really appreciated by my aquarium... I know i must learn something from this experience but if i rescape the next month you know i did not change my ways...(I rescaped my previous tank almost every half a month in winter because of exam stress and diatom/cyano blooms, which of course did not help with said blooms... I was amazed when i did not touch it for 1.5 months in spring and everything stabilised)
Also seeing the wild temperate seas again gave me some ideas and reminded me a lot of things... If only i could take that dosen of hermit crabs i found there... It's not like It was illegal(in that country it's not), i just weren't sure it was worth it to ruin my pseudobiotope and potentially kill the crabs...
The funniest thing was when i lived near black sea and had a biotope aquarium it was really hard for me to find gibbula snails - small trochus relatives. I've found like 10 of them in a 1.5 years I've had a tank there... And when i went there just to visit my family I've stumbled across dozens if not hundreds of those snails... The same thing with hermits... Life is cruel, but at leat I've spent some time with local blennies(fed them) and got sphinx blennies fight on camera.
My advice is to really visit whatever sea or ocean is near you, it helps a lot, even if you lived near it constantly.