4’x2’x2’ build… The Dragons’ Forest

[Lbrdsoxfan]

My market has been flooded with primarily SPS for the last couple years. Everything else then becomes "rare" and gets premium pricing as well It's more cost effective to buy online and actually get what I want anyway.

Sucks for me as I want to go total softie, all I see is sps and not cheap sps, lol. With my tank reset, I have no clue now!

 

[danieyella]

Sucks for me as I want to go total softie, all I see is sps and not cheap sps, lol. With my tank reset, I have no clue now!

Softies are my fav as well. Followed by some of the fluffier lps

 

[i cant think]

Everyone except the Jade is out and happy. So, here’s most of the wrasses! The photos aren’t too great as the water is still relatively cloudy (Along with the glass) but once it clears up I’ll hopefully have photos of them all!

 

[i cant think]

Coral update! Everything survived, I’ll grab a photo of the chili later once he begins to open up. The Duncan is sprouting heads, wonder what the maximum amount of heads for Duncan’s is.

Hopefully I can get a fish update out soon, I am planning for a pair of something for the sandbed. I may try pick them up this weekend, it’s a symbiotic relationship that involves an invert.

 

[SaltyT]

How are you and the tanks holding up in the extreme heat? I hope all is well!

 

[i cant think]

How are you and the tanks holding up in the extreme heat? I hope all is well!

The 4’ is doing alright, I think the heighest it went was 26, possibly just close to 27. My nano was going into the 30s unfortunately. It be lost one acro frag, potentially two in the nano unfortunately.

 

[SaltyT]

The 4’ is doing alright, I think the heighest it went was 26, possibly just close to 27. My nano was going into the 30s unfortunately. It be lost one acro frag, potentially two in the nano unfortunately.

Dang sorry to hear that about the nano. I hope everything bounces back!

 

[i cant think]

This is for you mushroom/softie lovers. My nano had a Green Rhodactis which didn’t stop wanting to take a swim round the tank. This got annoying after a while and he was also getting rather large (Removing room for my Hammer to fully extend). I figured the 4’ could have room for another cluster of mushrooms and as they make such a natural look and can really tie softies and LPS together it wouldn’t do too badly. So, I decided to take it out as I had already needed to deal with coral placement. I then put him in the bottom right, next to the rubble on the sand. Hopefully he’s attached his foot now and enjoys it in that area. I’ll get photos tomorrow if he’s extended
Hopefully this also adds a bit of cover infront of the barnacles so if I do go for a cave dwelling or sand dwelling invert/fish they can hide in there.

 

[i cant think]

Well, one trip to the LFS and £50 later… I got a perfect pairing. I’m in love with symbiotic relationships and how much they make a reef tank look… well natural.
This isn’t a pairing I had just gotten after one look at the LFS. It’s one I was planning for, for a while too. In fact, it was a pushing factor as to why I changed my sand up a few weeks back along with the wrasses. I’ll get them into acclimation and show you guys them. For those of you who have seen my nano, I’m sure you’ll probably know what I’ve gone for.

 

[i cant think]

Here they are. My first Goby/Shrimp pairing, this is a Cryptocentrus cinctus and Alpheus bellulus. Now, in my nano I have 6 (5?) gobies which is why I hinted at that, one of the six is a stonogobiops yasha which can pair with pistols. However I had a second goby that was affecting that which is Discordipinna griessingeri. So I figured as I had room for a couple inverts and one of them was a shrimp, this pairing would be great. Another reason I went for these two is currently I have two shrimp that stay on the rockwork and the pistol will make movement on the sand. Plus… I don’t think the tank is making much noise anyway.

They went into the tank not too long ago and I tried to release them into the same area. That failed as both went out of the rock but the shrimp went straight down whilst the goby went into the rockwork. The radiant got curious and I think nipped the shrimp twice but the first time the shrimp darted back and then the second time the shrimp went and darted into the rockwork. Luckily he went into the same rock as the goby so they should be together now.

 

[i cant think]

Day 1 of the pistol and yellow watchman.
So far, both have been in hiding and no noise from the pistol shrimp (Although both are rather small - The shrimp is probably not much bigger than an inch, the watchman is probably just a bit bigger.

But this is expected for the first day in a tank with much larger fish.

 

[i cant think]

Here they are. My first Goby/Shrimp pairing, this is a Cryptocentrus cinctus and Alpheus bellulus. Now, in my nano I have 6 (5?) gobies which is why I hinted at that, one of the six is a stonogobiops yasha which can pair with pistols. However I had a second goby that was affecting that which is Discordipinna griessingeri. So I figured as I had room for a couple inverts and one of them was a shrimp, this pairing would be great. Another reason I went for these two is currently I have two shrimp that stay on the rockwork and the pistol will make movement on the sand. Plus… I don’t think the tank is making much noise anyway.

They went into the tank not too long ago and I tried to release them into the same area. That failed as both went out of the rock but the shrimp went straight down whilst the goby went into the rockwork. The radiant got curious and I think nipped the shrimp twice but the first time the shrimp darted back and then the second time the shrimp went and darted into the rockwork. Luckily he went into the same rock as the goby so they should be together now.

Day 4 of the Tiger Pistol Shrimp and Yellow Watchman Goby.

I finally put two and two together to find out I’ve been hearing the Pistol at night and during feeding time. So, basically I first began to hear popping noises, those of you with fish like Rabbitfish will know that sound when they begin to breath air. It was very similar to that. However when I looked I didn’t see any fish at the top of the tank breathing oxygen. So that was weird however I put it off. After hearing that same noise again and again (Atleast once a day if not twice - once during feeding and Atleast once at night) I thought maybe it was the shrimp but again I didn’t want to be too hopeful.
Well, just now I was looking at the tank on the side that I introduced both of them into. I saw something yellow in one of the gaps where there was a dip. I thought this was maybe a sponge so I looked again and it was gone. 4 or so more times of this and I’m almost certain what I was seeing was the watchman (Both original shrimp were accounted for so there was no other invert/fish this could be).

 

[Lbrdsoxfan]

I never did a goby/pistol pairing. I am intrigued. Hell, I've never owned a goby with 20+ years of reefing. Totally being educated, carry on!

 

[i cant think]

I never did a goby/pistol pairing. I am intrigued. Hell, I've never owned a goby with 20+ years of reefing. Totally being educated, carry on!

This is my first Goby/Shrimp pairing too, you’d think with 6 other gobies I’d have had a shrimp/goby pair before haha.

 

[Lbrdsoxfan]

This is my first Goby/Shrimp pairing too, you’d think with 6 other gobies I’d have had a shrimp/goby pair before haha.

I thought about it.... I have had ONE goby, iirc it was a bella or a red band. It didn't last long, something about a apollo mission for it.

 

[i cant think]

Also, Softie update!

First, let’s start with the leathers
These guys are doing amazing. I do plan to try grab another few in the future because they just add so much to a reef but it’s hard to explain how. I mean, their polyps, their looks all of it is beautiful.

Now the mushrooms…

These guys are doing so well and it’s just amazing on how well they’re doing. I will try get a decent top down of the blues during the next water change as they’re just so beautiful. f them is almost a teal colouration.

The GSP and PSP are doing great too, still growing and bushing up. Although they don’t seem to grow out, more so bush-like. It’s an amazing coral to own in general. It will only get out of control if you let it do that, its and incredibly easy coral to control.

And a bonus one, the Mini Maxi Carpet Anemone. This guy is thriving and I would love to get more as these are the one anemone that does dreamwork in transitioning from Softies to LPS or from LPS to softies. I think the best way to have a mixed reef look pleasing is simply to have corals that don’t just crash with eachother, for example you have a softie and a stick right next to eachother and it most likely won’t look good but if you have similar looks next to eachother then it may. Such as I have my Blue Mushrooms behind my Duncan Colony. It doesn’t look bad as they’re similar in looks, as the Duncan has big polyps like the mushroom is.

 

[i cant think]

Also, by the end of this week (Sunday ish) I hope to have a wrasse update out for you guys as I know some of you are especially intrigued on the flasher and the Jade wrasses.

 

[Eagle_Steve]

Also, by the end of this week (Sunday ish) I hope to have a wrasse update out for you guys as I know some of you are especially intrigued on the flasher and the Jade wrasses.

I will remind you Saturday lol.

 

[i cant think]

Well, it’s 11pm at night for me.
I was just sitting downstairs having a cup of coffee and… *click* I heard him for sure! It was a slightly louder click than I expected, due to his size I thought for sure he’d have a much quieter click but i was proven wrong. I also keep seeing some amazing life at night, I believe I have a sea cucumber in there. Last night I saw this guy I may or may not have confused him for a dead fish’s bone.

 

[SaltyT]

Well, it’s 11pm at night for me.
I was just sitting downstairs having a cup of coffee and… *click* I heard him for sure! It was a slightly louder click than I expected, due to his size I thought for sure he’d have a much quieter click but i was proven wrong. I also keep seeing some amazing life at night, I believe I have a sea cucumber in there. Last night I saw this guy I may or may not have confused him for a dead fish’s bone.

Coffee at 11pm?? Are you scared of Freddy Krueger?? lol