Bryan's 220 Build - Wrasses and More

[btkrausen]

Have you ever thought of trying bio pellets?

To be honest, not really. I guess I started reading all the threads about them when they first came out and with all the problems and never really looked past that. I have been contemplating either a completely swap out of live rock (slowly) or adding another tank to the system full of live rock. I'm kinda leaning towards the first choice, and then clean the dry rock with whatever chemical helps the phosphate issue with dry rock and then adding it back to seed it.

 

[btkrausen]

Got some fish in today...was very excited to get them out swimming in the quarantine tank. The list I got in today:

5 x Cross Damsel (2 died in transit)
Pair of Girdled Fairy Wrasses (Cirrhilabrus balteatus)
Male Red Velvet Fairy Wrasse (Cirrhilabrus rubrisquamis)
Blue Flasher Wrasse (Paracheilinus cyaneus)
Blue Sided Fairy Wrasse - although I think I got a Yellow Fin Fairy instead
Debelius Fairy Wrasse (Cirrhilabrus adornatus)
Lamark's Angelfish (Genicanthus lamarck)

Better pictures to come soon, but here are a few I snapped:

Cirrhilabrus rubrisquamis

Male Cirrhilabrus balteatus

One of the Cross Damsels (these things are TINY, like the size of my thumbnail but brilliant colors)

 

[redtop03]

beautiful fish Brian

 

[btkrausen]

Thanks Willie. I'm probably going to slow down now and start picking up the fish I envisioned for it when I started. These wrasses are definitely part of the "plan" but I'm gonna start going for more of the rarer ones and then add the other fish I want, like a BlueFace Angel and a Bluejaw Trigger. Also need to pick and choose other fish besides wrasses for the tank, haha.

 

[redtop03]

the blue face angels are gorgeous,don't believe I've seen the trigger though....I'd love to have some of the wrasse in my tank but I don't know how I could build a top to keep 'em from jumping out...mine ain't exactly a standard tank LOL

 

[btkrausen]

the blue face angels are gorgeous,don't believe I've seen the trigger though....I'd love to have some of the wrasse in my tank but I don't know how I could build a top to keep 'em from jumping out...mine ain't exactly a standard tank LOL

I built mine from aluminum window frame from Lowes and 1/4 inch mesh netting. When I had my rimless I build a top with acrylic square rod and the same mesh netting.

 

[btkrausen]

don't believe I've seen the trigger though....

Here is a pic of a Bluejaw Trigger:

 

[swannyson7]

Nice additions Bryan! It's really too bad that the cross damsels don't maintain that colorations as they get larger. Do you know what size they have to reach before they start to display their adult coloration?

 

[Aquaph8]

Nice additions Bryan. Love the wrasses.

 

[btkrausen]

Nice additions Bryan! It's really too bad that the cross damsels don't maintain that colorations as they get larger. Do you know what size they have to reach before they start to display their adult coloration?

Hopefully never, haha. I'm not sure, but I'll enjoy them while they are babies at least.

 

[swannyson7]

Lol. From what I've heard, you can usually get a couple years out of the Geribaldi damsels before they start the change to adult coloration, so hopefully these are similar and you'll be able to enjoy them for a while.

 

[btkrausen]

Yup....ordered today....

 

[MarvinsReef]

Yup....ordered today....

awesome man!!! 1smile1

 

[Aquaph8]

Man I got one too. I haven't been this excited in a while. Wonder how long they'll last before people buy em all up. Good price considering how hard they are to get. Congrats man, hopefully we'll both have good luck with them.

 

[btkrausen]

Man I got one too. I haven't been this excited in a while. Wonder how long they'll last before people buy em all up. Good price considering how hard they are to get. Congrats man, hopefully we'll both have good luck with them.

Sweet that's awesome to hear. Michael told me he had a bunch coming in so hopefully they'll stick around long enough so I can pickup a female.

 

[Kody72]

Where do you order your wrasses from

 

[btkrausen]

Where do you order your wrasses from

Multiple places...mostly LiveAquaria and Pacific Island Aquatics. The last one isn't a vendor here but they are in New York.

 

[btkrausen]

Update:

I ended up ordering both a male and female Red Sea Eight Line flasher but the male didn't make it after a day. However the female seems to be doing great and is even eating NLS pellets after only a few days. She has a slight issue on the front of her dorsal fin so she's currently enjoying a Furan-2 treatment which I hopes help her quickly heal up.

 

[btkrausen]

Here is a video I took tonight. Not the greatest of quality but I'm still working on it. Need to turn on more LEDs I think.

[video=youtube;_qbBM2IYs7U]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qbBM2IYs7U[/video]

 

[btkrausen]

A few pics of my female Eightline flasher in quarantine below. She's doing great, eating NLS, Mysis, and Bloodworms. I was debating on putting her in the DT this weekend but I might wait since I have a male on the way.

Also a crappy pic of the Blue Flasher that's also in the QT right now. He's eating everything as well and fought with the female eightline for about 30 min when first introducing him. He went through 3/4 days of the Furan-2 treatment in the QT.

The order I placed today with LA included a male Eightline Flasher, a second (and hopefully larger) Larmarks Angelfish, a Gold Assessor Basslet, and a few Tiger tail cucumbers to help churn up the sand a bit.

Blue Flasher wrasse: