Cthulukelele's hodgepodge softy and anemone 120g

[tbrown]

Thank you! Yes! My hope is a lfs will have a small one spot on stocking day tomorrow!

I love all my urchins. The biggest eater is the shortspine urchin, but he sleeps all day. The tuxedo is incredibly nimble and gets into a lot of crevices, and the pincushion is almost 4-5 inches across so absolutely clear cuts in a straight line.

The hope is the one spot will fill the last hole in my cleaning crew for minor bits of hair algae as well as just generally bring a last dash of activity and color with a different body shape. I've also heard once established they make great "peacemaker" fish given their poisonous spines and relatively large adult size.

Also the next addition today is 3 different gorgonian frags. Going to hopefully fill out the top portion of the tank with gorgs

Mine had one yesterday. Skinny and mismarked so they had it marked up.

 

[Cthulukelele]

Mine had one yesterday. Skinny and mismarked so they had it marked up.

Congrats as the 100th poster on your build thread you have won... random words of affirmation!

I really like your new rock nem!


Lol but anywaysssss... just called 1 of the 2 lfs they got onespots in but they're over 6 inches and 180 bucks apiece ooof. Hoping the store I like more has them a bit smaller and not at highway robbery pricing

 

[Mschmidt]

Also if you were curious and because want to here's a current list of beefs in the tank:

The tomini tang is not a huge fan of the lawnmower blenny. He will occasionally chase the blenny away if it perches on top of "their" rock. Generally though, they aren't interacting. It happens only if lawnmower perches and tries to clean a specific rock

The biggest butthead is the male lyretail, but it's not real aggression. He just swoops to assert dominance. He does it worst to the flasher wrasse (who mostly sticks to the left side of the tank now because of it but will still roam some), female lyretail, and midas blenny. The latter 2 are reasonable as it's the biological niche they exist in and neither seem to mind. The hierarch is Def male lyretail -> female lyretail -> midas blenny

Aside from those beefs the tank is essentially 100% free from squabbling.

Previous beefs:

Lawnmower blenny used to hate green clown goby. He would go over and gently bite her whenever he darted for food then just lay next to them intimidating them. Ironically the very mild aggression from the tomini tang was enough to divert this behavior (honestly my preference as the tomini is less mean to the lawnmower than the lawnmower was to the green clown goby).

The talbots damsel was NOT a fan of the pygmy angel when I added them like 3 months ago. If the angel tried to swim around the left side of the tank there was serious head butting (the worst head butting since the crash). Damsel would aggressively bite angels side and leave bite marks. They were similar size at the time. As pygmy is now larger, aggression is essentially 0 since an altercation I witnessed where damsel was trying to be rude and the now much bigger and established angel straight divebombed the damsel and damaged a scale. Since then they don't even look at each other usually and will even swim together when the angel is in the damsels turf. Fish are funny like that

Royal gramma didn't love the cleaner goby when it was added. Similar body shape and close to snack sized is my guess. After a few weeks gramma doesn't seem to mind them anymore but will still push them away if they get near its hole.

Damsel also didn't like the possum wrasse the first day as the damsels turf includes the best cave in the tank which the possum wanted. Similar situation to angel and damsel but surprisingly the possum wrasse checked the damsel much quicker than the angel. Maybe the second or 3rd time the damsel came up to be rude and show dominance the possum wrasse started pecking at the damsel and since then no problems.

Tomini tang and damsel didn't love where the yellow watchman and pistol shrimp set up their home, but that was a short lived squabble and the 2 of them eventually capitulated when they realized it doesn't really explore outside that small area.

There's my fish beef retrospective! Lol

 

[Cthulukelele]

That is 100% the damsel. Loud mouth but easy to shut up. Seems like the key to keeping a damsel is having more than a handful of fish that keep reminding them where they belong on the totem pole

 

[Mschmidt]

That is 100% the damsel. Loud mouth but easy to shut up. Seems like the key to keeping a damsel is having more than a handful of fish that keep reminding them where they belong on the totem pole

I never had an issue with my springer. But they are chiller damsels for sure. The hawkfish though. He needs some education.

 

[Cthulukelele]

I never had an issue with my springer. But they are chiller damsels for sure. The hawkfish though. He needs some education.

Re-education really does work lol. He bugged the additions after the angel but WAYYYYYY less. The angel really slapped some sense into him. Had a completely different demeanor afterwards lol

 

[Mschmidt]

Re-education really does work lol. He bugged the additions after the angel but WAYYYYYY less. The angel really slapped some sense into him. Had a completely different demeanor afterwards lol

Something like this?

 

[Soren]

Thank you! Yes! My hope is a lfs will have a small one spot on stocking day tomorrow!

I love all my urchins. The biggest eater is the shortspine urchin, but he sleeps all day. The tuxedo is incredibly nimble and gets into a lot of crevices, and the pincushion is almost 4-5 inches across so absolutely clear cuts in a straight line.

The hope is the one spot will fill the last hole in my cleaning crew for minor bits of hair algae as well as just generally bring a last dash of activity and color with a different body shape. I've also heard once established they make great "peacemaker" fish given their poisonous spines and relatively large adult size.

Also the next addition today is 3 different gorgonian frags. Going to hopefully fill out the top portion of the tank with gorgs

Shortspine is the urchin I meant, although I like tuxedos and pincushions as well.

Foxfaces are just great in my opinion, but you already know that!
I've heard of their peace-keeping abilities as well, and kind of see it in my Work Desk 40B. The yellowtail damsels dart at most of the fish, but they usually veer away before darting at the foxfaces. Every once in a while, I'll see the foxfaces aim their spikes at a damsel darting toward them, and that seems to be a sure detterent to the attack!
If the clownfish start laying eggs and get aggressive or if the damsels get any more aggressive as they grow, I may end up needing to adjust this community and move some fish to a home tank, though I hope not. We'll see.

Gorgonians are also some of my favorite corals. I plan to have some in most of my tanks, especially in the dwarf seahorse system if I try it in the future.

It makes sense that we have similar taste in stocking given how much I liked your build also lol

Stocking considerations and general aesthetic choices seem to be on-point with my preferences!

 

[Slocke]

Nice tank! I'm trying to catch up. You are making me regret not getting a blue flasher! They are so incredibly beautiful. Unfortunately I think its too late for a flasher.

How bad an idea is a blue streak cleaner wrasse? I have noticed my anthias really enjoy getting cleaned, and I figured they may appreciate one. Also selfishly I've always wanted one. I feed 4-5 times a day. I figure if my lfs has one I see snack on some frozen it might be okay?

I have a biota and it's great. No issues with it over cleaning and is generally just a fun fish. Of course that has a lot to do with it being captive bred and getting most of its food from from frozen.

 

[Cthulukelele]

Nice tank! I'm trying to catch up. You are making me regret not getting a blue flasher! They are so incredibly beautiful. Unfortunately I think its too late for a flasher.

I have a biota and it's great. No issues with it over cleaning and is generally just a fun fish. Of course that has a lot to do with it being captive bred and getting most of its food from from frozen.

Lol I love it. Went with the cleaner goby instead to be safe, but considering their natural life is 2 years biota cleaner wrasse might be a nice challenge then!

Came back to 40 notifications like it's my b-day! Love it. Thanks for kind words.

 

[Mschmidt]

Lol I love it. Went with the cleaner goby instead to be safe, but considering their natural life is 2 years biota cleaner wrasse might be a nice challenge then!

Came back to 40 notifications like it's my b-day! Love it. Thanks for kind words.

I get stressed when I see more than 12-18 notifications. Happy early or late birthday though!

 

[tbrown]

I get stressed when I see more than 12-18 notifications. Happy early or late birthday though!

Typical for me is 47ish.

 

[Mschmidt]

Typical for me is 47ish.

Good do you keep up!?

Also, only 7 this morning.

 

[tbrown]

Good do you keep up!?

Also, only 7 this morning.

21 for me. I usually try to keep up but sometimes I admit I skim over some posts.

 

[Slocke]

Thanks for helping out on the stocking thread btw. That one guy got me so warn down with his constant questions and ignoring my advice that I just let him run away with his crazy list. And we haven't even addressed that his one and only coral idea is NPS gorgonians......

 

[Mschmidt]

21 for me. I usually try to keep up but sometimes I admit I skim over some posts.

skim for sure. skip if it's a sale thread like sbb.

 

[tbrown]

skim for sure. skip if it's a sale thread like sbb.

I totally skip. I just jumped from page 188 to 192...

 

[Cthulukelele]

Thanks for helping out on the stocking thread btw. That one guy got me so warn down with his constant questions and ignoring my advice that I just let him run away with his crazy list. And we haven't even addressed that his one and only coral idea is NPS gorgonians......

Yeah definitely knew you were just getting worn down. Figured having another person come in and be bad cop might help him meet in the middle lolol.

 

[Cthulukelele]

Thanks for helping out on the stocking thread btw. That one guy got me so warn down with his constant questions and ignoring my advice that I just let him run away with his crazy list. And we haven't even addressed that his one and only coral idea is NPS gorgonians......

Not to mention it's like 5k+ in livestock alone. I have trouble taking those posts seriously because who is shelling out that sort of livestock cost on an 80 gallon.

 

[Cthulukelele]

Thanks for helping out on the stocking thread btw. That one guy got me so warn down with his constant questions and ignoring my advice that I just let him run away with his crazy list. And we haven't even addressed that his one and only coral idea is NPS gorgonians......

If it helps, you do hero work with that thread. Answering those sorts of questions is exhausting when people won't listen when you subtley tell them something is a bad idea. People new to the hobby see display tanks that have taken a few calculated risks after years in the hobby and think "I'm going take all of those calculated risks at once and have the coolest tank ever." You provide a great service to a lot of people that hopefully far outweighs the psychic damage the hard headed ones do hahaha