Eelysium
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OP
OP
Thanks. I'm sure some uglies must show up soon but for now I'm very happy with it.
Eels are growing steadily. The snowflake in particular has grown a ton. The chainlink hasn't grown in length much but has gotten fatter. The snakes are both a few inches longer. The gold bit my loose pinkie while I was feeding with tongs. No skin damage as usual but it really has some crushing bite force.
Guppies are spawning but the wrasse quickly eat any small enough. Surprised the triggers haven't gotten the adults.
Quickly is not generally a complimentary term, but your tank has come along rather quickly and a great mix that are healthy looking and active. The tank scape also looks awesome. A great tip, add some macro algae, this is to maintain a biological balance and maintains excess nutrients by naturally feeding on nitrates and phosphates. A secret tip, adding macro right after the cycle will allow you to skip the uglies altogether. Because of using refugiums I pretty much stopped doing water changes. If you are not doing corals, try adjusting your lighting intensity and duration. The light only needs to be on during your viewing pleasure hours, mine run about 5 hours, with a 1/2hr sunrise and sunset. You can lower your intensity to a level which is pleasing to you, the higher the intensity and the longer the duration, the more algae growth you will get. I don;t know your filtering setup, you can add a refugium in a sump or use a hangon, as well as plumb a side car, as I did with this 210g. I do prefer refugiums to algae reactors, but an algae reactor is also an option.
OP
OP
Thanks those are some pretty tanks and good suggestions. Yeah I struggle not to be too fast. LFS is too good at getting exciting fish for me at a too reasonable price...
As for algae I've had a little bit of second guessing with the fox with all the incredible macro tanks around but now that's its not a coward anymore I'm sticking with it. I grow caulerpa and cheeto in my main tank and toss it in for the fox but you're right I need to grow it in both. I know what toast suggested some fish resistant macro but I'm yet to see any at my usual stores.
Maybe I shouldn't upgrade the lights either. Cheap, low power lights may be the secret for why it's not getting algae.
If you are not doing coral, the simple blue and white lights are best, white at least in the 10,000k or higher range. White light lower than 10k will feed algae growth, as well as other spectrums of light that are included in the full spectrum lights for reef. I've been around long enough to see how overwhelming algae is now compared to the early days, and it all has do with the full spectrum leds. Red also feed algae, as well as cyano; you can find many refugium lights in the red spectrum which macro loves, although I have white lights in the 6500k range that works well also. In the beginning I put full spectrum chinese box lights on my 210g, I got tons of algae and cyano. I taped over all the light spectrums except for blue and the higher whites, I taped over the reds. greens, and yellows. By lowering the intensity and scheduling a shorter duration, the tank cleared right up.
OP
OP
I'll keep that in mind when I do. I think I will upgrade eventually just because I want to give the wrasse a natural day night cycle.
OP
OP
I've got a reliable supplier for ghost shrimp finally. No more petsmart scraps.
I should have filmed it but its quite shocking to see how practically every fish in there went after them. I think the only fish that didn't predate upon them was the fox and that's because it could just wait for the scraps. Makes me wonder how my cleaner shrimp last so long in my reef. I guess it's just the feeding frenzy response?
I should have filmed it but its quite shocking to see how practically every fish in there went after them. I think the only fish that didn't predate upon them was the fox and that's because it could just wait for the scraps. Makes me wonder how my cleaner shrimp last so long in my reef. I guess it's just the feeding frenzy response?
HaHa. wrasses and your pebbbletooth eels, as well as your bluethroat. This becomes a great issue when people try and keep live eating dwarf lions, anglers, or scorps in community tanks. None of those can compete with the speed of a wrasse or trigger. The cleaner shrimp's days are numbered, maybe today, maybe a month from now.
OP
OP
Don't forget the hawk. Really not a shrimp friendly tank. Still its not like those fish are bigger than my reef fish. I guess what I found shocking is that it was the halichores that got it started and its tiny compared to the melanarus in the reef. It could easily eat the cleaners if it wanted to.
Strange how lion fish are outcompeted and generally don't do well in tanks. They certainly do fine in the wild.
Lions are ambush predators, they wait until their prey is within striking distance, they are not pursuing in the wild. In a community tank they have to be target fed. Most fish that hobbyist would generally keep with lions, are going to be too fast, and would enjoy a live meal also. My fuzzy is a bad butt though, I have to beat him with a feeding stick during feeding time, just to let the others eat. Yeah, wrasses are shrimp lovers. I have a flame hawk in my little pred tank that hunts live ghosties and guppies.
OP
OP
Is that my cockatoo waspfish, that's actually an Ablabys taenianotus. I would not recommend one for your tank, they are difficult to feed; and are a clumsy, slow hunter. This fish needs to live a calmer less rambunctious environment. While many will take dead food, they do not live long on a dead food only diet.
The toadfish is very cool, I was actually thinking of one for myself today. A bottom dweller and will do well on the same diet you are feeding your eels, will learn to take food from a stick or just drop it in and will scoop it up, they grow fast and are pigs. A cave to tuck away and fed well, they are happy; really kind of like a dopy puppy dog.
I don't know much about flounders, check out this place, they have a few varieties of flounders. Also check out the leopard toadfish, Opsanus pardus, that's the one I'm interested in, and they did have them in stock when I checked a couple of weeks ago. They also have the actual P. tribulus in stock, the searobin we were talking about earlier. The Opsanus beta comes in a few color schemes; a muddy looking one like the pic from this source; also an orange one which is very cool, and an orange head one, which I've never seen. You can email them and they are quick on the response and very accommodating.
Boney Fish - Gulf Specimen Marine Lab
F-2200 OCELLATED MORAY EEL, Gymnothorax saxicola A beautiful animal with speckled yellow and black body, and a dorsal fin that runs the length of the body. Colorful and docile in the aquarium, but should be handled with care. Size: 20-35 cm. Each: $56.50 F-2210 SHRIMP EEL, Ophichthys gomesei...
gulfspecimen.org
OP
OP
Thanks! Very helpful as always. The toad did look like a fun fish and much healthier than the wasp.Is that my cockatoo waspfish, that's actually an Ablabys taenianotus. I would not recommend one for your tank, they are difficult to feed; and are a clumsy, slow hunter. This fish needs to live a calmer less rambunctious environment. While many will take dead food, they do not live long on a dead food only diet.
The toadfish is very cool, I was actually thinking of one for myself today. A bottom dweller and will do well on the same diet you are feeding your eels, will learn to take food from a stick or just drop it in and will scoop it up, they grow fast and are pigs. A cave to tuck away and fed well, they are happy; really kind of like a dopy puppy dog.
I don't know much about flounders, check out this place, they have a few varieties of flounders. Also check out the leopard toadfish, Opsanus pardus, that's the one I'm interested in, and they did have them in stock when I checked a couple of weeks ago. They also have the actual P. tribulus in stock, the searobin we were talking about earlier. The Opsanus beta comes in a few color schemes; a muddy looking one like the pic from this source; also an orange one which is very cool, and an orange head one, which I've never seen. You can email them and they are quick on the response and very accommodating.
https://www.bing.com/ck/a?!&&p=2982...ub3JnL3dpa2kvQWJsYWJ5c190YWVuaWFub3R1cw&ntb=1Boney Fish - Gulf Specimen Marine Lab
F-2200 OCELLATED MORAY EEL, Gymnothorax saxicola A beautiful animal with speckled yellow and black body, and a dorsal fin that runs the length of the body. Colorful and docile in the aquarium, but should be handled with care. Size: 20-35 cm. Each: $56.50 F-2210 SHRIMP EEL, Ophichthys gomesei...
That site has a ton of very cool fish. The lizard, bat, and hog particularly jumped out at me. I love a weird fish obviously. (Also find it funny that one of the most and least beautiful fish share the same name: Batfish) Also that is defiantly the same robin just with beat up fins.
Don't think I'm ready for anything new yet but thought I'd toss some ideas your way.
dennis romano
Valuable Member
I enjoy reading this thread. I would pass on the toadfish. I had one years ago. They are ornery, hide a lot and vicious eaters with a strong bite. Go to You Tube. There is a video of a diver feeding an eight inch Volitan to a toadfish. The toadfish snaps the Volitan in half before dragging it into its hole. As for the flounders, they sit on the bottom, rarely moving. Many species need fine sand that they bury in, just seeing their eyes. Reef Beauties usually carries them. They are good eating, though
OP
OP
Thanks for following and the advice! I’ll certainly heed it.
Hey I saw some real true silversides(Odontesthes regia) at my Asian market yesterday. This is good because they are human grade, not treated with ethoxyquin or chemical supplements, and are fresh frozen. While I do support my lfs, a big bag was $6.99, equivalent to about $30 of the lfs brands. That's the 1st time I saw true silversides, believe it or not, I was actually there to buy smelt. I know, smelt contains thiaminese, but you what; my yellow belly dogface puffer won't eat SFB brand true silversides. You see when Hikari pulled a fast one on me, and changed the species of fish they were using to smelt, I changed from Hikari to SFB. The big fat bucked tooth puffer likes smelt and won't eat the true silversides, he's the only left in the tessa's 210g, so he's getting really spoiled until I find him a new home. This human grade stuff would be an excellent addition to the eels diet. I also get fresh squid and baby octopus.
OP
OP
Nice!
I need to take another look. I live right by an H-mart so you'd think I could find something better there.
The gold refused food for the first time. It's been on nothing but ghost shrimp and salmon for a few weeks and I let it finish off the excess salmon last time so I guess I can't be too surprised it didn't want a silverside head today. On the other end the banded was the only eel not to hunt the ghost shrimp. No idea what it eats in the wild or maybe it's just gotten lazy.
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Yes they get lazy, the last time I tossed a molly into the tessa tank, it took 3 days for him to eat it. You would think that an eel as notoriously aggressive as a tessa, would be happy to see something swimming around, and take it right down.
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