Felicia's 40B Mixed-Reef Predator Tank

[FeliciaLynn]

I'm in Florida on vacation visiting a friend and Whole Foods in Florida now sells lionfish, so I just had to try some! My friend and I bought two whole lionfish and I made lionfish tacos. They're corn tortillas with beer battered fried lionfish, cabbage slaw, and chipotle crema. It was delicious! I only feel mildly guilty for eating lionfish

 

[FeliciaLynn]

Fun Announcement!

One of my photos of my tank/lionfish made the cover of Reef Hobbyist magazine!

There's also a whole feature article on my tank with more photos inside the issue. The electronic version won't be released for another week or two, but the print version has already shown up in the local fish stores. Its free, so feel free to grab a copy when you go to your LFS and check out the photos and article on my tank! If your LFS doesn't carry it, you can grab the PDF version off the Reef Hobbyist website soon!

IMG_2854 by Felicia Svedlund, on Flickr

 

[revhtree]

Congrats and those tacos look great!

Does your Lionfish look at you differently now?

 

[FeliciaLynn]

Congrats and those tacos look great!

Does your Lionfish look at you differently now?

Thank you!

Haha! I'm on vacation so I haven't seen my lionfish since I ate the tacos. Shhh, don't tell them and they'll never know!

 

[FeliciaLynn]

Another fun announcement! I didn't find out until earlier today, but the Reef Threads podcast released this afternoon discusses my adventure eating lionfish in Florida and my aquarium feature in Reef Hobbyist magazine! That was some exciting news!

If you'd like to listen to the podcast, click here. The part about me and my aquarium starts at 14:09.

 

[FeliciaLynn]

Happy 4th of July!

 

[cnseekatz]

I'm in Florida on vacation visiting a friend and Whole Foods in Florida now sells lionfish, so I just had to try some! My friend and I bought two whole lionfish and I made lionfish tacos. They're corn tortillas with beer battered fried lionfish, cabbage slaw, and chipotle crema. It was delicious! I only feel mildly guilty for eating lionfish

From my trip to Belize, where they take their lionfish issues seriously!

 

[FeliciaLynn]

From my trip to Belize, where they take their lionfish issues seriously!

Awesome! Definitely a yummy way to keep the invasive populations under control. I wanted to find a restaurant in Florida to eat lionfish, but most of them were in the Keys. I was up in the St. Petersburg/Tampa area, and we couldn't find a restaurant around there, so I just cooked it myself. How were the lionfish tacos?

 

[cnseekatz]

Awesome! Definitely a yummy way to keep the invasive populations under control. I wanted to find a restaurant in Florida to eat lionfish, but most of them were in the Keys. I was up in the St. Petersburg/Tampa area, and we couldn't find a restaurant around there, so I just cooked it myself. How were the lionfish tacos?

I don't know if it was the tacos themselves, or just where we were eating them, but they were the best fish tacos I'd ever had!

 

[FeliciaLynn]

I don't know if it was the tacos themselves, or just where we were eating them, but they were the best fish tacos I'd ever had!

Awesome! The ones me and my friend made seemed extra tasty, so not sure if that was because they were lionfish or what. Well good to know lionfish are yummy! I'd eat it again!

 

[FeliciaLynn]

I know its not as exciting as my reef tank, but here's my little 4 gallon planted freshwater tank that I've had for about 4-5 years. Its nothing fancy, just easy plants (mostly assorted anubias and java fern), 3 corydoras (panda, albino, and green dragon), a male butterfly betta, and a tiny albino bristlenose pleco. In terms of equipment there's an AquaClear 20 (carbon, sponge, and biomedia), a 25 watt heater, and a 9 watt 6700 K power compact light. I have 2 Seachem Fluorish tabs down in the substrate, but other than that I don't dose any carbon or fertilizer. This tank gets a water change like once every 6 months. Other than that I just throw in some food once a day.

Excuse the reflections! Its still daylight here.
IMG_5296 by Felicia Svedlund, on Flickr

Also, here's my tiny albino bristlenose pleco. He was sooooo tiny when I got him a few months back, so he's already grown a bunch. Plecos are one of my all time favorite fish and are really the fish that got me addicted to aquariums.
IMG_5291 by Felicia Svedlund, on Flickr

And here's a quick video I took of the tank! Please excuse all the reflections and the water is still a bit cloudy because I stirred up the substrate during cleaning last night. Not my usual video quality, but just thought it would be fun to show the little freshwater tank real quick

[Youtube]

 

[FeliciaLynn]

Post-Vacation FTS 7/8/16
Ok, so its still light outside, so there are horrible reflections, but here's a quick FTS to show that the tank survived my 3-week vacation and after several hours of deep cleaning is back to its Reef Hobbyist Magazine cover-worthy self

I'm planning to do a full photo and video shoot this evening once its dark, so stay tuned for a huge photo dump and new tank video late tonight or tomorrow.

FTS 7-8-16 by Felicia Svedlund, on Flickr

 

[FeliciaLynn]

Oh, also, you'll notice I have some gracillaria clipped to the front glass. I got some a while back and am growing it in my refugium with the intention of using it for nutrient export as well and the occasional treat for the tang. This is the first time I've tried to give some to the tang and apparently she's not so bright. She eats algae sheets off the clip no problem, but that gracillaria has been up there since yesterday evening and she won't touch it. Silly fish!

 

[rebekwl]

Beautiful tank, love it!!

 

[FeliciaLynn]

Beautiful tank, love it!!

Thank you so much!

 

[RJ Harris]

That eel is amazing. I have to get another one. Love the snowflakes

 

[FeliciaLynn]

That eel is amazing. I have to get another one. Love the snowflakes

Thanks! Yeah, I love the eel! He's got so much personality and is a lot of fun to feed. I definitely recommend getting one

 

[RJ Harris]

Thanks! Yeah, I love the eel! He's got so much personality and is a lot of fun to feed. I definitely recommend getting one

I use to have one but when I moved everything to a different tank he quit eating. I tried everything and he'd never come out and eventually I jus never saw him again. But I plan to get another and another lionfish to go with my dwarf

 

[RJ Harris]

You actually have the 2 other lions that I'm interested in. I have the dwarf zebra and he's so cool

 

[FeliciaLynn]

I use to have one but when I moved everything to a different tank he quit eating. I tried everything and he'd never come out and eventually I jus never saw him again. But I plan to get another and another lionfish to go with my dwarf

Sorry to hear that! I'm definitely no expert on eel diseases/health issues since this is my first eel, so I'm not sure what the issue would have been. Sounds like a good idea to try again! They're definitely fun and fascinating fish