Felicia's 40B Mixed-Reef Predator Tank

[revhtree]

Very nice!

 

[FeliciaLynn]

Very nice!

Thank you!

 

[riche]

Awesome tank.

That set up is the best of both worlds.

A mix-reef with predators.

I am getting ready to set up a 65 the same as a 40 breeder but taller and I was going to do fish rock only because I wanted to do some fish like yours but now I see with my very own eyes that I can get some corals also

 

[FeliciaLynn]

Totally just realized that I missed announcing this tanks 1 year birthday! It turned 1 on February 15th! So, a bit late, but...

Happy 1st Birthday, Diver's Predator Paradise!

And to celebrate, I decided to snap a couple new FTS's for you guys. Gotta love the view from my couch!

 

[FeliciaLynn]

Whoops. Double post.

 

[FeliciaLynn]

Alright, so I have a fun new video I made last night for you guys! I figured that since the tank really isn't changing right now, that the same old photos and videos would get old, so....

I decided to try something new! (I realize the video is long, but I think its worth it

)

 

[FeliciaLynn]

I have a nice big serpent star as part of my clean up crew, since he's good at picking up any excess food. He's super cool, but he lurks in the rocks all day and just sticks out the ends of his arms to grab food. He normally only comes out all the way at night, but he actually was out and about the other evening when the tank lights were still on. I picked him up for a moment for a photo and a quick video

IMG_2232 by Felicia Svedlund, on Flickr

 

[FeliciaLynn]

Took a couple quick photos of two new additions. Nothing fancy, just some quick shots.

Colt coral and another yellow sea feather gorgonian.
IMG_2954 by Felicia Svedlund, on Flickr

Colt coral
IMG_2964 by Felicia Svedlund, on Flickr

The gorgonian was just a bit too tall, so I cut off the top couple inches off and glued it in a separate spot next to the cabbage leather. I moved the cabbage leather over to this side of the bonsai pillar because it was getting too much flow and wouldn't open fully on the other side. Its doing much better over here.
IMG_2957 by Felicia Svedlund, on Flickr

Right side view of the bonasi pillar.
IMG_2960 by Felicia Svedlund, on Flickr

Front view of the top of the bonsai pillar. You can see that I also moved the big sinularia leather over to the top of the bonsai pillar from the back left corner of the tank.
IMG_2971 by Felicia Svedlund, on Flickr

 

[Chrisfish]

Absolutely beautiful !! How's your snowflake eel doing? Sorry I don't remember his name.

 

[FeliciaLynn]

Absolutely beautiful !! How's your snowflake eel doing? Sorry I don't remember his name.

Thank you! No worries about remembering his name! I'm just a crazy fish keeper who names by fish, haha! Its Falkor btw, after the luck dragon in the Neverending Story. All my predator fish have dragon names. He's doing really well! Definitely grown quite a bit in the 10 months or so that I've had him. He was originally about 9" long and not very big around, but now he's more like 13-14" and bigger around than my thumb. He still seems to have plenty of space in the 40B though. He has a pretty elaborate burrow up under the right hand rock structure and he can completely disappear from site when he wants. He doesn't need swimming space, but he does come out to explore in the evenings. There haven't been any issues with him knocking anything over or aggression todays tank mates though. He does go into a bit of a feeding frenzy when he smells food (his eye site is horrible), so he tends to flail around and just bite at everything, so the other fish have learned to stay out of his way at those times. The rest of the time though, he's super chill and ignores all the other inhabitants. I'm really thrilled with how well he's doing and how well all the tank inhabitants are getting along. Everyone is happy and healthy with no aggression, territory, or stress issues.

 

[Chrisfish]

Thank you! No worries about remembering his name! I'm just a crazy fish keeper who names by fish, haha! Its Falkor btw, after the luck dragon in the Neverending Story. All my predator fish have dragon names. He's doing really well! Definitely grown quite a bit in the 10 months or so that I've had him. He was originally about 9" long and not very big around, but now he's more like 13-14" and bigger around than my thumb. He still seems to have plenty of space in the 40B though. He has a pretty elaborate burrow up under the right hand rock structure and he can completely disappear from site when he wants. He doesn't need swimming space, but he does come out to explore in the evenings. There haven't been any issues with him knocking anything over or aggression todays tank mates though. He does go into a bit of a feeding frenzy when he smells food (his eye site is horrible), so he tends to flail around and just bite at everything, so the other fish have learned to stay out of his way at those times. The rest of the time though, he's super chill and ignores all the other inhabitants. I'm really thrilled with how well he's doing and how well all the tank inhabitants are getting along. Everyone is happy and healthy with no aggression, territory, or stress issues.

So glad to hear all of your creatures are doing well, I also have a sea serpent , during the day I might see an arm or 2 but at night he's out and about. Probably not to smart for Adam my maroon clown fish but he likes to hover above him when he is out , it almost seems like he's trying to host it.

 

[FeliciaLynn]

So glad to hear all of your creatures are doing well, I also have a sea serpent , during the day I might see an arm or 2 but at night he's out and about. Probably not to smart for Adam my maroon clown fish but he likes to hover above him when he is out , it almost seems like he's trying to host it.

Thank you! Serpent starfish are really cool! They're just hard to photograph since they only come out at night usually. That's too funny about your clown! Maybe he knows the starfish is finding leftover food and he's tagging along. Luckily they seem to be harmless to fish unless the fish is sick or injured. I've had some big ones over the years and never had any issues with them and smaller fish.

 

[FeliciaLynn]

Decided to stop procrastinating and just fragged the neon green nepthea. One of its branches was shading my derasa clam so I chopped it off. It had 3 big branches, so that means I chopped off like a third of the colony. I've also got a swap coming up for the local club in like 10 days, so perfect time to get some frags healed up to take.

Here's the big branch I chopped off. Just cut it right off with my fragging kit scissors. It looks so much smaller all shriveled up, but that's a big piece of nepthea when its puffed up.
IMG_2973 by Felicia Svedlund, on Flickr

Chopped it up into 5 frags.
IMG_2975 by Felicia Svedlund, on Flickr

Then I rubber banded them to plugs so they'll attach. They look pretty limp and small atm, but they should puff up to be nice decent sized frags.
IMG_2978 by Felicia Svedlund, on Flickr

IMG_2979 by Felicia Svedlund, on Flickr

IMG_2976 by Felicia Svedlund, on Flickr

 

[FeliciaLynn]

I have a few more photos that I snapped last night after fragging the nepthea.

I noticed that the knobby sea rod is putting out the beginnings of a new branch, so I snapped a photo of that. Yay growth!
IMG_2981 by Felicia Svedlund, on Flickr

Then Draco and the antennata were being goofs, so I couldn't resist taking pictures of them.
IMG_2988 by Felicia Svedlund, on Flickr

IMG_3005 by Felicia Svedlund, on Flickr

 

[revhtree]

Love your tank!

 

[FeliciaLynn]

Love your tank!

Thank you!

 

[mila sheehan]

wow

 

[FeliciaLynn]

wow

 

[aviationreef]

probably my favorite tank under 100 gallons I have seen.
Are any of the gorgonian's NPS?

 

[FeliciaLynn]

probably my favorite tank under 100 gallons I have seen.
Are any of the gorgonian's NPS?

What a compliment! Thank you so much!

I've avoided NPS gorgonians in this system because the lionfish are already a high bioload, without having to feed a ton for NPS corals. Also, I was aiming to make this system more low maintenance than my previous ones, so constant feeding would contradict that. I wanted to have a good balance with this tank with enjoyment vs. stress, haha!