Felicia's 40B Mixed-Reef Predator Tank

[FeliciaLynn]

Heres a quick different angle FTS for you guys. Ignore the silly toadstools that are all closed. They're all shedding at the moment.

IMG_3088 by Felicia Svedlund, on Flickr

 

[revhtree]

Heres a quick different angle FTS for you guys. Ignore the silly toadstools that are all closed. They're all shedding at the moment.

IMG_3088 by Felicia Svedlund, on Flickr

Dang Felecia!

 

[FeliciaLynn]

Dang Felecia!

I'm flattered that you always follow my new posts!

 

[FeliciaLynn]

I tend to neglect the other inhabitants because I take too many photos of the lionfish and the eel. So how about giving the clownfish some time in the spotlight?

IMG_3162 by Felicia Svedlund, on Flickr

IMG_3158 by Felicia Svedlund, on Flickr

IMG_3214 by Felicia Svedlund, on Flickr

IMG_3248 by Felicia Svedlund, on Flickr

IMG_3215 by Felicia Svedlund, on Flickr

 

[revhtree]

I'm flattered that you always follow my new posts!

One of my favorite tanks!

 

[FeliciaLynn]

One of my favorite tanks!

Well thank you! That means a lot

 

[FeliciaLynn]

I actually have some more photos for you guys from the other night when I was photographing the clowns, but I wanted to give the clowns their 15 minutes of fame before sharing the rest of the photos

So here are the rest!


One more of the clowns! Those are some serious grumpy faces!
IMG_3194 by Felicia Svedlund, on Flickr

Mushu was being very photogenic...meaning he was begging for food

IMG_3099 by Felicia Svedlund, on Flickr

IMG_3095 by Felicia Svedlund, on Flickr

IMG_3097 by Felicia Svedlund, on Flickr

IMG_3271 by Felicia Svedlund, on Flickr

Clearest shot I could get of the tomini. She moves too fast! She's super outgoing and is queen of the tank now though. She's the only open water swimmer in there so the whole water column is hers.
IMG_3156 by Felicia Svedlund, on Flickr

Rastas are turning into a little colony finally! I had a big colony of these but during the last crash, I thought I lost the whole thing. When I was going through the wreckage afterwards, there turned out to be just a couple polyps that were holding on. Glad they've taken off!
IMG_3173 by Felicia Svedlund, on Flickr

I feel very snake charmer when Falkor poses like this.

IMG_3181 by Felicia Svedlund, on Flickr

IMG_3186 by Felicia Svedlund, on Flickr

And here is what happens when you convince my fish that its feeding time (by being near the tank for photos) but then not feeding them. It wasn't their feeding night, but they were all so worked up that I had to feed them after the photos. The little beggars!

I have some fun video of this coming up in a bit! Just have to let the video project file finish exporting and then I have to upload it to YouTube.
IMG_3170 by Felicia Svedlund, on Flickr

Oh, and a quick shot of my freshwater tank. Here's my adorable TEENSY TINY pleco! Plecos are one of my all time favorite fish and have been since I was 4 years old

IMG_3007 by Felicia Svedlund, on Flickr

 

[Vaughn17]

Really, really nice tank! Extremely unique. I love your gorgs. Keep up the awesome work!

 

[FeliciaLynn]

Really, really nice tank! Extremely unique. I love your gorgs. Keep up the awesome work!

Thank you so much! I absolutely love gorgonians and definitely think they're underrated at times! They're super easy and I think they add a ton of lushness and movement to a tank


Ok, here's the video I promised! Enjoy!

 

[revhtree]

I have never even considered an eel until your tank.

 

[FeliciaLynn]

I have never even considered an eel until your tank.

I've always wanted one but then once I actually got into the hobby I never really considered one because you tend to assume they need huge FOWLR tanks. I actually decided to do the dwarf lionfish and when I was in my LFS to get my first one (the Fu Manchu), one of the employees actually suggested the snowflake eel and talked me into it. Glad he did! The eel has a ton of personality! He can be super rambunctious and a bit of a handful at feeding time, so you have to make sure the other fish aren't easily intimidated and will still be able to get plenty of food. Luckily my clowns and tang just ignore the eel and dart around him during his feeding frenzies. The lions just sit in place at feeding time and I target feed them with tongs so that the eel doesn't get more than his fair share of the food. I could definitely see the eel stressing out more delicate fish though, so its definitely a balance of inhabitants.

 

[booth2010]

This tank looks great! My 40b just crashed and all fish died, not sure what happened parameters looked good and the fish were all healthy. I only have 1 fish left now. Anyways I am moving so I tore the tank down and will rebuild when I move. Every part is so squeaky clean! After seeing this thread I may talk to the wife about doing a predator tank. I would have to find a way to secure my lid but may be worth it, I had an eel in my FW tank and he was so cool. Im so glad this popped up today, thank you!

 

[FeliciaLynn]

This tank looks great! My 40b just crashed and all fish died, not sure what happened parameters looked good and the fish were all healthy. I only have 1 fish left now. Anyways I am moving so I tore the tank down and will rebuild when I move. Every part is so squeaky clean! After seeing this thread I may talk to the wife about doing a predator tank. I would have to find a way to secure my lid but may be worth it, I had an eel in my FW tank and he was so cool. Im so glad this popped up today, thank you!

Sorry to hear about the crash! It happens to the best of us. I've had a couple during my time in the reef tank hobby. Starting fresh is always a nice feeling and you can improve on everything the second time around. Glad you could get inspired by my tank! I just have a snug fitting DIY screen lid on my tank. Its pretty light weight, so to prevent the eel from being able to push it up, I just used sticky back velcro to attach it to the tank rim. Pretty easy solution! Just keep in mind that a full grown snowflake eel is going to be too big for a 40B. You'll have to have a plan to upgrade or rehome the eel once it gets too large. I'd try to get a very small one to start with. I've had my eel for about 10 months now and he's doubled in size in that time.

 

[FeliciaLynn]

Whoops, double post!

 

[booth2010]

Sorry to hear about the crash! It happens to the best of us. I've had a couple during my time in the reef tank hobby. Starting fresh is always a nice feeling and you can improve on everything the second time around. Glad you could get inspired by my tank! I just have a snug fitting DIY screen lid on my tank. Its pretty light weight, so to prevent the eel from being able to push it up, I just used sticky back velcro to attach it to the tank rim. Pretty easy solution! Just keep in mind that a full grown snowflake eel is going to be too big for a 40B. You'll have to have a plan to upgrade or rehome the eel once it gets too large. I'd try to get a very small one to start with. I've had my eel for about 10 months now and he's doubled in size in that time.

My screen lid fits snug as well, I use a key to pry it out. I might try out your Velcro option though, that sounds like a good idea. Yes I would upgrade at some point. Probably put a 75-100g in my detached garage / man cave once its fixed up a bit lol. Our living room is already the dedicated spot for a 180g FW African Cichlid tank I have had planned for years lol.

 

[FeliciaLynn]

My screen lid fits snug as well, I use a key to pry it out. I might try out your Velcro option though, that sounds like a good idea. Yes I would upgrade at some point. Probably put a 75-100g in my detached garage / man cave once its fixed up a bit lol. Our living room is already the dedicated spot for a 180g FW African Cichlid tank I have had planned for years lol.

Wow your lid is really snug! Mine fits in without any gaps but its just lifts right off. The velcro is super easy and just provides peace of mind with the eel. You'll also just want to make sure that there is no way for the eel to go into your overflow box.

Sounds like you have the perfect future plans for having a snowflake eel! Mine is doing great in the 40B for now and then an eventual upgrade into a 75-100 gallon would be perfect. That's a serious cichlid setup! I gave up my cichlids when I decided to try my hand at my first reef tank 4.5 years ago. I've learned that this hobby is way more enjoyable for me if I just have one main tank to focus my energy on. More and it stops being fun and is just a chore. I do have a 4 gallon FW planted tank, but that thing doesn't count because it gets a water change like once every 6 months, haha!

 

[FeliciaLynn]

I have a few great articles that I reference a lot for info about lionfish and eels, and I figured I should really share those with you all. Especially for anyone considering a lionfish or an eel, I think these are great starting places!

Helpful Articles:
1) The Lionfish Info Sheet: Captive Care and Home Husbandry by Frank Marini, PhD in Reefkeeping Magazine

• I also ended up buying Frank's book called "Lionfish and Other Scorpionfish" which can be purchased on Amazon.

2) Lionfish Care Guide by Greg Hix and Renee Coles-Hix on Lionfish Lair

• Lionfish Lair is a great website with other related care guides and resources. They also have a forum, but its not super active. Renee (the owner of Lionfish Lair) however, has become active on Reef2Reef recently and is a good source of information and advice.

3) Aquarium Fish: Twinspot Lionfish, Dendrochirus biocellatus by Scott Michael in Advanced Aquarist

• This article isn't as broad, but instead focuses on only one species of lionfish. However, this one is super useful to people with smaller aquariums because the Fu Manchu (Dendrochirus biocellatus) lionfish is the species that can go in the smallest aquariums (recommended minimum tank size is 30 gallons).

4) A Serpent for Your Reef Tank: A Look at Fish-Safe Eels by Frank Marini, PhD in Reefkeeping Magazine

• As you can tell, I'm a fan of Frank Marini's articles. Being that he's a PhD, he backs up his statements with plenty of references and writes in a more scientific manner, which I like. He's a Professor at Wake Forest in Cancer Biology and is also credited with the first successful captive breeding of banggai cardinal fish. What a resume! This one has really good information on snowflake eels.

 

[Reef_Obsessed]

That is an absolutely stunning tank! Just out of curiosity, have you even been stung by the Lionfish?

 

[FeliciaLynn]

That is an absolutely stunning tank! Just out of curiosity, have you even been stung by the Lionfish?

Thank you! Thankfully, no, I've never been stung and I hope I never am. I always try to be very careful. If I'm just putting my hands in the tank briefly, I always just make sure I pay attention to where the lions are the whole time. If I'm working in the tank for longer, I wear thick over the elbow gloves just to be safe. It's not like the Lionfish are aggressive and try to sting me or anything. The concern would just be if I bumped into one of their spines by not paying attention. The Lionfish aren't the least bit threatened by me and and have no interest in trying to sting me. Funny enough, it's really the eel I have to watch out for. He associates my hands with how the food gets delivered and he has very poor eye sight, so he'll bite if I don't pay attention. Luckily he has a tiny mouth and tiny teeth so he doesn't do any real damage, but it's shocking more than anything. He can't bite through the thick gloves that I have.

 

[Reef_Obsessed]

Thank you! Thankfully, no, I've never been stung and I hope I never am. I always try to be very careful. If I'm just putting my hands in the tank briefly, I always just make sure I pay attention to where the lions are the whole time. If I'm working in the tank for longer, I wear thick over the elbow gloves just to be safe. It's not like the Lionfish are aggressive and try to sting me or anything. The concern would just be if I bumped into one of their spines by not paying attention. The Lionfish aren't the least bit threatened by me and and have no interest in trying to sting me. Funny enough, it's really the eel I have to watch out for. He associates my hands with how the food gets delivered and he has very poor eye sight, so he'll bite if I don't pay attention. Luckily he has a tiny mouth and tiny teeth so he doesn't do any real damage, but it's shocking more than anything. He can't bite through the thick gloves that I have.

Nice! I love, not only the coral, but the species selection is fantastic! I do have a little 20G, but am looking forward to creating my own masterpiece after my future move and your tank is a real inspiration to a newbie like myself. I mean, it's really opened my eyes to a new love for lionfish! Time to do some research