Weekend update!
I still haven’t seen any other isopods. Not on the mollies and not on the shrimp I skewered and left in there 18 hours so I could look for them at night with a flashlight. I’ll move my occellaris back in. He’s fat and hardy and easy to catch, so a good test subject I suppose.
The other critters sure liked the shrimp though.
A few updates on the other critters:
Can you find the two decorator crabs in these photos? The big one is a ton easier than the small one. I actually just noticed the small one yesterday. He’s only as big as my thumbnail. I’ll give away their spots at the bottom of this post if you want to try to find them.
This purple ribbon gorgonian is doing really well and is even growing. The bigger decorator crab sawed the ends off several branches and it’s grown over those spots already.
As expected, most of that encrusting orange sponge has died off and most of the hydroids (90%?) are gone too. Then there was an explosion of skinny white sponges and then they died back a lot. Now they’re all being replaced by small orange sponges, feather dusters, and really interesting red colonial tunicates.
The tiny mollies look funny in this big tank. They’re always together and they’ve found the lowest flow spot to hang out.
And last but not least, some love for the cukes. Not pretty, but definitely interesting creatures.
Thanks for stopping in! Be well, everyone.
