First chalice

mndfreeze · Feb 14, 2011

Well, I finally got some lights for my kids 20G T. Nothing special but 2 bulb 24" T5HO's in a nova fixture.

Anyway, Reef culture, the store I like to go to, had a ton of ugglly chalice frags for like 20 bucks, but mixed in was one of the more common ones I see, base is red, then has bright neon green eyes. Anyway it wasn't supposed to be priced that way I guess, but dude sold it to me anyway. Has about 10 eyes on it, and about 2" diameter.

Now I've never been a chalice lover myself. They always look so... diseasey... :D But I'm hoping this one takes off.

It should put out long sweepers if I'm correct right? At night? Only been in the tank about 2 days but I have yet to see any, also wondering what size of food I should be basting it with when I do see em.

Oh, also, hi. I'm new here. Names freezy. I'm Kraylens brother. He bugs me constantly to post here so here I am.

boehm742 · Feb 14, 2011

PICS or it didnt happen! j/k. Welcome to the club mr freeze. :)

reefhead · Feb 14, 2011

lol sounds like you got a sweet deal. i just got my first ones not to long ago and now im hooked.

FishLipz · Feb 14, 2011

Welcome. Not all chalice put out long sweepers. I have some that are just a few millimeters and a couple that are a inch or two. Just keep looking once the lights are out for a while to see what you got on your hands and place it appropriately. As for food, mine like mysis, cyclopeeze.

dougers31 · Feb 15, 2011

Very interested in seeing what this chalice looks like, to me it sounds kinda like a red watermelon. Either way it sounds pretty sweet!

mndfreeze · Feb 17, 2011

I finally got my sweepers last night. MASSIVE long. Chalice itself is about 2" across maybe a bit more, the sweepers are that length and then some. Threw diced it up a nice mixed cube meal and turkey basted it. I could even see it swell a bit today in the light. So I'm assuming all good.

How fast do they grow if fed? Mines well past the flat square plug it originally was on, but I want it to grow onto the rock before it arcs up hopefully. Am I going to be waiting a year or just a few months?

akabryanhall · Feb 17, 2011

I would love to see a picture of it! Some of my chalices have long sweepers like that, but most are quite short.

FishLipz · Feb 17, 2011

It will grow faster than if not fed for sure. It's tough to say how fast though. I have a watermelon that grows so fast I think I might see it grow if I watch hard enough. My oranji chalice however barely grows at all no matter what I do. Give that guy it's space though. I lost a sweet acan to a chalice that was lookin for grub at night.