Introducing biodiversity without live rock, sand

[Magnapinna]

Hey guys --- well, I made it to Petco last night and picked myself a beautiful little ocellaris. Acclimation stressed him out a little, presumably because my salinity was a bit higher than theirs, but he bounced back quickly. I haven't tried to feed him yet but am going to soon now that he's settled in. He was interested in watching me do water tests last night. He's also been digging around in the sand and occasionally pecking at the rock. Very cute and fun to watch!

I'm cautiously optimistic since I know chain store fish can be a gamble, but he seems healthy and is a stunning fish for only $30. Sorry for the quality, didn't want to bug him with the lights :]

 

[MnFish1]

Hey guys --- well, I made it to Petco last night and picked myself a beautiful little ocellaris. Acclimation stressed him out a little, presumably because my salinity was a bit higher than theirs, but he bounced back quickly. I haven't tried to feed him yet but am going to soon now that he's settled in. He was interested in watching me do water tests last night. He's also been digging around in the sand and occasionally pecking at the rock. Very cute and fun to watch!

I'm cautiously optimistic since I know chain store fish can be a gamble, but he seems healthy and is a stunning fish for only $30. Sorry for the quality, didn't want to bug him with the lights :]

Curious - did you QT him? and PS - nice fish - its funny how the pattern on both sides is quite different

 

[Magnapinna]

Curious - did you QT him? and PS - nice fish - its funny how the pattern on both sides is quite different

I didn't quarantine as I don't think I plan on adding any other fish, and since nothing else is in there it won't be difficult to go fallow if I must. I'll be keeping him alone for at least the standard 30 days. All future additions will absolutely be QTed.

I think I recall seeing this fish there last time I went, which was when I bought the tank itself. I took pictures so I'll have to compare the patterns. But if so, I at least know he hasn't come down with anything in that time. (Edit: it was indeed him)

I'm so in love with his coloration! They look like cow spots from the top down.

 

[MnFish1]

I didn't quarantine as I don't think I plan on adding any other fish, and since nothing else is in there it won't be difficult to go fallow if I must. I'll be keeping him alone for at least the standard 30 days. All future additions will absolutely be QTed.

I think I recall seeing this fish there last time I went, which was when I bought the tank itself. I took pictures so I'll have to compare the patterns. But if so, I at least know he hasn't come down with anything in that time.

I'm so in love with his coloration! They look like cow spots from the top down.

Also curious - what salinity was the fish in - and what's the salinity of your tank.

 

[Magnapinna]

Also curious - what salinity was the fish in - and what's the salinity of your tank.

Theirs was 27ppt; mine is 30ppt. I bumped it down from 34ppt before acclimating in hopes of reducing stress. All other parameters matched.

 

[MnFish1]

Theirs was 27ppt; mine is 30ppt. I bumped it down from 34ppt before acclimating in hopes of reducing stress. All other parameters matched.

Interesting. So you basically went from 1.020 to 1.023 - which is a bit of a jump - I would carefully increase it after a week or so - to 1.025 if you can.

 

[Dom]

My LFS won't sell me live rock on account of the pieces won't fit in my tank (some of them definitely would have, but they wouldn't hear it).

Holy smoke! A LFS that refused to sell you something??? Nice to find an ethical LFS!

 

[Magnapinna]

Interesting. So you basically went from 1.020 to 1.023 - which is a bit of a jump - I would carefully increase it after a week or so - to 1.025 if you can.

I planned on it. I wanted to reduce it more for him but I ran out of RO/DI and didn't want to add tap. I drip acclimated ~2hrs, 1 drop/sec for the first ~1.5hr then bumped up to 3 drops/sec once most of the store's water had been cycled out. He didn't act any more stressed than I would expect any new fish to so hopefully it wasn't too tough on him!

 

[Magnapinna]

Holy smoke! A LFS that refused to sell you something??? Nice to find an ethical LFS!

The only ethical part of this exchange was that their live rock might as well have been a marimo ball with how overrun by hair algae it was They advertised "Life"rock by Caribsea as proper live rock to me so don't get too excited haha

 

[Dom]

The only ethical part of this exchange was that their live rock might as well have been a marimo ball with how overrun by hair algae it was They advertised "Life"rock by Caribsea as proper live rock to me so don't get too excited haha

Rain on my parade, why don't ya...

 

[Tired]

Holy smoke! A LFS that refused to sell you something??? Nice to find an ethical LFS!

Pretty sure the LFS that refused to sell someone live rock because the pieces were "too big" for the tank and said you can't add any livestock to a new saltwater tank until it's 8 months old is not ethical. Any decent LFS should be delighted to sell a new keeper live rock, that's a great start.

OP- nice find! He's a cute little guy, and $30 is a really nice price for a black storm. Cute lil guy. Who'll eventually be a cute lil gal, kept alone- clownfish are sequential hermaphrodites, and the largest of a group will turn female if no females are present.

 

[Magnapinna]

OP- nice find! He's a cute little guy, and $30 is a really nice price for a black storm. Cute lil guy. Who'll eventually be a cute lil gal, kept alone- clownfish are sequential hermaphrodites, and the largest of a group will turn female if no females are present.

Thanks! The funny part is they actually had another black storm on display for $99. I thought they looked exactly the same but there wasn't actually a label on this one, so they marked it as a black misbar and honored the sale price (reg $40). I'd never heard of black storms previously.

The employee who helped me seemed too knowledgeable to get them confused, but another worker had already told me it was $40. This clown was in the store for a few weeks so I'm wondering if they gave me a bargain lol

 

[GARRIGA]

You’d think any eBay company that sells wild caught Florida keys inverts can send sand collected locally. No clue on the laws but I’m having my grandson collect some for me lol

 

[Magnapinna]

You’d think any eBay company that sells wild caught Florida keys inverts can send sand collected locally. No clue on the laws but I’m having my grandson collect some for me lol

My only concern is how cold it's been! I live moderately close to the Gulf but the mail is hit or miss

 

[GARRIGA]

My only concern is how cold it's been! I live moderately close to the Gulf but the mail is hit or miss

Why not take a ride and collect some from cleaner water. Don’t know where on the coast you are but father north sees less industrialization and might have preferable habitat plus can collect some astrea and blue legged hermits while there.

I need to go south and start collecting. Crazy that I live in paradise yet still seek that from far away. We tend to ignore close to home.

 

[Dom]

Pretty sure the LFS that refused to sell someone live rock because the pieces were "too big" for the tank and said you can't add any livestock to a new saltwater tank until it's 8 months old is not ethical. Any decent LFS should be delighted to sell a new keeper live rock, that's a great start.

Or they could have sold the live rock to the OP and let the OP find out on their own when they get the rock to the tank.

No, I don't see anything unethical about refusing to sell someone something that they may not be able to use.

That's just my perspective.

 

[Magnapinna]

Why not take a ride and collect some from cleaner water. Don’t know where on the coast you are but father north sees less industrialization and might have preferable habitat plus can collect some astrea and blue legged hermits while there.

I need to go south and start collecting. Crazy that I live in paradise yet still seek that from far away. We tend to ignore close to home.

Believe me --- I'd leap at the chance to take a trip south if I could! I'm in college so it's hard to find time and I need to be financially mindful. I used to live in Coconut Creek; I'm homesick every day.

 

[GARRIGA]

Believe me --- I'd leap at the chance to take a trip south if I could! I'm in college so it's hard to find time and I need to be financially mindful. I used to live in Coconut Creek; I'm homesick every day.

College was when I set up my first salt tank running an undergravel filter and inadequate lights. I hear you. Not a time to splurge of costly ventures plus one needs beer money

 

[Magnapinna]

Or they could have sold the live rock to the OP and let the OP find out on their own when they get the rock to the tank.

No, I don't see anything unethical about refusing to sell someone something that they may not be able to use.

That's just my perspective.

I do understand that sentiment and you're totally right. On the other hand, I knew the dimensions and could tell they would fit, and if not I could have smashed it up. They didn't even ask for my tank dimensions to know it wouldn't fit so I guess they double as mediums!

 

[Magnapinna]

College was when I set up
My first salt tank running an undergravel filter and inadequate lights. I hear you. Not a time to splurge of costly ventures plus one needs beer money

The silver lining is it encourages me to have a better understanding of water quality, and less gadgets to worry about during inevitable west-central Georgia power outages. Personally I prefer that my tanks be more hands-on, within reason. I enjoy the work and it's really rewarding