Little wins that keep you going

[Biokabe]

As a reefer who's been in the game for a little while (16 years back in May), I've had my share of losses, both large and small. From the time my heater broke and cooked all my livestock while I was on vacation, to the time the seam failed on the bottom of my tank and forced me to make a very unplanned total tank transfer... from algae forests and inexplicable coral losses to watching a fish slowly rip another fish in half over a period of hours... from a parade of suicidal jawfish to the firefish that backed into an oversized aiptasia. Losses are part of this game.

And sometimes, we just need that one win that keeps us going and makes us feel like we're not complete idiots. Maybe it's a hard-to-keep coral finally thriving for you. Maybe it's finding that holy grail fish eating at the LFS, selling for way less than it should. Maybe it's a that fish you haven't seen in weeks finally showing up in the tank one day as if it hasn't been MIA.

For myself - I've had a long string of fish losses. First, my pintail wrasse died. Then, the royal gramma in my second tank died. Then, I picked up a solon fairy wrasse, and it died within a day. Then, I picked up three fish for my tank... and they all died within three days.

I was starting to think there was something about my tank that just wouldn't let me add any new fish, but I decided to try one more fish (a royal gramma) before I swore off adding anything new... and after I added it to the tank, it once again vanished. Just when I thought that was it and I couldn't keep new fish any longer... on the third day, I saw a flash of yellow fins from a cave, then a purple head. And, more than a week later... he's still alive, he's decided on a cave, and we've seen him taking food with the rest of the fish.

Yeah, it's a common fish and hardly a challenging one to keep, but it was just nice to see that I hadn't killed another fish.

So what are some wins you've had that have helped you push past the losses?

 

[tbrown]

I lost my first Foxface and my Powder Brown tang within a couple of weeks of each other. That made me pretty down.

Then I got a Fiji Foxface and a Leopard Wrasse. Both of them got skinny while I was on vacation and I was afraid I was going to lose both of them... Now, they're the two fattest fish in my tank and the most active of the tank!

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Honestly, I was upset when I had to shut down my tank. However, It has given me a new perspective on how I should deal with my at home tank, so now I am somewhat thankful that it happened.

 

[gsw0716]

Successfully keeping my harlequin shrimp alive, need a confidence booster here and there cause we for sure have failures in this hobby.

 

[Savage Henry]

Watching some tough fish survive a white spot outbreak.

 

[Rach77]

Set up a new tank March 2024, AI Prime 16 reef lighting. I fiddled with the light too much trying to get my settings where I wanted them and completely bleached out a lavaflow leptoseris......
One year later, said leptoseris is back and growing well but has completely changed color. No red or orange at all, just green and yellow

 

[gsw0716]

Set up a new tank March 2024, AI Prime 16 reef lighting. I fiddled with the light too much trying to get my settings where I wanted them and completely bleached out a lavaflow leptoseris......
One year later, said leptoseris is back and growing well but has completely changed color. No red or orange at all, just green and yellow

I actually had a jack o lantern bleaching on me too, that was back in December, now it looks great.

 

[ChrisfromBrick]

As a reefer who's been in the game for a little while (16 years back in May), I've had my share of losses, both large and small. From the time my heater broke and cooked all my livestock while I was on vacation, to the time the seam failed on the bottom of my tank and forced me to make a very unplanned total tank transfer... from algae forests and inexplicable coral losses to watching a fish slowly rip another fish in half over a period of hours... from a parade of suicidal jawfish to the firefish that backed into an oversized aiptasia. Losses are part of this game.

And sometimes, we just need that one win that keeps us going and makes us feel like we're not complete idiots. Maybe it's a hard-to-keep coral finally thriving for you. Maybe it's finding that holy grail fish eating at the LFS, selling for way less than it should. Maybe it's a that fish you haven't seen in weeks finally showing up in the tank one day as if it hasn't been MIA.

For myself - I've had a long string of fish losses. First, my pintail wrasse died. Then, the royal gramma in my second tank died. Then, I picked up a solon fairy wrasse, and it died within a day. Then, I picked up three fish for my tank... and they all died within three days.

I was starting to think there was something about my tank that just wouldn't let me add any new fish, but I decided to try one more fish (a royal gramma) before I swore off adding anything new... and after I added it to the tank, it once again vanished. Just when I thought that was it and I couldn't keep new fish any longer... on the third day, I saw a flash of yellow fins from a cave, then a purple head. And, more than a week later... he's still alive, he's decided on a cave, and we've seen him taking food with the rest of the fish.

Yeah, it's a common fish and hardly a challenging one to keep, but it was just nice to see that I hadn't killed another fish.

So what are some wins you've had that have helped you push past the losses?

new polyps on my coral. Fish growth. Beating algae

 

[exnisstech]

Being able to save at least 3 fish after introducing velvet.

A few years later

 

[exnisstech]

Successfully keeping my harlequin shrimp alive, need a confidence booster here and there cause we for sure have failures in this hobby.

This is cool accomplishment.
I've had mine since last October and am still seeing asterinas on the glass. It helps being able to pull asterinas from my other tanks.

My guy eating one if the little nasties

 

[gsw0716]

This is cool accomplishment.
I've had mine since last October and am still seeing asterinas on the glass. It helps being able to pull asterinas from my other tanks.

My guy eating one if the little nasties

That's awesome. I'm running low of Asternia stars, but thankfully my local pet club has an abundance of chocolate chip starfish, I've been feeding a leg at a time. One of them looked like it was starting to die, so this is my first time feeding my shrimp An entire starfish.

 

[Fishy888]

I’ve had plenty of losses as well over the years. My current system is doing great. Coralline is spreading, the fish are thriving, and my RBTAs are looking awesome. I even have four Aiptasia anemones that have been in my rock for about a year now and they’re not spreading. Don’t worry though, I have some Aiptasia X waiting should that change.

 

[RobertK]

I bought a baby royal gramma from Biota but it disappeared and I thought it was dead, so I bought another one. Two months later I found the original one alive and well in my overflow. So now I have two!