Shred5's Invert, fish and coral propagation and aquaculture system

[shred5]

how do you propagate is it similar to FW stem plants?

I just cut them and peel back some tissue and super glue them to a frag.

 

[HomebroodExotics]

Yea I hate raising phyto and I always used Reeds algae paste it called instant algae now. https://reedmariculture.com/product_instant_algae.php

It can be frozen and stuff which makes it a little easier and tons of hatcheries use it. Problem is you do need to watch it a little closer because it is not alive and can break down faster. For more sensitive species of fish live phyto will be a must. Also some of the new copepods are making more sensitive species easier to raise now because of the size of copepods available. Copepods are changing the game but are still way harder than rots or BBS to get quantities of for the average hobbyist.. Rots are great for clownfish and so easy to raise and gut stuff but are not enough nutrition or the right size for allot of fish. I highly suggest raising some Copepods even for clowns and partially supplementing their food with them. I think it helps prevent sudden fright syndrome from just feeding BBS.

My issue with getting into clownfish to deep is what do I do with them? There are so many people doing them and LFS around me already have people they buy from. I have always done what others don't do. Clowns are a good way to get my hands wet again and get back into practice.

I also am not into designer clownfish which right now seem to be all the rage but does seem to be switching back to a classic clownfish. I want to keep pure strains alive before they disappear completely from the hobby.

I still need to establish pairs. I had a pair of clowns ready but in a temporary tank they jumped. I also tried pairing some Cardinals and that went bad. I purchased pretty many and removed the ones that seemed to be pairing. All the pairs stuck together for about a year and with in a week my 3 pairs killed each other. I am guessing I had all males. I had a pair of neon gobies too and over night one disappeared. I was sad because they are one I really want to try. I want to do more gobies this time around.

Yea corals you can walk away from for a bit but it also is something everyone is doing. My focus on that will be harder corals to propagate like goniopora and maybe NPS coral. I have allot of gorgonia because they are a favorite and most have been with me for years and some like over 10 years. i will have some easier corals because they allow me to trade for what I need. Plus I do have several reef aquariums so some frags will come from them over time.

I also would like to focus on some anemones in the future. Magnificas mainly because they split so I am looking for a bunch of different ones.

Like I said I would like to do stuff others are not doing but sometimes you have to do the other stuff to get there.

My advice to you is to pick some animals you want to breed that you will enjoy. Think about it this way. You may be growing whatever animal you want to breed for a year, two, maybe longer before they are able to breed and then you have a long road of probably a few spawns before getting everything right. But obviously you know this from already breeding clowns in the past. But anyway my point is it will take a long time to get it going so make it enjoyable for yourself if you want to get into this for the long haul.

Also I love the build and everything looks awesome!

 

[Ellery]

Dave,
Awesome setup - just stumbled upon this thread searching info about a coral saw. Personally have only bred freshwater (cichlids - Angelfish, Discus,) cherry shrimps and of course livebearers. I had a phytoplankton culture going for the clams but then stopped that after a I lost a majority of them last year due to some bio-contamination.
Did you decide an anything specific. Cleaner shrimps would be a good thing seeing the prices lately.

 

[shred5]

This whole system has changed. I have not updated it here much.
The whole breeding side other than a little dabbling with some things has been put on hold for a while till I can eventually semi retire and only work part time. Sandy decided to go back to work part time which all of a sudden turned into almost full time and I was counting on her to handle a few things.
Any how breeding really requires allot of care with morning feedings and during the day which I do not have the time for. So as of now it is mainly some frag tanks and a couple of tanks to do some easier breeding for now.

I did the breeding thing while working full time before and it is hard. You can go to work and come home and have all your larvae dead. It was always meant to be several years out, it will happen it just is farther way than I hoped. I really do want to do inverts this time and not fish. Fish are just a warm up to get back into the swing of things.

The 120 has come down and I am working on a terrestrial Lagoon in its place. It is basically a lagoon aquarium with land features.
There is a 4'x3'x14" lagoon aquarium. Right behind it will sit another aquarium on the same level with mangroves. Directly behind the mangroves will be land with a slope upwards with tropical plants. The idea is to make it look like a island. This is where my focus is right now.

 

[shred5]

I have had a few people ask for updates.
I have a main thread somewhere else and cant keep up with all the sites so here is a small update.
The room has been redone.

This first pics are the lagoon system:
This system is 48x36x14 peninsula and is going to have a land section behind the aquarium with tropical plants etc.
Should look like a island when I finish.

Stand for lagoon.

Sump

Earlier pictures:
Front:

Sandy nano:

My large rack system. Still need to make the control panel and clean up wiring.

Small rack system:
This is a macro algae display aquarium and my culture station almost finished.

Quarantine system:

 

[shred5]

 

[shred5]

 

[shred5]

 

[tripdad]

That anemone clown pic is the dream for us all! Just perfect.

 

[Janci]

Beautiful pictures.
Indeed, the anemone is amazing.

 

[shred5]

That anemone clown pic is the dream for us all! Just perfect.

Beautiful pictures.
Indeed, the anemone is amazing.

Thank you. Thing is it was a ugly duckling when I go it and I almost lost it. Now it is beautiful and huge and the picture does not show how large it is.

This tank is 48lx36wx16h and is lit by only Four Kessil a360x and they are mounted like over two feet above the water maybe closer to 3 feet.. I really should measure them. That is not a lot of light. I do have two more to add and I am almost afraid to add. Kessil has some sort of magic. I have them on a few systems and the colors they produce and growth is amazing. They are expensive though. Also because they are such a point source they can be challenging to use to light something because of shadowing. They always talk about how much light heteractis magnifica need. I think it is getting less than 150 par. I measured it before but can not remember. I will measure it again.

The Kessil Apx9 though is the opposite and has allot of power. I had to turn them way down. It is like the ReefI Uno's par range, you need to be careful because they put out extreme par.. Also having two clusters of light it has significant less shading comparable to the a360x..



Then:

Now:

 

[Gumbies R Us]

That anemone clown pic is the dream for us all! Just perfect.

I was going to comment the same thing I love that picture as well

 

[shred5]

Lagoon Update.

 

[Janci]

Gorgeous. Corals look beautiful and happy.
Do you also have a full tank picture? I am just curious how it looks like in general.

 

[shred5]

Gorgeous. Corals look beautiful and happy.
Do you also have a full tank picture? I am just curious how it looks like in general.

Of the lagoon? I have lots of systems.
The lagoon is 3 sided. Hard to really get a full shot because of all the other systems. Plus it is 4'x3'x16"
Since it is shallow and the stuff grew so large they blocks everything behind. A over the top shot would actually be easier. There is a end shot up earlier but that was probably taken a year ago.
I can try. I think I can get a right side shot. The anemone takes up about a 3rd of the side since it is so big.

 

[Janci]

Of the lagoon? I have lots of systems.
The lagoon is 3 sided. Hard to really get a full shot because of all the other systems. Plus it is 4'x3'x16"
Since it is shallow and the stuff grew so large they blocks everything behind. A over the top shot would actually be easier. There is a end shot up earlier but that was probably taken a year ago.
I can try. I think I can get a right side shot. The anemone takes up about a 3rd of the side since it is so big.

My old tank was also a peninsula. Little bit longer but less wide than yours. I understand the picture issue.
And yes, the top down shots without pumps were pretty cool.
Any way, just interested to see the whole system.

 

[shred5]

ok a couple small updates.

Spent a little time on the lagoon lighting system.

From this to this:

to this:

Ok I am just showing these pictures of my macro algae/sea grass aquarium.

First off the corals on the square disks are just there for the moment and will not be on those disks and are moving to the lagoon.

This is 4 tanks combined into one my frag tank. I tore down my pipefish tank, two macro algae tanks and a frag tank.
It is not aquascaped yet at all. Everything was just put in there when the water was super cloudy. Some of the stuff just found a spot after drifting around. Some are against the front glass. What is amazing to me is it does not look to bad for me not doing anything to it.

I did loose a few sea grasses with the move. I need to get more.

 

[tripdad]

Everything looks happy, well done