Simon's 450

[User1]

It was significant snow, but no power outages ..... which just means I had to stay home which, well, I’ve mostly been doing all year.

True - that whole C19 thing. If I was smart, and I'm not, I'd become a travel agent. They will be doing booming business once this is over with.

Glad no power outage although I believe you are prepared with a generator. Glad you are safe and it wasn't that bad.

 

[ca1ore]

Out of curiosity, I attempted to do a rough damsel count ....

One starkii .... check, still there. Six Talbots added .... I count five. Five azures .... check, all still there. Three Rolland added .... check, still there. 48 yellow tails added .... got to 35 before giving up. Probably not all 48 are there, but must be close. If you have huge space, a large number of chrysiptera damsels are a pretty cool sight.

 

[User1]

Out of curiosity, I attempted to do a rough damsel count ....

One starkii .... check, still there. Six Talbots added .... I count five. Five azures .... check, all still there. Three Rolland added .... check, still there. 48 yellow tails added .... got to 35 before giving up. Probably not all 48 are there, but must be close. If you have huge space, a large number of chrysiptera damsels are a pretty cool sight.

That is a good population and I bet it does look grand. I'd love to be able to get more fish in my 210 but I've been waiting for the corals I have to grow more and fill in the tank. I figured it will help break up the chase and provide refuge. Corals take a while to grow I guess

On the anthias. Have you tried the Lyretail/Sea Goldie by any chance? After the first of the year I think I'm going to try another 5 or 7. I tried a group of 5 about a year and a half ago but it didn't work out. Only think I can think of is that I didn't have a lot of corals but a lot of rock. I had bartletts with my 100 gallon years ago but like you mentioned I went from 5 or so down to 1. That didn't achieve what I wanted.

Then again maybe I'll just go with a harem of royal gramma's or the pseudochromis. I do need a large number of small fish I think which is why I really like your damsel mix.

 

[ca1ore]

I haven’t kept lyretails for many years. Had all sorts of problems with them picking themselves off. Been thinking about trying them again now that I have a bigger tank. They haven’t been all that easy to find this year .... and the prices have gone way up.

 

[User1]

@ca1ore - I may regret this due to the weather and transportation this time of year but I needed some movement, poopers, and food consumers in my tank. Not a lot of fish so I ordered 7 BIOTA sapphire damsels and one Surge damsel (Chrysiptera brownriggii).

Was wondering if you have owned Surges's before. Sound interesting and I do not see them a lot. Seeing how they are a Chrysiptera genus assuming they are similar to others although it will be interesting to see how territorial they are.

 

[ca1ore]

Had to google it ..... don’t recall ever having had one. Looks pretty cool. Agree that most chrysiptera are mellow (ish). Blue devil the notable exception.

 

[User1]

Had to google it ..... don’t recall ever having had one. Looks pretty cool. Agree that most chrysiptera are mellow (ish). Blue devil the notable exception.

Thanks. I had to also read on it

 

[ca1ore]

I’ve been growing out some chalice frags in my frag tank. Test introduced one that I viewed as sacrificial to the display a few weeks ago. Just as well as the *&$#@* angels literally ate all of the tissue off the skeleton in less than a day. Epic fail. Then I had an epiphany: introduce the coral the same way I do new fish ..... at night. That way, when the aforementioned angels wake up the corals were always there. Worked like a charm!

Patted myself on the back for my ingenuity .... until the following day when I cracked a 20L attempting to grind a hole. Karma’s a *&$#¥?

 

[User1]

I’ve been growing out some chalice frags in my frag tank. Test introduced one that I viewed as sacrificial to the display a few weeks ago. Just as well as the *&$#@* angels literally ate all of the tissue off the skeleton in less than a day. Epic fail. Then I had an epiphany: introduce the coral the same way I do new fish ..... at night. That way, when the aforementioned angels wake up the corals were always there. Worked like a charm!

Patted myself on the back for my ingenuity .... until the following day when I cracked a 20L attempting to grind a hole. Karma’s a *&$#¥?

I don't recall if you had LPS or other fleshy corals. If so do they leave those alone?

Interesting on how fish react sometimes. Something established they are like ok, cool. Part of the house. Introduce something new and they go bonkers over it and it is broke/destroyed/eaten in a matter of minutes to hours.

 

[Victoria M]

What are you drilling a 20L for? What cool project are you dreaming up?

 

[ca1ore]

What are you drilling a 20L for? What cool project are you dreaming up?

Want to add a few more mangrove seedlings and the current 8”x8 cube is too small. Ordered the seedlings, but they got sent USPS which is something of a train wreck (not literally I hope) at the moment.

Although I DID crack the tank, it’s only going to be about half full so I don’t think it’s necessarily a write off. Broke my string of 50 plus holes without a mishap.

 

[RJKain-777]

Out of curiosity, I attempted to do a rough damsel count ....

One starkii .... check, still there. Six Talbots added .... I count five. Five azures .... check, all still there. Three Rolland added .... check, still there. 48 yellow tails added .... got to 35 before giving up. Probably not all 48 are there, but must be close. If you have huge space, a large number of chrysiptera damsels are a pretty cool sight.

I’m really thinking of adding a dozen or so damsels to my 340. I didn’t have luck with anthias either, maybe due to my lack of QT. And chromis would always pick eachother off as well. I don’t want to do a ton of fish in my new tank, and damsels stay relatively small! Guess we will see!

 

[ca1ore]

Yeah, I just got tired of throwing $$ at anthias. My group of Bartlett is now a single individual. A bit more sucessful with bimacs, but at $70 per fish a large group is tough ..... and there are always QT losses. My 60 damsels only cost me around $200, and most are still there after two years. A BIG win IMO. They just bicker amongst themselves, but with enough numbers any higher aggression is dispersed.

I’m sorry son, I can only cover three years of college .... blew the fourth on anthias ....

 

[ca1ore]

First photo of 2021 .....

 

[cmaxwell39]

That is going to look great when all those frags grow in. ;Hilarious ;Hilarious

Tank is looking great. What are you going to do when you run out of room??

 

[User1]

First photo of 2021 .....

Looks great.

 

[ca1ore]

What are you going to do when you run out of room??

That point has already been reached ..... twice LOL. Draconian fragging is the only option really. I debulked my green slimmer back a few months ago and removed about 90% of it. Most was dead under ranches but every local reefer is now flush with GS.

 

[cmaxwell39]

That point has already been reached ..... twice LOL. Draconian fragging is the only option really. I debulked my green slimmer back a few months ago and removed about 90% of it. Most was dead under ranches but every local reefer is now flush with GS.

It is a good problem to have, but it is not fun when you have to start hacking up corals that you worked so hard to grow.

 

[ca1ore]

Yes, I agree. Plus the neurotic in me worries about triggering some kind of RTN event.

 

[User1]

That point has already been reached ..... twice LOL. Draconian fragging is the only option really. I debulked my green slimmer back a few months ago and removed about 90% of it. Most was dead under ranches but every local reefer is now flush with GS.

If you ever feel like trying to ship some clippings let me know - I don't care in what condition but I would happily pay you for your time, frag, and shipping You can even pack a few damsels if you want.

Which leads me to a question actually. How did you go about introducing the damsels to your system. Specifically how many at a time if that makes sense. I am guessing a tank of your size it probably doesn't matter because they have a lot of room.

However, I do recall one of your videos when you said something along the lines of one would think 450 gallons is large enough for a fish to not run into one another but they do - or they find the other. May have been related to the gem or black tang going into the display, I forget. Anyway it always is in the back of my mind.

I'm introducing 8 tomorrow. 7 biota captive bred sapphire and 1 surge. We shall see but the lights will be off because there is one Azure in there who probably thinks he owns the place (210 gallon). Figured I'd see what you do and how it relates to the numbers you introduced at a time.