Tank birthday, 47+ years

[SeahorseKeeper]

Great video Paul!!! Thank you for sharing!!!!

 

[Paul B]

I took some pictures. I also made a mistake and added a little too many fish, I sometimes just can't help myself but the fish will get over it. I wanted a school of cardinals and I already had two, so I bought two more, then three more, then I needed one more, so I have 8 of them. Real cool fish and they school. There is actually two different kinds, when I get time I will make a video of the school. They float around facing the current and grab baby brine shrimp all day, my feeder allows some shrimp to get loose all day so they love it.

 

[rayviv]

Impressive!

 

[Andrew L]

What do you think of the prices of some of the corals nowadays compared to when you first got yours?

 

[Paul B]

I think the price of corals didn't go up near as much as the price of gas. They are not that expensive considering all the people that are involved in collecting, shipping etc. Now most of them are fragged which also helped the price stay lower

 

[tspreef]

Very Impressive..Great Job.. I may have missed this but have you ever had to move it in any of those years? Like from one room to another or to a new house. I hope to be where you are in 30 years :bigsmile:

 

[fsu1dolfan]

Hey Paul - What kind of lights are you using?? I find your simmer of blues and yellows a really interesting mix. Very natural and realistic.

 

[Paul B]

I forgot about this thread. I use LEDs for the last year, I threw out the MH lights and will never use them again.

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Paul been missing you man!

 

[beaslbob]

+1


Especially with my status at af. LOL

 

[Paul B]

I just wanted to move one litle thing in the tank so I stuck my big hand in there and of course the entire structure, which was very precarious crashed so I had to re-aquascape one side of the tank. It ain't easy because some of those rocks I built are 20" long. I broke some acropora of course, so I had to get the epoxy and crazy glue that stuff back, now I am going to dinner and my hands are all stuck together and white from the crazy glue.
I hate that stuff. In all the years this tank has been up with all sorts of corals, now it has more corals and fish than it has ever had. I guess this is the longest I ever went with out an accident so the corals had a chance to grow. Even though I break them all the time. The acropora is the worst, that stuff is so delicate and it grows so fast that you have to keep moving it, and moving it means breaking it.
This is also the first time I have SPS and LPS all living together without killing each other.
I am not sure why it is all getting along, maybe the high nitrates are making them woozy and they don't know what they are doing.
One of the chalk bass I bought the other day had a little Pop eye when I bought him. I noticed it when I got him home. Yesterday I thought his eye would pop out but he is much better today. He may have heard that I usually operate on fish to cure that (although I could never catch him)
Also one of the new glass cardinals has this fungus. I thought that was his coloring because it is nice white lines. That will probably go away but again, it is what it is. Whatever goes in that tank, stays in that tank.
I really should look more closely when I buy these things but I usually just tell the guy to catch me something and I don't check it out until I get home.
And I ain't going back.
I think my fireclowns will spawn again soon as they are doing that mating dance and clean the nest together, something I have never seen two clowns do but these may be senile as one is 19.
I also think a pair of cardinals are spawning because they hang out in a bottle and they are very fat. But I am not sure how they spawn. There are so many places in this tank to hide, I can never find anything.

 

[steamer51]

Thanks for sharing Paul, you are my favorite poster on this and other forums. Always enjoy what you have to say. All the Cardinals I know of are mouthbrooders. Male holds the eggs and fry in his mouth for three or four weeks and does not eat so it is hard on them if they spawn too often. The male will protect the female while she is holding eggs but once they spawn the female protects the male while he is holding eggs and fry. Females are generally rounder and heavier but that doesn't mean both of yours are girls since all your fish are fat, happy, healthy and in spawning condition.

 

[Paul B]

I cleaned my baby brine feeder and installed a new mesh that the fish seem to enjoy. It also looks like my little female mandarin is getting ready to spawn again as she is gaining a little belly again even though she spawned a couple of weeks ago. This feeder takes care of that for me. If you look to the right you can see the gobi that lives with his shrimp. The gobi loves the feeder and tries to chase away the mandarins but he knows his limits and leaves the copperband, who monopolizes the feeder, alone.

 

[ReefPops]

The mandarins are amazing. Love your tank! Such an amazing accomplishment overall.

 

[Paul B]

Thank you, all you need to do is get old.

 

[michaelsmith123]

That is very impressive!

 

[Paul B]

The Popeye on the chalk bass went away as did the fungus on the cardinal. Many fish in stores have these things but in a healthy envirnment,they should all abate on their own. I think the mandarins wil spawn again soon as she is getting fat even though I have been away for three days and no one was here to feed anything. The only fish I don't like to leave without food is the copperband but he is fine. I only wish he didn't scratch nasty things about me on the inside of the glass.
The fish all seemed happy to see me again and they got their fresh worm and clam meal. Tomorrow I will go and get more worms.
Have a great New Year.

This is when I got them

 

[Paul B]

Yesterday I gave one of my urchins a little snack. There is no algae growing in my tank itself (it all grows in the algae trough) so he looked hungry. I grew some hair algae for him as a treat. He gulped it up an about an hour.

 

[Paul B]

This cool sponge grew in my tank from a tiny frag that I got by accident. It is blue and about a foot across. I forget about it because it is toward the back and on top of the rocks so I can't really see it well from the front of the tank.
But it is definately cool

 

[Paul B]

It seems that a few more fish are spawning. Almost all my fish are spawning except the copperband (I wish) and some watchman gobies that don'r have a mate.
I have a school of 5 threadfin cardinals and I think at least one is a female. She grew a lot larger than the other four and she has eggs. There is another pair of cardinals but I don't know what they are called but it also looks like one of them has eggs. The fireclowns are still spawning as are the mandarins and I hope the clown gobies spawn but so far it doesn't look like anything is happening except they are dancing for each other. One of them has only been in the tank for a week so she (he) needs a little time to get settled. I never say clown gobies spawn so I will be excited if they do.
This is the first time since this tank was set up that so many fish are spawning or seem to be spawning and also the first time the nitrates have been so high, around 40.
It is also the first time that all the SPS, LPS, leathers and gorgonians are living together peacefully. Usually one type does great but the others wilt.
I really don't know what is going on but everything looks really good.
That doesn't surprise me but the fact that everything is getting along is amazing.

The threadfins were young here.