Tyler's 120 fowlr.

[tyler1503]

LOL!
Your tank looks great. Not sure what I would do with an eel, but I am sure someone will be interested.

Thanks! I don't think anyone will want him unfortunately. He's a great fish and I'll be sad to see him go, but I need to move him on and have been looking for a buyer for months with no luck :(

 

[tyler1503]

Recently lost the toady to a disease of some kind. It had the same symptoms as flukes minus the actual white parasites. Leaving the tank fallow for two months will be a challenge :(
Got these guys in QT at the moment. Super excited! I've been looking for a scorpionfish that stays small for years now. Finally found not one, but two! :D

 

[rayn]

Cool! Have a id on them?

 

[tyler1503]

Cool! Have a id on them?

Thanks! They're fortescues - centropogon australis. A cold water scorpion from Australia :)

 

[rayn]

And a pair! Are you going cold water too then?

 

[tyler1503]

And a pair! Are you going cold water too then?

Yep! So excited! I can't find them in my QT though. I need to move some rock around and have a better look and get some more pics. I'm hoping it's a male/female pair, but from my limited knowledge on sexing scorpions it looks like they're both females.
They were collected in 27•C water (I keep all my tropical tanks at 25-26•C) so I know they can thrive (and spawn) in tropical conditions, so at the moment they are in a tropical tank, but I will slowly lower the temperature over time. How low it will be I can't tell you just yet as I haven't quite decided.

 

[rayn]

They may be collected from that temp, but that may not be their normal temp. I have been involved in discussion about their main temp before. It ended somewhere around low 21° c or so.

Good luck with them, keep us posted.

 

[tyler1503]

They may be collected from that temp, but that may not be their normal temp. I have been involved in discussion about their main temp before. It ended somewhere around low 21° c or so.

Good luck with them, keep us posted.

Yea I won't keep them at that temp. I figured if for half of the year they can thrive at that higher temp in the wild it would be ok while I slowly drop it over a few weeks though. I didn't wana take them out of 27• and add them straight to something considerably cooler without slowly acclimating them first.
Thanks for the tip, I'll aim for 21 degrees :)
I'll definitely update their progress. I get too exited over scorps not to haha.
I just have to find them first. Hopefully the goby I have in the same tank played nicely overnight.

 

[tyler1503]

Some more pics of the fortescues. Not the best pics, but good enough for now. Im thinking I won't add them to the 120 until they're a few inches long. They'll get lost and be impossible to feed at this size in a 120.

 

[tyler1503]

The hardest part is over. I got them feeding :)
I got a feeding response from my own frozen food, but they ended up spitting it out. I added some garlic and got a stronger response, but they still spat it out. I added a baby guppy and it was like all their Christmases came at once! The guppy was literally in the water for one second before being eaten. Now I just need to make sure they will reliably feed, then wean them onto something healthier and I'm all set!
I'm going to try to find something a bit more nutritious than guppys in the mean time, but for now they'll have to do. Maybe I can find some more of those baby shrimp :)

 

[tyler1503]

It been a while since I've updated this thread so here goes!
I sadly lost the two scorps. One refused to eat after the first few initial feedings, the other I have no idea what want wrong. It was eating well, looked healthy and was growning, then kaput.
The tank has since been returned to tropical temperatures and I've FINALLY gotten my external fuge up and running.
A few more additions and things are looking good!
The fish list now consists of a smooth toadfish (again :P) who has been rehomed to the fuge, a school of poddy mullet and a longhorn Cowfish.

I'll get some pics of the fuge soon. Hopefully tomorrow :)

 

[tyler1503]

My return pump crapped out last night. I put the heater in the DT, but I'm now running sumpless, skimmerless, refugiumless and mechanical filtrationless. And to top that off, I received my filter socks in the mail and can't even use them now. Murphy's law I guess.
Any suggestions for an economical return pump that moves about 600-800 GPH at 4ft?