Zoey's Reef is Growing Up . . .

Maritimer · Oct 4, 2018

Well, _today_ stunk - and it was completely foul before 8:am.

The 2" blue maxima clam I had bought at last years CTARS "Fragtoberfest" event looked great yesterday morning, working his way to 4", and I got home so late last night that I didn't get to look at it, but when the lights came up this morning, it was doornail-dead, with nassarius gnawing on its innards. Across the room, the Ward's tiger sandsifting goby I'd bought rather more recently had decided to take a walk on the wildside - only to discover that hardwood floors are not that wild, and that sandsifting gobies can't walk all that well.

There are days when I want to be reminded just exactly why I bang my head against the wall of this hobby . . .

~Bruce

Amoo · Oct 4, 2018

Sorry to hear Murphy left my place and went straight back to yours Bruce. Any ideas on the Maxima?

Keep your head up man, as you know things could be a lot worse then problems inside our glass boxes.

fabutahoun · Oct 5, 2018

Sorry To hear that Bruce ! Cheer Up Man !

Janci · Oct 5, 2018

Maritimer said:
Well, _today_ stunk - and it was completely foul before 8:am.

The 2" blue maxima clam I had bought at last years CTARS "Fragtoberfest" event looked great yesterday morning, working his way to 4", and I got home so late last night that I didn't get to look at it, but when the lights came up this morning, it was doornail-dead, with nassarius gnawing on its innards. Across the room, the Ward's tiger sandsifting goby I'd bought rather more recently had decided to take a walk on the wildside - only to discover that hardwood floors are not that wild, and that sandsifting gobies can't walk all that well.

There are days when I want to be reminded just exactly why I bang my head against the wall of this hobby . . .

~Bruce

Hard to get the source of this trouble.
Hang on, better days are always around the corner.

najer · Oct 5, 2018

Maritimer said:
Well, _today_ stunk - and it was completely foul before 8:am.

The 2" blue maxima clam I had bought at last years CTARS "Fragtoberfest" event looked great yesterday morning, working his way to 4", and I got home so late last night that I didn't get to look at it, but when the lights came up this morning, it was doornail-dead, with nassarius gnawing on its innards. Across the room, the Ward's tiger sandsifting goby I'd bought rather more recently had decided to take a walk on the wildside - only to discover that hardwood floors are not that wild, and that sandsifting gobies can't walk all that well.

There are days when I want to be reminded just exactly why I bang my head against the wall of this hobby . . .

~Bruce

That sucks, as above, anything changed that could have caused it's demise?

Maritimer · Oct 5, 2018

Not 100% certain on the clam. A frag-plug had fallen alongside of it, between it and a nearby rock, and it had moved to one side - I had thought voluntarily, but perhaps its byssal threads were torn. I have a hard time imagining that such a small item could exert that much pressure, but . . .

~Bruce

najer · Oct 6, 2018

Maritimer said:
Not 100% certain on the clam. A frag-plug had fallen alongside of it, between it and a nearby rock, and it had moved to one side - I had thought voluntarily, but perhaps its byssal threads were torn. I have a hard time imagining that such a small item could exert that much pressure, but . . .

~Bruce

Was there anything on the plug that might have stung it?

Maritimer · Oct 8, 2018

Nothing but a dead acro skeleton ... one of the many lost to - I suspect heat - over the summer, when the GHA and cyano started to take off.

~Bruce

najer · Oct 9, 2018

Maritimer · Nov 2, 2018

Update overdue . . .

Kingston & Zoey's Reef continues to chug along. Some acros have survived, but so far, the ones I've thought dead have pretty much stayed dead. <sigh> There are times when the algae seems to be less - is it wishful thinking? And then that one rock, front & center simply got _cleared_ overnight. Tuxedo urchin? Sea-hare? Parrotfish? Tangs? Foxface? No clue . . .

Here's how things look on the reef, now with a couple of fairy wrasses, a kole tang (introductions to the C. truncatus were ... less than smooth ... but they seem to be buds now, and often spend time together) and a foxface lo.

Have you ever seen an adult male Quoy's parrotfish in "agitated" colors? While introducing new fish, I placed a mirror alongside the tank, and the parrot took on an entirely new hue - not so much green and pink, as ocean and plum. He also stepped up the pace of his swimming, almost frenzied (Please excuse the mutterings of "Rick & Morty" on my son's TV):

So.

An empty QT, eh?

How long did you think that would last?

I'd been lucky enough to win a gift certificate to LiveAquaria in one of the Sponsors' giveaways here on Reef2Reef, and LA was also running a sale, so I ordered in some smaller fish that I've always wanted to try my hand with. Of course, it wouldn't be _me_ if there wasn't some drama, and both boxes were marked "Mechanical Failure has Caused a Delay" on UPS' tracking site this morning. They resumed movement soon enough though, and arrived only a few hours late.

I've chosen some challenges - a radiant wrasse, a pair of flame angelfish, a copperband butterfly, and _five_ royal grammas. There are also a brace of blue-star leopard wrasses, which were supposed to be a trio, but one fish was sadly DOA, and a couple of different varieties of shrimpgoby. Here's a peek into my current round of QT:

~Bruce

NY_Caveman · Nov 2, 2018

Amazing between the first and second video how the parrotfish lost almost all of his green. Curious if there was a big difference in the lights between the two or if it was all him?

Maritimer · Nov 2, 2018

Right?

Lights are the same, the difference is a mirror alongside the tank, and "another parrotfish" all up in his space!

~Bruce, sad to lose one gramma today ... no observed reason

Janci · Nov 3, 2018

Sorry for the loss.
Did you had the gramma for a long time?

Maritimer · Nov 3, 2018

Hi, Janci!

Not long at all, though thank you - this gramma was one of the five received from LiveAquaria only the day before. I'm looking at the other four across the room, and they seem to be doing well.

Even saw the copperband eat a bit yesterday! A few bites of mussel on the half-shell, and a bit or two of LRS. (Mysis, I think . . . )

~Bruce

Amoo · Nov 3, 2018

Maybe I'm miss remembering, but I thought Grammas were only to be kept in pairs? As in like Kung-fu fighting incoming at some point

Maritimer · Nov 4, 2018

I've read of a few people who're keeping them in larger "harem" groups. One (dominant) will develop more purple, grow larger and be the male.

Maybe you're thinking of dottybacks?

Anyway ... one more doesn't seem to be making an appearance for dinner tonight - I hope I have enough left to call a harem by the time I can move them to the DT!

~Bruce

Maritimer · Nov 6, 2018

One at a time.

With but a single exception (the radiant wrasse, who developed an infection that was, by the time I noticed it and began treatment, not responsive to "the trifecta"), without symptoms, they are dropping. Each night and some mornings there has been an unmoving body in the QT - a goby, a wrasse, another goby . . .

Grr.

~Bruce

P.S. - LiveAquaria has been very responsive, has offered treatment advice, and has - with photos - refunded my account for each fish that has passed - but I didn't order fish because I wanted refunds.

Amoo · Nov 6, 2018

Sorry Bruce

. I legit have had a really good 2 past days so I know I'm in for it soon. Sorry to see Murphy left my place and went to yours.

As you said, we don't do this to collect refunds for failed attempts.

Maritimer · Nov 9, 2018

I'd been so very excited about this order of fish ...

My pair of aurora gobies is down to one.

My colony of orange-spot gobies is now a pair.

My harem of five brilliantly colored royal grammas is now a pair.

My pair of flame angelfish is now a single, and appears to be a male. (Only two days ago, I watched the male start to chase the female - only to see her present her flank in a submissive gesture that defused his aggression ... and within that 48 hour period, she developed a bloat which became a raging infection . . . and became fatal.)

My radiant radiant wrasse is now a memory.

My trio of blue-star leopard wrasses (one was DOA) looks like it's going to be a single before long, as the smaller one didn't come out for dinner tonight.

I've become so very depressed about this order of fish ...

~Bruce (and Murphy, from his camp by my QT...)