KeeperOfTheZoo

I'm glad the goby is hanging in there. Seems like if he's made it this far he'll probably be ok with time to recoup. Eating is always a good sign. Since the eel was full I can't imagine he'd go after the goby under normal circumstances. When I had him he never showed much interest in any of the fish, even when he was hungry. It always seemed like he was following the fish to food vs. seeing the fish as food. Gosh, 4 shrimp for dinner. I'm surprised the eel wasn't too stuffed to move. I'm so glad he went to you Jeremy, talk about a spoiled fish.

I can't believe he bit him! Do you think he did the initial injury or just took a bite after something else hurt the goby and he smelled an injured animal? I know eels are predators by nature, but that guys always been so mellow. Was he hungry? Feeding frenzy attack? Hope your goby recovers. My rule with antibiotics is to only use when absolutely needed. Remember they'll kill all bacteria including those that are beneficial and necessary for life. That's hard on an already stressed creature. That said eels are known for having bacteria ladden mouths and infection is a real problem for people after an eel bite. Why don't you email the folks over at wet web media and see if they have any suggestions for treating fish after an eel bite.

+1 for a great way to check for CO2 Jeremy. Like the new sig by the way. I have one of those vacancy signs too.

Oh wow, hawks eat hermits? My hermits have been doing a pretty good job of chewing on each other here lately. Your hawks are really neat, of all your fish they're the ones that stood out in my memory. I hope the angel is the culprit it'd be a shame to have to get rid of them. But if you decide to I want to be on the top of the list! As a plug, Mike has a gorgeous tank and very healthy fish.

How are you going to set the tanks up in relation to each other? This is one time I would not recommend a hang on overflow for sure. Its hard to the point of maybe being impossible to flood proof it simply because you can't control for failure when there are so many random variables. On one tank with one HOB you can eliminate the risk of flooding, I couldn't work it out to prevent floods when using one on a second tank (fuge to sump in my case, I gave up and I'm having a new bigger fuge drilled) Sounds like you are already wanting to avoid HOB but I thought I'd go ahead and reinforce the idea. Why don't you check out the plumbing at some of the LFSs to see how they are doing things. Maybe you could mod and apply similar ideas. Fishy Business has one of the nicest looking sales tanks set ups I've seen. I had to ask if the tanks were chained together because they didn't appear to be. On returns, drill the siphon break hole above the water line. Really limits back flow to the sump.

Darn, I was hoping to see hawkfish on the list.

I'd like both K3s please! I will be in Austin this weekend, would that work for picking them up? Edit- just looked at the desktop version of the site (surfing on my phone) so I could see your location. San Antonio is a bit far. Do you come N to Austin? If not I'll have to pass.

That sounds like an amazing tank with an even more amazing amount of planning and patience behind it. As of right now my unplanned and unwanted tomato clown is living in the sump after it spent the whole day beating up my sweet little ocellaris and stealing the mushrooms she hosts in. Tomato girl is very pretty, but as the old saying goes....pretty is as pretty does and that fish has won herself a one way trip to a new home. I've heard tale of the nasty attitudes the tomatoes and maroons can cop. I'm sure there are exceptions, I just feel bad about having subjected my poor ocellaris to one of the fish that prove the rule!

I bet the floor is nice and clean now though.

Well, all my pm's and posts here were for the ocellaris, hubby was just the pick up guy. He's not into the fish. Sadly the tomato is extremely aggressive and is harassing my clown horribly. The little ocellaris looked a little thin/harassed and the tomato was picking on him in the bag they were in together. I lost the little guy overnight. Ill probably just take the tomato to a LFS for credit. Thanks for being willing to take it back though.

LOL!! We have Cinderella books too. Yes plural. My poor daughter, she is SUCH a girly girl and she's stuck with 3 brothers and a tom boy for a mom. I love the animation of the old Disney movies, I watch them now and appreciate them so much more than I did when I was a kid. My favorite movie as a kid was the Black Stallion, then as an adult I got to meet one of Cass Ole's sons (Cass was the horse that played the Black). I was just silly giddy about it. And of course the son was... you guessed it... a black Arabian stallion. Oh be still my heart. I better stop or the poor sweet chestnut Arab gelding standing out in my pasture is gonna get jealous. Ok back to fish! Sorry about the hijack Lamont. I did mention your tank looks gorgeous though, right?

Thanks for the clownS! Plural. That was sneaky! Kendal is on his way home with them now. Have you had any aggression issues with the tomato clown? If it picks on my other clown I'm bringing him back to you.

A dream is a wish your heart makes, when you're fast asleep.... Oh someone save me from 6 year old daughters who watch Cinderella obsessively! Ahhhh!!!!!! Sorry August, just had to do it. Phew, I feel better now.

Looks fabulous!!

I'd like the false perc clown please. Hey Teoahnna, ya wanna pick it up for me? seriously though, I'd like the fishy.

I use it too, all my fish like it though I get it specifically for my tang. Just check the ingredients and make sure its not flavored and that there are no additives. Seems obvious but I realized when looking at packaging that what seemed like plain nori, wasn't.

Was just reading an article that said stress is a top reason BT anemones split. Guess your guys wild adventure stressed him to pieces.

I know Gabriel and nothing you said was untrue. I just don't want to see Christian's enthusiasm for the hobby or desire to ask questions squealched. I don't think Christian is being any more irresponsible that a lot of adults in this hobby and he IS asking questions. I'll stop being a mother hen. For the record, I'm not taking exception to the advice just the strong tone. And Christian don't take offense to me calling you a 'kid'. I still call my 21 year old brother a kid all the time, drives him crazy!!

Lets do remember that we're helping out a kid here. I just spent an entire weekend hosting a camp out on my farm for one of our teen groups. Love the kids, but they are KIDS and they don't necessarily go about things the way adults do. The quickest way to get kids (many adults too) to shut down and stop asking questions is with snippy answers. Yes there are great resources online. There are great resources on this list too and if asking questions and getting interactive feedback is ones preferred method of research there's nothing wrong with that. I've read a lot about lighting and still find myself with a lot of questions. I'm not sure I would have had the patience or dedication for this hobby when I was a teen. Christian, do read other resources but don't feel like you can't ask for clarification here.

This thread is interesting! It's also very similar to every forum discussion I've read on tests/testing. When I first had my tank and realized it had major nutrient issues I tested obsessively to see if the myriad measures I was taking were helping. I think maybe because my nutrient levels were so high all I really needed to see were gross changes and any half way decent kit will show that. Since my tank has 'cleaned up' (no phosphates or nitrates showing) I've stopped testing so much. Usually just every other week with water changes. More than that, I've had the tank long enough to see that it's healthy. I may have 'trates or 'phates that aren't showing up on the API kits, but my tank is doing awesome so who cares. Between the test (that will show if things get out of hand) and just watching the tank I figure I've got things covered. Is that over simplifing things? I do need to get a magnesium test. I had a kinda funny realization the other day. I got rid of hair algae but then had some derbesia growing on a few rocks. Its a pretty macro and my tang likes to graze on it but I really had it set in my head that I needed all nuisance algae GONE in my display. Well, its mostly gone now and I'm wishing it would grow back! My tang is gonna miss it when its gone. How's that for being fickle?

I have 2 API kits and have taken water to Aquatec & RCA to double check my results (when I first got my tank), got the same readings across the board. All using API kits. After doing a lot of reading/research it seems that none of the home kits are extremely accurate, especially for phosphates.

Great job!

I've been using the API kit because it was the only one I could get locally. I think for nitrate its both easy to use and read. I haven't used anything else though as comparison for ease of use. The color changes are obvious though. I went from very high nitrates to none showing up on the test so got to see a full range of color change. The only time it's a little iffy is the change between 5-10. To me the color does not appear to change. The test is cheap though and it gives you a good idea of where your nitrates are at. I noticed both RCA and Aquatec use API kits.