ejaustin

I have a small handful. I think I got it from IndoPacific Sea Farms, but it may have come from reefcleaners.org. I ordered it because I like macro-algae. I've probably had it a month or so. I can't honestly say if it's growing well. Strands tend to float off and become tangled in the powerheads, so some "natural" trimming has been taking place. I don't have a lot of experience with macros yet, but it seems happy enough. (The color is good, etc.) I do water changes, but I don't dose anything in my tank. ej

Hi, Lew, I've got some. Not a lot, but some. How much are you looking for? ej

I have some sand that's been sitting in a bucket in my garage for a couple years. You're welcome to come get what you need. (The bucket is about half full.) If you have something easy (I have a 29 gallon and no MH), and that would add more variety of color to my tank, that would be cool, but it's not necessary. ej

i'd be interested in the purple. Don't have much to offer in trade, though. I have a couple small pieces that broke off a brown monti cap and a small red devil's hand. ej

Did you check out www.austinaquafarms.com? On the ORA tab, they have something called a "ORA Hyacinth birdsnest". They are in Taylor, according to princer7 in the General Discussions forum about an LFS tour. I'd never heard of them, so I visited the site. Greenmako is listed as one of their local farmers. ej

I think he might be positioning to be a pal and offer to take that worthless thing off your hands! ej (Just teasing, Mike.)

Thanks for trying. Maybe next time. ej

Well, Gabriel will need to practice on the camera settings for little girls... maybe he should start with pictures of them swimming before he tries to master "dry" photography. ej

I could use about 20 each of the blue legged hermits and dwarf ceriths, which would come to $15.40. I could probably do some chaeto, too, which would bring my total to $20.39. If we don't get enough for free shipping, I'd rather hold off to a later group buy. ej

I have a devil's hand I don't really have a good place for. Also, a brown monti cap that I broke so I have 2 small pieces of that.

No one has mentioned a sump or refugium or other equipment and the best way to dissemble and re-assemble all that stuff. Does it just not matter? The stuff in the tank seems pretty obvious to me, but are there any important tips about disconnecting the plumbing, etc.? ej PS I'm not moving. Just curious.

I expect to make the meeting. I'll probably bring the devil's hand that has settled on my sandbed because I have another one and can't seem to find a good spot for him in my tank. I also have a small piece of brown montiipora cap with a blue edge that broke off the frag I got at the last meeting. Free to a good home, although a couple polyps of zoas would be good. The ones I have now have orange centers with a light blue ring and a green skirt. Something different would be nice. Or a bag of chaeto with some wonderful pod-people would be great. (I really don't need the chaeto, but could use the pods.) ej

I have the light fixture I used to use. A Fluorescent fixture for a 29 gallon tank. I'm sure the light from it is not the best (bulb is old and I don't remember the wattage). Not a long-term fix, but maybe useful as a stopgap? My house is in South Austin (south of William Cannon). I'm at work but my dad is home. If you want it and can go get it, I'll give him a call. ej

Well, I ended up getting a red scooter blenny. I'm hoping he will stay up higher on the rockwork so he and the goby can each have their space. I don't think they've seen each other yet. (The goby and shrimp are using the back door today.) The blenny has spent about half his time on the rock and about half his time on the sand. I'm hopeful that the two of them will be able to come to terms. I also added a small frag of GSP that has a little purplish-blue xenia with it, and a cool neon blue-green mushroom. So I think my tank is pretty much set now. I'll just watch it and give things a chance to grow out and feel at home. Thanks to all the folks at ARC who have given me their opinions and to Octavio at RCA who helped me today. ej

I added my shrimp / goby pair about 10 days ago and they've settled in nicely. I want to add something that will occupy more of the mid-water column. Needs to be something that will stay small (29 gallon tank). I'm considering a royal gramma. Most places say they are peaceful and get along well with fish-not-their-kind, but I wonder if territorial disputes might arise. Does anyone have experience have these two species together in a small tank? If not a royal gramma, what would other good candidates be? I'm thinking a fish, small, colorful, mostly hangs out mid-water. Preferably someone who might be out in the daytime. Thanks for your collective wisdom. ej

Video of the shrimp and goby at . They've settled in nicely.I'm so happy. ej

So sorry to hear about your Scopas. Amazing how attached we get to these critters. ej

I live south of William Cannon, but at 3pm I'll be at work, near the Arboretum. ej

I'd love some! I think they are so cool! Where and when? ej

For people who want to try peppermints, how can they make sure they get the right shrimp? I bought mine at Aquatek and explained that I had a couple aiptasia to get rid of. Aquatek has a good reputation and knowledgeable staff, so I assume I got actual peppermint shrimps. But is there a good way to tell them apart from camel shrimp (or any other shrimp that may look similar) so we can double-check the ones we're given? ej

I tried peppermint shrimp first. Added 3 of them. There was no change in the aiptasia I could see and after 2 days, I never saw any of the shrimp again. (No bodies either.) Puzzling since the only other inhabitants of the tank are snail and crabs (nassarius and micro hermits). I could see the hermits getting them if they were sick or dead, but I can't imagine a hermit killing a healthy shrimp many times its size. The calcium hydroxide was my 2nd choice and seems to have done the job for me. I'd try peppermints as a first option again, but this time I seemed to need an alternative, and garf seems to be a fairly reliable source of information. (If my tank were big enough, I'd have gone with the copperband butterflies. I think they are cool looking fish anyway.) ej

Hi, guys, As I've been building up my tank again, I got some aiptasia. (I'm pretty sure it rode in on a "pod mat" I got from ipsf.com.) Today we followed the instructions at garf.com It seems to have worked wonderfully. It's the wrong season to get pickling lime at the store, so I went over to Aqua Dome and bought calcium hydroxide for use in kalkwasser and then followed the directions from garf. (My daughter actually did it.) We had 2 aiptasia that I could see and a couple more my daughter saw that I never did. She "fed" each of them and they all look nuked and everything near them looks just fine. We'll continue to keep an eye out for these guys, but I wanted to share my experience, just for the record. (I generally feel like I have so little to offer here.) ej

Well, I decided to go with adding the shrimp / goby pair first. I ordered a Yellow Rose Goby (also known as a Hi Fin Red Striped Goby and as a Barbershop Goby) and a Candy Stripe Pistol Shrimp from Blue Zoo Aquatics. They arrived Friday in good condition and well packed. I floated both bags for quite some time and then did a drip acclimation. I had pre-selected the place I hoped they would build their burrow (front of the tank, a bit left of center), so I put the shrimp in the tank first, near my preferred home site. She cooperatively scampered into the sheltered area and then out of my sight. I added the goby to the tank in the same place, but she wasn't looking in the right direction, so there was no chance of her seeing her shrimp. She swam around to the back left corner of the tank and found a little overhang to snuggle in to. I added a little enriched brine shrimp, but she didn't seem interested. Yesterday, I discovered that the goby had moved around to the front of the tank. Not to the spot I had picked, but to a spot that's still in the front, closer to the center. When I fed the tank, she ate a little of the brine shrimp and a piece of flake!!! I was so happy! Still no sign of the shrimp, but I tried not to worry, trusting that they would find each other and hoping they would settle into the burrow the goby was occupying. At least the goby seemed to be settling in, resting in her chosen place and drifting out a bit now and then and darting back in when she saw me or if there was movement near the tank. Later in the afternoon, I noticed the goby was out of the burrow with just her tail in it. Then I saw a small puff of sand coming out of the burrow. I thought the goby was using her tail to excavate the burrow more. Then I saw the shrimp push some sand out of the burrow!!! They had found each other and set up house where we can see them easily. Oh, joy! Here's a pic of the goby. No pics of the shrimp yet. ej