Crab Rangoon

Just corals, no fish FS?

Whoops, I really let this go, huh? I really intended to keep better tabs on the tank with this thread If you're familiar with those Mitratus Butterflies, you know they go for a solid $400-ish and up every time.. I got this one on a radical deal of less than half that - but it doesn't really matter since he fell victim to a plumbing problem I absolutely plan to replace him down the road, though. My stock list has dramatically changed, through a few losses & sales, and right now I've got: - Bellus Angel male & female pair - Copperband Butterfly small - Sunburst Anthias (not in the DT yet) - Bluesided Fairy Wrasse - Leptacanthus Cardinals x9 (constantly breeding!) - Fire Shrimp - Anemone Shrimp pair - huge! - Peppermint Shrimp - bunch of conchs - 3 RBTA's - 2 rock anemones - more LPS I'm about to radically change my lighting, though, and hope to add another Vortech to the tank this Spring. Maybe if I'm lucky, I can upgrade from my Reef Octopus cone skimmer to an ATB skimmer this Summer, and from my big Turbo Twist UV to a bigger Aqua-UV or similar soon after that. If anyone is thinking of picking up some PAR38 LED's - let me know! I need to get rid of some quite soon.

Sold I hope to see some nice pics/video of him in his roomy new home soon!

To further clarify (since it's been of concern for a couple people now) the two fish he quarreled relentlessly with were .5-1" smaller than him AND of very similar colors, as seen here (again, not my photos): But in the event you're introducing HIM to a tank with pre-existing Angels, rather than introducing Angels into "his" tank, I think you should be relatively safe. He never once squabbled with all of the following: ANY Butterflyfish, ANY Centropyge, Rock Beauty Angel, Flagfin Angel, Magnificent Angel, Goldflake Angel, all of my Cardinals / Basslets / non-Angels. I would simply avoid trying to combine him with any similar fish (same goes for all Angels & Butterflies, they tend to have the most hate for similar colors/patterns) such as Imperator, Koran, French, and Queen Angelfish. Hope that helps the few of you who've already contacted me - I'd hate for somebody to skip him worrying that he may attack their Flame or Lemonpeel Angel when I don't believe that to be the case, and at the same time I certainly don't want any harm to come to anyone's fish.

I bought this guy back in June/July and he's been a good fish - unless you're trying to keep him with OTHER Angelfish (this may seem like a 'no brainer' - but this is the sole specimen that wasn't in perfect harmony amongst all my Angels). I take 1.5 - 2 months to introduce any Angelfish to my display, and the same care was given to this fish. He was quite brutal to 1) a juvi Imperator Angel & 2) a juvi Blueline Angel. All other Angelfish he was tolerant of, but would certainly chase off from his personal tiny cave. I removed him from my display for fear that he'd damage my pair of Bellus Angels upon their introduction, and they mean a lot more to me than this guy. I purchased him at about 2.25-2.5" and in 100% juvi colors - he is now about 3" and has his gold coming in quite nicely. You: - have a 90-120g tank, minimum (I don't care if you plan to upgrade, if you've got a 75 or smaller, you're not getting my fish) - don't currently keep other Angelfish, or have plans to - are a huge fan of the beautiful pattern these fish get in the face - have a FOWLR tank, or only keep LPS/SPS - don't want to spend $90-120 on this guy at a shop, and don't want to quarantine him either - enjoy feeding your fish twice a day He: - has been in my care for over 6 months - lived in my display tank for 4-5 months - eats like an absolute pig - has been 100% SPS & LPS friendly in my experience - has been 90% soft coral friendly - he may or may not eat zoa/paly specimens - this was the ONLY coral type in my tank that would not open & thrive, but any number of other Angels could have been to blame - does not get along with Angelfish - is 100% disease free - ate 3-5x a day in my display - currently 1-2x a day in my fuge - has his black body color just starting to fade, beginning to reveal his golden scales - has quite a start on his gold mask & has gold in his fins - proves EXTREMELY DIFFICULT to photograph in my refugium In case you're unfamiliar with exactly how they look as juveniles, here is a pic from LA's Diver's Den I'd like $65 for him, PM for more info - I'm free much of the day Sunday for somebody to see him or pick him up.

The best I've seen was a guy who used a soap dish (the type you mount in your shower / on the wall) attached to a MagFloat. This way it's in when you want it, and not when you don't - less of a permanent eye sore this way, and you can position it anywhere you want. If you wanted something lighter weight / smaller, take a plastic measuring spoon of 1/2 cup or 1 cup size & superglue it to a MagFloat with about 1-2" of handle on the spoon. This way, the size of the measuring spoon is large enough to allow for some holes to be drilled along the edge of the spoon, and on the handle - so the horses can grab on with their tails. Hope that helps!

going LED?

Makes me feel very OCD about my weekly maintenance I did, however, go above & beyond my routine maintenance last weekend. Did a 50-60g water change, pulled all my rock, removed a few BIG fireworms from the rock, scraped & syphoned the glass bottom, remixed my aquascape when putting the rock back in & sold all the excess/leftovers, removed my Blueface Angel from the DT and put in my pair of Bellus Angels that have been in QT since Halloween. On a weekly basis, I dump & clean my skimmer collection cup, change socks twice a week, spot clean the bottom w/a scraper as needed, check anything & everything for salt creep or moisture, and flush my UV sterilizer w/high flow to evacuate any air that could be trapped inside. Thanks to the LED spotlights, I never get any growth/build-up on my drain & return, side & front glass, Vortech, or the inside & outside of my overflow box

Hey Wyatt, did you contact Tony? If not, give him a call.

I'd like to be on a list to be contacted in the future

Nope, out in the main part of the house. Gonna run LEDs on it! arm-mounting & PAR38 by any chance?

'cept when brooding, the male looks like Kanye West with the fattest jaw ever yesterday he seemed somewhat interested in food again (since they carry the eggs/fry in their mouth, they cannot eat while incubating or brooding), so I fear he may ditch and go back to his daily grind this weekend. I might have to wait til the next occurrence to get 'em on camera.

I started my tank out with 6 of these guys, and sadly wound up losing 2-3 of them over the course of weeks due to aggression from another Apogon species I had in the tank, which was behaving very dominantly even though there was plenty of room After removing the other Cardinals from the display, I ended up losing yet another leptacanthus about a week later, and was stuck with only a pair. A couple months ago, I decided to pick up 8 more when Jake at RCA was ordering them for the in-wall display tank in the shop, but I still wound up losing 2 more slowly but surely, apparently due to my Wrasse not being compliant with them For months now, I've had a school of 8 of them, and everything's been fine except for an occasional episode with the Wrasse during feeding time. Earlier this week I noticed that two of them seemed secluded, and I was worried they were not faring well, or perhaps fighting. Sure enough, they'd split off from the group around feeding time, and go bicker in a cave. For 2-3 days straight they practically refuse to leave the cave, and the male is absolutely brooding, as is obvious from his jaw/throat poking out. Pretty cool! Since they move so sporadically paired up and away from the group, I can't get very good pictures of the pair, but I'll definitely be getting them on video since their behavior is so peculiar and they're both showing rather radiant colors. Upon receiving them from the shipment originally, I really couldn't tell males from females - but now that I've noticed these two paired up, I have identified the two other males in my school, and I have 1 or 2 other females coloring up mighty bold trying to also get in on the action. Has anyone else experienced any Cardinals (aside from Bangaii, of course) in their display tanks? I've already looked into the details of rearing & raising the fry, and ruled it out - the most success somebody has had was 45 days with any fry, and I'm already far too busy to tend to baby fish feedings. It's certainly a lot different from Clowns, though, since there's no way in hell I could ever get into the tank with a net and pull out the actual pair from the whole school. The slightest movement or motion stirs the Cardinals enough that you can't tell one from the others when they school together - so there will definitely be no disturbing them from the display to try my hand at this further. I just thought I'd ask if anyone else had experienced this, or even seen the breeding happen. I really hope that they continue with this from time to time and that I may be able to get it on camera some time.

Still seeking some nice examples or matured specimens Also adding to the list: - medium/large Euphillia specimens, no frags - ricordia yumas

Got a pic? And no cell phone pics, one that actually shows what the sponge might look like / how it grows? I've got white sponge now growing in both my sump and refugium, that wasn't around until I was using the biopellets. Mine, however, seemed to suddenly appear and grow very quickly over a short time, and then has since stayed the same. I don't have it popping up in new places, and it doesn't seem like it's growing at a noticeable rate now - but I only have it in my pump chamber and fuge chamber of my sump. Removing it manually and offering it to others isn't a bad idea, especially if you just bring a load of bags to the frag swap. I'm interested to see if what you've got is similar to mine, though. I know a lot of other people have had issues with the bacteria covering their substrate, or the surfaces of their rocks - but luckiy I haven't experienced that.

I look forward to an update featuring water It really looks great Chris, I had no idea you were building your own stand - props, dude.

Are you getting the tank by AGE, or DSA? I was originally considering a slightly smaller tank (around 36x30x30) by AGE, but the savings to be had by choosing Marineland was too great for me to pass up in the end. And yes, my question was referring to any sort of liner or tray you may place inside your tank to protect your floor. I've had no issues with all of my equipment sitting on the floor, even with a few salty spills. Then again, I'm just lucky we don't have carpet or wood floors When do you plan on setting yours up, anyway?

this Summer I lost the first Butterfly I added to the tank and this month, the most painful one ever my little Goldflake Angel

They're from the shipment that came into River City Aquatics yesterday. I was originally going to get 3-4 new Angels, 1 BF, and some more Chalk Bass, but then the Mitratus popped up.. & there went a majority of the month's budget Is your 150 also a square base, or an elongate one? I'm so happy I went with the custom metal stand, it was well worth the wait & has paid off in being the ultimate convenience. What are you using on the bottom, inside your stand? I've got everything sitting on our ceramic tile, which is fine, but I am always considering re-doing it with DriDek under everything, since my stand is bottomless.

I got lazy about posting updates, and about keeping up with the forum, so it's been a lonnnnnnng time since I posted anything here, and my total stock (and aquascape) has changed quite a bit. All in all, here is the total up-to-date livestock: - Flagfin Angelfish - Blueface Angelfish (juvenile) - Blueline Angelfish (juvenile) - Majestic Angelfish - Rock Beauty Angelfish (juvenile) - Pyramid Butterfly x2 - Burgess' Butterfly - Mitratus Butterfly (juvenile) - Chalk Basslet - Swales Swissguard Basslet x2 - Threadfin Cardinalfish x8 - Neon Cleaner Goby (ORA) - Fire Shrimp x2 - Peppermint Shrimp - Orange Tuxedo Urchin x2 - Blue Tuxedo Urchin - Hairy Halloween Urchin - Redfooted Conch x4 - Spider Conch - Fighting Conch - Mexican Turbo Snail x2 - Scarlet Hermit-crab x5 Coral wise, I have mushrooms, zoos, a couple Euphillias, some Acros, a Seriatopora, a green toadstool leather & a yellow toadstool leather. Here are some pictures of what I brought home yesterday I'm especially lucky to have found the Mitratus this small, rather than their typical 3-3.5" size. Hell, I didn't even think I'd end up actually having a Mitratus for quite a long time - super psyched for this one.

Which LEDs are you using, by the way? Is your main tank fully lit by LED, or just a frag tank? I'm using the PAR38's and Stunner Strips on mine, and so far so good.

Arg, that is exactly what he has, and many of them! I'm just worried about their size being small enough to become possible "snacks" but I'll never know, until I try. I swung by, but he says they are currently NFS - I gotta wait a month! Hopefully I'm able to find me an ORA example, and at least one of the yellows before that long, and I can pick one of the Tyree's from him in October.

Awesome, thanks Melissa! I think I can swing by there tomorrow since I'll be up North, and have never been in before.

It would seem that I've still yet to have anyone follow up on a yellow or green toadstool leather. I'm still interested, and wanting to feel out some locals before ordering elsewhere and dealing with shipping. ...but Divers Den does have a green one and a yellow one that are tempting Anyone?

Cool, any way you could get me a picture of it? A pic of it closed/agitated won't be very telling, but if it opens up at least halfway and you can snap a pic of it I'd just need to see it before trying to meet up. Just let me know Thanks, but I'm not looking for any cabbage, xenia, or kenya tree corals. Only the Fiji/Tonga yellow leathers, and the ORA/Tyree green toadstools. Cool, thanks for the heads up - I'll check your site. Thanks, I'd love to see a pic of it. Please let me know when you've got some pictures The bigger the better (or at least medium > small), as I'm not the biggest fan of growing out frags