Crab Rangoon

Is your Borbonius from Aqua Dome? If so, I kept going in every few days to scope him out. I'm moving in a few weeks and it just didn't make sense to buy a fish so close to the move, but it didn't keep me from wanting to buy him

Who made the sump for you?

Ready to pick up in Wells Branch! Had to do an emergency tank breakdown at my moms house for some redecorating of her place, and I have no room for this stuff at my house. Here's what we have:

75 gal tank with black rear glass, glass top set, and structural stand - $80

Eheim 2217 & 2227 filters with Eheim Professional series plumbing + in-line heater - $230

Rare discontinued Dekoline gravel for freshwater tank - large bucket full, fills a 75g, red/orange Earthy blend - $40

Everything must be picked up from her house and paid in cash only. Please do not PM me aboutnthis, just call or text me at 512.422.O58O

Just corals, no fish FS?

Dang! I was hoping he'd be able to grow out for a good while in the big tank - what was he nibbling on? I only ever saw him pick on zoas - everything else was harmonious (but I don't have clams).

Why did this happen only when I'm unable to go North / pick-up?

If you're able to hold #2 til Sunday, I'd gladly Paypal you for it now & meet up with you that afternoon.

These are another fish that falls into to "there are no guarantees" category.

If you do get one, buy one that is already eating. And make sure you see it eat in person

Keep this in mind for ALL Angelfish & Butterflyfish. It'll lead to less money lost, and less heartbreak!

look gooooood!!

no more update?

how much psid butterfly?

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.

Luckily the one I picked up had been in store for 5 days, and was readily eating mysis at the time of purchase. I'd checked 'em out the day after they arrived, and it was behaving very calm & comfortable compared to the avg Sunburst new arrival. It was still behaving very happily on Friday, and eating, so I had to pick it up. He hid quite a bit for the first day but as of Sunday he spent a lot of time exploring the fuge. Hopefully he winds up in the display sometime in the next week or two

D'oh, wish I'd known you were in the market for some PAR38's - I'm about to let some of mine go. And Kim - they definitely penetrate, the optics are really tight on them compared to standard lighting with reflectors.

You may already be over this hurdle, but just in case you or somebody else is experiencing similar this article can be of great help: http://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/content.php?sid=2597

I'm currently breaking a CBB into prepared foods, seems that he wont touch a thing in the water column, but he picks at the rocks & algae so heavily that I just sprinkle the food onto the rocks and he seems to be catching on. The next fish to break in wont be so easy trying another Sunburst Anthias

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.

You're still allowing any parasites on your new fish to be exposed to your existing fish/tank, which is the primary reason I QT.

And on this note, my primary reason is to protect from aggression, and ensure the fish is healthy, and happy & eating well. A fish that is eating with gusto, behaves comfortably, and has packed on some weight (while eating medicated food none-the-less) will not be a fish that is easily taken by parasites or other illnesses. A happy, healthy, hungry, well fed fish will be massively more resilient to disease - but most people look that over and go about things the hard way.

In my case, 9 times out of 10, I'm introducing an Angelfish or a Butterfly fish into a tank full of established Angels and Butterflies. They do not naturally get along from the get-go, and if I haven't personally trained the fish to accept food with gusto, then it doesn't have a fighting chance of getting anything during feedings.

While parasites and infections can be present on newly acquired fish, you see nearly 10x more posts about issues with their new fish accepting food - if separated and trained on the food before introduction, this can be avoided 99% of the time. With this in mind, the use of copper during QT when it's not actually called for can be a downfall, as copper treatments massively decrease a fishes appetite. I suggest that people who *do* quarantine their fish do so without medicinal baths until a specific medication is called for - I don't know what's going on now, but for years people QTing their tangs would do so in a copper dosed tank, and have the fish wither away even though they were ich-free. Come time to introduce them to the DT, they're often not weaned off of the copper dosage, and the transition can be enough stress for an ich breakout on the fish all over again

I'm quite familiar with QT procedures & am one of the most preachy members around here on the subject but I was sharing what I do since I do not set up a stand alone quarantine tank (as I do not have space to set one up or store it, nor would I put most of my specimens in an un-cycled, un-established tank for QT - ever).

While I've never experienced any actual parasites on any of my fish, all new fish have their food medicated with both kanamycin & metranidazole for protection against internal and external parasites, and the fuge has 120-150x turnover rate through the UV at those times. The worst I've encountered was an Angelfish with Lymphocystis and that never spread to the display, or any other fish. Also, I don't necessarily "QT" the smaller ditherfish in the baskets for a means of quarantine - I do it so that they have a comfortable transition to the aquarium post-acclimation, and don't get jumped by any fish or critters, much less sucked up by the MP40.

Just thought I'd try to bring up some helpful options for all the people who aren't able/willing to invest in a standalone quarantine set-up - the thought of spending $60 and taking up some counter or floor space is enough to make MOST of my customers in the past shy away from considering it. If in-tank isolation is the next best thing they can do, I encourage it over putting the fish directly into the tank to swim & interact with all the existing fish.

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?

My QT procedure will vary a bit from fish to fish (goby / blenny / cardinal / ditherfish only get 2-7 days, but my Angels & Butterflies go for 4-8 weeks) - but I still STRONGLY suggest quarantining most fish.

I actually use the refugium section of my sump as my QT. It's absolutely perfect for me, since it doesn't take up any more space or equipment than I use day to day, there are pods around for the fish to feed on, I control the flow since it's fed by my UV sterilizer, and the fish have no competition for food - nor will it be swept away too quickly. In the event I am introducing a small, and relatively easy fish, I simply QT in a plastic basket inside the tank. If I'm introducing something like a Flagfin Angelfish to the display, and I already have another yellow Angelfish in the tank, I will keep the new fish in a perforated acrylic box for a few days, so the two similar (and otherwise incompatible) fish can see eachother & interact without doing any damage. This leads to FAR LESS aggressive behavior & damage once the fish is finally released.

I purchased my XP2000 cone skimmer w/BB pump from Jake at River City Aquatics. Give him a call/e-mail and see if he can get you just the pump.

I wish somebody in town would pick up a PAR38 lamp from Rapid LED or Boost LED so that we could get together & compare their PAR readings, side-by-side. I find it crazy that nobody has ever tested them against one another before, and I won't be using my PAR38's for too much longer to be able to offer the testing

I didn't read the entire thread on that evolution light, but I am hoping that they developed some optics... otherwise it's pretty wasteful. Optics alone will make quite the dramatic difference between two different lights running at near same wattage / bulb-counts, and fixtures that simply lack optics are quite lacking - even though a LOT of people are still overlooking this. It's very similar to the difference between running T5 bulbs in an open canopy vs T5 bulbs in an ATI fixture w/quality reflectors. The difference on paper is night & day, while to the naked eye they both simply "look bright."

To demonstrate this, you can notice that BOTH of the following fixtures are mounted at 12" off the water, but the fixture on the right (no optics) spills quite a bit outside the tank

"This photo shows the AIs at 44% white / 100% blue & the MXS at 100% on all LEDS. At these settings, measuring 7" below each light - The AI puts out about 1425 PAR and the MXS about 700 PAR."

Hope that helps!

When I specifically feed my inverts (~10 conchs, some urchins, a few shrimp) I just make sure to drop food in after the lights go out - or if your moon lights are dim enough to subdue your fishes activity level, at that time. I simply drop in a pinch of medium NLS pellets, or clip a clam-on-a-half-shell / piece of nori to my algae feeder and let them go at it. They're typically much quicker to react in a night-time lighting situation, and with the fish more or less going to bed, they'll have no competition to get to the food.

Crabs and conchs specifically will go at those clams very quick, while my larger conchs and tuxedo urchins tend to prefer the nori.

To be honest, I think you're underestimating the Panorama units a bit if you're considering 2 of them over your tank - but to each his own. You'd be cleaning the glass a lot less frequently with a single PAR38 unit (depending on brand of bulb, color temperature, and optics) - but I'm glad you got and enjoy the Panorama. You may want to add one or two Stunner Strips to go along with it, people are often surprised by how bright they are. I've got a single 453nm royal blue Stunner and a pair of 403nm UV Stunners over my 150g and it's far from a glorified moonlight

If you do end up adding Stunner Strips to your set-up, make sure to get the optional reflectors - they are priceless and seem to at least double the amount of light focused into the tank.

I had a similar experience with my Swales Basslets - I saw them the night they went into the tank, and then never again for about 3-4 weeks. At that time, I'd see them every now and then with the actinics only, and after about 6 weeks I could see them most of the time.

I picked up a strange pair of Cebu Flame Cardinals at the Dome a week ago, and could only spot them the first 2 or 3 nights, so lets hope I see them again in a couple weeks when they mellow out and feel comfy.

I have and love the Sunlight Supply ProGrip hanging kit