First Time Build

[JamesL]

Condy's are not natural hosts for clowns, though there have been people that have gotten clowns to host in them.

Here is a very high level overview of what clowns host with what anemones in the wild:

http://saltaquarium.about.com/od/anemoneclownfishprofiles/tp/tpclownanemonematches.htm

A lot of reading I have done though suggests that in captivity clowns might host in "non-natural" anemones... with bubble tip being a popular one for clowns to choose. They will also happily (for them) sometimes host in corals to the point of annoying the corals. I had a maroon clown that kept trying to host in my duncans, and really made the duncans mad to the point they would not open. Sometimes the corals don't mind, like I have seen clowns hosting in frogspawn happily.

[Planeden]

Condy's are not natural hosts for clowns, though there have been people that have gotten clowns to host in them.

Here is a very high level overview of what clowns host with what anemones in the wild:

http://saltaquarium.about.com/od/anemoneclownfishprofiles/tp/tpclownanemonematches.htm

A lot of reading I have done though suggests that in captivity clowns might host in "non-natural" anemones... with bubble tip being a popular one for clowns to choose. They will also happily (for them) sometimes host in corals to the point of annoying the corals. I had a maroon clown that kept trying to host in my duncans, and really made the duncans mad to the point they would not open. Sometimes the corals don't mind, like I have seen clowns hosting in frogspawn happily.

yeah, but condies are natural for my experience level, from what i understand . it's funny, i was looking at that exact page. these are the ocellaris, so their natural ones are all things that i have never heard of and sound kinda big. but it does say RBTA is possible, which are not too hard and easy to find around here.

i do really like frogspawn. it's one of my favorites. if all goes as planned, that will be in there long before a nem.

[Planeden]

Observation tank has cycled. I'm going to borrow a few snails and a hermit to clear of some minor algae growth and then start getting some coral. I'm thinking of getting three corals and one fish for the first round. We have it narrowed down to two of the three starter corals.

1. Frogspawn

2. red sea Pom Pom Xenia

3. Royal gramma

Any suggestions on the third, if anyone thinks any of the following would be better/worse. Possibilities:

Clove polyps, Duncans, large polyp sycarphyton/leather

Finally, my clowns seemed to be doing the lambada last night. I have no interest in breeding so I guess I'll see if my birth control system is adequate.

[Bpb]

I'd definitely recommend both Duncan's and the toadstool leather mentioned. An adult toadstool is a sight to see in any tank I think, but they can take a while to grow. Big Duncan colonies are also cool and cheap to get started. Duncan's are fun because they grow pretty fast for an lps species. I got mine about 3-4 months ago, and with 3 or so feedings a week it's gone from one head to about 15, but hasn't started branching yet. Toadstool leathers also make great clown hosts till you get an anemone (if you do)

[Planeden]

I'd definitely recommend both Duncan's and the toadstool leather mentioned. An adult toadstool is a sight to see in any tank I think, but they can take a while to grow. Big Duncan colonies are also cool and cheap to get started. Duncan's are fun because they grow pretty fast for an lps species. I got mine about 3-4 months ago, and with 3 or so feedings a week it's gone from one head to about 15, but hasn't started branching yet. Toadstool leathers also make great clown hosts till you get an anemone (if you do)

Thanks. Fast growing is fun. The frogspawn I'm looking at was 2.5 to 3 heads and the leathers look pretty big. Both being sold on the forums. We saw the Xenia at RCA, but it was in a DT at the register, so I'm just hoping they have some for sale.

I'm planning on a nem, but well see what happens. If the clowns host in a coral, then it won't matter so much, and we'll have to see how much real estate I have left in six months or so when the tank matures. It may be Too full of coral by then .

[+KimP]

Those are all great corals! People give away xenia all the time for free, so you wouldn't have to buy that one. Also just be prepared for it to take over your tank like a weed.

[Planeden]

Those are all great corals! People give away xenia all the time for free, so you wouldn't have to buy that one. Also just be prepared for it to take over your tank like a weed.

Does all of it pulse? The girlfriend fell in love with the little shop of horrors aspect.

[JamesL]

Those are all great corals! People give away xenia all the time for free, so you wouldn't have to buy that one. Also just be prepared for it to take over your tank like a weed.

Does all of it pulse? The girlfriend fell in love with the little shop of horrors aspect.

It depends. Some do, and some don't. It can come down to the type of xenia, but also many have theorized that tank conditions cause the pulsing too (such as pH, lighting, current, etc). Like Kim said, for most people it is a plague in the tank. For a very select few, it won't grow at all (I had a tank like that).

[subsea]

Those are all great corals! People give away xenia all the time for free, so you wouldn't have to buy that one. Also just be prepared for it to take over your tank like a weed.

Does all of it pulse? The girlfriend fell in love with the little shop of horrors aspect.

It depends. Some do, and some don't. It can come down to the type of xenia, but also many have theorized that tank conditions cause the pulsing too (such as pH, lighting, current, etc). Like Kim said, for most people it is a plague in the tank. For a very select few, it won't grow at all (I had a tank like that).

I have had Red Sea Xenia cover a complete back wall on a 150G tank. For me, it was gorgeous as it pulsed all day. It will not grow in my 75G Jaubert Plenumn.

Patrick

[Planeden]

Hmmm, interesting. I guess I will have to find some and play around with it.

As for taking over, I'm hoping it will take hold on my rock wall across the bottom and then try to keep it isolated to that. But, this may be part of the learning experience I need when I get frustrated on trying to keep it cut back.

[+brian.srock]

I would recommend against getting any type of xenia. They will out grow any coral you get and will drop babies into the water column and not stay exactly where you want them. The pulsing on them is really nice though. Let me know when your ready for coral and I'll get you a duncan for your tank.

[Bpb]

Lol you'll probably do just like me and take everyone's warnings with a grain of salt and get your Xenia anyway. I'll join the club and recommend against it. Even if you don't mind frequent pruning it will still begin to get out of hand. If it likes your tank, it'll most likely grow at least 10x as fast as everything else. I literally cut 3-4 stems if Xenia every week. It grows faster than my freshwater stem plants. It grows faster than nuisance algae. It doesn't sting, or give off toxic wax like leathers, but it can and will smother anything.

Now you have to tell yourself...well that's fine. If it grows too fast I'll sacrifice that rock and remove it from the tank...not so fast my friend.

You're married I seem to have read. Me too. Guess what everyone's wife and girlfriends FAVORITE coral seems to be. Pulsing Xenia. If you're ok with removing what will likely be your spouses favorite coral more power to you. My wife hates my reef tank but heaven help me if I ever got rid of the Xenia rock. It's her favorite. Just something to think about lol. Your perspective may of course be different. I just think its so tempting to start off getting ultra cheap Xenia, anthelia, or blue cloves. They're more trouble than they're worth, and some better more manageable softies and lps can be had for close to the same price.

[Planeden]

I would recommend against getting any type of xenia. They will out grow any coral you get and will drop babies into the water column and not stay exactly where you want them. The pulsing on them is really nice though. Let me know when your ready for coral and I'll get you a duncan for your tank.

thanks brian. Duncans are definately something I want, so that'll be great. I will let know when it is time for round two of additions.

Lol you'll probably do just like me and take everyone's warnings with a grain of salt and get your Xenia anyway. I'll join the club and recommend against it. Even if you don't mind frequent pruning it will still begin to get out of hand. If it likes your tank, it'll most likely grow at least 10x as fast as everything else. I literally cut 3-4 stems if Xenia every week. It grows faster than my freshwater stem plants. It grows faster than nuisance algae. It doesn't sting, or give off toxic wax like leathers, but it can and will smother anything.

Now you have to tell yourself...well that's fine. If it grows too fast I'll sacrifice that rock and remove it from the tank...not so fast my friend.

You're married I seem to have read. Me too. Guess what everyone's wife and girlfriends FAVORITE coral seems to be. Pulsing Xenia. If you're ok with removing what will likely be your spouses favorite coral more power to you. My wife hates my reef tank but heaven help me if I ever got rid of the Xenia rock. It's her favorite. Just something to think about lol. Your perspective may of course be different. I just think its so tempting to start off getting ultra cheap Xenia, anthelia, or blue cloves. They're more trouble than they're worth, and some better more manageable softies and lps can be had for close to the same price.

hahahahahaha... for the record, i am not taking it with a grain of salt, i'm taking it as an omen of what i'll be getting myself into.

my mistake was taking her to RCA a few weeks ago and she already knows it is her most favoritist coral in the world. her phrase, not mine. so, it may be too late. it'll be like a band-aid. i can either just get the divorce now and avoid the complications of xenia, or i can try to save the relationship and end up having to deal with the divorce and xenia at the same time. or, i suppose i can get the divorce and she can get the tank in the settlement. then i can build a new, bigger, stronger, better-than-it-was-before tank.

but, your description is was sufficient enough to forward along to her so maybe everything will work out well.

note: to avoid confusion, we are not technically married. so, for anyone reading that hears me talk about my girlfriend and/or wife, they really are the same person. i'm not dumb enough to have two. nor am i such a prize that that option has ever presented itself.

[+brian.srock]

I was really surpised by how fast xenia populated in my tank but if you do plan on putting them in make sure you get it for free and when they get out of hand you can use a shop vac during water changes to suck them right out. You can also use a majano wand to zap them which I've heard some people do but don't know if they were 100% sucessful with it.

[bige]

Here's my Xenia tank.

[bige]

It's not controllable. I tore my tank down just to remove it. It will kill all your coral eventually. Too bad. Cause it's really cool.

[Planeden]

Here's my Xenia tank. ImageUploadedByTapatalk1372114469.343638.jpg

Is that a jawfish living in a Tupperware?

FYI: I showed her Bpb's response and she's rethinking how cool it is. Didn't even have to tell her it'd be her responsibility to keep it groomed. She's aware of the 3" red bristle worm (fireworm presumably because most red crawy things in nature are not nice), so anything she has to stick her hands in the tank for will have to be really high on the awesome scale.

[Planeden]

I picked up a rock from Subsea last night and put it in my observation tank. It is full of various macros and has other things like a small nem built in. i'm not sure if the pictured snail came with the rock or was part of the CUC I added to it. when i told him that i was going to put it in my OT to seeding purposes he also threw in a scoop of sand. nice guy that subsea. thanks again man.

I still need to do some polishing of it to get some of the faster growing green macros on it that may try to take it over. But it was hard to do last night when it was dark outside. It looks so nice though, i may want to leave it there so i always have something pretty to look at. Or at least keep some nice macros to this tank with backups in my DT so I can transfer it back over in case of disaster.

I found that it looks nicer, and photographs better, with just white light. I took pictures from several angles because there is so much stuff on it.

doing a happy dance as there should three or four more livestock updates this week.

PS: i may be wrong, but i believe that is some yellow and orange coraline algae as well. I also got a piece of green coroline algae in my sand scoop.

[bige]

What is that macro? It's nice. Patrick is a great guy.

[JamesL]

Now that is what live rock looked like back when I started in the hobby 20+ years ago. Nice looking stuff!

[Planeden]

What is that macro? It's nice. Patrick is a great guy.

um, the brains of the operation is not currently available. and some of it is not quite identified yet. the lonely bit in the lower section may be Red Grapes. the main portion is Red Lettuce, related to Dragon's Breath. I don't remember what he said the stringier red was. I may need to find a book on macro algae if i am going to try to keep some varieties of these. although, so far i have only found "algae bad, how to kill" books. but i have not searched extensively.

[Planeden]

Now that is what live rock looked like back when I started in the hobby 20+ years ago. Nice looking stuff!

well, it still does at Patrick's place . Actually much of the GOM rock looks like this, but clearly we should be supporting Patrick and his will also be better because it cultured locally and isn't shipped for us. we might need to rethink our Gift of Mermaids translation though, unless we want to see Patrick in a coconut bra...no offense.

[subsea]

I picked up a rock from Subsea last night and put it in my observation tank. It is full of various macros and has other things like a small nem built in. i'm not sure if the pictured snail came with the rock or was part of the CUC I added to it. when i told him that i was going to put it in my OT to seeding purposes he also threw in a scoop of sand. nice guy that subsea. thanks again man.

I still need to do some polishing of it to get some of the faster growing green macros on it that may try to take it over. But it was hard to do last night when it was dark outside. It looks so nice though, i may want to leave it there so i always have something pretty to look at. Or at least keep some nice macros to this tank with backups in my DT so I can transfer it back over in case of disaster.

I found that it looks nicer, and photographs better, with just white light. I took pictures from several angles because there is so much stuff on it.

IMG_2376.JPG IMG_2374.JPG IMG_2375.JPG

doing a happy dance as there should three or four more livestock updates this week.

PS: i may be wrong, but i believe that is some yellow and orange coraline algae as well. I also got a piece of green coroline algae in my sand scoop.

Dennis,

With respect to red macro, I will link to macro handbook at Gulfcast EcoSystems on my next post using my PC. However, the point that I want to make is the depth that it is collected at is between 30'-130'. If you look at the spectrum of light that is available at that depth, you will see that it favors blues and purples. I should rethink my use of 5K as a good universal source of photosynthetic energy. For certain macro and coral, it only wants a specific spectrum. I think that the Red Grapes and Dragons Breath both fall into that category.

Good fortune with the rock.

Patrick

[subsea]

http://marineplantbook.com/marinebooknemastoma.htm

http://marineplantbook.com/marinebookhalymeniaelongata.htm

I think it is the first. I have been wrong more than once.

Patrick

[subsea]

Now that is what live rock looked like back when I started in the hobby 20+ years ago. Nice looking stuff!

I am a dinasour, old school to the bone. However, I have never seen rock like this except electronic pictures. Come visit. I am starting to break it up to decrease invidual cost. It makes for very neat accessory rock in smaller weights that are more affordable.

Patrick