giveme_bryopsis Posted August 12, 2015 Share Posted August 12, 2015 It's nice to join ARC and learn from your collective experiences. My tank is not the usual, or even unusual reef tank, but rather more closely related to what some of you have as a refugium. It started as preparation for the salt-water larval stage of (potential) fresh-water fan shrimps (Atya gabonensis) and took a sudden and sharp turn into a lettuce sea slug species tank (Elysia crispata and E. clarki). I enjoy highly adapted (aquatic) life forms of various kinds. The 20L salty tank houses several lettuce slugs, Atlantic porcelain crabs (filter feeders), various fan worms, and a very well fed sea hare. Plus some snails, pods, and benthic comb jellies (fascinating, yet annoying as they multiply and catch too many pods). As the lettuce slugs have a real appetite for bryopsis, I have a 5.5G tank where I am trying to grow that stuff. Everyone says bryposis grows everywhere, I have quite the opposite experience (: So "hello" everyone, nice to meet you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted August 12, 2015 Share Posted August 12, 2015 Welcome! It's nice to see a different tank approach! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jellyfish Posted August 12, 2015 Share Posted August 12, 2015 Welcome! ! Post some pics for us! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cambik Posted August 12, 2015 Share Posted August 12, 2015 Welcome Sent from my SM-G900P using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jolt Posted August 12, 2015 Share Posted August 12, 2015 Welcome, I'd love to see some pics! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sascha D. Posted August 12, 2015 Share Posted August 12, 2015 Welcome Your tank sounds like a lagoon style aquarium. You'd be surprised at how many people keep tanks like that! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+o0zarkawater Posted August 12, 2015 Share Posted August 12, 2015 Welcome to the hobby. Fun sounding tank. I bred lettuce nudis in my temporary tank/trough for a little while on accident while fighting a bryopsis outbreak. The 1 i bought turned into 14+ little guys and slowly dwindled back down, even though the bryopsis didn't seem to go away. PM me, I still have some bryopsis in that tank that I am breaking down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
giveme_bryopsis Posted August 13, 2015 Author Share Posted August 13, 2015 Thank you all for the warm welcome. I've created an album in the member's gallery called "frills and friends". I'll try to take a few more, but this isn't a show tank. It's got some algae and the water is not crystal clear as that would not be good for the filter feeders. The tank is very low tech and yes, it's a mix of lagoon and refugium, very low tech - sponge filters, one small in tank flow-through filter with spray bar. I had to fence of about 1/3 of the tank as the sea hare eats bryopsis (especially when mixed in with "hair algae" and well, I really need that bryopsis for the lettuce slugs. More pics coming soon. And yes, if you have bryopsis, I would be very happy to get that from you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
giveme_bryopsis Posted August 13, 2015 Author Share Posted August 13, 2015 Welcome to the hobby. Fun sounding tank. I bred lettuce nudis in my temporary tank/trough for a little while on accident while fighting a bryopsis outbreak. The 1 i bought turned into 14+ little guys and slowly dwindled back down, even though the bryopsis didn't seem to go away. PM me, I still have some bryopsis in that tank that I am breaking down. PM'd about your current bryopsis. I now have a few small ones, but they are all acquired, no babies (yet). In some ways I'd love nothing better than mini-slugs, but raising them is not that easy (lots of very specific algae needed). Not sure why your bryopsis didn't disappear, mine seem to suck it dry and are voracious eaters (for something that small, mind you). I got most of mine as pale yellow little guys and they are now a healthy pine green and growing. When they are cruising the tank/glass they are not eating, but looking for food. They will sit and eat in the same spot for many hours once they find a tasty clump of their favorite algae. Named my biggest one Frillzilla as it is rather large for its species and very frilly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
giveme_bryopsis Posted August 13, 2015 Author Share Posted August 13, 2015 Welcome Your tank sounds like a lagoon style aquarium. You'd be surprised at how many people keep tanks like that! A fishless and mostly filter feeding lagoon, very low current. I actually use lighting that's close to sunlight rather than blue as I want macro algae to grow and the sluggies are likely somewhat photosynthetic, so I want them to be able to sit in "sunlight". It's kind of funny - my salt tank has freshwater aspects while my freshwater tank has salty aspects - fan shrimps that get iodine and cichlid salt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sascha D. Posted August 14, 2015 Share Posted August 14, 2015 Nearly all lagoon systems are filter feeding environments. Many go fishless or keep delicate species like horses and pipe fish. They are definitely very natural looking environments, but not for everyone. I tried to keep one for about six months. It didn't end well About ten years ago it was all the rage to keep mantis tanks and I had tried my hand at it. They are very interesting creatures, but the tank was bare and uninteresting. A lagoon would be a perfect environment for something like that and I may try it again in the future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
giveme_bryopsis Posted August 14, 2015 Author Share Posted August 14, 2015 Nearly all lagoon systems are filter feeding environments. Many go fishless or keep delicate species like horses and pipe fish. They are definitely very natural looking environments, but not for everyone. I tried to keep one for about six months. It didn't end well About ten years ago it was all the rage to keep mantis tanks and I had tried my hand at it. They are very interesting creatures, but the tank was bare and uninteresting. A lagoon would be a perfect environment for something like that and I may try it again in the future. You sure hit on some of my "want to do" creatures - pipefish, especially a bunch of the dragon faced ones, and mantids. One of these days - not ready for the pod reactors and well, a mantis is special commitment that I also can't make right now. Sorry your tank didn't work out. I tried some sponges, that didn't work for me (got cyano and something else on them, along with what looked like air damage). Sad when I had to return them to the LFS. Did you ever give your mantid toys? I often wonder if they would be interested in LED "ice" cubes (plastic cube with color changing LED in it) or a small hi-res video screen of something. People build playscapes for their octopuses, there's got to be something interesting for mantids as well I do have some coco (fan) worms, they fit in very well and seem to be doing alright. I would like to setup a fanworm "bouquet" tank (sometime) - tall, small footprint tank, red and white featherduster rocks on the bottom, xmas tree worm "rocks", and stand up cocoworm and big feather duster tubes in the center. I'll try to tidy up and take some more pix over the weekend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sascha D. Posted August 17, 2015 Share Posted August 17, 2015 Octopi are a different thing all together. They're known escape artists, often get bored with their surroundings and refuse to continue eating. The main purpose of giving them toys and challenging them is, literally, to keep them alive. I've thought about trying a Blue Ring Octopus several times, but I know it's not a good match to my reefkeeping style. I think they're better left in the ocean. The mantis that I had was a spear variety. They're rare to find in the aquarium trade and only eat fish. I had converted 20 Mollies to saltwater and kept them in the tank with him. The mantis ate about one a week, but I thought it was better than trying silvers. They have been known to refuse dead food and I didn't want to take the chance. A little plastic cube might work on a clubber, but only once and only for a few seconds. They're incredibly intelligent and it wouldn't take it long to realize that it isn't food. After that he'll never touch one again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+ACampbell Posted September 4, 2015 Share Posted September 4, 2015 Sounds like interesting set-ups. Welcome! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.