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Post by TenebrousNova on Jan 13, 2015 19:57:42 GMT
Thank goodness, a new page! That last one was getting a tad long what with all the pictures. I've just applied some Epoxy to the underside of the clam's rock and moved him to the top. He immediately opened up and seems to be enjoying it.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Mar 5, 2015 18:43:48 GMT
Just beaten back a Dinoflagellate outbreak that smothered and killed my bubble coral and killed half of the trumpet colony. Things are slowly getting back to normal though. Here's the clam. It's been doing very well and has officially attached itself to the rock now. And just now I discovered that the bubble tip anemone has split! There's now two of them. Because they split by literally tearing themselves in two it'll take a few weeks to fully heal but the clones should continue to grow.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 5, 2015 18:55:28 GMT
I really like the idea of a marine aquarium. I may consider setting one up myself in the future
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Post by TenebrousNova on Apr 15, 2015 11:47:33 GMT
Yesterday the manager of the pet shop gave me a baby squamosa clam as a present. He's settling in well so far!
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Post by TenebrousNova on Apr 28, 2015 12:02:17 GMT
The squamosa clam is doing pretty well. There was one day when it refused to open up at all but its back to normal now. It's when a clam CAN'T shut that you have to worry, because it means they're probably dead. Each of those tiny black bumps along the edge of the mantle is a simple eye. As far as eyesight goes the squamosa seems to be more sensitive than the maxima because it snaps shut as soon as people enter the room. Here's the maxima on its perch at the top of the tank, about 4cm below the surface: Blurry picture, but my fuzzy green mushroom split this week. There's now two of them! A regular customer at the pet shop gave me this unusual leather coral. I'm not sure what exactly it is but he said it was doing badly in his tank. It seems to be opening up alright on the substrate. I noticed an interesting phenomenon with the green star polyps: as they begin to run out of surface area to grow on, they start to grow UP! Whether or not branching star polyps are a different species is a matter of debate. It seems to form rubbery tubes that continue to grow upward. Finally, here's the male clownfish enjoying the cloned bubble tip anemones. It appears that bubble tip anemones that split won't attack each other because they are identical all the way to the genetic level, so the clone has stayed close to its "parent". There is one bit of bad news: I found my six line wrasse dead on the floor last week. I'm not sure what spooked him, I had him for quite a while. A shame, he was one of my favourite fish.
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Post by TenebrousNova on May 13, 2015 7:57:30 GMT
Last Thursday I decided to try my hand at keeping an SPS (Small Polyped Stony) coral. These are harder than the other two categories (LPS and softies) because they like high light, high water flow and nearly perfect water conditions. SPS corals are often known as reef building corals because they form the foundations of reefs as we know them. Here's mine, a little Turbinaria, also called the scroll coral. It's supposed to be hardy as far as SPS go. It's supposed to grow relatively quickly if its kept happy so this will be my experiment. If the Turbinaria lives for longer than a month then perhaps I'll look into keeping other SPS species.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Jun 1, 2015 19:14:50 GMT
I'm starting a small Zoanthid & Palythoa garden at the bottom of the tank. I will finish college this week and start work next week, so I'll finally be able to buy more stuff when I get paid.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Jun 6, 2015 20:20:24 GMT
Just got a new zoanthid for the collection! It's called a red man eater. I'm not sure why, looks innocent enough to me. Looks beautiful when it's open. Not sure what kind of Zoa this is, quite common though. I have two polyps. This is a green palythoa. Palys are different from Zoas in that they seem to enjoy eating (This one has devoured a few live brine shrimp) and are known for a powerful neurotoxin called palytoxin. Wash your hands, kids. I am told that these are a variety of pink palythoa but I'm not sure. It looks like a zoa/paly hybrid to me. These are the rarish green and purple ones I got last year. It is finally beginning to grow at a noticeable rate! Closeup of the green star polyps: I also snipped a piece off and balanced it on the outflow pipes where it is now encrusting and slowly spreading. Hopefully it'll cover the piping and move onto the glass. Closeup of the Sarcophyton toadstool's polyps: Fuzzy green mushrooms and unknown leather coral: Rose bubble tip anemones: Green Ricordea mushroom: On the left is some sort of favia or brain coral I was given for free a while back. On the right is a pair of trumpet polyps: Kenya tree: Turbinaria: Finally, closeup of the Squamosa clam (Which now has a new 5mm of growth on the shell!). You can see the white gills through the inhalant siphon:
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Post by chicken2012 on Jun 6, 2015 20:42:09 GMT
The tank's looking nice as always there Timenova. All these new corals you keep getting, surely you'll need a bigger tank soon?? This makes me think my freshwater tank is so boring now, shame I haven't got the space, money or luck to have a marine aquarium. Hopefully at some point though.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Jun 6, 2015 21:26:38 GMT
The tank's looking nice as always there Timenova. All these new corals you keep getting, surely you'll need a bigger tank soon?? This makes me think my freshwater tank is so boring now, shame I haven't got the space, money or luck to have a marine aquarium. Hopefully at some point though. Hello Chicken, and thank you! I'd love a bigger tank but unfortunately my bedroom floor isn't reinforced and it's a miracle the current one didn't fall into the dining room. You could always start with a nano tank? They fit quite nicely on desks and aren't that expensive.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 6, 2015 23:09:59 GMT
Wow your collection just keeps getting bigger and bigger I'm glad to see that after around 3 yrs this is still going strong! Keep us updated
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Post by chicken2012 on Jun 7, 2015 8:47:47 GMT
The tank's looking nice as always there Timenova. All these new corals you keep getting, surely you'll need a bigger tank soon?? This makes me think my freshwater tank is so boring now, shame I haven't got the space, money or luck to have a marine aquarium. Hopefully at some point though. Hello Chicken, and thank you! I'd love a bigger tank but unfortunately my bedroom floor isn't reinforced and it's a miracle the current one didn't fall into the dining room. You could always start with a nano tank? They fit quite nicely on desks and aren't that expensive. I did think about that but then smaller tanks are more difficult to maintain constant conditions, so I shouldn't think that I'd have much luck with one. How big is the tank you've got now anyway?
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Post by TenebrousNova on Jun 7, 2015 11:51:56 GMT
Hello Chicken, and thank you! I'd love a bigger tank but unfortunately my bedroom floor isn't reinforced and it's a miracle the current one didn't fall into the dining room. You could always start with a nano tank? They fit quite nicely on desks and aren't that expensive. I did think about that but then smaller tanks are more difficult to maintain constant conditions, so I shouldn't think that I'd have much luck with one. How big is the tank you've got now anyway? About 120 litres.
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Post by chicken2012 on Jun 7, 2015 13:16:56 GMT
Ah right, that ain't too bad then.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Jun 15, 2015 17:49:33 GMT
A regular at the shop offered me two additional SPS. I never say no to free corals, so here they are: a red Acropora millepora (Left) and Montipora digitata (Right).
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