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Post by TenebrousNova on Dec 13, 2012 19:00:30 GMT
Here's my new pair of fish. They're a nice electric blue, although the photo and Imgur's compression doesn't do it justice. The fish were £15 each, which wasn't too bad considering that a clownfish is over £30 each. They've taken to the aquarium quite nicely and feed both off the surface and off the rocks. The cleaner shrimp have been desperate to get their claws on them, and begin to enthusiastically comb at them whenever the fish get within antennae range. ;D One of the shrimp has also molted its exoskeleton, which is great. Here is a photo of one of the coral polyps that I thought came out excellently. In reality, it is about two inches across.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Jan 2, 2013 17:27:06 GMT
There's been a bit of a tragedy. I'm now down to one cleaner shrimp and the hermit crab of the original population. The two blue fish (Identified as blue-reef chromis, Chromis cyaneus) would get moody with each other every so often so I suspect that their deaths were attributed to fighting between them, although I didn't see any wounds on them. It can't be water quality, because it's still fine for most animals to live in. The second shrimp died seemingly for no reason at all. The remaining one is active and healthy as usual. The lawnmower blenny died of starvation. This is a common cause of death with this species, as they often refuse to eat in captivity. The shop I got him from pretty much shrugged throughout my questioning and claimed that this happens often, and that there was nothing I could do- also refusing to take him back. Needless to say, I'm growing a bit distrustful of this shop. It seems that a lot of hobbyists believe that this blenny should remain in the sea, as they sometimes refuse to adapt their feeding habits in captivity. I still have five mushroom corals. I have moved them higher up, and the additional light seems to making them much happier. That's a valuable lesson that I've learned. Hopefully if the remaining corals stay healthy, they will eventually reproduce via "fragging"- whereupon the coral splits into two separate animals. The hermit crab is still doing well, and diligently searches for bits of food and algae. He has an excellent sense of smell and always shows up where there's something edible. I visited a pet shop that I've known for much longer than the one I got everything else from, and the man there told me to try this- a Hawaiian giant feather duster worm. It has been living in the aquarium for almost a week with no issues so far, and is very nice to look at. When disturbed, the head and "crown" of the worm vanishes almost instantly into the parchment-like tube. I partially buried the tube to anchor it, and the worm emerged minutes later. They feed on particles and phytoplankton floating in the water. The "feathers" are called radioles, and serve the duel purpose of breathing and feeding. They swirl around gently to create a water current that draws the food into their mouths. I was a bit worried the first day because the hermit crab came over to investigate and started picking at the tube, but it has been left alone now. I think he was just curious. I will look for some smaller and easier fish tomorrow. If they get on well and exhibit no health problems, then I will finally get a pair of ocellaris clownfish. I originally wanted a six-line wrasse: The problem with these is that they don't like similar-looking fish, and can become territorial unless added last. I don't think I'll risk it.
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Post by Wood~Ant on Jan 3, 2013 8:48:08 GMT
It is always hard finding a good "trustworthy" supplier of tropical fish, and as the marine fish can be rather expensive to buy, the last thing you want is to see any die after just a few weeks or days. It isn't always the sellers fault, but if you can find a good fish supplier who knows more about them and maybe keeps them, then they are the best people to ask advice from when starting out with any hobby that involves keeping live animals. Hence the fact that Jen started the Ant Hill World forum back in January 2006, so that we could share knowledge among novices and experienced ant keepers for the benefit of all.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Feb 16, 2013 15:06:16 GMT
Sorry for not updating this in a while. There have been some more changes, hopefully for the better. Here is the aquarium now: The big orangish coral on the right is a toadstool leather coral. I've had it for quite a while now, and it seems to be fine. Each day, many polyps emerge on its surface. On the left is a colony of pink star polyps, which seem to favour the top part of the rockwork. The green/blue coral at the bottom is a Zoanthid colony that I bought today. Close up of the Zoanthids: I had to take care with these, as some species are capable of producing palytoxin (The second most powerful poison in the world, apparently). I washed my hands very thoroughly after placing it, believe me. A few weeks ago I noticed part of the pink star colony hanging off the main rock, and snipped it off with a pair of scissors. It's possible to propagate most corals by taking small cuttings of them, and several polyps have grown on it. As for the final image, about two weeks ago I bought a fancy banded serpent starfish ( Ophiolepis superba). It has done very nicely so far, and comes out each night to forage. Serpent starfish are omnivores, and I feed it on algae pellets and squid meat. You can see the hundreds of tiny tube feet that are part of its water vascular system (Which allows it to move). The arms contain nerves that can differentiate light and smell, and will use the tube feet like a conveyer belt to the mouth. I also have a pair of ocellaris clownfish as I originally planned for about three weeks, and they've done excellently. The larger one is a female, and she sometimes nips slightly at her male partner, who twitches a little in acknowledgement of her dominance. These fish have very interesting relationships and it's fun to watch them. Also visible in the first picture is a pair of blue neon damselfish. They originally displayed a short temper towards the clownfish, but ever since the female chased them it never happened again. Thanks for reading so far.
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Post by Wood~Ant on Feb 16, 2013 15:54:38 GMT
Love the clown fish as they have always been a favourite of mine in marine tropicals. Would love to see a video of your set up and aquatic life as that starfish looks cool.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Feb 17, 2013 14:18:59 GMT
Love the clown fish as they have always been a favourite of mine in marine tropicals. Would love to see a video of your set up and aquatic life as that starfish looks cool. I was able to get some footage of the starfish. It was taken right after I fed it, and it started to go back to its favourite hiding spot.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Feb 23, 2013 11:34:03 GMT
Took a few pictures of the clownfish pair today. This is the male, who is both smaller and weaker to his partner. He is regularly confronted by the female, who wants to make sure he knows who's boss. He appears to be interested in the pink star polyps, I suspect he might even host in them like he would an anemone. The female was difficult to photograph, as she's always on the move. She thinks that the aquarium belongs to her, which is quite normal. All juvenile clownfish are males, but the largest and dominant ones become females. Despite her grumpiness, she is defensive of the male. Here's the male submitting to the female, which happens often. She will rush up to him or even try to nip his fins, and in response he lies on his side and twitches rapidly to say "Okay okay, I give in!". The female seems to be in a bad mood recently, but things should hopefully pick up. It's interesting how clownfish convey emotion through their body language. They have arguments just like how humans do.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Mar 6, 2013 11:09:17 GMT
I don't think I posted my tiger Nassarius snail, which I've had for about a week now. They are rather large, and share some similarities with the whelk (Although unlike the whelk, these are not active predators). They are scavengers and carrion feeders, and spend much of their time buried beneath the substrate with only their siphon (The long black tube at the front used for breathing) emerging. They have a very good sense of smell and will erupt from the substrate the moment they detect food, converging on morsels at a surprising speed. They are a great snail to keep, as they are easy to care for and keep the substrate clean. I have found that my snail eagerly accepts squid meat (Which is intended for the starfish, but everyone else seems to like), although until today I hadn't discovered an alternative. Earlier it climbed the glass and emerged partially from the water. It then extended its feeding proboscis, which you can see here: I decided to experiment and held a red fish flake in front of it, and to my surprise it was accepted and quickly eaten. I was a little nervous because the proboscis appears to contain some kind of teeth. Once it had its fill, the snail let itself drop back to the bottom and promptly burrowed itself again. I guess you learn something new every day.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Mar 11, 2013 17:17:42 GMT
Ringo the Starfish came out in broad daylight about half an hour ago, and took some food out of my hand. It was hungry this morning, but wasn't fast enough before everyone else took the food, and I had to leave for college. In this picture it is raising its body whilst the arms deliver food to its mouth. I have noticed more importantly that my female clownfish has been putting on a lot of weight this week. Either she's getting obese (She certainly eats enough ) or she could be gravid. I'm still not certain, so I'm keeping an eye on them for signs of nest preparation. The male is meant to find a suitable spot and the pair of them will clean it thoroughly for a few days. The eggs are laid and subsequently fertilized, and the male will then look after them full-time. Both of them will guard their offspring aggressively until they hatch. Apparently clownfish fry are difficult to look after and may unfortunately just provide more food for the other animals. I'll have to do more reading into it. If they're spawning then they must feel comfortable! If they're not spawning, then I'll just have to cut down feeding a bit. I've read somewhere that fish don't show outward signs of obesity (Apart from a difficulty in movement, rapid breathing and other symptoms)...onward to more research.
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Post by Wood~Ant on Mar 11, 2013 17:39:22 GMT
Fish that overeat tend to get constipated, while a fat fish is more a sign of being gravid with either eggs or live young.
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Post by crockatt on Mar 13, 2013 21:50:33 GMT
Any signs of your fish spawning yet?, I have noticed with my female ram that she takes about a week from first signs of spawning, colour change, cleaning site, rounding out, in that order, to spawning and I know the day/night she will spawn as her vent/tube for laying eggs comes right out. Hope you have some luck
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Post by TenebrousNova on Mar 18, 2013 15:26:10 GMT
Any signs of your fish spawning yet?, I have noticed with my female ram that she takes about a week from first signs of spawning, colour change, cleaning site, rounding out, in that order, to spawning and I know the day/night she will spawn as her vent/tube for laying eggs comes right out. Hope you have some luck Doesn't look like it. There's always the possibility that I was mistaken, because the female clownfish's sides seem to swell greatly after she's eaten. On another note, I now have a blue-legged hermit crab. He's very small, but very active. Here he is as he reaches for a bit of discarded exoskeleton, as the shrimp had molted that morning: Unlike the red-legged hermit crab, which would quickly withdraw at any nearby movement, this fellow will grab frantically at food when you offer it to him. Feeding the animals these days and ensuring that everyone gets their fair share is getting a bit tricky, as they will attempt to steal each other's lunch. For example, the bristle worms in the tank are increasing so that any stray morsels are quickly snatched into a crevice. These worms are beneficial, but can be a nuisance, especially if there's too many. And you can't pick them up without gloves, or they'll do this to you: They are covered in tiny bristles which are needle-sharp and break off on contact with skin. The longest one in the tank is almost six inches in length, and lives near the starfish's favourite hiding place. This means that the starfish has to be hand-fed to prevent the worm from stealing its food. Another competitor is the nassarius snail, who emerges dramatically from the substrate the moment food touches the water. And of course the shrimp, who gets very excited at feeding time.
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Post by Wood~Ant on Mar 18, 2013 16:10:59 GMT
Those spines in your finger from the Bristle Worms remind me of the glochids ( en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glochid ) my Opuntia cacti leave in the skin if handled without protective gloves on. Ouch
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Post by TenebrousNova on Mar 18, 2013 18:17:30 GMT
Those spines in your finger from the Bristle Worms remind me of the glochids ( en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glochid ) my Opuntia cacti leave in the skin if handled without protective gloves on. Ouch That's not my finger. I take great pains to avoid touching the worms. My Nan used to have one of those cacti, and I did touch that once.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Mar 24, 2013 14:51:02 GMT
Lets see what it looks like with two more small rocks! The mushroom and pink star corals sulked for about an hour after I moved them further up. The rockwork had begun to collapse a little because one of the top rocks was precariously balanced. These new rocks not only stabilize the rest of it, but provide extra nooks and crannies for the animals. If only my feather duster worms were still alive, it would look perfect to me. Here's one of the bristle worms, which seems to live in my Zoanthids. This bright red one appears to be from a different species than the usual grey specimens, and feeds on organic debris that lands on the Zoanthids: Speaking of which, I was close to removing the largest bristle worm with a pair of tweezers earlier. This was because I placed some food in front of the hermit crab, and as he excitedly moved towards it, the worm showed up and swallowed it all! The worm noticed me approaching however, and withdrew quickly with a full stomach. Not to worry though, I was able to provide the crab with some food afterwards.
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