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Post by TenebrousNova on Nov 26, 2014 23:17:24 GMT
Just now I caught a glimpse of the starfish right out in the open, which is a very rare sight! I quickly flicked on the light to get a photo of him...also pictured is the clownfish settling down for the night: For the most part he lives in a burrow underneath the rocks at the back and I can only see his arms if I'm lucky. He seems to live off uneaten food and small particles in the water but I give him treats when possible. I guess tonight he felt hungry enough to go out foraging. He has just eaten several bits of pellet food and gone into hiding again so I enjoyed it whilst I could. He's one of the long term residents, having lived in the old nano tank. Very well behaved, and everyone else leaves him alone.
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Post by Ash on Nov 27, 2014 0:42:04 GMT
Wow would love a marine tank but as I'm only starting out I'm going for a tropical tank. Inspiration for a few years time!
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Post by TenebrousNova on Nov 30, 2014 13:21:54 GMT
Yesterday I found this lovely mini carpet anemone ( Stichodactyla tapetum) in the pet shop. I've wanted one before but never found them in pet shops until now. Most carpet anemones such as S.haddoni and S.gigantea are difficult to keep alive but this species seems to be an exception. They come in a huge range of colours. Mine is green and blue! Like all carpet anemones they possess a potent sting, enough to be considered painful to humans. Mini carpet anemones are usually ignored by clownfish as potential hosts but they are compatible with Thor amboinensis, the "sexy anemone shrimp". Perhaps I'll get a few once the anemone has settled in.
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Post by Wood~Ant on Nov 30, 2014 13:30:43 GMT
Love the colours on your newest addition Timenova.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Dec 1, 2014 14:23:32 GMT
Thank you Wood, the anemone has come out of hiding today and taken a bit of squid. You can see the way its mouth puffs up so it can slurp its food down: This large bristleworm came out for food at the same time, I had to poke him with an old toothbrush so he wouldn't steal the carpet anemone's food: And here's the Acans enjoying some squid. I've never known such a responsive coral, they put out their feeder tentacles as soon as they smell food:
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Post by TenebrousNova on Dec 14, 2014 21:25:16 GMT
Hello, things are still going well. I'm getting a bit concerned about the bubble tip anemone's size though, it really is a monstrosity now! The tentacles are getting dangerously close to the trumpet coral, which I will move a bit to the left tomorrow: Here's the trumpet swallowing a thawed mysis shrimp. The fish don't seem to know what they are but the corals adore them. The polyp in question is in the process of splitting. Soon the two polyps will separate: The mini carpet anemone has settled down to a hollow between the rocks. Unlike the bubble tip it seems to prefer the dimmer lighting: The Duncans are eating frequently. The two polyps that were once babies are now nearly the size of the original! In addition, the little green Zoanthids to the right are growing several baby polyps around their base: Tomorrow I'm going to slice off a small crescent piece of flesh from the cap of the Sarcophyton toadstool in order to propagate it. Within a few weeks the piece of coral will attach itself to a rock and grow into a new adult. "Fragging" corals in this manner sounds nasty but corals don't have an advanced nervous system that can feel pain as we know it. Stormy seas break off bits of coral all the time which allows them to spread: The green star polyps are still stunning: Here's a terrible photo of the Midas blenny in his favourite cave above the bubble tip anemone. You can see him staring down a hermit crab that's approaching him. The blenny is pretty defensive of his caves, he once gave me a nasty bite when I got too near. And here's the shrimp. Until last week he became covered in black patches on his exoskeleton which I read were potentially fatal to the shrimp...but he molted last week and is now patch-free. .
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Post by TenebrousNova on Dec 15, 2014 16:22:53 GMT
There have been more changes today. The bubble tip anemone has, for the first time in living memory, left its cave. I'm not sure what it's looking for. I cleaned the powerhead yesterday so maybe the flow has changed? I fragged these two leather corals (Sarcophyton and Lobophytum) as well as the Kenya tree. This meant cutting off small pieces which I then attached to rocks via elastic bands. Within a few weeks, the fragments will attach and begin to grow into new corals. This is largely an experiment because I've never done it before. The first one for the chop was the Lobophytum, which I placed in a tub of tank water. Soft corals, particularly leathers release a lot of toxins when cut, so I had to rinse them to prevent the toxins from getting in the tank. After cutting two of the "fingers" off I rinsed him off and put him back in. Naturally they aren't very happy at the moment but I'm confident that they'll perk up later this week. Next up was the Sarcophyton. I took a crescent shaped piece off the edge which I then halved, creating two equal sized fragments. Finally, I snipped a branch off the Kenya tree and placed it inside an empty shell. It looks brutal but it's a good thing in the long run. Propagating corals in this manner can actually help them to grow better and it reduces the need to take them from the sea. My room will probably stink for the rest of the day though... Once the fragments perk up, I'll post an update.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Dec 15, 2014 22:05:31 GMT
Last update for today. Both frags and mother colonies are making a remarkable recovery and opened up well, despite my reading that cut mother colonies usually take a long time to open up again. Sarcophyton frags: Lobophytum frags sulked a lot more but their polyps are now extending, a great sign: Kenya tree is also fully extended, it actually covers the shell I put it in: Isn't nature wonderful?
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Post by TenebrousNova on Dec 27, 2014 14:53:12 GMT
Those frags from the above post have gone to good homes and are doing well. I just saw this pom-pom crab at the shop and had to have him. He's tiny! He has settled down on the substrate for now. Excuse the Cyanobacteria outbreak. In his claws he holds a pair of tiny white anemones that share a symbiotic bond with the crab. He waves them around to ward off predators, and in turn the anemones receive more oxygen and share any food they catch with the crab. The way the crab waves its anemones about makes them look like little cheerleaders which is how they got their name. They are very small and shy crabs so I don't expect to see him very often, but he's certainly interesting enough to make up for it!
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Post by Wood~Ant on Dec 27, 2014 15:50:21 GMT
You will probably see him or her more often during feeding time. Whatever gender your crab is, it's very cute with the little pom-poms.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Dec 27, 2014 17:04:01 GMT
Thank you Wood! I've done some reading and it turns out the anemones carried by pom-pom crabs are among the most venomous species known. Better not touch them! Just observed what looked like a tiny moving white creature, which turns out to be a baby lettuce Nudibranch. Needless to say, I am very surprised that mine has reproduced. Then it turns out there are more babies. A lot more. I did notice a few odd jelly-like spirals on the rocks but I never imagined that they would be eggs, or that the resulting larvae would survive long enough to settle down as mini adults. I'm quite excited now, I hope they make it to adulthood! I thought you had to have two Nudibranches for them to reproduce. Perhaps mine had been fertilized before I bought it.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Dec 30, 2014 10:24:31 GMT
Saw the pom-pom crab scurry out of cover, frantically waving his anemones as he hid somewhere else earlier. The baby Nudibranches are continuing to grow. The pet shop has agreed to take them once they get large enough.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Jan 6, 2015 15:48:19 GMT
Yesterday I bought a small green bubble coral (Plerogyra sinuosa). Here it is! These corals are particularly aggressive so I found it a space well away from the others. It has responded very well so far and although they are delicate, they are a hardy species once established. It has already devoured some thawed mysis shrimp. When it gets darker the "bubbles" shrink and the stinging tentacles begin to extend. I was unable to get a photo last night because it was too dark, but the coral becomes a seething mass of tentacles when the lights are off. Those tentacles are for catching food and stinging the living daylights out of other corals that are too close. The tentacles can get over five inches long! Hope it does well.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Jan 8, 2015 16:55:59 GMT
I have just bought this baby gold Maxima clam (Tridacna maxima). It's a step up from corals, which are relatively simple animals that consist of skeleton (If any), stomach, oral disk and tentacles. Clams are more complex animals that possess rudimentary eyes, gills, heart, stomach, kidneys, etc and in addition can close and open their shells. All of this is powered by photosynthesis so they require a lot of light. Don't let its small size fool you, they can reach 12 inches in length. Here is the new clam in his bag. At first the shell was tightly closed: The shell slightly opens, revealing part of the mantle: The mantle extends and one of the two siphons can be seen emerging: The mantle is the beautiful, brightly coloured part of a clam and is filled with Zooxanthellae which provides the clam with food through photosynthesis. The previous photos didn't do it much justice. If you look at the clam from directly above you can really appreciate the intricate designs and colours of the mantle, in this case dark red and gold: And here he is in the tank. Once he's settled in I'll gradually move him further up the tank over a period of time to acclimate him to the light. It's a very fascinating animal indeed. The mantle is lined with tiny eyespots so it will quickly close when it sees something approaching. I'm kind of nervous, I really hope he thrives.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Jan 11, 2015 0:19:35 GMT
The baby Maxima clam has been settling in nicely. He was fully open today: He has got used to the fish to some extent. He used to retract every time they went near but now he doesn't care unless they brush against his mantle. Hopefully the algae problem will start to reduce once I've set up the UV sterilizer I got a few days ago. The man at the pet shop who sold it to me has staked his reputation on it. In other news, one of the baby lettuce Nudibranches now exceeds 1.5cm in length. I'm so pleased that they're growing! I often have to pick them out of the sump because they find their way into the pipes.
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