Mid-century 25g IM lagoon. Appx 14 months old

[Townes_Van_Camp]

Today I brought home:

A carpenters wrasse. Hopefully I see him/her soon after dripping it in, it hid. But, the lights are out and don't come on for 3.5 more hours.
[Insert] he is hiding [JPG]
And a dead sea hare.

 

[Miami Reef]

Nice thread title lol.

 

[Townes_Van_Camp]

So I witnessed either a cold blooded murder or a relatively expensive sushi snack for my giant schnauzer tonight...

I lifted the screen off the top of my tank to get inside and do some manual GHA removal. When I sat the top to the side, for whatever reason my new carpenters wrasse jumped out.

At first I was mortified. But, he landed in a shag rug. I breathed a sigh of relief as I reached over to pick him up. My dude was faster and ate a $60 fish.

A long time ago a fellow said to me that if I couldn't light a $100 bill on fire and not flinch I was in the wrong hobby. Well I did that Saturday. Bought a dead sea hare and flasher wrasse sashimi. I patted my dude on the head and asked if it was tasty.

So if anyone wants to recommend a way to liven up my display please share.


25 lagoon 24 wide19 front to back and 11 deep.

I have a surly flame hawk, a chalk bass, and a purple firefish. I went the colorful invert path with a fire shrimp. Let's talk fish. Name one or two that should be ok with this motley crew (Crue). Colorful and confident but not clowns. I'm even about open to considering damsels at this point...

 

[blaxsun]

Sapphire or talbot damsel and a midas blenny. When I had a pair of IM Fusion tanks I had a wide assortment of fish including two prized mandarins which I got switched to frozen.

 

[Townes_Van_Camp]

Sapphire or talbot damsel and a midas blenny. When I had a pair of IM Fusion tanks I had a wide assortment of fish including two prized mandarins which I got switched to frozen.

I was thinking damsel, possibly one or two of those little Pavo damsels from biota.

 

[blaxsun]

I was thinking damsel, possibly one or two of those little Pavo damsels from biota.

Those could work.

 

[Northern Flicker]

I was thinking damsel, possibly one or two of those little Pavo damsels from biota.

Preach! Love those Pavo Damsels.

Also, I love that saying your friend passed on to you. Really feels that way, eh.

 

[Townes_Van_Camp]

Preach! Love those Pavo Damsels.

Also, I love that saying your friend passed on to you. Really feels that way, eh.

Big time. I just shrugged my shoulders like, "and so it goes"

 

[JoJosReef]

Dear Tank Thread, or whatever you identify as...

Sorry about the fish/hare loss! Flaming prawn goby, maybe? Although I'd worry about the flame hawk. Midas blenny was mentioned. Pair of pink streak wrasses would be cool.

 

[Townes_Van_Camp]

Dear Tank Thread, or whatever you identify as...

Sorry about the fish/hare loss! Flaming prawn goby, maybe? Although I'd worry about the flame hawk. Midas blenny was mentioned. Pair of pink streak wrasses would be cool.

I'd love a pair of pink streaks. I worry about the flame with them also. It's why I tried a carpenters instead.

 

[Northern Flicker]

I really like Possum Wrasses

 

[Townes_Van_Camp]

I really like Possum Wrasses

How bold are they in the face of a twitchy flame hawk?

 

[Northern Flicker]

How bold are they in the face of a twitchy flame hawk?

Not bold, and maybe a bit too close to Flame Hawk now that I think about it. Hmm...I'll have to think on it. Not interested in a 6line? Maybe I missed something earlier in the thread.

 

[Townes_Van_Camp]

Not bold, and maybe a bit too close to Flame Hawk now that I think about it. Hmm...I'll have to think on it. Not interested in a 6line? Maybe I missed something earlier in the thread.

Yes I'm sorta interested and a 6 line is the one small wrasse with the attitude cope with the hawk

 

[Townes_Van_Camp]

It's been a minute since I've updated my tank thread. So let's start with a picture of my tiny little acro sticks. Let me know if you guys like the color temp here. I have filters and aacro lense. But I took this with the Google camera using only a flash and the temp slider to straighten out the colors.

I'm keeping nutrients in check.
20 ppm nitrates

Barely registering phos (I'd like a little more and have started feeding PE mysis pellets daily to help.

ALK is dropping about 1dkh per week. I may go ahead and start AFR tonight/tomorrow.

Cal is 420 - 470.

I am running my skimmer during lights on, and my algae scrubber during lights off.

Everything is full of polyps all the time now, light on or off, feeding or not. Everything is basing out. Monti's (I like them and have a few) are starting to grow. My hydnophora is happy, I think. I've never had one but this one never closes, and I can see where it's starting to spread across its rock.

I still have room for a gold lepto and two or three more acros. I' m not sure which ones. But I am sure the LFS will have what I want one day.

Getting water ready for a dose of flatworm exit. I found some white planaria a week ago and dosed. I killed a bunch. But I went to the cautious side. I still have some. I'm getting ready to drop the hammer on them tonight.

Here are a couple of shots of the coral for posterity before the water change tonight.

Hydnophora spewing mucous after a meal.

Trying to get these two to whirl on each other but I wanted more red on that side. Too much green already.

This is my favorite piece of all so far. I bought it with the name of "blue polyps green monti cap". It came in brown and brown. It's certainly green with blue polyps. But I'm starting to pick up a pink growth edge. Until it's big enough to identify it is hence forth dubbed the Surfer on Acid Monti Cap. Yeah, I am working on that algae.

There is also this acro that I'm kind of excited by. No idea what it's called. But instead of whitish bubble gum pink that it was at the LFS, Its now purple, pink and neon yellow.

 

[rhizotron]

Cool project. Nice cabinet!

 

[Northern Flicker]

Great update, tank is really coming into it's own now.

Hydnophora is one of my favourites in my tank. I have some JF Limelight, and it's just such an interesting coral.

 

[MDAquatics]

Sapphire or talbot damsel and a midas blenny. When I had a pair of IM Fusion tanks I had a wide assortment of fish including two prized mandarins which I got switched to frozen.

I have a Talbot Damsel. Love that little dude, active a friendly. Very Pretty

 

[Townes_Van_Camp]

Great update, tank is really coming into it's own now.

Hydnophora is one of my favourites in my tank. I have some JF Limelight, and it's just such an interesting coral.

I appreciate that buddy. I have always liked hydnophora a lot. But I've always been hesitant due to the sweepers this apparently has. So far, I have it out on an isolated rock in the sand. I haven't seen a single sweeper.

How fast does yours grow?

I have a Talbot Damsel. Love that little dude, active a friendly. Very Pretty

I think I've settled in on a Damsel. Talbot or a Pavo. But I have a very reclusive fire fish. I think for his sake, I'm gonna keep it at three for a bit. I don't imagine it's gonna live much longer to be honest. He comes out from his cave every now and then grabs some mysis or brine then darts back to his hole.

If he passes away, it's a real possibility, then I'm gonna stock with more aggressive small fish.

I rolled the dice on a flame hawk. I've never seen this one bully. I've never seen any flame hawk bully in fact. But, the firefish is clearly not interested in making friends.


One more update. We all know what this means. I had just a few yesterday. My nitrates are still around 20. I need to get my phosphates up. They are barely registering. I have some loudwolf phos something I may look up and dose tonight. Hopefully this is a short war. I hate dinos.

 

[tinyfellows]

I’ve got a green hydrnophora that’s been in my tank and I’ve never seen any sweepers from it. I wouldn’t say it grows fast. But then again all my sps seem to be crawling along so don’t think I’m a good judge on speed