Sorting Out Your Priorities: Fish, Coral, or Inverts?

[AlyciaMarie]

There are tons of things to prioritize in a home reef: setup, chemistry, nutrition, and the list goes on and on.

If we're talking livestock, what are you prioritizing? And by "prioritizing," I mean:

What takes up the most time?
What keeps you up at night?
What are you most invested in?
What is your "baby"?
Who is the most important member(s) of your home reef?

Your fish, your coral, or your inverts? I'm curious!

Photo credit: @Andreas' Reef

 

[AlyciaMarie]

My priority would be inverts because of my anemone. Simply because of the beauty it adds to my tank!

 

[Rjukan]

This is a great question! I think my priorities are: Fish first and foremost since they have personalities and I want them to be comfortable, fat and healthy.

Corals next because they are beautiful and take up a huge amount of real estate in a tank. I want them to be happy as well, and as I battle these asterina stars eating my zoas, it makes me realize I'm quite invested in their wellbeing.

Unfortunately for my inverts, they are last on the list. Even though I really like my Halloween Hermits, and the mountain my pistol shrimp is making is pretty awesome. I'm not as invested... wait, what am I saying?!? I have a 7.5g plumbed in to the system just for a mantis shrimp lol, I love her and she is awesome! Inverts just jumped the line to first. I like to think of my display as a large deco refugium for my mantis tank lol.

 

[Reefer Matt]

I’m a coral guy. But my best friend is a pufferfish. Lol!

 

[paragrouper]

My priority is the overall environment in my tank and I try to select fish, corals and invertebrates accordingly.

 

[tzabor10]

Currently trying to keep tunicates and sponges alive. Amazing creatures, but so few people are caring for them.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

If my anemone isn't happy, I'm not happy.

 

[aztoza]

I started a tank for the inverts (urchins in particular) and coral, but think I will end up enjoying the fish way more than I thought I would!

 

[ChrisfromBrick]

What takes up the most time? going after Aiptasia
What keeps you up at night? potential disasters
What are you most invested in? Coral (zoas)
What is your "baby"? I think the Lobo brain that I inherited.
Who is the most important member(s) of your home reef? Probably the clowns that are a peaceful pair

 

[KrisReef]

There are tons of things to prioritize in a home reef: setup, chemistry, nutrition, and the list goes on and on.

If we're talking livestock, what are you prioritizing? And by "prioritizing," I mean:

What takes up the most time?
What keeps you up at night?
What are you most invested in?
What is your "baby"?
Who is the most important member(s) of your home reef?

Your fish, your coral, or your inverts? I'm curious!

Photo credit: @Andreas' Reef

Currently, in my home reef my two chinchillas are taking up the majority of my time.

Time is the limiting factor in life, and reefing is the measure of enjoyment one can have thinking about the ocean. I have a job, a wife, a home, a garden, Birds, Fish, and a reef. All of these things I have (or that have me?) require attention and make demands upon my time.
Right now I am at my job, but as you can see I have found a way to multitask at that which increases the value of my time greatly while I am working.

With the passing of our eldest Chin, it became apparent that Eddie, the survivor was beside himself not having a buddy to fight with all night. We spent last Saturday traveling to a shelter that had many Chins and they had just taken in a new one who was beside himself in the cage where he was listing. I spoke briefly with him and it was clear that he wanted to get the heck out of the smelly, dirty shelter and get back to his people. I explained to him that I had no idea who his people were, but that it was my understanding that they were not coming back for him. I spent about 20 minutes in a pen on the floor with the guy, he crawled all over me, clearly imprinted upon another human and happy enough to be petted by me, a stranger so I decided that we would adopt this guy. The lady at the shelter was filled with knowledge. She explained the "bonding" process between two males, and how they would fight to establish dominance at first and how to make the process as smooth as possible.

I will jump ahead to say that I have been spending all extra hours at home supervising fence-through socialization of Eddie and the new (still unnamed) male who has the instincts of Mike Tyson and has already managed to injury Eddies left eye with either a bite or a paw jab that has caused the eye to close slightly. I was considering letting them meet without wire later today but the have decided that I want the eye injury to heal completely and for the aggression to subside a bit more before I risk the health of these animals to a brawl that will eventually take place, but I am hoping to have established dominance among the tribe first so the submales can compete only for a second or third role, not a first in the house.

Once I get them squared away I will return to focusing on the reef rehabilitation project that is on going. NO fish in the reef currently, just a few coral and peppermint shrimp, snails, and a lot of bacteria mixed from the Caribbean, Australia, and- with a little Microbacter and Dr. Tims tossed in among mostly Pacific coral species.

 

[Imrahilwjz]

Fish. Only because my central goal is to have a pair of green mandarins and a pair of ruby red dragonets. I used to want just one of each, but @Paul B has convinced me that pairs are a cooler idea.

 

[KrisReef]

Fish. Only because my central goal is to have a pair of green mandarins and a pair of ruby red dragonets. I used to want just one of each, but @Paul B has convinced me that pairs are a cooler idea.

He also has Waspfish!

Edit- Chinchilla update. Spent 45 minutes this evening supervising visitation. Only one brief brawl with Eddie losing another clump of fur, but no serious damage or bleeding injuries occurred during the long meeting. It's been a long road but they are figuring it out.

 

[i cant think]

There are tons of things to prioritize in a home reef: setup, chemistry, nutrition, and the list goes on and on.

If we're talking livestock, what are you prioritizing? And by "prioritizing," I mean:

What takes up the most time?
What keeps you up at night?
What are you most invested in?
What is your "baby"?
Who is the most important member(s) of your home reef?

Your fish, your coral, or your inverts? I'm curious!

Photo credit: @Andreas' Reef

My fish are the ones I baby, they are just adorable when they beg for food.
My Coral I wasn’t a huge fan of however I’ve become addicted to using a UV Torch on them to get photos and I have to admit, I’m now becoming a coral addict ontop of wrasses. I love Gonis so much. This is my biggest colony;

What takes up the most time?
Definitely trying to get my corals happy, it can take days although it’s not often an insanely long job - they tend to get moved once or twice and then they’re happy. I’ve got one goni that surprisingly stung another so he is separated from the pack - my carebear.

What keeps you up at night?
This has to be when my sand sleepers are in the sand. I recently lost 2 Pencil wrasse because of my cleaner wrasse - safe to say, he has been rehomed; now sat in a tank with an Achilles tang. My wrasse aren’t normally ones to hide now and are very active so when one is hidden it tells me something is wrong.
What are you most invested in?
Definitely hard to answer but it’s between Wrasses and Goniopora. Oh but I think I’ve spent the most on torches - I came home with 2 torches for 700 a week or two ago. Although in terms of numbers, when I come home with coral it’s not often more than one whilst I’ve come home with 2 wrasse every time I intend to pick up just one. Most recently I went to pick up a Laboute’s and came home with a Kuiter’s Leopard as well.

What is your "baby"?
This is a hard one now. If you asked 6-7 months ago, it would’ve been an easy Magnificent Foxface answer. However currently I think it’s between all 3 of my Rabbits and my 2 pencils. My Kaleidos Pencil Wrasse takes the cake for those 2. Just the colours and curiosity he has - when I put my hand in the tank he’s right there and yes, he has nipped me which was more surprising than anything else.

Who is the most important member(s) of your home reef?
All of them! I love all my fish, I can’t pick a favourite out of this list. Highlighted are all my wrasses, those guys are some of the key fish in my tank and what make my main 5’ display the tank it is. I’m never joking when I say I’m a wrasse addict though!

 

[Nano_Man]

Everything in my tanks are equal this keeps them all happy

 

[Dburr1014]

What takes up the most time?

TESTING AND MAKING NSW

What keeps you up at night?

THINGS I NEED TO DO OR TAKE CARE OF

What are you most invested in?

FINISHING MY BUILD, IT'S UP AND RUNNING BUT HAVE ODDS AND ENDS TO FINISH

What is your "baby"?

MY NEW PAIR OF BELLUS ANGELS

Who is the most important member(s) of your home reef?

CORALS



Your fish, your coral, or your inverts? I'm curious!