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crazy Fishkeeper,Fancy guppy breeder, amateur marine fishkeeper

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Marine Tank -- LPS Corals (Moon Coral), Favites spp.

Bought this moon coral to add a splash of green to contrast in my "overly-red" tank...Supposedly one of the beginner corals too... Secluded it in a corner to reduce possible chances of its stinging sweeper tentacles of affecting my other corals...



The Favites Corals are large polyp stony (LPS) corals often referred to as Moon, Pineapple, Brain, Closed Brain, Star, Worm, or Honeycomb Coral. They are the most common and prolific coral in the world, and are very similar to the genus Favia, sharing many of the same common names, and sometimes being very difficult to differentiate. Favites Corals are found in various color forms and polyp shapes.The Favite Corals are aggressive, expanding their sweeper tentacles at night well beyond the base. It is important to leave space between them and neighbors in the reef aquarium. Maintenance for the Favite Corals is relatively easy, making them excellent choices for the beginner to expert hobbyist. They require moderate lighting combined with moderate water movement within the aquarium. For continued good health, calcium, strontium, and other trace elements should be added to the water. It will also benefit from the addition of supplemental food in the form of micro-plankton or brine shrimp, fed twice per week in the evening while its tentacles are visible.



Marine Tank-- Soft Corals ( more Mushrooms & Yumas!! )

Crazy mushroom purchases-- 2 yumas/ rock of purple spotted mushrooms... SGD 225 in total !! I'm officially coral crazy !! Just hope they don't die on me...

Orange-rimmed / Starburst Yuma

Purple-spotted mushrooms

Thursday, December 10, 2009

Marine Tank -- LPS Corals (Blastomussa)

Bought this baby fragment of a blastomussa to try out in my marine tank as it was just going for a few bucks and it looked well enough and healthy with no signs of tissue recession. Baby buds from a main mother maybe ?? Seems to be doing ok after a month or so... Hope it does well to grow to a reasonable size and multiply...

Initially was slightly worried about the polyp appearing next to it but read that it shouldn't do any harm to the blasto...It's a non-stinging palythoa, only toxic when squashed/cut so I decided to just leave it alone...


Blasto corals are relatively rare within the trade and certainly aren’t found in the same numbers as some of the other popular corals. They are well suited to keeping at home however and once settled into a stable tank they can be very hardy and potentially fast growing. The most common colours available in this species are green and red, some animals exhibit both colours and some just a single colour or variation of.
When introduced to the home aquarium try and find them a spot with medium water flow and medium light. If you keep Power Compacts or T5 lighting then they should be happy in most places on the rockwork or sandbed but it is advisable for reefkeepers with metal halide lamps, to find them a spot slightly in the shade or towards the bottom of the tank.
Blastomussa does not require as much light as some other corals. It can be kept under normal output fluorescents without much difficulty. In some cases, it may extend more readily under subdued lighting, however it may display more attractive colors when placed under stronger lighting.

These corals can live quite happily feeding via photosynthetic algae but occasional feeding of small foods such as baby brine shrimp, rotifer and cyclopeze will keep this coral in its best condition and encourage growth.
There are two species of Blastomussa, the Merletti and Wellsi and it has been reported that the easier and more forgiving of the two is the Wellsi. So a better choice for less experienced reefkeepers or those with smaller volume tanks.

Friday, December 4, 2009

Marine Tank -- SPS Corals ( SPS, small-polyped stony corals)

Itchy hands or I.B.S. (itchy B@cksid#) they call it... Two sps coral frags. Previous sps didn't do well due to temperature fluctuation, occasionally over 30deg celcius in the previous 2-feet tank. Hope these 2 can survive in the new 3-ft tank with a more stable temperature...




Got them from a very nice fellow reefer staying nearby... Seems like not a good thing; hard to avoid the temptation/convenience when he's letting off nice stuff...

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Marine Tank -- LPS Corals (Green Bubble Coral)

One more hard coral added -- GREEN BUBBLE CORAL (Plerogyra sinuosa)



One of the beginner LPS corals -- got it as a baby, hope to be able to sustain it and make it grow..






The Green Bubble Coral is a beautiful LPS coral that originates from the reefs of Fiji. It has a white-ridged hard skeleton that can be seen when the polyps are deflated. When inflated, the large fleshy polyps will cover the entire skeleton, and are neon green in color. Like many other LPS corals, they do posses sweeper tentacles that can harm other corals within reach.
The Green Bubble Coral requires a moderate level of lighting combined with low to moderate water movement in the aquarium. Too much water flow may impede the coral from fully expanding. The fleshy polyps of Bubble Corals are very fragile and will puncture easily. Be careful when handling these corals, to only handle them by the hard skeleton. Because they can form long sweeper tentacles, be sure to provide plenty of room to prevent damage being done to its neighbors. For continued good health, it will also need the addition of calcium, strontium, and other trace elements to the water.

Monday, October 26, 2009

Marine Tank -- Fish ( Bicolor Blenny--Ecsenius bicolor )

Newest addition to the marine tank-- a Bicolour Blenny !! Chanced upon it when popping by the LFS... been looking for it for quite some time... $6 for an active and healthy specimen, just had to grab it... settled well into the tank on the first day and getting out to feed plus chasing the jewel damsel should be a good sign its doing well... Supposedly easy to feed and helps control/ consume some algae...


QUICK STATS
Bicolor Blenny -- Ecsenius bicolor
Minimum Tank Size: 30 gallons
Care Level: Easy
Temperament: Peaceful
Reef Compatible: Yes
Max. Size: 4"
Color Form: Blue, Orange
Diet: Herbivore

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Marine Tank -- Soft Corals (Mushroom Corals)

Have successfully transferred all livestock from my previous 2-feet tank to a new (or rather second-hand) 3-feet tank. No full tank shot yet as I have yet to finalise the rock placements and coral placements. Lighting is also yet to be upgraded so all corals face the middle where the light is cast by my 2 feet T5 lights.

Current spotlight is on my mushroom corals that have been successfully transferred and opened up well...
The mushroom corner

...a favourite painted mushroom

..common yumas


...fluorescent green mushrooms

..blue spotted red mushrooms-- the fastest grower and reproducers


Mushroom Corals
Mushroom Corals are also referred to as Mushroom Anemones, Disc Anemones, False Corals, or corallimorphs. They are solitary anemones that are classified in the order Corallimorpharia. These corals share some of the same features of both
true anemones and hard corals. These corals are found throughout the world, mainly on rocky reefs.
Mushroom Corals are hardy and make ideal corals for the beginner reef aquarist. Mushroom Corals that have long tentacles are aggressive toward other types of corals, so provide these corals with adequate space. Different genera and species of Mushroom Corals have different light and water flow requirements.

Using a highly-developed mucus capture and transport system, these corals derive nutrients by collecting and ingesting particulate matter suspended in the water around them, and from their zooxanthellae.

Marine Tank --Equipment and Additives (Brightwell Aquatics Activated Carbon)


Used in my red sea prizm media basket to further purify the water exiting the skimmer...about 50gms weekly can keep my marine tank looking pristine... (a 500gm package can last me about 8-10weeks this way....

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Marine Tank-- Soft Corals ( Green Ring Zoanthid )

Latest acquisition for-- Green Ring zoanthid ... from a very nice fellow hobbyist from Singapore Reef Club forum...

Took less than 2 days to open up to full glory...

Sweet green yeah ??



Friday, August 14, 2009

Marine Tank-- Invertebrates (Fromia Starfish)

New purchase : Red starfish (Fromia Milleporella)
Supposedly the best starfish, in my opinion, for a small reef tank-- harmless and beneficial (grazes on diatoms and algae). Doesn't seem to appear so frequently so took the chance to grab one ( and got one free !! attached to the side of a fox coral bought on the same day that the seller didn't realise !! ). So it was $6 for 2 nice starfish...


Common Name: Red Star
Species Name: Fromia milleporella
Range: Indo-Pacific Ocean
Natural Environment: Inhabits lagoons and outer reefs on all kinds of substrates
General Husbandry: 3 - 4 inches (7.5 - 10 cm) across and generally consume detritus. This species is red with black tips when young and becomes solid, bright red as an adult. Occasional feedings of shrimp pellets or fish/shrimp flesh is recommended.

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Marine Tank--LPS Corals ( Fox Coral)

Latest addition to my marine tank-- a fox coral, (Nemenzophyllia turbida)

Supposedly one of the best and easiest coral for beginners. Bought this in a less than ideal state... It's beautiful colour prompted me to give it a chance to try and nuture it back to glory...

Hope to frag out the babies on the right hand side to culture and grow out on a separate rock after they've acclimated to the tank conditions and doing well...

Bought it with its tissue slightly receded..

5 days later...


QUICK STATS
Fox Coral-- Nemenzophyllia turbida
Care Level: Easy
Temperament: Peaceful
Lighting: Low to Moderate
Waterflow: Low
Placement: Bottom
Water Conditions: 72-78° F, dKH 8-12, pH 8.1-8.4, sg 1.023-1.025
Color Form: Green, Tan, White
Supplements: Calcium, Strontium, Trace Elements
Origin: Indo-Pacific
Family: Caryophylliidae
Polyp Size: LPS - Large Polyp Stony

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Saturday, April 18, 2009

Ex-freshwater fish-- ABA ABA (gymnarchus niloticus)

Just a "tribute" to one of the fishes I have once kept and lost/sold/given away.....

ABA-ABA ; gymnarchus niloticus(click to view info)






An amazing electric fish that is related to electric catfishes ( a 6-yr old electric cat is still in my living room) and electric eels but only produces enough for navigation purposes. It's puppy dog-like frontal face and graceful fins really masks its killer instinct and monster size of a potential 5-feet length when full grown in the wild! Which other fish kills armoured catfishes (plecos) half its length and twice its girth ?? killed two 4-inches plecos when it was just barely 8 inches...since then it has been in solitary confinement.




Grew to 50cm in my 60cm tank...It was my only case of mistreatment of a fish as it just grew too fast and I was just about to seriously upgrade it to a bigger tank as I was about to shift homes... A 3-times weekly water change was necessary to maintain it and a delay of one such water change let to me returning home to its corpse floating in the tank...hated myself for it ! It was also a bad decision to get it in the first place, breaking responsible fishkeeping rule No.1 -- NEVER BUY / ATTEMPT TO KEEP A FISH LARGER THAN U CAN HOUSE WHEN ITS FULLY GROWN. And my aba-aba hadn't even reached 50% of its potential captive size !


Note that predator fishes seldom exceed 80% of their potential sizes in the wild..given the size of the water body that they are found in the wild, added to the other factors of a varied diet of potential prey and how we usually don't overfeed them for fear of the filter system collapsing under their huge appetites and thus huge waste outputs.



One fine day should I have the means ($$) for a huge tank, this fish would definitely make it to the top 3 on my list of must-keep fishes once again...

Sunday, January 11, 2009

Marine Tank -- Porcupine Puffers (Diodon Holocanthus)

The ultimate mix of cuteness plus unique-ness ( at least to me...), the fish I always wanted to keep in a marine tank. Took the chance to grab whatever I could lay my hands on once my marine lfs had stock.. scooped up 5 pieces of babies no more than 2cm.. Darlin' was also bought over by their super cuteness at this size.


Cycled a new tank for a week, with water and sand plus a hammer coral from my seasoned tank and once water conditions were fine we picked them up and brought them home... They each had their own unique personality that we could identify with them together with their nipped fins/ body markings-- the one with perfect fins chasing everyone else was "BULLY" and had to be confined solitarily...sadly the rest succumbed to infections from the bites and "BULLY" was left alone... My water was not as good as I thought it was and the tank couldn't cope with the bioload of bacteria from their slime and a dead body I determined... The lack of liverocks for filtration and thin layer of live sand from my less than 1-yr old "reef-tank" was not enough.. Lessoned learned the sad way...



The one bad thing about my fishkeeping ways is impulsiveness for stuff/fish less often seen and the buy-first-consider-later bad habit I still often regret doing.... Trying to rehabilitate myself by putting their pictures on my desktop to remind me of the cruelty I have done to them helped though...

Even so, they remain a very "prized" pet for me in the future. I hope to have a special tank with enough rocks and caves for them to steer clear from each other and keep them to palm size. For now, shall just focus on one marine tank and make sure it doesn't come crashing (in the integrity and stability of the system that is).


Diodon holocanthus

Common Name: Porcupine Puffer
Other Common Names: porcupinefish; Long-spine porcupinefish
Family: Diodontidae
Distribution: Worldwide; Tropical Oceans
Water Parameters: Temp: 23-26C (74-80F); pH 7.9-8.4
Personality/Temperament: Agressive; Hunts and searches for food
Max. Size: 19 inches (50cm)
Estimated Lifespan: ~15 years
Sexual Dimorphism: Unable to discern difference between genders using external features
Diet: Live and frozen foods (not fish), freeze-dried krill, frozen shrimp, squid, clams and other molluscs and crustaceans.
Feeding and Diet article
Care: Not suitable for reef tanks - will nip at corals and other invertebrates. Keep in a well-established tank, preferrably with live rock. Larger tanks are better, for territory and water quality reasons.
Breeding: Unknown
Minimum Tank Size: 120 US Gallons (450 liters)
Links to Other Resources:
D. holocanthus profile on Fishbase