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.

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

Marine Tank-- Soft Corals ( Blue Ring Zoanthids )

Blue Ring Zoanthids.... added July 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...

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

Marine Tank -- Fish ( Pink Skunk Clown-- Amphipirion Perideraion)

No marine tank is complete without a clownfish or two ? Or at least I feel so...My preference for clownfish seems to differ from the typical bright orange/ black patterned " Nemo"-- the pink skunk clownfish with its subtle colours attracts me more and IMO seems to contrast much better with the brighter corals I seek to own...

It is also not without its challenges-- it reportedly is less hardy/durable than other clownfish species and I lost the initial 3, ending up with these 2 stable specimens in my tank. They took to the bubble-tip anemone very readily, sadly which I failed to keep long-term... They didn't seem to mind taking the hammer coral as a substitute lately though....



Pink Skunk Clownfish
(Amphiprion perideraion)
QUICK STATS
Minimum Tank Size: 30 gallons
Care Level: Moderate
Temperament: Semi-aggressive
Reef Compatible: Yes
Max. Size: 4"
Color Form: Orange, Red, White
Diet: Omnivore

Marine Tank-- The beginning

As previously mentioned...was tempted by the many colours and varieties of marine life that I set up a marine tank despite the many challenges ahead... Had to learn from many mistakes and sadly, from the plenty of losses of corals and fish. Never really had a major tank crash (or major die-off) from my lack of experience but experienced some losses due to lack of research or impulse purchases.

Some pictures of my initial setup (first 3 mths) and corals/ fishes when I first started in 2007.

Cycling the marine tank with fresh saltwater and first piece of 5kg live rock..

*notice the rock of green yuma and a pick cauliflower coral ( I just couldn't wait !! )

A full tank shot of the 1st week, small air-driven skimmer, T-5 lighting and hang-on back filter...

A month later...

...2 pink skunk clown fish added

skunk cleaner shrimp added.... 1-mth green-tan yuma

..pink bubble-tip anemone

....green bubble-tip anemone

...pink-striped feather duster worm added

Apart from the pink skunk clownfish and cleaner shrimp that survived, the feather duster worm, green-tan yuma and cauliflower coral didn't make it past 3 mths...

The cheap protein skimmer ($18) didn't perform and the light tubes were too "blue" (too high spectrum--20kelvin rating) for the yuma that was supposed to be easy to keep. There wasn't enough micro-fauna/ microscopic food to sustain the cauliflower and feather duster which needed to be fed rather than make their own food... An initial sense of guilt of not knowing the corals well enough and causing their demise led to implementing a rule of not purchasing any more livestock for the time being...maybe I should go fish-only ???