Flashy Fins

What a cutie! I have a few other pets, but my dogs are the best ones. A little nighttime cuddling in the hammock last summer with my big baby, Princeton. He's about 11 or 12; I've had him 10 years and the vet estimated he was not more than 2 when I first got him. A handful at times, but my absolute favorite dog in the world! Can't even imagine how I'll get through life without him one day. My little cancer survivor, Sasha. Adopted her as a puppy, and she'll turn 10 this fall. Total TV addict! She sits in front of the TV every morning and cries till you turn it on. It's also nearly impossible to use any electronic device with a screen without her shoving herself in the way so she can see it. Both ridiculously cute and super annoying, since it pretty much guarantees she will pounce on you to get a good view. We used to have a problem with her licking, biting, and scratching at the TV, especially when there were animals on the screen, but we wised up and moved it onto a narrow table that doesn't allow space for her, so now she just cries and runs around a little when something excites her. Alligators and snakes work her up the most, so I'm glad we don't live in Florida!

This page has really good info on disease and might help you: http://www.chucksaddiction.com/disease.html

Goniopora, aka flower pot coral. I don't know exactly which species mine is, but some are more difficult than others. In general, they have a reputation for being almost impossible to keep, although more people have had success with red ones than other colors. I either got lucky with an easy one, or else my tank is magic, because I don't do anything special for it. My set-up is low to medium flow, and I broadcast feed the tank once or twice a week.

This thing is sick! It just popped up on my ebay homepage as a new listing. WAY out of my price range, but staring at the photo is free!

Yasha goby would be very cute in there! Likely to be happy in the limited space, as well. That's a favorite of mine and most likely my next fish.

These might not be your taste at all, but fish I've personally considered for pico tanks: Yasha goby Gumdrop coral croucher Green banded goby Yellow clown goby Catalina goby (sub-tropical, might limit corals?) Various trimma gobies (hard to find) Ruby red dragonet makes a killer showpiece fish, but you would have to culture pods. Even if trained on frozen, to feed constantly and keep up water quality, pods would be a necessity. Tisbe, the pods they eat, do clean a tank well, so there would be a benefit there, but it's more than most people want to do for a single fish.

Is the idea to avoid bottom dwellers and non-swimming fish, or just that you really want a firefish? The purple gets a little larger than the red (except a larger red one that's from Africa, I believe), and the magnificent (yellow-bodied, Maldives) version of the purple gets a little larger than the standard purple. Even choosing the largest of all, the magnificent (prettiest, in my opinion, and the only one I've kept), I think it could work with attention to water quality, careful feeding, and no other fish. I often see 3" listed as the max size for the magnificent, but 4" is more accurate. I know most will say it's not the best fit, but I also don't see anything especially cruel about it, given the hovering behavior of this particular fish. That's assuming the tank dimensions allow him a little swimming room for when he does want to move about more.

What are the dimensions? That seems really small, but then again, they mostly just hover in front of the rock and only swim around a little, usually to catch food. I don't think lack of swimming space would really bother them, but they are a bit big in terms of how crowded the tank might look. If you're going to try a fish that isn't a bottom dwelling goby, a firefish is a probably better choice than some fish I've seen in tanks that small (damsels, six line wrasse, etc.). Mine always stayed in an area about the size I'm imagining a 2.5 gallon tank would be, even though he had more space he could've explored. Probably the only time he left that little area was to check out new fish in the tank, grab food that drifted away, and escape my net. How will you keep up water quality? I sometimes think about setting up a really tiny tank like that for pico fish, but I imagine doing daily water changes and still struggling, because I'm a very heavy-handed feader.

I know I'm not the only one who often gets frustrated trying to take pictures of corals, because nothing ever seems to look as nice in photos as it does in person, but every now and then, I end up with a picture I'm happy to show off. My new screen saver: Purchased as a tiny frag from OIAB in October of 2013. It's a slight bit more red in person, but a definite pink glow, rather than the orange-red color I see occasionally. However big it gets, I'll just keep getting bigger tanks for it, because the thought of fragging it scares the crap out of me! Maybe it'll get basketball sized one day and I can charge people $1 to look at it. Close-up that gave me a laugh. Hands! What is everyone else most proud of in their tank? Could be growth-wise or just for how photogenic it is - show me your best/favorite/pride and joy!

I second that question. How many heads of each did you start with, and how long did it take to grow that many? Mine has been the same for the year and half I've had it, just 6 polyps. It did grow a 7th, but I watched an acan devour one of the original polyps in front of my face, so that put me back at 6. I'd like to have a softball sized colony, but I don't see that happening anytime soon, unless I buy one that large.

Nice! I've reared cichlids before, but those were as easy as separating the mother and hatching BBS to feed the babies, barely any work at all (actually, a few times babies made it without me catching the mothers, but usually only 2-3 fish out of each batch would manage to avoid predation). Never tried rearing any marine species (unless you count culturing tisbe pods), but I'd like to try one day. I had a pair of bluestripe pipefish before brook wiped everyone out, but I never saw any eggs, just the two fish swimming together almost constantly. I imagine the fry would be very tiny. Thanks. I haven't tried culturing phyto (just fed my pod cultures dead phyto when I had them), but I would at least try culturing some calanoids or another protein source if I were going to give rearing a go. The crabs are in a 10g QT at the moment, so I could just leave them there after the fish complete their stay, as I'm sure they'll continue to produce eggs, but I think I'd rather just enjoy them in the reef tank.

Oh, I don't think I'll be taking on rearing anytime soon! They would likely need something smaller than rotifers at first, if fish breeding journals are anything to go off. But it's cool to see breeding, and I'm sure my fish will appreciate the tasty treats.

Hmm, good question about the nems! When a crab loses one, they split the remaining one in two, so I imagine the parents would provide that way. I have heard of lone crabs substituting other animals in the event they lose both anemones - coral, aptasia, jellyfish, whatever they can find. One person reported having two crabs, one with both nems and one with none, and the lucky one allowed the other to split both his nems, so they ended up with the proper number of 4 between them.

Forgot to add pictures of the fish! Pipefish looks a bit faded thanks to the smudgy/dirty glass, but he's perfect in person.

Ordered a couple of pompom crabs this week, and since this is my first time keeping them, I was a little concerned to see a significant size difference between them when they arrived yesterday. Hoping there wouldn't be any issues with the larger one picking on the smaller one, I searched the web to see if others had an issue with that and determined that no, it shouldn't be a problem. Females are larger, and I likely have one of each sex. This morning, while feeding the fish they're (temporarily) sharing a QT tank with (still waiting for my coral/invert QT to cycle), I noticed the crabs were seriously intertwined and scuffling. Despite my research, I thought, "Oh, no! They ARE fighting!" But then I saw it... a huge clutch of bright red eggs on the female! That was no fight - I literally caught them in the middle of baby-making! Tried to get a picture of them mid-act, but failed miserably due to their location between rocks and the fact that the female hid immediately after. The male sat there staring like he could go for a cold beer, or at least some copepods. Shortly after, I saw the female reemerge, and the male has been waving his legs out to her ever since. Impossible to make out much, but I circled where the eggs are. Here's a MUCH better picture of what she looks like. Puts my pictures to shame, but I console myself that firsthand pictures/stories have an immeasurable value! Tank mates are a bluestripe pipefish and magnificent firefish (like the purple firefish, but with a yellow body and a few other slightly differing traits). Got all four critters from Diver's Den for the same price they go for in most stores. VERY pleased with the livestock quality and shipping. I love our local shops for corals, but I've had the worst luck with fish and am happy to go the DD route re-stocking my tank after my brooklynella nightmare last year. Diver's Den rarely offers firefish, so I lucked out getting mine. Site was updated at 3pm, I purchased at 3:01 (would've been quicker, had I not needed to dig my credit card out of my purse for the 3-digit security code!), then laughed when I saw the email update come through at 3:08, knowing those who waited for it were 7 minutes too late! They had another of the same fish the next day, which someone else snatched up just as quickly, but I think I got the better looking of the two.

I'd be devastated if my measly little 29g were to completely crash, so I can't even fathom something like this. Even if he'd had multiple crashes leading up, I doubt anyone gets used to that.

Sure, I should have a couple more similar size frags next month. I'll save one for you and one for JManrow, who also requested.

Haha, I do remember you, but it's hard to forget the tie-dye and hippie beard. I'll work on fragging the colony and bring some to the meeting in April. Thanks! I almost messaged you to ask. I have a bad habit of not paying attention to the names, because I so rarely sell or trade. It's not till a colony is out of control that I'm up for it, but it'll be different once I get my coral QT set up and have a place to grow things out. Just don't want a bunch of tiny frags all over my tank.

Reserved for Gil & Fin! Forgive me for forgetting what you look like, but I'm easy to spot (chick with blue hair). See you this afternoon! If anyone else is interested, I'll let you know when I frag more. They're on a large rock in my tank that I have no idea how to peel the zoas off of or break up. Piece to Gil & Fin is the original rock purchased, so it was easy to break away.

I'm still cycling a new QT, so I'm not set up for trades, but I have these for sale. I don't remember the name, but they came from CnC. They're bright pink with a purple ring. $15 for a piece of rock with 40+ polyps attached. They grow fast!

Not sure how exciting mine will be, since there are no fish swimming around, but here goes! https://flic.kr/p/ri3LPa

reefnjunkie, on 13 Mar 2015 - 5:27 PM, said: Since the tank is 4 feet deep picture taking is tough plus I suck but WTH If you suck, what does that say about the rest of us? That's a stunning photo! Love the purple tilefish and Moorish Idol.

Higher Thinking, is that a hippo tang I see? Shame on you, keeping it in such a small tank! Needs many more miles than that! LC Scott, the photo rotation is no biggie. I just stood on my head to look at yours.

Long time, no see! I'm still rocking my LPS-heavy, sumpless 29g. Difficult to get a color-acurate photo with my T5 lights reflecting off the back wall, but you get the gist. Juicy polyps and COLOR!!! I had a 40 breeder custom drilled with a sweet overflow box a year ago, but it's just been sitting empty while I slowly collect all the necessary equipement to set it up right. Santa Claus delivered a nice skimmer, and I've been putting together the plumbing lately, so the move should be happening soon. I've been fishless for a year, as well. I figured I'd wait till I had everything in the new tank; just never expected to take so long with the upgrade! (Brooklynella wiped out my previous fish - not once, but twice. Fun times! A year without fish is comforting in terms of disease eradication, at least.)