hongqixian

This thread is practically ancient and i dunno if you'll see this post but yeah, you're welcome. I'm ashamed to say that my 2ft crashed at least 3 times in the long past (2 yrs ago), so i started reading up more. hmm. do you download your anime or watch on TV? Generally the subtitled Japanese ones are better, the english dubs can be really awkward. There's a few nice animes about now, like Inuyasha etc. The humor can be a bit childish though.

Your wooden air diffuser is smothered with algae in the picture. The goniopora was not a very good choice for a 2fter. the sand looks a bit white and new to me. I think that its a bit useless to start a thread saying that your tank died and asking people to share their experiences. You should state the problem, what happened and tank dimensions and all and then we can more effectively help to to pinpoint the problem instead of having to ask you about this and that. Sorry about your loss. Maybe you should spend more time planning a tank properly before you start another one and find the reason for the crash first. P.S. flame scallops should not be kept in a 2ft without much filtration as their feeding will cause pollution. Judging from your goniopora and the polyps (is this picture taken a few hours after the lights were on?) the sign that they aren't open much could be due to nitrates. and why is your scallop stuck in that weird position in the middle of the rock? Usually healthy scallops will run off and hide in the rockwork and die there. Why are there chunks of blue sponge in your tank? Did you have a blue sponge that died or sth? they can cause a lot of pollution.

oops. yes, the picture shows Palythoa (Sea Mats). Their flesh contains palytoxin which is dangerous but they are fine so long as u don't handle them with cuts on ur hands. Palythoa or Sea Mats are large polyps that sprout from an encrusting base. They all share the same base and are quite large. Zoanthids are similar in appearance but tend to be skinnier. They do not share the same base, but usually grow in large colonies. Yellow polyps are Parazoanthus sp. All of these except yellow polyps are commonly lumped together under the common name Button Polyps.

sorry for the late reply. haven't been checking the forums awhile. anyway, the clownfish is trying to "cloak" itself from the anemone by smearing itself with the anemone's mucus. I believe the anemone's nematocysts are not triggered when the tentacles touch plastic. They only trigger when they are in contact with proteinaceous material, is that right? And the tentacles will not trigger when in contact with each other (imagine the anemone wasting it's own stings on itself) so therefore, the clownfish makes itself invisible to the stings by smearing itself with anemone mucus like u said. the anemone doesn't sting itself. and so, if it cannot effectively make itself invisible (didn't coat itself with mucus properly or sth,) the anemone will be stinging it. hence my sentence that the anemone hasn't gotten used to the clown (maybe gotten used isn't the right phrase) P.S. is this one of the theories how clownfish are able to live in anemones or has it been proven? i'm not really up to date.

yes, they are zoanthids and not zooanthids

The hairy crab probably would if it caught the fish sleeping. But this fish seems rather tank-smart to me. I would worry more about what the crab would do to snails and other organisms. This goby needs regular feeding at least once every couple of days.

Ah. It could be a flatworm invasion(bad) or tubeworm larvae settling on the glass(very very good)

Leech? I don't know much about marine leeches. There doesn't seem to be many. Leeches usually occur in freshwater. In saltwater the main bloodsuckers are isopods(crustaceans). (Of course, there is the cold-water lamprey which is a bloodsucking fish, not technically a leech) Many slugs(either bad or difficult to keep), flatworms(bad), and invertebrate larvae all look wormy. Or perhaps it is simply a worm. Mushrooms sometimes have wormy organs they occasionally leave out of their mouth. Do you mean the worm spawned or something spawned the worm? If you think something spawned the worm, how do you know it spawned?

Bad. Most crabs should be flushed, except for maybe the small and harmless boxing crab. There are a few that MAY control algae but tend to eat other things as well. I found at least 6 in my 2 ft tank. I hate these crabs. They are responsible for many of the mysterious disappearances in tanks, especially for shellfish and snails.

P.S. they grow big. Another reason why LFS advice should always be taken with a pinch of salt.

The sound very loud leh......

Not really. It's the anemone with the stings calling the shots hehe

The anemone is Anemonia majano or a similar species. They are beautiful(sort of like mini bubbletips) but tend to be pests as they sting and spread quickly, though not as bad as aiptasia. They can be more easily dealt with. Sometimes sold in colonies in LFSes on rocks. The algae is Neopencillus sp or Pencillus sp, something like that (i remember seeing it in the Guide to Singapore's Coral reefs/Seashore. A nice calcareous algae that doesn't really last long.

very detailed P.S. The D. azureus in your signature is nice.

That is technically correct but not quite what i meant, sry, explanation not clear I actually meant that you can cut the tube open so that the worm can open properly, but not completely detach the cut tubing. When the worm grows, it will use the bits to strengthen its tube. It's also useful to leave some of the tubing partially attached so that the worm can easily join back its tube(in a different way that it can open properly) if it decides that you have cut too much of its tube open. This is just to make sure that the worm is well protected against crabs/shrimp/fish that might attack its exposed body. It can survive without its tube in a safe, predator free environment (although it might waste some energy building a new one). The tube is the worm's form of protective clothing.

thanks! very detailed explanation. i'll take your advice and go for it

It just looks like a non-furry big bristleworm or an earthworm slightly skinner than it's tube, with a fluffy head attached. that's all.

i just realised you said every few days. Feeding anemones should be a treat once in a while, as they mostly depend on their symbiotic algae. You can put small bits of mussel on the anemone to feed it. Don't do it too often though, just once a week or once per two weeks. P.S. Tube anemones (with stronger stings) depend more on meaty foods so you can feed them twice as often. Small pieces of fish also go down well with them.

It depends on what type of anemone. Clownfish don't usually get killed by swimming into uncompatible anemones or maybe the anemone had not totally gotten used to the clownfish yet. If the clownfish swam into something like a really stinging tube anemone, it would just swim away. Deaths do happen though. Just not that often.

he did. typo i guess. but if it was struck to the surface he'd be scraping it off with a knife

how old is your tank? beware that rescaping may stir up a deep sand bed if you have one and it may cause creatures on live rock to die in the process, causing a mini cycle.

gently place the food near the anemone's mouth. If it is hungry it will eat the food. If it is full or sick it will not eat or it may regurgitate the food l8r.

they are very prone to diseases themselves. They also tend to get attacked by crabs/worms when they find a hole in the rockwork to sleep at night.

I was thinking of signing up for a short diving course (couple of weeks - I don't think it's scuba - it says diving with compressed air to depth of 10m or sth like that) and the application form says that all applicants have to be tested in a hyperbaric oxygen chamber. what exactly does it feel like? and what does it(pressure) feel like 10m under water? i dunno, haven't even gone snorkeling b4. It's not a professional lesson, just a school experience thing. i just want to sign up for the fun of it. anyone has any advice to offer?

The worms in the 2ft tank will need feeding with some fine food like phytoplankton. Kent Phytoplex (bottled dead phytoplankton) can be used if everything else is inconvenient. (it can be kept in the fridge) They will need to be in a quiet place otherwise they will be hidden most of the time. Put in fine sand to allow them to build their mucus tubes. Feed once a week with phytoplankton and use some simple and GENTLE filtration. (air pump operated??) If so, you'll need to do small water changes. P.S. adding some amphipods and copepods to your tank will allow pods to breed in the tank. The larvae will feed the worms and the pods eat the leftover phytoplankton. It's a win-win situation.