exiled_infidel
-
Posts
70 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Gallery
Posts posted by exiled_infidel
-
-
The brown film you have is cyanobacteria.
Its likely a result of high nutrients (generally nitrates and phosphates) in the water. To counteract this, try doing several large waterchanges, up the skimming, use chemical media etc. This may have been brought about by sudden increase in bioload without the tank being allowed to sufficiently mature beforehand.
It happens to most tanks and technically isnt harmful (just looks pretty ugly). Some things like stomatella snails and other snails eat it.
If you want, you could try antibiotics (small doses of amoxicillin worked well for me) but theyre a bit touch-n-go.
Good luck with getting rid of it.
-
Waratahs are hard to keep at higher temps. Saw them down the south coast in the winter when the water was about 5degrees in the day. They really are cool (if not cold) water species.
On the upside, the two bigger BTAs look happy.
-
Hi
Although anemones technically dont need calcium to live and grow (they have no skeleton, and are basically plastic bags filled with water), i wouldnt try, for example, keeping an anemone in water with, say, 20ppm calcium.
Here is a good anemone link:
-
Hi
Its cool this forum has an off topic section.
Anyway, im trying to help a girl-friend out. She's really close to me and we share everything but i need to brainstorm this (relatively) anonymously:
She's been seeing this guy for about 3 months now, going pretty good and all that. no problems there, just the typical relationship.
She gets closer to one of her guy-friends. She's known him for a while but only in the last month have they gotten really close.
Guy-friend confesses to her that he likes her. She realises that she actually likes him too. She feels her own relationship is like being married (they love each other but are not IN love with each other). Guy-friend makes her feel in love and all that.
What should she do? She does honestly think that she and her boyfriend arent that perfect for each other etc, but how should she end it with him if she wants to do that?
The boyfriend, important to note, is very emotional (no, not the type that slashes wrists).
Options we worked out together (although none seem particularly apt in this case:
1) break up with bf citing unable to maintain a rship while studying
2) break up with bf citing theyre not meant to be
3) break up with bf citing that she loves guy-friend
4) take two weeks off from rship with bf citing commitment issues (and see if things would work with guy-friend).
The issue is compounded by the fact that she and bf share the same group of friends.
Its rather quite a pickle. Sigh.
Please help, someone.
Mika
-
Hi
Thats awesome!!! Anemones and stuff seems so cheap there! (the last pair of harlequin shrimp was $250 on wholesale here, that means my LFS would sell it for $1000!!!! and thats aussie dollars!)
You are right, i think helios dont like sand dumped on them. Just hope they dont topple off the rockwork.
Have the other clowns started hosting in the anemones?
-
$5-$8 for a BTA?? Sounds like a joke! Theyre not even that price on wholesale here!
How much are sebae (crispa) anemones?
Carpet price range?
Thanks so much.
Make sure you move the Heliofungia down to the sandbed (as tehyre found in nature).
Cheers
Mika
-
Forgot to mention that waratah anemones are generally temperate. Dont know how well theyd survive in tropical conditions in the long run. Would be good to give it a test.
-
Hi
The 'normal' anemones you bought were Entacmaea quadricolor (BTAs) These split by division and are hosts of maroon clowns. The ones you got are only slightly bleached. Feed them with fish or prawn or mysis to increase growth although (arguably) food is not strictly necessary.
The 'strawberries' are Actinia tenebrosa Waratah anemones. Native of cooler water australian coast. They are aphotosynthetic (dont need light to live) but must be fed. They can and will take quite large food. When fed regularly, the mother will throw out several large baby polyps. Do beware, i took one from the coast and it ate my small occelaris clown. Very stickly little devils too.
The white anemone is (probably) Heteractis crispa A better shot showing the column of the anemone would confirm this. It is extremely bleached. Ensure that they are fed at least twice weekly until they regain colour. If they are not fed and do not regain colour, they will almost certainly perish. They host A. percula and A. occelaris in the wild. These can be found on sandbed or attached to rockwork in nature.
The heliofungia plates shouldnt be placed on the rock IMO cos a fall would damage their tissue (and they do move on their own). They are found on sandbed in nature.
When you go shopping you really buy the whole store.
Out of curiosity, how much do BTAs, crispas, carpets and waratahs cost in singapore?
-
Hi
Thats somewhat true, the bigger BTAs tend to be a bit more sensitive (but if you dont have any exposed inlets to anything it should be fine). They can get really pretty too (look like magnificas sometimes). However, i think youre judgment of them is unfair as they died due to your fault (poke poke).
Smaller BTAs that come in on LR are amazingly hardy (the ones about an inch or two across). They seem to grow incredibly fast too but arent generally too colourful, unfortunately.
Crispas (from what i remember) in singapore came in very bleached (this species generally doesnt ship well and often goes a very 'nice' white with purple tips which encourages people to buy the nem thats already on the decline). Healthy crispas are really nice things though, about a foot across, nice long, tapered tentacles and they dont move nearly as much as BTAs do (ive basically sworn off them).
Im studying in Oz now, but ill be back next year for NS (how fun).
Heres a link to this cool pic i found of the type of anemone field you get on the GBR.
http://www.bonsainut.com/reef/Anemone%20City.pdf
The fish are arguably A. Melanopus though.
Hope this helps. More pics soon?
PS, im not some old time reefer, just a kid here
-
Hi
Most clown species interact very little with other clown species in the wild. Exceptions would include in large anemones (or patches of clonal species), more than one species may share the anemone (eg A periderion and A occelaris are often seen in H crispa or H magnifica together in the wild).
If the maroons arent giving anyone else trouble i would keep them (they really are quite a nice pair). Maroons are generally alright with most other fish (save other clowns) unless they venture too near their home. I have heard bad stuff about maroons and less agro species of clowns (say, percs for example). Guess you should see how it goes.
What anemone species did you manage to get hold of at 'CF'? If you got more anemones or more species, you might be able to create the 'anemone field' look that Waikiki aquarium has (they have several BTAs and S mertensii - possibly H magnifica too - in the one tank with loads of clowns).
Another interesting habitat to recreate would be the large fields of BTA clones often seen in the GBR area. These clones are often cover a large area (10s of square metres) and basically carpet the rock bommie to look like one very large anemone. On the GBR, theyre mostly utilised by A melanopus but im sure youll be able to recreate it in the tank with the maroons.
PS, what size is your tank? Was thinking of setting up a nice 2 x 1.5 x 1.5 with a large H crispa, M doreensis or S haddoni and have some clowns in it when i get back.
-
Hi
Just some comments about your tank:
I really like the rockwork. Its nice how you juxtaposed the nice plating monti looking slab in the centre with nice branchy side walls. Should be really good for anemone attachment.
I do think, however, that the anemones should have been put in for at least a couple of weeks before any fish were added. Ive had lotsa BTAs over-abused by maroon clowns especially.
Another thing you might try is adding a few massive BTAs. Maroons in the wild live in the large solitary (deep water) BTAs, as compared to the small clonal ones most commonly collected (i think i remember seeing very very large BTAs eons ago when reborn was still in paya lebah - mind you this was 8+years ago and my memory is hazy). They really do look much better, i think, than hovering over a house too small (think HDB flat, lol).
Just as an aside, i found BTAs more sensitive than LTAs (M. doreensis) and haddoni carpets (S. haddoni). The polymnus would host the latter while ive had many maroons host the former (as have some percs ive seen). Both species live on the sand bed in nature though, and tend not to move around much.
Purely my 2pence worth. Hope this helps. So far looks very nice though. Your maroon pair is gorgeous!!! (how big is the big female?)
Are the maroons giving the other clowns trouble?
-
Hi
Their common name is Saddleback clown. They were also sold as black perculas a while back (juveniles) and come in brown form too. They get pretty big (about 5" i think) and host really nicely in a haddoni carpet.
The scientific name is Amphiprion polymnus
Hope this helps
-
Your clowns look like A polymnus to me.
-
What species of anemone? Got pic?
-
Hi
Thanks Alvin, that cleared it up for me
Just one last thing, are the clams likely to fade out or brown out under the lower limits of their lighting range? No point keeping clams under the bare minimum lighting only to have them go brown!
-
Thanks for hte info, will check out the sites when i get back from class.
Btw, that LPS species looks like Pectinia sp. (probably paeonea)
-
Which species of carpet? (Haddoni or Gigantea?
Pretty colours?
-
If you mean studying as in getting a qualification in Marine Biology, then I'm not although I would want to pursue that in the future (currently studying in Temasek Polytechnic). But if you meant studying as in learning Marine Biology, then yes, I am doing that by reading university textbooks on the subject.
Anyway, for most part of my blog, we are monitoring seagrasses at the intertidal zones around Singapore and that is why you'll see that almost every entry has some pictures of seagrass.
If anyone is interested in visiting these intertidal zones, you can sign up for nature walks to some of the places. There's one coming up soon for Sentosa. CJ won't be available for a few months from around February to maybe June as there was a mass dieoff if you read it from the blog. Semakau is available but the trip there is very expensive.
That's probably the few places you guys can visit. Some places like Cyrene, P. Sekudu and the southern islands are still quite restricted to public access I think
Thats awesome.
Did you guys spot many carpet anemones when you were there? Theres one pic i found on your blog (s haddoni) and was wondering how common s gigantea are in singapore. The sites say theyre found in singapore but they seem less common.
Im not out to collect them but if theyre found in singapore, youd assume someones selling them commercially (trying to get hold of a gigantea if i can when i get back)
-
Hi
Are you studying marine biol or somehting? Im trying to do MSc in marine bio when im done with NS (thats ages away though). Where are you studying and what research are you guys doing?
-
Hi
Alvin, i sorta get what you mean but, whether the tank is 12" deep or 30" deep, youre saying that 1 (150w?) 10,000k halide should be good.
What i meant was what is the minimum lighting level for a clam (say crocea since that seems the most common in sg) in, say, a 12" or 18" deep tank. Cos in that case, wouldnt t5s be enough?
Thanks again
Mika
-
Thanks for hte reply Alvin! What about if the tank is 12" deep?
Btw, in all these cases, lets assume that if the tank is, say 24" deep, the clam is on the sand bed (ie 24" away from the light) cos if not you can argue that lower lgihting is possible if hte clam was 2" away from the surface.
-
Hi
Thanks for the reply.
Would the super sun corals open up immediately (after acclimating) when i get them or do i need to tempt them open like tubastrea by squirting squid juice or mysis juice into the tank?
(Dont wanna spend so much if i cant get it to open for me).
Wheres a good place to source them? Are they common, but expensive or are they generally rare?
-
Lol, i sorta see it now.
Im not really up to collect them myself, im more of the let other peopel do it and pay them later kinda guy.
All i meant was that if they were common locally, in such wonderful colours, they should be commercially available hopefully at lower prices.
It seems that the vast majority of the anemones on those sites are S Haddoni, has anyone seen S gigantea around for sale?
S gigantea generally have longer, tapered tentacles than the tight, almost bulbous tipped ones of haddoni. They tend to be not as sticky and are usually found in shades of brown, grey, green and occasionally blue and purple. Another distinguishing factor is the presence of verrucae (usually magenta or orange) on their columns (haddonis dont have any).
-
Why does everyone assume i wanna go steal some? lol
Clowns and Anemones Only
in Members Tank & Specs
Posted
I hope you dont have an anemone in a three week old tank. Im not one of those people who thinks that the tank needs to be a year old for an anemone or it needs to have 50kg of LR to have a mandarin but three weeks is early by all accounts.
Additionally, if you havent been through the cyano or hair algae bloom yet, your tank is definitely not mature enough for an anemone. No doubt introducing one into an unmatured tank would only lead to a bigger bloom.
I would up skimming and do bigger water changes. Prizms are a bit underpowered (they say theyll do a 90gal tank but not really).
Not too sure if turbos do any good with cyano on the sand (they do a fair job for cyano on the glass though) but cucumbers are great for sand bed maintainence. Some people have had issues with them nuking the tank but i havent encountered that. Never had much exp with sand sifter stars (they do eat fish if they get hungry enough).
Hope this helps.
Nitro, your two big BTAs look really different from the two smaller ones you have (elongated tentacles and a concealed base). Have the newer additions reverted to the more typical BTA morphology yet? Interesting...