Mid-Week Maintenance!
I had today off from work as a holiday and spent a little time this afternoon working on the tank:
- Slight adjustment to the return nozzle (in effect, probably made no difference)
- Fed the tank
- Spot fed the anemone and most of the LPS
- Made new VSV
- Blew out the live rock with a power head
I haven’t been posting it, but I’ve been continuing along on a regular maintenance routine every day. In the morning I dose 2.5ml VSV and ~2x a week feed the tank. In the evening I dose 2.5ml VSV again, lightly feed the tank. A bit later in the evening I blow out the live rock. At lights out I lightly feed the tank again.
Exciting New Purchase!!
A local reefer and breeder, Matt P, has a trio of Centropyge argi in one of his tanks that really caught my eye when I went to his place to pick up Alvy. For the better part of the past year I have been looking for a trio of a different species to add to our tank, but with no luck. Several of this particular species became available over the summer at BlueZoo but sold out while I was emailing back and forth with their livestock director about the fishes size, quarantine period, eating habits, etc. A few weeks later a LFS had two available, but not a third. Sporadically over the past few months one would pop up on Live Aquaria’s Divers Den. Last week before the holidays I noticed two were available… but not three. Getting closer!!
I checked Divers Den yesterday, same status. “At least there’s still the two there,” I thought to myself. This morning I checked the site and a THIRD was available!! I immediately told unruly, who said “Go for it!!” I wasted a bunch of time trying to remember my login and password, and then updating the shipping and billing info, and just – just – missed the shipping cutoff for today. With the holiday on Thursday, the fish won’t be shipped until next Monday. But, they’re ours.
So what exactly is this species? You’ll have to wait till Tuesday to find out. :)
Back from the holidays!
Had a very nice trip to Texas to visit the in-laws. A lot of fun, a lot of love, a lot of nice warm weather! It’s still hard adjusting to our rotating holiday schedule, I missed my family and I know how unruly felt at Thanksgiving when she was missing hers. I don’t expect it will ever get easier to split up the holidays but at least we both have really welcoming families. That makes it easier to deal with.
Came back late Saturday afternoon. Everything looked in order, so one of the first things we did was feed the fish (including Bert the fresh water betta). They were all very anxious to eat so we fed a couple times over the course of the evening.
I noticed that one of the blue Florida ricordea mushrooms split while we were away. This was just a matter of time; it had two mouths for a while and it was very evident that it was in the process of splitting. I also noticed that there was no noticeable algae growth while we were gone! This was a nice change from Thanksgiving, when we saw a big algae bloom in our absence. Is this a sign that nutrients are finally under control, or that the clean-up crew is hard at work, or something else? I don’t know, but it was a nice surprise to come home to.
This morning (Sunday) we woke up to see that the male pajama cardinal spit out the eggs. I think this was right on schedule.
As for maintenance, today I did a 5-gallon water change, cleaned the skimmer, and dosed a vial of Prodibio BioDigest. I also added a couple ml of VSV over the course of the day at several-hour intervals. As part of the water change I spent a while really blowing out the live rock with a powerhead.
Happy Holidays!!!
We’re off to Texas for a few days. Fed the fish a bit this morning before work and a friend is coming in this evening to give them some food. That’s all they get for 4 days! We’ll be back Saturday night and I have a feeling the first things we’ll do when we get back are go to the bathroom, feed the fish, and unpack.
Happy holidays!!
Minor Maintenance, New Growth
Getting ready for the holidays and a couple days out of town. Did a 5-gallon water change this evening, in addition to the normal maintenance routine of blowing out the live rock, dosing ~2.5ml VSV, and feeding the tank a couple times.
Noticed that the unknown green/tan/pink SPS has a new ridge of growth. It is a very light green color with orange polyps, similar to the small spot it encrusted over the live rock in its last location. It has had better polyp extension since I moved it, I hope this is the beginning of a nice growth spurt. I’m very curious to see how this looks.
New PJ Cardinal Photos
Here are some daily photos of the male pajama cardinal:
Male Pajama Cardinal ~ Day 1
Close-up of eggs ~ Day 1
Male Pajama Cardinal ~ Day 2
Male Pajama Cardinal ~ Day 2
