A Saga: Nikki's 120 gallon

[NaH2O]

WOW, Gene - talk about anemones! I can see the "happy go lucky" face on your female clarkii . She looks like she just needs a cuddle. :lol:

Well, after some serious debate and talking with a local friend/reefer, I decided against the A. chrysopterus, so I cancelled my order this morning. I knew these clowns were prone to brook, but I was unaware as to how badly they ship, and brook is very bad in these. I decided I didn't want to do "super ultra care" for a couple of fish in QT for who knows how long, if they even survived to make it into the display. My friend also thought the price seemed cheap for chrysopterus. So, that was another factor - the last thing I wanted was to get the fish in, only to realize it may not truely be a chrysopterus. The one thing that sucks about ordering fish online - you don't get to see the specimen you receive prior to purchase. For all I know, these guys already have a bad case of brook. *sigh* back to the drawing board....which clowns to get

 

[wrightme43]

Hey Nikki, You could just go absolutly crazy (LOL) and put the black and orange OCC. clowns in. They are super cool. My Friend Mitch has them small Juvie, Tank raised in store, on sale right now 24.99 each. I would ship them to you if you want to pay shipping. These guys are super hardy, all of his babys have thier own net, and collection cup and all have thier own tanks set up. Really nice fish. They are about 1.5-2 inch in size. HTH Steve
P.S. he breeds them in store.

 

[big t]

I vote for Black Ocellaris. I love them and I have considered trading my regular ocellaris in a couple times. But I have had my female for almost 3 years now, so i just can't do it. Glad to hear that your tank is on the up and up.

 

[Maxx]

hey Nikki,
I have to commend you on your difficult decision to cancel the order on the Chrysopterus from Live Aquaria. After some long hard thinking.....(check book/financial status studying as well) I came to the same conclusion. The truly frustrating part about being in the midwest, is that its tough to get delicate fish and inverts out this far. There are ALOT of stops in between and lengthy periods between boxing up for shipping, shipping, and then finally to destination and acclimation. Its really stressful on critters that have a harder time adjusting to radical changes in environment, even for a short period of time.
If Steve knows someone who breeds Occellaris clowns, and you like the way they look, I would seriously consider getting a pair. I know you have a lot of flow in your tank, but there has to be an area where the flow isnt that heavy. And clowns rarely stray far from their host anemone....just something to think about.

Nick

 

[Maxx]

Ever thought about A. bicinctus?

There are another pretty clown in the Clarkii complex....and they have been bred by ORA in the past.

Here is a link to a search I did on RC looking for threads about Bicinctus clowns....

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/s...owresults&searchid=4462884&sortby=&sortorder=

They are hardier than Chrysopterus clowns, but can be almost as pretty....oh yeah, they also accept just about every freakin anemone as well.


Nick

 

[zhenya]

She looks like she just needs a cuddle.

Yeah, she got that sad look in her eye...

I got scars to prove that she's the meanest girl I ever met.

I would also like to add that I understand your decision perfectly, getting a captive bred fish would be an exellent choice.

 

[NaH2O]

Awww - Gene, those are just love bites!

Thanks all for the clownfish recommendations. I'm tossing around some ideas, which include the black and white Ocellaris.

I ordered a couple of crocea clams from Clams Direct on Tuesday, for shipment today. They arrived before 9am, and I acclimated them for 3 hours. I have them in the tank right now, with just the actinics on. They seem to be satisfied with the spots I chose for them. The only thing I'm concerned with, a peppermint shrimp started picking at the shell on the larger clam. No biggie, I thought. Then, I swear it nipped at the clam's mantle. I watched it, and it appeared to do it again later on, but I couldn't tell if it was trying to get at something up near the mantle, or the flesh. The clam snapped shut pretty quick. Anyone have problems with Peppermints and clams? I may have to put some food in the tank, so the shrimp leaves the clam alone. At least I avoided getting squirt in the face no one tells you about that at clam initiation.

 

[Maxx]

Nikki if we had told you, we would have been banned from the group. I just wish I could have heard you squeal. My new Teardrop startled me yesterday when I was transferring it to the tank...got my shirt soaked. The dogs were trying to figure out what was going on.

Nick

 

[NaH2O]

I just wish I could have heard you squeal.

LOL! and you probably would have made a recording of it to post. My daughter thought it was funny, however, she is blabbing that the clam bit me and made me scream! I should make her carry an explaination card around with her.

Well, here are a few pics of my gorgeous clams! Thanks Barry!! My buddy - great talking with you, your customer service can't be beat (even though I know you made Gene do all the work in the booth at MACNA ). These shots were taken about 5 hours or so after they were in the tank (~8 hours after the start of acclimation).

The first two shots, you can see the color difference depending on how you look at the clam. The second two shots are of the larger clam. It was gaping a tad, but I'm not overly concerned about it after speaking with Barry. It is responding to shadows, and it had its mantle stretched out. My happy clams ...... now affectionately named Ernie and Bernie by my daughter.

Also, please ignore the algae....anyone that has followed this thread knows I'm struggling with bad algae right now. Hopefully, the clams will help remove the excess nutrients that seem to be feeding it. *fingers crossed* - it will be a reeftank soon!!

 

[Angelscrx]

Gorgeous clams Nikki! Have you posted them in the Clam forum? I am sure people there would love to see them!

 

[mojoreef]

Very nice Nikki!!! got to love those patterns


Mike

 

[zhenya]

Great looking croceas, Nikki. It was sure fun meeting all you guys at MACNA and I'm glad you finally squeezed some clams out of Barry.

even though I know you made Gene do all the work in the booth at MACNA

Nikki, you know that you'll never get Barry to admit this

 

[MtnDewMan]

Very nice Nikki ... how about a wider shot to see how you have them placed in the tanK? Your reef is growing for sure.

 

[CarlaW]

Congrats Nikki. They are really pretty lookin clams. I agree with MDM, we need to see the whole thing so we can get an idea of what's goin on!!

 

[Scooterman]

WOW Nikki are you going to harvest some of that green stuff, bet you'll get a ton of cash for that stuff, I could turf my lawn with that. Oh yea next time move those beautiful clams outa that way so we can see a better shot of the green stuff

 

[wrightme43]

Yeah, Come on Nikki. Hook us up with a full tank shot. Mmmmmm 120 gallon mmmmmmmmmmm. LOL Steve

 

[NaH2O]

WOW Nikki are you going to harvest some of that green stuff, bet you'll get a ton of cash for that stuff, I could turf my lawn with that. Oh yea next time move those beautiful clams outa that way so we can see a better shot of the green stuff

:lol: :lol: Yeah - I considered sticking some bottles and an old shoe in the tank, just to finish out the look. Watch it - you may be jinxing yourself.....I'd hate to hear your algae made a return LOL

I'll work on getting a tank centerfold shot. I really would like to wait until the foxface has had an opportunity to chow down a little more. The good news is, when Hooked/Katrina came over yesterday, she thought the algae was looking better, that there were actually some bare spots.

My larger clam had jumped off the rock sometime overnight, so I set it back in its spot this morning. Hopefully, she'll stay put this time.

 

[CarlaW]

Nikki,
You don't have any old clam halfshells do you? I try to get them to attach to one of those before I place them in their final spot.

 

[Scooterman]

LOL, yea I know I was asking for that one, I hope it doesn't come back that strong again, whew.

 

[NaH2O]

A Saga, Indeed

Nikki,
You don't have any old clam halfshells do you?

No - I wish I did - for sure I would have tried to get them to attach to that first.....it would have made what I needed to do today so much easier....read on......

OK - this week has been a frustrating one for me. I'm getting tired of looking at the algae. Grrrr. Last Friday - I went into Premium Aquatics to "look" at the anemones Jeremy so graciously informed me they received. Well, the RBTAs looked really really nice, and the spawning pair of Tomato clowns seemed so cozy, I decided to buy one (rbta, not clown pair). Well, the RBTA in the store was oh, I'd say 4 inches across or so. When I placed it in the tank, it was not happy. I turned the closed loop off for the evening, and in the morning it had found a happy place.....which I approved of. I turned the CL back on, and the anemone stayed put. HORRAY! It was opened up about 8 inches or so, and I couldn't believe its size....I didn't expect it to be that big. A day or so passes, and the anemone starts doing funky things.....is it pooping, is it trying to split, is it dying?? What the heck??? LOLOL - thank goodness Nick/Maxx was there to encourage me about the anemone I was certain was dying. I've quit wondering what it was doing....but it is fine now (either that or I'm ignoring it ). Onto other concerns......like my clams. I had been noticing over the past few days that the smaller clam's mantle appeared to be "curling" up. The only way I can describe it is like when a leaf starts to dry up, and its edges curl. Then, yesterday, I noticed the larger clam was doing the same thing just in a small spot. I did a quick search on Clams Direct today, and discovered a remedy of a fresh water dip. What? no way! I called the Clam Master himself, Barry at Clams Direct, sent him a couple of pics, and after discussing what we were seeing, Barry suggested to go ahead with a 25 minute fresh water dip. I made about 2.5 gallons of RO/DI water, raised the temp to match the tank, and matched the pH with the tank, too. Now....time to remove the clams. Smaller clam wasn't attached - yeah for me! Larger clam.....of course....attached. I was more nervous about cutting the threads than doing the fresh water dip. I used a razor blade and holding it against the rock, I ran it under the clam. After getting the initial threads, I was able to feel where the other ones were, I cut those, and the clam was free. Both clams were placed in the FWD for 25 minutes, shell blasted with the turkey baster, then placed back in the tank. *sigh* Hopefully, they will make a nice recovery. We'll see how they look on Saturday....I don't want to judge them too soon.

Needless to say, earlier today, I was ready to chuck the tank out of the window. Good thing that Magnificant Rabbitfish is so pretty. Sometimes I feel like I haven't been able to catch a break with this tank. Oh well, maybe in a few months if the algae is still hanging in there, I'll add an old shoe, a few bottles, and call it a nutrient ladened biotope.