Doratus' 40G - updated 4/29/2012

And finally, the updated FTS.



You can spot all six of my fish in this photo. Can you see them all?

Thanks for lookin everyone!

 

very nice! I love the mandarin
!;D

 

Thanks! So do I... I just hope it doesn't starve to death.

 

Another FTS with a little different contrast. (It's hard to capture the true essence of an aquarium with a cell phone camera.)

Also, you can see how the smaller male clown is investigating the hammer to the bottom right while the bigger female is on the frogspawn to the upper left. I just don't know if they are worth it...

 

Your tank is absolutely stunning. I know it's been said a couple times now but it has come a long way from pg.1. I bought a 40B from petco during their last sale (mid-june I think) but I have yet to do anything with it. Felt I should tell you that you've inspired me, and I think I'll be starting it up shortly. This is really an awesome tank and you take such amazing pictures (again, it's been said) that it's hard to believe most are done by phone. Keep up the good work!

 

Awesome! That's the best compliment anyone could give me! Feel free to ask me any questions you might have about your 40b because I pretty much have this tank size down to a science. I could go all day about the lessons I've learned. It's just that most people don't care.

 

Great update Doratus

permanent solution to the clown harassing a coral is to remove one or the other IMHE
I will not have clown fish anymore for this very reason , you cannot ensure the corals they want to be hosted by, are not corals that are going to be stressed by the constant attention In my case they selected Anthellia initially and the coral seemed to not care less, later they moved into one of my torch corals, that thereafter spent to much of the time deflated due to their activity


reactor in the sump - no obvious problems come to mind
I have seen a number set up like this as often there is limited space in the cabinet

Steve

 

Thank you. Coming from someone with your experience, it means a lot.

I'm on the verge of trying to capture and relocate my clown pair. They are so comfortable with each other and are so healthy that it gives me reason to pause. The brain coral is easily worth $100 so I'm thinking that a pair of clowns that cost me about $30 total are not worth keeping. The clowns harassed a torch coral of mine as well until they found the brain. Now that the brain is covered up they haven't gone back to the torch, but maybe it's only a matter of time. I'll just have to keep thinking about it. The reactor in the sump was a totally random idea but it seems to work out perfectly.

Thanks again for your input.

 

Tank looks great doratus. Hopefully the clowns will let up for you sometime soon! haha

 

The clowns actually never did learn to behave, so I traded them for a Solorensis Wrasse, which jumped out of my tank the same day I got it. I was having a conversation with my neighbor in the middle of doing a water change and before I knew it a half hour had passed, and sure enough the lid was left off. Major bummer.

Before getting the Solorensis wrasse, my Flasher Wrasse was found dead in the substrate one morning. It was very hard to tell what it died from because the CuC was already hard at work. The color and scales looked relatively normal and healthy so my guess is that a crab or something like that got it in the night while it was sleeping. Another shame.

I found another zoa eating nudibranch, and scraped some nudi eggs off the glass. Haven't seen another since, but I'm sure they are still there. All my zoa colonies seem okay for now.

Banggai Cardinal pair are still doing wonderfully. They basically eat out of my hand, and have essentially taken over the role of "tank stars" that the clowns used to be in. I really hope they spawn at some point, that would be cool.

Mandarin Goby is doing awesome. All he (she?) ever does is hover around the live rock eating pods, and still I can see pods all over my glass. In the sump I have chaeto and every once in a while I shake that out into the main display. (idea courtesy of Corailline)
Since there is no competition for pods in my system I think the mandarin has a really good chance. It's very fat (almost too fat) and is basically fearless, so it must be content.

Having only a mandarin goby and a pair of cardinals I decided to once again try another new fish. The LFS had something labeled as a "Blue Spot Black Window Blenny" which, after some research, came home with me. It's really an awesome fish, very similar to most blennys. It's basically like a black Midas Blenny. It also has some pretty cool blue tribal looking markings on his face, but those only come out when he is stressed. At first it was very shy but now it greets me at the glass for feeding along with the cardinals.

Corals all look pretty good, although some things like the frogspawn and hammer look as if they could be more inflated. All shrimp, clams, feather dusters, etc are doing great as well.

Not much difference in Nitrate levels since adding the Bio Pellets. They say to leave everything alone for 8 weeks and it's only been 4, so I'll just give it some more time.

I also moved the tank to a completely different stand which is higher off the ground and much more stable. I live in earthquake country and now that the tank has been moved I can finally get some sleep.

Everyday it seems there is a little bit of progress. One ironic thing I've come to realize is that I'm not happy when there is nothing to be done to my aquarium. When I actually have a chore to do, when I need to move that coral, when I need to find and remove a pest, when I need to do a water change and test parameters... all of that stuff is what I enjoy, it's not actually sitting there looking at the tank. Anyone else feel that way?

I'll get some pictures soon, I'm just feeling lazy right now.