Packleader's 40 gallon thread

Some more pics:

Full tank shot:


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Angel:






Updates:

Everything is alive and happy. Clams and SPS are doing well. The hydno would be the only exception. Sunday night I tossed it. It hadnt opened besides the very first hour I had it in the tank. The angel was also picking at it. I am not sure if the angel did it, I did it, or it was doomed from the start. I don't think it was the angel though. The angel does not pick at anything else, which has me leaning towards something being off with the hydno from the getgo.
I am slowly becoming concerned with my male clowns aggression. I can no longer stick my hand into the tank on the clowns side without being bitten. He's got a pretty good chomp for a small fella too. Scares the bejesus out of me every time. Anyone that sees it thinks its hysterical though. And, really, it is. But thats not what is worrying me. Lately, on two different occasions, he has gone after my tang pretty well. And the tang is not one to back down either, but it does end up on the losing end. The only thing I can figure is that the clown has simply moved on to the next smallest fish in the tank to bully. It used to be the yellow tailed. Then I got rid of the yellow tail. Then it was the blue damsel. But I also got rid of that. So the next smallest is now the tang, and it also happens to be the only fish in the tank smaller than the clowns (yes, the tang is the SMALLEST fish I have). The male never has batted an eye at the angel nor the mandarin (the mandarin being the largest fish in the tank).

 

Great looking tank!!! but the aggression should not be tolerated, especially if he is bullying other fish like that, and I have no real clue what to do. I know when I stick my hand in my tank the damsel is right there ready to bite, and he has some chompers!! but my question is.... how in the heck is your manderin the biggest fish in the tank????? ;D

 

Dude...that rock above the zoas...move it a little to the left. And up about an inch. Then over to the side a tad. Then it would be perfect. But just that one little rock above the zoas. That is short for zoanthids. Zoas. OK....I am done. Looks great dude. I like it better too. Not that the other totally sucked....but this is an improvement.

 

LOL, I have small fish The hippo is the typical "baby" you will see at the LFS's. About an inch and a half. Then the clowns. And I guess it would be a toss up between the mandarin and the angel, depending on how you loook at it. The angel is "tall", but the mandarin is longer.

 

dude, that angel looks HUGE! c'mon now, there's no way that manderin is bigger! how are the birdsnest doing?

 

ohh ya, i think both the clams should be up at top, 150 watt's of MH is not that much for a 40 gallon, but still not bad at all. I think the crocea's require quite a bit of light if i'm not mistaken.

 

The angel is about 3 1/2" long. The mandarin is about 3 3/4". Its close dude, but the mandarin is slightly longer.
As far as the aggression, I am going to let it be for now. They haven't actually damaged each other, so not a dire emergency by any means. Worse case I may go and get a little fancy damsel of some sorts. Something that the clown can pick on instead of the tang, but can take it/dish it out better than the tang as well.
As far as the birdsnest, here are some pics tonight:






To me, it looks like the tissue is recovering. But definitely not receding, so I don't think it is RTN. What do you think?

 

do the polyps ever fully extend? like really stretched out as far as they can? if they are kinda close like that all the time, i really don't know what to say. But, I wouldn't lose hope yet. If it was RTN the tissue would be gone already, usually happens quite fast and is very noticeable.

 

No, they stay like this when open. When closed, you cant really even see the green

 

Move them lower for sure, like in the substrate level, see if that does anything. And give them plenty time to heal, they should recover, but you could possibly make it worse by giving them too much light. Birdsnest are really hardy and not that light demanding really, ust hope for the best but do not toss them unless you see rapid tissue loss, which hopefully shouldn't happen.