Kobi Identified

Now that he has reappeared (finally woo)i can attempt to identify him. Me and lizzi have tried to but not with much luck as the photo i had was rubbish compared to actually looking at him.

We have come to the conclusion that he is probably a member of the Tritoniopsis Elegans family.

You can find more at this link HERE

Here is what he could look like, if we have it right.

Big shuffel about

Ive decided to move all the rocks about for several reasons.

Firstly the black-green bacteria stuff has bloomed since Todd died so ive decided to do a big water change and i figured first id take the dirtiest rocks out and give them a good scrub in dirty water.

With all this movement i figured id move the anemone so you can see it easier. Its last home was round the back and only one clown fish was using it, so i figured a more open spot would be better for all.

Another reason, last night i saw Jacques and Arnie butting heads over territory, im fairly sure Jacques is to blame so if he doesn't settle in the new territory he might have to go back im sorry to say.

So with the rocks now clean and rearranged the tank looks good, but there is a lot of crap thats been stirred up. I want to change the water today to help fight this black-green crap. But the fish look a little freaked out. So im guna wait a few hours before i upset them some more. This also gives Kobi some more time to move away from the water line where i spotted him this morning. As i dont want to starve him from water when i remove a third of the tank.

KOBI ALIVE AND WELL!!!!

Wooo while checking the tanks black bacteria problem i spotted our little friend round the right hand side of the tank looking bigger which is fantastic woo :D

Working weekend = death :'(

After working away Simone came home from a friends to find Todd dead. Sad times he was ill from marine white spot but after a 3 day treatment course he was looking healthy. Im guna have to put this down to natural causes. Which really sucks cause i liked him :'( Guna go and do a big water change today to get rid of the ammonia and other stuff in the water that might have built up after Todd dyeing.

May Poseidon rest his soul!

Bringing the death count up to.....7

1 Threadfin Butterflyfish (Todd)
4 turbo snails (never buying them again, Shaun's and Sam's)
1 red legged hermit crab (griffin)
1 dancing shrimp (Bunny)

The day in the life of a stupid fish

The morning has arrived and thankfully Cousteau got him self out of the back, i wasnt looking forward to trying to get him out. Over the night i pulled out one of the pumps and turned it off leaving a large enough tunnel for him to get back into the main tank.

Phew!!! lets hope he doesn't go 'exploring' again!

MISSING - Presumed IDIOT!!!

After retuning from the pub i go to check on the little guys. After a scan around i notice we are one fish short!!! A bit shocked i search frantically about looking for little Cousteau. Worried he might have been eaten by Jacques, highly doubt it though. I opened the lid to see Cousteau behind the back wall on the right trapped in the filter section of the tank.

God knows how he got in there, let alone how to get him out!

Total Maintenance Done

Ok so here is how it stands, i am really regretting buying this tank, dont get me wrong i love having these fish its wicked, but i wish i had gone to a different shop and get a different tank. From what ive gathered Maidenhead Aquatics in Havant dont know what they are talking about and they will quite happily sell an electric blanket to a Saudi. They dont ask what you have what u want or give you enough information before you buy. For me this has been an up hill struggle learning what i need to look after it all. But thanks to the shop assistants and managers of The Aquatics Centre in North road and the Fish shop by Asda (cant remember the name) i have managed to figure it all out. Oh and the manager at the Fish/Bird/Reptile shop near Asda is a relative encyclopida on marine fish he rocks.

Ok so far, the tank i have isnt really supposed to be used as a marine tank, there isnt a built in protein skimmer and the smallest on the market is the only one that fits. To get that to fit you have to place the heating unit where the pumps are. You then have to open the lid, cut a section out of the lid. Then unscrew the transformer, move it to the other side of the lid. I achieved this by getting new wire and junction boxes from Maplin (they were very helpful). I then cut some polycarbonate into shape and glued it into place using special marine sealant. You MUST use the special sealant stuff other wise it can release toxins into the water. I did all this so that the protein skimmer would fit and not bubble water into the lid.

The Protein Skimmer itself needs to be emptied now and again, to do this you lift off the little box on the top. This sounds easy enough, once you remove the box when you put it back on it pushes the whole skimmer down under water. For it to work the top needs to be at the water line. To hold this fantastic piece of kit they designers use 3 suction cups which have a tendency to stick to the wall more than the skimmer grrrr. So to combat this i have installed a large Cable tie. Cause if you cant fix it with Cable ties/duck tape/super glue u cant fix it at all!!!

Next to the tank

One thing that i have always wanted to do is grow chilli peppers so that i can make my own uber-hot-chilli-sauce, so what ive done is, i have (with simone's instruction) got a plant pot, put some mud and stones and planted the seeds. Ive placed it next to the tank because its warm enough and there is a regular light cycle. Will let you know how it goes.

Currently i have Scotch Bonnets and Dorset Naga's growing in there, 6 seeds, i wonder what will grow.

Ok so here's the plan...

Because now i know what im doing with my tank (AT LAST) i can now look after my fishy friends.

The cleaning sceme is now;

Change 25% of the water every 3rd weeks

Test the water every 2nd week

Until bottle runs out add one cap full of 'good bacteria' (Actimel for fish)


Feed fish appropriate amount (not too much like i was doing)

Regularly scrub the walls

Wooo!

A new friend!

As the tank hasn't been very clean up until now along with the increased water changes and other care ive started giving it I have gone and bought a sand sifting starfish and we have called him Klaus, to keep in theme with the other names. He is wicked and he went straight to work on the cleaning the sand.

I placed him on the rock as you can see for the photo.

He wanted to be in the sand


However he landed on the sand upside down, watching them flip round is wicked, however Todd is being a bit of a dick while this is going on as Klaus has some sand stuck to him.

UNCLEAN UNCLEAN!!!

After much work the tank is now clean and working well. Apart from Todd he has started developing white spots on his fins, bad times :(

After a trek down to the aquatics centre i am now sure it is Marine white spot. A very common parasitic condition caused by high saline levels or other imbalances in the water.

Luckily the medicine is cheep and cures lots of other things too. It is a three day course 25 drops on the first day and 12 the next two. The medicine is a neon green so now the whole tank is well green hehe.

Get well soon Todd!



What is actually wrong with him!



"Marine white spot is caused by a ciliate parasite called Cryptocaryon irritans and was only identified as a distinct parasite in its own right in 1951. Although the disease’s symptoms appear similar to freshwater white spot (Ichthyophthirius multifiliis) the two parasites are not very closely related and both need different husbandry and/or treatment regimes to prevent and resolve an outbreak. "

The cure...

Water change needed!

After consulting Mr. Fox he informed me that the water was filthy and it needed changing. After much instruction from the North road aquarium they taught me all i needed to know, which is exactly what i wanted as the Havant aquatics centre didnt tell me diddley squat! I have now got an information sheet showing what all the levels have to be at. Turns out they told me a figure way to high for the salt in Havant (never going there again!!!) SO ive now changed the water and replaced the cleaning materials and Simone is being a scientist and doing all the testing she was loving it :D All the values came out in the green which is great. Apart form the the Gravity (salt content) that was in the red and that is because of Havant aquatics centre. Shouldnt be too much of an issue i will slowly lower the gravity over the next week till its in the green, i just hope none of the fish get any parasites :(

Homes for clowns

As ive now got more rock i figure its time to get a place for the Clowns to live in. So i do some research and find that the lights ive got arnt suitable for anemones so i talk to the shop and they have some on order, should be here on friday. So i figure bollocks to it ill make the daylight cycle longer until the weekend.

After bringing our new friend home, it took ages to get him out the bag, i place our new anemone friend in the tank at the front. He wasnt very happy with this so he slowly creped round the back. Much to the dismay of Jacques who didnt like the encroachment into his territory but couldnt do any thing about it as he gets stung as soon as he touches it hehehe suck it Jacques. Hopefully the clowns will enjoy it :D

Each night it has been in a different position, will update when it has settled.

More homes for the inverts

After the tragic death of bunny i realised that i could stop this from happening again by getting more live rock. With my wage packet in im off to the shop to buy some more rock.

I have now doubled the rock in the tank, making a very nice arch with a flat bit at the top.

OMG OMG OMG a new friend. After studying the new rock carefully i noticed something white and squidgy, worried it would be a pest anemone i watched it for a while. A magical thing happened the little squidgy thing hatched. It hatched into a beautiful baby Nudibranch, which is now called Kobi after a dear friend of mines kid (and my favourite steak strangely).



After settling the rocks into new places the crustaceans were quick to re-establish territory, and all were happy.



I also got some more shells for the hermit crabs.



After a few days we noticed a small growth, what turns out to be a Blue mushroom soft coral.

All out war!

Bad times as Jacques (the red banded coral shrimp) has now killed and eaten Bunny (dancing shrimp) one of the oldest inhabitance of the tank. After the dispute Arnie was quick to the scene of the crime to clean up any evidence. More on this story as it progresses.

Bringing the death count up to.....6

4 turbo snails (never buying them again)
1 red legged hermit crab
1 dancing shrimp

Lots of new friends

Yay the day has arrived!!!!

Ive actually got fish in my tank now!!!!

Say hello to my new friends

Jacques the Banded Coral Shrimp



Along with the Clown fish
Zissou (pinch in is main stripe)
Stevsie (darker fins than Cousteau)
Cousteau (lighter fins than Stevsie)

'The Todd' the Threadfin Butterflyfish (Chaetodon auriga)




Two sand sifting snails (i think) that berried them selves in sand immediately and haven't been seen again! They shall hence forth be known as the 'interns'.

Lights, camera...Bollocks!!!

A near fatal disaster this morning forced my undersea friends to go with out light this morning. When i purchased the tank they manager at the shop told me i should cut a gap in the lightings casing so that the protien skimmer could fit. With the containment of the lightings electronics breached the water from condensation began to creep in, along with the bubbles of water from the top the transformer dramatically blew up.

I turned on the lights as the timer was wrong and with a hiss and a pop sparks began flying out of the hole on the light enclosure. So I quickly turned the tanks lights off and removed the lid.

After calling the shop apparently they forgot to tell me to cover the new hole that I had cut. Fortunately they have now replaced the lid with a new one (that doesn't have a kick stand, bad times).

So now I have to cut a new hole for the protein skimmer and then make and seal a barrier so this doesn't happen again!

Where did you come from???

After the morning feed for my tank i was watching all my little invertibrate friends scurrying about when i spotted a hermit crab i was sure dead. As you may remember i lost one of my dwarf and one normal hermit crabs, bad times. But out of nowhere humphry has appeared happy days! Bringing the death toll down to 4 :)

Stay tuned as today im getting some actual fish! :D