November Catch Up

I feel like I've not posted about our tank for ages! We've had a few new additions that are actually doing quite well!

I think Twister you already know, and the smaller lime green wrasse is called Apple. They appear to have joined forces and are ruling the tank!

This is our bubble coral which looks better here than it did in the shop! The coolest part is seeing it eat, it actually has a mouth!

And above is Jazz, our cutie trigger fish posing with the fastest growing coral in the tank!

Apple in the mix!

We can't seem to stop adding to the tank recently!

We are proud to introduce Apple, a jade wrasse, to our marine family! She was a little less shy than Twister and showed her face the very next day we added her to the tank! (Twister stayed buried for about three days)

Both are very good eaters and are growing well! Twister has also taken a peculiar interest to Gilly, a peculiar non-reciprocated interest...

And not the best photo but we've added a few more frags to our tank...

Twist and shout!

We would like to welcome Twister, our new melanurus wrasse to the marine party! He's been named Twister because of his green and pink stripes, he's actually been very calm in the tank! Since we picked him up yesterday, we saw him for a whole of 10 minutes before he buried himself in the sand, we haven't seen him since! 

        Twister hanging out with Gilly!

We also have two new coral frags which are doing pretty well! We're using them to test the tank and we'll hopefully buy prettier and more expensive ones if these survive. Watch this space!

Shake your Pom Pom!

The tank just keeps getting more exciting! Since my last post, we have a number of new additions! Let me introduce...

Mr Jazz! He is our bluethroat trigger fish who likes to kick Dory out of her sleeping/hide place! Apparently they have a habit of vocalising when they see someone they recognise, can't wait for this to happen!

Next up is...

Our pom pom crab and She has been named Kirstin! (After Kirstin Dunst in Bring It On, just in case you were wondering, Marcel's choice not mine)!

We also bought Gracie, a baby starry algae blenny...she's a bit shy so I've not managed to get a picture yet but will update when I do!

New additions to the family!

We have been quite patient recently and thought we'd let our existing fish settle in with each other. But finally, it's time for some new additions! Welcome to our marine world, Gilly and Dory! 

Dory is of course the regal tang that was made famous by Disney Pixar's Finding Nemo. Gilly is the slightly less well known (but in our tank, decidedly braver!) goat fish who looks like he has settled in quite well already!

Our existing fish look slightly confused by the changes...

And not related and not the clearest of pictures, here's one of our hermit crabs with the coolest algae hairstyle!

I do hope they all get on!

Welcome Princess Grace!

We have had some major algae growth! It's even starting to grow on our hermit crabs which are meant to be in the tank to eat the algae! 

However, fear not as we now have our latest addition, Princess Gracitas or Grace, a lawnmower blenny who will hopefully join forces with Bella the cowrie snail and the crabs to clean up the algae hair invasion!

Lots of new developments!

Quite a bit has changed since my last post! 

1) We have a supply of live food as the pink ladies appear to be quite picky eaters! We currently have a mix of daphnia which we are breeding, and brine shrimp. Did try some blood worms but they didn't seem to be anyone's cup of tea so they were soon ditched! They were gross anyway!

The tub to the left is the breeding tub, and we will be feeding from the other three tubs. We are feeding the daphnia a mix of dry active yeast and bicarbonate of soda. We are hoping to get these ladies onto the same frozen food as the others eventually though.

2) Marcel has bought and installed a wave maker to simulate the natural currents of the sea, and Nemo and Olaf are loving it!

The foam padding is to satisfy Marcel's paranoia that the fish won't get sucked in!

3) We also have a protein skimmer which bubbles the water up into foam and then collects the foam which has dirt in to clean the water.

The pink ladies!

As you may have already seen, we recently bought five new additions for the tank! Welcome to our marine world: Cinderella, Rapunzel, Snow White, Ariel and Mulan. These are tukas anthias and are currently all females. Apparently one may turn into a male and this one will be called Mulan - this might make more sense for people who know this story!

Marine Care 101

We probably should have started this sooner but luckily all is still well! 

We have bought a marine care test kit which measures the pH, level of ammonia, nitrites and nitrates. Boring stuff but necessary. 

I have been told various other test kits are available to test for magnesium, calcium etc before we are able to have corals. Will keep you posted!

Home cooked food is the best!

I think we may be getting a little bit obsessed with this fish keeping business but we looked into making our own fish food as 1) it seemed like fun and 2) it would be much cheaper than store bought food if it worked!

And........the fishes loved it! Here's our recipe:

40g each of defrosted prawns, white fish and mussels

20g of ready made salad

2  cubes of store bought frozen brine shrimp

The mixture was blended with a splash of orange juice and water, and frozen in a food bag

We barely broke into the supply of frozen food we bought for this project so this stuff is gonna last us forever! For our next batch, we are going to include some peas, zucchini, squid, octopus and vitamins - will keep you posted if it's a success!

Homemade feeding device!

So...we had a bit of a problem with Nemo being a bit of a greedy bugger, he would often consume all the food before any of the others had a chance to even sniff it! Needless to say, he is now a bit more rotund than when we first got him!

Anyway, Marcel constructed an amazing device which now allows the frozen food to melt and disperse before it is leaked into the tank through small holes. And now everyone gets their fair share of dinners!

Nemo's new friends!

We went fish shopping again and this time our newcomers are from Distant Waters in Norwich. We have also installed a new surface skimmer to remove the oily crap from the top of the tank built up from leftover food and dust. We will be replacing this with a protein skimmer at some point.

Surface skimmer - that's Olaf circling it

Sad but true, it was extremely mesmerising watching this tank of clown fishes!

Olaf - platinum clown on the left; Rhubarb & Custard - royal gramma on the right

Rhubarb has spent his first evening hiding behind the filter and heater

Olaf and Nemo have become fast friends, with Nemo occasionally having to give Olaf a nip to put him in his place! Who do you think will become the dominant female?

Our new Arabica cowrie snail - Bella the beautiful shell!

Algae bloom!

What we came back to after a short weekend away in Wales! Many thanks to the Parker family for putting up with us btw (just in case any of you's are reading this)! I've been told these are diatoms and will soon be cleared by our cleaner crabs before they bloom again. It's so exciting to see our tank literally come to life!

Black drop!

I don't think I ever realised how obvious the wires were behind the tank until Marcel painted the back of the tank black! And considering how awkward it was to get behind the tank, he did an excellent job! Can't wait to get more fish now!

Newcomers!

Today we went shopping for a new heater and some water. We came away with neither of those and bought a halloween hermit crab, a clingfish and a green clown goby instead!

Meet Hyde! Not seen him since this picture was taken...may have something to do with being chased off by Nemo as soon as he entered the tank...

Sucker!

And...Mr No Name yet! Let me know if you have any great ideas!

The creatures are deployed!

The crabs, Nemo and live rock are first in the tank. Three days on and they survived! I was slightly worried Nemo was dying when I found him floating on his side at the top of the tank when the lights were off but turns out he was only sleeping, and a bit of food soon woke him up.

I found a crab claw at the bottom of the tank on the second day and thought maybe the crabs had been fighting. Marcel counted all their claws and they were all present so one must have simply shedded its skin. 

We found this wanderer hitching a ride on the live rock with an elusive crab who has yet to make a complete appearance!