Amphibious' 135 gal Reef

[Rob]

Dick i agree, i see my tangs do the same thing, night or day..
not all the time and almost when i have a camera (they make great photos)

haven't quite figured it out either though other than an attempt at intimidating others

[CarmieJo]

Dick,

What a great shot!

[veriann]

yeah my blue powder used to do the same when it passed a fish of equal size whilst grazing. then it would take a nose dive to the bottom areas and continue poding and poking around another area of the tank

[Amphibious]

Rob, veriann,

I have a feeling that you guys are missing something. During the daylight hours yes, they display when passing another fish, especially another Tang.

This was taken long after lights out. The tank was completely black, no light except a faint glow from my computer screen across the room. The PB was the only fish drifting around. The rest were snug in the rocks. The PB was totally asleep. (No he didn't have his eyes closed. Only Disney fish can do that.) The shot was taken over and over again because the camera had a devil of a time focusing on the PB. One shot out of about 20 turned out. That's the one above.

CarmieJo,

Thank you.


Dick

[veriann]

amp, could it also be its like a sail that they can use to negate the currents

[Rob]

sorry dick..
i was only saying that i have seen them do this to intimidate...
i have seen them do it many other times but couldn't explain why...
the only time i have seen them do it where i thought it could be explained was that..

[Amphibious]

No problem Rob.

This is such a vast and interesting hobby. I had a rare occurrence the other day. I bought corals and clams at the IMAC show and they were delivered Thursday afternoon. I acclimated things over the next two hours. and then IT happened. You've probably heard the way that clam farmers induce clams to spawn is to stress them. They take them out of the ocean let them stand in the sun for a couple of hours and then put them back into the ocean. There may be more to it than that but the stress causes the clams to spawn. An hour after acclimating my clams it happened...........



This one went like this for two hours. Every few minutes another eruption. It was exciting!!! The other one wasn't quite as energetic....



There was so many eggs in the water column the tank was cloudy.......



I'm not sure you can tell how clowdy the water column is in this scaled down version of the pic. Cool stuff.

Dick

[cheng21tang]

whoa. would that be a possibility to have offspring? are clams asexual? cuz you said it was eggs in the water column? or would it be like sperm and looking for another clam to germinate? that would be cool to have some clam off springs. small little clams.

[Amphibious]

Hey Cheng

I don't think there's a possibility of having offspring. I've heard of it happening before though. No one's reported anything coming of it, that I know of. They are farmed in the ocean but I don't have a clew how.

Dick

[Amphibious]

It's been five days since I added the Powder Blue and the Sohal Tang to the 135 with an Achilles Tang already in residence. So far there have only been a couple of serious squabbles. The Sohal took a scalpel to both sides of his body from the Achilles. He went into hiding for a day and would only venture out for short times. If either the PB or Achilles came along he'd maneuver back into the protection of the Tonga Branch corals. Sometimes when this happens the affected fish goes down hill fast because they generally can't come out for food with out being harassed and driven into cover. The PB and Achilles seem to ignore the Sohal most of the time. they seem to be getting used to each other. The confrontations are fewer and less aggressive.

All are foraging around the tank for algae growth and I have some Macro algae in there too. The PB and Achilles are together all the time. Here's a pic.........



And the PB, who wouldn't let the French Angel do any cleaning has relingushed and now actively seeks him out for a going over. Here's a pic of that.......



I'm working on pics of the corals, maybe tomorrow I'll be able to post them.

Dick

[Reefbaby]

Hello Dick! Love the pics! Wow...to go from the setup to the critters is amazing. How big will your French Angel get? Would you recommend him to others?

The PB and Achilles look like brothers....exactly the same size! That probably helps with them getting along.

Am really enjoying the updates! :-)

[Amphibious]

Hi Christi, Thanks.

Love the pics! Wow...to go from the setup to the critters is amazing.

One of my goals with this thread was to dispel the old school belief that one had to wait 3 month's or more after a tank is set up. If done properly it can be done much quicker. A thorough understanding of the "cycle", filtration, LR, LS, the importance of, monitoring water parameters, skimming, UV sterilization, proper water circulation and general tank husbandry. This is not to say I will never have a setback. We're dealing with live animals subject to the balance or un-balance of the system, all sorts of stress, and the whims of the owner, etc. We, as hobbyists, must make it a priority to become educated enough to give the best care to our charges.

How big will your French Angel get? Would you recommend him to others?

The French Angel will reach about 16" in the wild, somewhat less in captivity unless given very large quarters. Mine is about 3/4" now so I have several years before he needs more room. I would definitly recommend the French to others as long as they follow simple guidelines common to all angels except the dwarfs.

Dick

[Reefbaby]

Dick -- I sent you and Sue an email....hope it arrived! :-)

[Amphibious]

Christi,

I've waited about 2 hours and nothing has come through. If it's what I think, the files may be too big for one e-mail. Break it up into two or three e-mails. I've been waiting patiently for this e-mail.

Dick

[dreams]

those tangs are beautiful