Tank Journal Archive

[TheJordans]

Introduction:
I've always had a soft (sucker!!) spot for BTAs over the years; their colour, movement, and basic (yet so clever!) physiology really fascinates me. It's only been in the last year or so though that I've become more interested in learning more about them, and in doing so I learned about their plight: so many dying a) before they make it to the aquarium, and b) once IN an aquarium.
It made me want to do something to help.
My first attempt was a rehab tank. It failed miserably, but I learned a lot and that inspired me to learn more. It also inspired me to turn my attention to growing and propagating them to help relieve the demand for wild-caught. So here I am :)

Reefing Since: Really "hands on" for about a year. Prior to that I was just tinkering.

System Objectives: To have a tank a tank full of happy nems to propagate

Type of reef: Bare bottom and no LR. Any ornaments I may add in the future will have to have smooth surfaces for easy nem removal

Display System: AquaOne 620 all-in-one (I might upgrade this in the future, but for now I'm trying to make it work)

Initial Fill Date: I don't remember!! May maybe? June? Either way, I primed all the filter media in the other tanks before it got going

Display Tank Dimensions: 620 x 520H x 390W

Display Lighting: Stock T5s at the mo. We bought white and blues. (Was a year ago when we bought them so I couldn't tell you their specs off the top of my head)

Stand: Stock stand that's around 13yo apparently!! The whole setup is holding up well, considering!!

Hood or Rimless: Stock black hood

Sump Design: None, though I've considered converting the built-in somehow ...

Filtration: Ceramic noodles (LOTS!) in the overhead built-in and I've also got some macro contained in a laundry bag LOL

Support systems: ME!! :P

NSW or ASW: NSW

Display Water circulation: A 4yo semi-broken powerhead. It used to rotate, but now it only stays in one position. I'd like to upgrade it but it's all about the $$ with this project. I'm *trying* to be sensible. That's probably a mistake.

Return Pump: The little stock pump that came with it all those moons ago. I should probably look towards replacing it, but I don't know what I'd be buying!

Skimmer: None at this stage. I have an airlift that I'm yet to install (would require me to cut away sections of the hood and I'm terrified!). At this stage I just plan to do regular water changes.

Evaporation Top Up: Manual

Chemical additions: N/A

Calcium Addition: N/A

Alkilinity Addition: N/A

Magnesium Addition: N/A

Prodibiotics Addition: N/A

Coral Food Addition: N/A


Inhabitants: As at 16th July 2013

Nam-Nam - green with orange tips purchased from @chimaera (14/7/13) [approx 4cm across]
Nim-Nim - plain green with brown foot purchased from CSIRO (username only) off RTAW (15/7/13) [approx 7cm across]
Nom-Nom - green with baby blue-ish bulbs and purple tips purchased from Reef Secrets (arrived 16/7/13) [they told me it was around 15cm, but I'll confirm that in a few days]
2x yet-to-be-named B&W clowns from @Synodontis (added to the tank approx 1/7/13)

Pics to come :)


** Any and all suggestions for improvements are welcomed!! **

 

[Darren S]

Good luck with this, I will be watching with great interest. I would love a BTA but haven't made the jump yet.

 

[TheJordans]

Ok, my first Q: @dr_schell

Nom-Nom (the one that I've just received from QLD this morning)'s foot is not very sticky. In fact, it's barely sticky at all. If I hold it in one place it will grip for a little while, but it eventually lets go. It's making no effort to wander around the tank, nor inflate and float elsewhere, and beneath its foot - in the very centre - it has what I would think could be a tear? I will take a pic for you.



Is there anything I should be doing for this one in particular? Given their ability to heal I'm hoping that good water conditions etc should do the trick, but I want to be sure - it's a beautiful specimen.

 

[Dr. Schell]

the white stuff is the messentaries that arfe protruding through a tear in the food. Damage to the foot of an anemonme is often fatal. The reluctance to grip may also be as a result of this. May be best to keep the anemome in good light in a basket with good flow up off the substrate, to help reduce the chance of infection and attack by bristleworms, etc.

 

[TheJordans]

Bloody hell.
Okay.

Well, I'll update you nonetheless - NomNom has attached herself to the glass and has climbed about 6cm or so off the glass bottom and appears to be holding on ok. But in doing so, I can now see her foot more clearly and there's more than one tear I'm hoping to hell that she pulls through. I don't want to be a thorn in the side of any LFS. I'm sick of foghting hopeless fights.

** She's HUGE though - a big, floppy nem. Almost looks like excessive skin after major weight loss. Could this be due to stress?

So Les has piped up and has another Q for you @Dr. Schell schell - what if all tears were on one one side of the foot. Would she have a better chance if the damaged half were removed? I'm leaning towards "no" bc if she's already stressed, cutting her in half is only going to put more stress on the poor creature. But if it's going to save her, it'd be worth it. Your thoughts?

 

[TheJordans]

Pics as promised:

FTS w/ NomNom bottom left


Skimmer fitted in nicely with minimal mods required. The lid even closes :D








The clowns with NimNim in the background


NamNam

 

[TheJordans]

More pics for the hell of it:

NomNom this morning: (Oh-la-la :rofl )





A remotely better shot of NamNam


A better shot of Nom's injuries


@Dr. Schell schell - what do you think of her tears? She's attached to the glass now and looks happy enough. I'm kind of reluctant to pull her off and stress her when she seems to have perked up. What are your thoughts? And in your opinion would it be better to give her the chop to try and save the side without tears? Or just leave her? (I'd prefer the latter, but I'll go with your educated opinion)

 

[Dr. Schell]

Bloody hell.
Okay.

Well, I'll update you nonetheless - NomNom has attached herself to the glass and has climbed about 6cm or so off the glass bottom and appears to be holding on ok. But in doing so, I can now see her foot more clearly and there's more than one tear I'm hoping to hell that she pulls through. I don't want to be a thorn in the side of any LFS. I'm sick of foghting hopeless fights.

** She's HUGE though - a big, floppy nem. Almost looks like excessive skin after major weight loss. Could this be due to stress?

So Les has piped up and has another Q for you @Dr. Schell schell - what if all tears were on one one side of the foot. Would she have a better chance if the damaged half were removed? I'm leaning towards "no" bc if she's already stressed, cutting her in half is only going to put more stress on the poor creature. But if it's going to save her, it'd be worth it. Your thoughts?

No, don't remove any portion of the foot.

 

[Dr. Schell]

More pics for the hell of it:

NomNom this morning: (Oh-la-la :rofl )





A remotely better shot of NamNam


A better shot of Nom's injuries


@Dr. Schell schell - what do you think of her tears? She's attached to the glass now and looks happy enough. I'm kind of reluctant to pull her off and stress her when she seems to have perked up. What are your thoughts? And in your opinion would it be better to give her the chop to try and save the side without tears? Or just leave her? (I'd prefer the latter, but I'll go with your educated opinion)

Anemone looks to be in very good condition. This animals is likely to be able to repair itself. Given that is has attached to the glass, it is likey that it will be repaired in a very short space of time (ie within a few days)

 

[Dr. Schell]

Very nice anemone by the way.

 

[chimaera]

Wow NomNom is a looker! Hope that foot heals up, as the Doc says it seems healthy enough and if you couldn't see the foot (ie it was attached to a rock) you likely wouldn't know it was damaged I am guessing?

 

[aussieant32]

The effort you are putting in to save a creature that is in a pretty poor way is so good to see, thank you for doing this and sharing it with us :)

 

[Buddy]

Wow nom looks 10x better :D

 

[firebird]

I do love the names Bek-following along.

 

[TheJordans]

Phew! Ok. I have about 5mins spare to reply lol

@Dr. Schell - That's great news! I was hoping that her using her foot was a good sign!
Yesterday afternoon I actually took a photo to see how her foot was looking (there's an empty tank butted up against the side of this one, so pics are my only way of viewing the side where she is) and I could see mucous beginning to knit its way across her foot! I was really excited to see it bc I'm pretty sure that this is part of the healing process, and sure enough, this morning she looks even better!

Yesterday afternoon:


@chimaera - Yeah, she's a looker!! Hopefully she continues to improve :) And you're quite right, if you didn't have access to her underside, you wouldn't even know.

@aussieant32 - I'd like to think it would be what anyone would do, but I know that not all of us are fortunate enough to have the time, and some just don't have the inclination. I don't feel that I'm doing anything special, but your kind words made me feel great, so thank you :) (And that's a feat in itself, so I really mean my "thank you"!)

@Buddy - I know :D Excitement!!

@firebird - hehehe. It all started because I dubbed our beautiful one in our AR275 NemNem in a "baby speak" fashion. The name really grew on me and I joked that the day I ever got a Rose I'd call it NomNom. Then when I set up this tank, I decided instead to use the alphabet as a means of knowing the order in which I added the nems to the tank; so NamNam was first, (NemNem was unavailable), NimNim next and then NomNom. Once I've gone through the alphabet, I'll then move on to NamNem, NamNim, NamNom etc LOL
A little stupid, I know, but it's better than calling them "Specimen A, B and C" :p

Now a little update for you all:
Nim and Nom both ate yesterday :D Nam did too, although she spat hers out, so next time I'll just offer her something smaller :) Nom has also moved further up the tank today and is all but smothering Nam, so I've moved the powerhead to the back to give Nam an escape route. I'm thinking that they're climbing to get closer to the lights, so over the next few days I'm going to have a look around for a basket or similar that I can put in there to give them some height options directly beneath. I'm also going to try and pick up one of those multidirectional attachments for the powerhead and return pump to see if I can get a better "wishy-washy" effect happening thanks to the info that I've been reading in @Dr. Schell 's threads ;)

I've been considering upgrading the lighting, but to be completely honest, I've wasted about $1000 that we don't have in the last month so I don't really want to allow myself to. (And by "wasted", I do mean it. The latest effort was collecting a curb [damn you, screaming child and my own anxiety!!] on my way to pickup NimNim and it cost me $405 to buy two new tyres and have a wheel alignment done :( And one of those tyres was a whopping few weeks old b/c I'd run over a screw, didn't know how to pump up my tyre and left it too long so the tyre was irreparable :( [Yes. I'm a girl *blush*])
It's currently running twin T5s (sun and actinic I think I read yesterday), but they're close to a year old and the expense of replacing those stupid things is almost on par with an el-cheap LED unit off eBay.

** So what are your thoughts, guys? Could I limp this through for another 3mths or so if I give the nems access to hitching spots higher up in the tank?

 

[chimaera]

@firebird - hehehe. It all started because I dubbed our beautiful one in our AR275 NemNem in a "baby speak" fashion. The name really grew on me and I joked that the day I ever got a Rose I'd call it NomNom. Then when I set up this tank, I decided instead to use the alphabet as a means of knowing the order in which I added the nems to the tank; so NamNam was first, (NemNem was unavailable), NimNim next and then NomNom. Once I've gone through the alphabet, I'll then move on to NamNem, NamNim, NamNom etc LOL
A little stupid, I know, but it's better than calling them "Specimen A, B and C" :p

So your next will be NumNum? Poor little thing, forever labeled as a dummy :p

I've been considering upgrading the lighting, but to be completely honest, I've wasted about $1000 that we don't have in the last month so I don't really want to allow myself to. (And by "wasted", I do mean it. The latest effort was collecting a curb [damn you, screaming child and my own anxiety!!] on my way to pickup NimNim and it cost me $405 to buy two new tyres and have a wheel alignment done :( And one of those tyres was a whopping few weeks old b/c I'd run over a screw, didn't know how to pump up my tyre and left it too long so the tyre was irreparable :( [Yes. I'm a girl *blush*])
It's currently running twin T5s (sun and actinic I think I read yesterday), but they're close to a year old and the expense of replacing those stupid things is almost on par with an el-cheap LED unit off eBay.

** So what are your thoughts, guys? Could I limp this through for another 3mths or so if I give the nems access to hitching spots higher up in the tank?

Do you need the hood in place on this tank for filtration, or can you go hoodless?

 

[TheJordans]

So your next will be NumNum? Poor little thing, forever labeled as a dummy :p

Do you need the hood in place on this tank for filtration, or can you go hoodless?

Hey!! I think NumNum is a cute name!! (and let's be serious, they're not exactly the brainiest creatures :p ) Don't know what I'm gonna do with one after THAT though - would be "NymNym" but I don't want it to sound like "Nim" but more like "Nyme" :/ Don't think it'll roll of tongue as well as the rest!

The tank is in the garage, so evap would be an issue with hoodless. But in saying that, I could maybe construct a hood (a bloody ugly one, no doubt!) that would give me some extra space to work with *questioning shrug* Would also give me an excuse to move its filter over to a canister rather than the overhead one that's forever getting in my way!

Or// I could maybe put some clear perspex over it to help with evap but still let light through *thinking*. That's kind of how it is now: with a layer of plastic between the lights and the water.

Why? What are you thinking of? Have you got some awesome ingenuity coming my way :D


And another update for you all:
Nom's foot has further improved!! Well, from what I can see ;) But Nam seems to be missing some tentacles. Last night she was cuddled up a *touch* too close to the powerhead for my liking, and in spite of Les's assurances that it DOESN'T draw water from the spot that I was worried about, she certainly appears to be missing a small section of her skirt :/ Very curious. Doesn't seem to have upset her at all, but she's not quite as pretty as a few days ago!

 

[firebird]

You've got foam covering the powerhead intake though-looks like it from the pics?

 

[TheJordans]

Yep! You're right! I covered it with foam to protect them, but that wasn't where she was. Up at post #7 ( Bek's BTA Tank (The Nim-Nam-Nem! LOL) ) you can see where she'd taken up residence. Then last night when she was taking part in the nightly flop, she looked like she was getting drawn into a side bit that's NOT the intake. So Les turned the powerhead off and moved it. She certainly wasn't attached in anyway, but there IS damage on her today.
Curiouser and curiouser!

 

[chimaera]

Why? What are you thinking of? Have you got some awesome ingenuity coming my way :D

Nope, just that options get much easier without the hood.