Tank Journal Archive

[slin1977]

Well as the next journal title suggests... I am looking ahead .... Came home to a mint er looking tank, pulled out a heap of dry skim while I was away for four days, the dry est skim I've ever pulled and what a treat that was to come home to. A fifty liter water change today, colours so bright in the Sticks department , let's hope for no negative results from the 6.4 KH jump to 6.8 finish line .

 

[slin1977]

 

[Andrew B]

Looking Awesome!!! loving the scape

 

[Wrangy]

So glad to hear things are getting mint-er lol it's good that everyhting is slowly coming back again as this is going to be an amazing stick tank :D I do love the layout of your cabinet and how much you have in there lol

 

[slin1977]

So glad to hear things are getting mint-er lol it's good that everyhting is slowly coming back again as this is going to be an amazing stick tank :D I do love the layout of your cabinet and how much you have in there lol

With regards to the cabinet , I should plug the skimmer to the PDU instead of the lead, same goes for the Ehiem that was recently put back in service and need to return the heater to sump as was not copeing with winter .

 

[slin1977]

Looking Awesome!!! loving the scape

Thanks Andrew - it's taking forever but growth will steadily get there.

 

[slin1977]

http://magazine.africageographic.com/weekly/issue-59/honeymoon-paradise-seychelles-islands/

Came across this image taken from the link above.

Could we discuss chromis and other fish found on a typical bommie.....
I see damsels , humbugs and chromis amongst others dithering about this bommie.
In the past I had humbugs in a four foot tank and they were so aggressive , they had to go back to the LFS.

I would like to create a tank as beautiful as that photo with say those fish.

Do you need many in a colony or would a trio cause territorial aggression?

 

[Wrangy]

http://magazine.africageographic.com/weekly/issue-59/honeymoon-paradise-seychelles-islands/

Came across this image taken from the link above.
View attachment 50935
Could we discuss chromis and other fish found on a typical bommie.....
I see damsels , humbugs and chromis amongst others dithering about this bommie.
In the past I had humbugs in a four foot tank and they were so aggressive , they had to go back to the LFS.

I would like to create a tank as beautiful as that photo with say those fish.

Do you need many in a colony or would a trio cause territorial aggression?

I do love seeing that, I've seen plenty of situations like there where there are large schools of different damsels and chromis all intermixed together among a bommie like that. I'm not sure why they are so aggressive in our tanks but the lack of predation and need to school might be a key issue to it. Appropriate hiding space is another as if you watch that bommie when a boat goes over or something they all dart into a spot hidden within the rocks and corals!

The other thing I've noticed when diving/snorkelling is that in areas like that with heavy damsel-chromis populations they're the only fish there and they chase off the others so to achieve something like that might require a species specific stocking?

I'm not expert lol but that's what I've seen and feel might be reasonable conclusions haha it would look amazing to have a bommie like that with damsels and chromis throughout!

 

[slin1977]

Dom, you nailed it with the description about predatory fear instinct and schooling behaviour , the little buggers sure get brave since we don't house trevally in our reef tanks at home.

Anyone keeping damsels?
I usually see one blue devil cruising around a LFS , LPS tank oh yeah and usually a blenny in there too lol

 

[Agent M]

I have an Azure Damsel, very similar to the yellow tails. Territorial aggression is the problem with them - I find it easy to work around with most other fish but not con-specifics. Under the right circumstances they are peaceful. It's particularly bad if they've been given a chance to stake out their patch first.

I think Dom is on to something with the bolt holes - would be interesting to create some bommies with lots of little caves and see if that helps things. I also think that there probably is aggression on the reef, but they have a vast amount of water around them to use to escape the aggression, whereas our tanks are totally confined.

Allen's Damsels may be one alternative for you to look into - supposedly can be kept in groups long term.

 

[Wrangy]

I think someone needs to volunteer with a large tank and make it a bommie damsel and chromis only tank to see what happens! They also need to buy a plastic barracuda to simulate a predator haha

I definitely think there is something to very large to do with species mix between damsel/chromis anything that's not lol mixed with plenty of hiding spots and large flow with a specific set of corals, I think it a peaceful tank could be created :)

 

[Andrew B]

maybe everybody chips in money to get a big experiment tank...

 

[Agent M]

They also need to buy a plastic barracuda to simulate a predator haha

This might work :eek

 

[ReeferRob]

If you want to keep a larger school of chromis, I recommend Vanderbilt's chromis over greens. They seem to not want to kill each other and have a very striking colour to them. I've had 20 in a run with just a few corals for 6 weeks now with zero losses due to anything, disease or aggression. The other one I like is from Australian waters, Chromis nitida.