sharuq1

How brackish did you have yours?

I came across some crabs at the LFS called "watermelon crabs". I was told they can be kept on dry substrate with a water dish of fresh water and given crab food/fish food to eat. I don't know anything about them. Has anyone come across these? Can you tell me the scientific name? There was not much info. I could find online. About half the sources said these crabs are brackish and the other half said brackish or fresh. Does anyone have some more detailed information they could give about these little cuties Sounds like they may be a type of fiddler.

Seems like there aren't too many of us Any more peeps? Even lurkers??

Are there more of us? If you're one or you plan on becoming one in the near future please reply to this thread

I'm really digging those shrooms Blue-Wolf. That hair algae, do the leaves look feathery? I wonder if it is bryopsis and not hair algae. If it is you can just use the raise your Mg trick to be rid of it (check Canreef for the article on that).

Cool!!!

That was my badly collected batch. Due to lack of time on my part the few left from that particular batch died. It was just a bad batch all around. The batch from August is still going strong with the seven who survived to morph.

That's one tough little fish! Amazing!

I caught another spawn of clownfish on the 29th of Sept. I keep forgetting how small the larvae are when they are born (man are they tiny, like 3mm). I did things a bit differently this time. I only fed reefroids on day 1 and 2 then skipped straight to BBS because I just didn't have the time to do multiple water changes throughout the day and dry foods go bad quickly. The last batch died I think because I used poor collection methods (don't ever get impatient and use a net for clownfish fry--even if they never leave the water the net traumatizes them and they die) coupled with weaker fry as the parents were not getting enough nutrition. I found that tidbit out after they ate the next batch of eggs. So I fed them really well, fed them often 2 or 3 times a day in the hopes the next batch (this one) would be stronger. I took the coral and rock they had laid eggs on and hatched them out with a bubbler on the 9th day after they had laid the eggs--about half did not hatch and died that night because I couldn't position the bubbles very well without harming the frogspawn coral that was attached to the rock. If I were going to make a 'real' go of breeding clowns I would have them in their own tank with a clay flower pot or tiles to lay on instead of on my rocks with coral. For those of you catching up, clowns are supposed to be raised on rotifers, then step up to BBS and so on--but I don't have rotifers. After reading about all the culturing and expense to culture my own I am not terribly interested in raising rotifers either. Not too many babies will live percentage wise by my doing it this way, but I think I am getting some of the stronger/bigger individuals who are able to ingest the BBS a bit earlier than their siblings. Whoever makes it past day 3 has a chance of living as 24-48 hours after hatching, the yolk sack has depleted. On this hatch there must have been at least 200 babies. There was a lot of die of from day 1-3, then it started to peter out and less and less died (but still there was die off). By day 9 I had 12 survivors (out of 200, yikes!). On day 10 three had morphed (got their first stripe, have the clownfish body shape and the 'wiggle'). Morph is a delicate time for clowns as they basically turn from larva into fish--which is hard on them. It is to be expected that some may die at morphing time. Other than feed them I don't bug them around day 10--I do an extra 50 to 95% WC (depending on how gross the water is) the day before using water from the reef (as a side note all their WC's are with reef water, never with new saltwater). Today 10 are post-morph and a few have started on their second stripe. The two that remain unmorphed may or may not live, we shall see. I just figured I'd write this quick note in the breeding section for those of you who have clowns, would like to try raising a few but have not tried to raise the young because you don't have all the equipment. It is possible as long as you are satisfied with having a crummy percentage rate of live babies vs. how many hatched. Next time I do it (if I do) I think I might skip the reefroids altogether and go straight to BBS because of the water quality issues associated with the 'roids. Not too many will live but if some live I am ok with that. The older batch continues to grow and they are eating a main diet of NLS pellets as well as NLS, tropical fish flakes and occasional frozen BBS as a treat. A few individuals may end up being black later as they have quite a bit on their tails. Most of them have entirely black pelvic fins, which is interesting because clowns generally have a black rim on their pelvic fins, the rest being orange. It's a cute coloration. I'll be really happy if some of them turn black or even partially black at some point down the road because so many people seem to like black clowns. First batch of clowns--this thread has pictures

I didn't think it was strange, just outdated. Way back when keeping salt water was just a pipe dream, keeping dead corals was a way to decorate and buffer your tank water. Since it is no longer legal to ship in dead corals as tank decor, this is not something one sees very often anymore. Considering most people keep live coral now though I think his price is questionable.

Welcome to AA

Your tank is gorgeous. I am very envious

I do not have a clue what I should do with my little pond after it starts getting cold. I have some water lilies, couple other plants, white clouds, shrimp and a couple loaches in there. I don't particularly want the plants to die, but I don't know what to do with them over winter. Setting up another tank wouldn't work at the moment as I just don't have the room for another tank in the house right now. Ideas?

Thanks everyone

They are amazing!! Way to go Jonah :thumbs:

Tigertail seahorses And the kudas. There are 2 yellow males, 1 orange female and one sand colored female. Aaaaand now I'm broke Why do I do these things? :P

Nice score Jonah! They're beautiful.

Even clubs that haven't been around a year?

Thanks everyone We're really enjoying these little guys. Most have their third stripe now. They are now 19 days old.

I honestly didn't think any of them would make it this long. I miscounted and it seems there are 7 left alive (and with stripes!) of this batch. I'm really hoping these seven will make it. It is so cute watching them. They are acting like clowns now, trying to chase each other out of their "territories". I guess the two left corners of the tank are prime spots because they keep fighting over them. Sometimes I am worried they are so busy fighting over the corners or gazing at their reflections that they aren't eating enough. :P The 3rd batch hatched last night, but either I did a poor job collecting (likely) or this batch was a bit weaker and many, many babies died within the first hour. There are still some left though. The parent may need a more varied diet. Maybe this should be in the breeders section, hehe. It's kinda unlikely I will be doing this on a regular basis though, it is a lot of work. Anyways, enough rambling. I made a photobucket album for the babies. Baby Clowns

Looks great!!

PICS!! Check out that head stripe! Way to go lil' guy!

I think I have 5 or 6 babies left today, 3 have their first head stripe! I'm feeding them bbs and have started offering powdered dry foods (cyclopeeze, 'better than brine'). I've got my fingers crossed.

Wow! I just witnessed the clowns lay eggs before my eyes. I never thought I'd get to see that and the kids got a cool lesson in biology. I still have 8 surviving larvae alive from the last batch (so far). Wish me luck, on day 10 (or so) those are due to metamorphasis and from what I have read heavy losses will occur during that period. Even if just one made it, that would be so cool! I know, it's silly to get so excited over something so commonplace, but it's new to me. Here's a link to a crappy video of them continuing to lay the eggs, ignore my kids it's their bedtime Also ignore me saying "8 day old fry", they are only 6 days old but I had the number 8 on the brain as I had just finished explaining to the kids that the batch the clowns were laying would hatch in about eight days. I think I'm getting old. :bang1: Clowns laying eggs