JSTR

I figured as much, Neil, but I am practicing my political correctness lately. Seems I have a knack for saying whats on my mind, without filtering it. To me this is proper, but some folks believe its not.

So sorry Neil, at the time of the comment, I did not know Darcy was using NLS. Yes it is quite good for all fish, my only thought on nori was for the habit tangs have to pick at things. Also many tangs are underfed, I was just bringing up some points for Darcy to consider. (and he has so I retract any statements that made it sound to the contrary) Really all one had to do, was ask him and you would have found out he has researched the purchases. And curious what having a large pod population has to do with a mandarin that eats mysid shrimp (pod become a supplement then not a stable food). Darcy, good luck, I got a mandarin that also ate mysid and it took about a month to get it onto NLS marine pellets (shamless plug for RD), hopefully yours will too. If you do add nori, you can purchase it in basically any Asian market (cheap) jsut be sure to get pure seaweed and no flavours. Personally I do not add this to my tank, I only feed NLS and a phyto supplement. And yes Neil, the fish love it and are thriving on it, but my only attempt at keeping a tang was met with failure due to starvation. Again as I stated it was my error, no the food. Think that should be politically correct enough, if not let the flogging begin. :bang1:

Hope it all works for you. Did you pick up some marine NLS or are you using the freshwater stuff. My mandarin loves the marine NLS, try target feeding yours and cross your fingers, cause these are such beauties, its great when they accept non-live foods. Good luck and keep the pics comming.

Hello, Congrats on the fine shopping in cowtown today. If you add all those fish at one time, monitor your water, as that much livestock at one time can cause spikes, as the bacterias compensate for the increased bioload. Watch your mandarin, as they usually require a mature reef tank full of pods and such for them to munch on. Some mandarins wll accept pellets or flakes, but this is the exception not the rule with these fish. Have to train them over from the live food side. Cant really comment on the lawnmower, as I has never kept one, but I do believe they need algeas of some sort and not sure if they accept substitutes. Final word of advise, add nori (or some form of seaweed, kelp) to the tank for the yellow tang to constantly pick at, sadly I lost my only yellow tang to not knowing this and starving him. I know, should be shot, forgot to research properly and it cost a good fish its life. The clewup crews are kindof touchy as some peep wil state as much as 1 hermit for every 1-2 gallons and same for snails, depending on type. I find the best way to introduce your cleanup crew in a bit at a time, less chance of overstocking then. In my 77 gallon reef I started with 5 astrea snails and 3 turbos. As they fell behind in the cleaning I added more. Now the tank has 3 astrea snails, 10 nassarius snails, 2 electric blue hermits and 4 scarlett red hermits, may need to add a few more as they arent quite keeping up with the algeas. Bassically start with and few and watch, add as neccesary. HTH

Got lost in mid thought there, Neil. :drunk:

Just dont admit that too loudly on CANREEF, you will be :guns: . (just kidding - sortof) No really, just waiting bout another month, then I will be posting picks of my reef, that has only received NLS (for the fish & some of the corals) and Kent's Phytomax and Chromomax (for the rest). Trying to prove that you dont need to have multiple foods and expensive supplements to have a very nice reef.

Hello, I have had a lengthy discussion with Neil on this point. There is no major difference in the two formulas, as far as feeding it to your fish. There is a small diference in ingredients,(Neil can pipe in here with clarification). I believe the marine formula has a larger hearing & krill content than the normal stuff. But I no longer have the ingredient list on cichlid formula to confirm this. The only observation, I have had with the two formulas, marine and cichlids formulas, is that when I first got saltwater fish, I tried the regular and growth formulas. Yes, they ate them but not aggressively, when I finally got some marine formula, the same fish attacked it with the same vigor as my peacocks would the cichlid formula. When talking with Neil, it kindof stumped him that there was that extreme of a difference, yet I repeated the experiment a few time, always with the same results. The saltwater fish would eat cichlid formula, but attack the marine formula. Even Albert got to witness this on one occassion. I switched to marine formula in my reef tank and have never turn back or tried other foods, as NLS works great (IMO) and I have the healthy fish to prove it. HTH

The lone male. - 1 male 13 females, either the worlds luckiest or most cursed bachelor. Luckily the tank has multiple bathrooms.

The small cafe beside the diner.

And a happy group shot of the four lionfish. Tomorow (or shortly there after) some shots of the mollie massacre.(parental advisory recommended).

And of course the other small one.

One of the smaller female Shortfin Dwarf Lionfis.

And the new tankmates. Small Fuman Chu Lionfish Tail of the larger Shortfin (Fuzzy) Dwarf Lionfish.

Another pic of the leaf scorpionfish.

And one of the few daredevils in the tank. Catching a ride in the flow. And to help with perpective this seahorse in approx. 1.5" top of head to tip of tail.

The sexy shrimp have their own hangout. Damn cant we all get along :beer:

Another shot at the diner.

May turn into the new meet and eat perch.

Tank after feeding. Nice brine shrimp flurry.

Finnally finished plumbing and lighting. Added seahorses - 14 little guys Pic of tank with horses.

Actually, having fun watching it stalk the mollies. Tried frozen krill one day didnt take so I been watching it kill mollies since. :smokey: Evil as it sounds its quite neat to watch, especially with his new tank mates I added today. Pictures to follow, once I remember to bring in my camera. Thinking it time to use this tank for interogation purposes, anyone need some questions answered. :ph43r:

LED's were purchased at on electronics store on the SE corner of 32 Ave and 19 St NE, cant remember the name. They had lots and all colors aswell. HTH

:ph43r: Which snails, I have gotten a few lately.

More pics to follow as I move in the herd. Tank is a minibow 7gallon. Drilled with a linear overflow and water bridge. 5 gallon sump/fuge. Powerhead 301 return thru a close loop spraybar system. Thanks to those that helped design and construct this project, you may step up and take a bow if you so wish.

Sadly, the fuzzy dwarf lionfish featured in the last installment of the tank has since gone to the giant ocean in the sky. I am on the lookout for more of these wonderful lionfish. In the meantime, taking his place in the predator tank is the leaf scorpionfish. Curious to watch float around the bttom of the tank mimicing a leaf. Even better is to watch him stalk and capture feeder mollies.(hasnt taken to frozen foods yet)