MrX's Build (Started 03/01/2020)

Not a lot of changes in the tank.

Moved the Black & White clownfish out of the DT and into the sump for a week. They were bullying my smaller Orange & White clown. This gave the smaller one time to bond with the larger one.

The two bullies went back into the DT last night and the little guy wasn't taking any guff this time. And the bigger O&W one seem to be protecting it a little more. *fingers crossed*

Here's some pics of the corals:

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Black & White clownfish have gone back into the sump. After a few days of being back in the DT they started picking on the small Orange & White clown. So they've been permanently banished. They now live on 'reverse' daylight... I try and keep the sump dark during the day. About 10pm I turn on the cabinet light. Then at 11pm when the sump light comes on I turn off the cabinet light. Their daytime is now 10pm - 8am.

No new fish or coral. The frags I made seem to be doing well (first picture).

Broke up a couple pieces of frag rock for the Tiger Pistol shrimp. I think it really likes having any building material for the den. There's a couple pictures below.

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Found the coral in the next picture last week while doing my bi-weekly water change/tank cleaning. It was just sitting in the sand near the Pistol Shrimp den. It was on a tiny piece of rock/frag plug; the polyps we all closed up. It was so small I almost missed it. I pulled it out and glued it to a bigger piece of rubble. It's waking up now and looks awesome. Glad I found it!

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Couple more random shots:

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Since I've been in the hobby (around 2013) I've always been interested in trying to get a pair of breeding Banggai Cardinals.

Fast forward to this most recent tank...

We have three Banggai in the tank. For quite a while now it's been obvious that two of them have paired up. They chase the odd-Banggai-out once in a while, but for the most part everthing is good.

About a week ago I noticed that the male/female pairing have been hanging out really close together. The female (only about 2/3rds the size of the male) has been right by his side. I've seen her do a little "shivering dance" next to him.

For the last 2-3 days the male hasn't eaten. He moves towards food as it passes him as if to say "man, I wish I could eat that".

I've tried to look closely to see if I see any eggs in his mouth, but haven't had any luck yet.

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Cool! They must be super tiny little buggers when they pop out.

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Cool! They must be super tiny little buggers when they pop out.

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Thanks, fixed the image.

Yeah, from what I'm reading they hold upwards of 40 eggs; so it most of them hatch in his mouth I'd imagine they are pretty small.

Though I've seen him "yawn" and it's like a snakes mouth opening. lol.

I need to look into creating some fake long-spine urchins for the babies to hide in if any make it.
 
A ball of fix it stick epoxy with wooden skewers inserted into it before it sets, painted with black krylon.

Thanks. One time in the past I found a small ball or something and stuck black zip ties through holes in it. This time around I'll probably do something with epoxy and zip ties (same general idea as what you suggested).

I guess I should get on the ball and figure it out. lol.
 
First couple of times the male might eat some to most. They’ll keep breeding with small intervals so try to keep the male nice n fat when he can eat since he’ll be fasting a few weeks
 
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We're you able to raise the babies? Did you do anything special?
No, unfortunately, they never carried to hatch. I believe if I had isolated the carrying male in a nice tank with good habitat by itself I would have though. I had a school, and competing males would essentially harass the carrier until he lost the egg mass. Competition!
 
Made an epoxy/ziptie urchin tonight. Will let it harden for a couple days and then find a spot for it in the tank.

If any Banggai babies make it hopefully they'll hide in this.

Might make a second one (or have my son make one).

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Thanks. One time in the past I found a small ball or something and stuck black zip ties through holes in it. This time around I'll probably do something with epoxy and zip ties (same general idea as what you suggested).

I guess I should get on the ball and figure it out. lol.
Tiny black zip ties are easier. Great idea!
 
Well, looks like the male Banggai needs more practice/patience at holding eggs. After about two weeks of him not eating he gave up and starting chasing white worms around when I feed the tank. :(

Time to fatten him back up and let them try again.
 
Tank is chugging along.

Didn't think I had enough flow so I purchased a couple Jebao SINE Cross-flow Pumps (SCP-150M) to put in. These are the WiFi version, but the Jebao Aqua app is crap and won't control them correctly. The pumps work find with just the hard-wired controllers. Maybe I'll try the app again later after an update (or when I have time to mess around with it more).

Only addition to the tank besides the pumps is an Orange-spotted Blenny. It took a 3-4 days but it's out and about now; chasing food and starting to explore.

It likes to perch on top of one of the Jebao SCPs. For the last couple days it was hiding inside a Jebao SLW-30 powerhead (it was unplugged and not in use) like it was a little cave. I took that out of the tank Sunday during my bi-weekly water change.

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We lost power the other night for about 12 hours in the crazy windstorm. I think a transformer near our street blew up.

After a couple hours with the emergency air bubblers going (thanks @Greg Hiller) I decided it probably wasn't coming back on and broke out the generator.

The only casualty of this outage was my Inkbird Temp controller. For some reason the up/down setting buttons no longer work. It's in TE (temp alarm) mode and I can't change the settings to fix it. That's ok, as I was planning on getting the newer Inkbird 306A with the WiFi and dual aquarium temp probes.

Amazon delivered the new Inkbird today. Sadly it was the wrong one. A sticker on the box said it was a 306A but the box itself says "Humidity Probe" (in pretty large text) and that's what is in the box. Return in process -- now I've got to wait until Friday for them to get me the right one.

Octo Aquatics - Shu Acclimation Box

Another raffle win over on Reef2Reef. I won one of the January Supporter raffles and went with the Octo Aquatics "Shu" acclimation box.

I contacted Matt and asked if I could upgrade from "The O'Reilly" to the larger size ("The Schillinger") and make some changes (of course paying for the cost difference). He responded very quickly and said that wouldn't be a problem. After a couple emails back and forth where he helped by answering my questions, I placed the order.

I expected to have to wait a while (based on the notice he has on the site), but it was surprisingly quick. I made my upgrade payment on February 16th and I received the "The Schillinger" Shu Acclimation box today.

The options I went with were:

- The Schillinger (14" x 6" x 6")
- Tank thickness up to 3/4"
- Bottom: Clear
- Two dividers
- Slots in the front
- Euro-braced tank (hinges get put on opposite side)

The acclimation box came wrapped in bubble-wrap and included some instructions, a business card, and an Octo Aquatics sticker.

Thanks to Matt @ Octo Aquatics!

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