Diver's Den Tour- Invertebrate Section

To continue the previous thread, this post will feature the invertebrate section of the facility.
First I want to show you the massive protein skimmer and reactor combo at this LiveAquaria, there are several of them:

This protein skimmer is taller than me... enough said.

Asked my wife to model for scale, humongous carpet anemones

More carpet anemones

Each of the anemones in this section, including carpet and a bunch of bubble tip are all hosting a pair of clownfish. it's really cool to see they make them all happy, even though as a retailer it's completely unnecessary to pair clownfish with anemone since one or the other would be sold soon anyways. But they did what they can to make each feel happy.

A bundle of long tentacle anemone

 a cluster of derasa clams (not yet offered on diver's den, they were exclusive for the tour), and a bunch of cultured maxima clam. very sweet deals! I managed to snatch two of these handsome derasa clams

Lighting may be one of the biggest questions any hobbyist buying from LiveAquaria wishes to ask. In the photo below you will see a broader view of the facility with lights running on a track. The lights run in a lateral movement so that it can cover all angles of the photosynthetic animals beneath rather than creating a "hot spot". When I toured this place a few years ago all lights were 400W 20K Metal Halide. Today this facility has a mix of high end LED (such as AI hydra + a few other varieties). All holding raceway are no more than 12" deep. All the animals look healthy and for clams I can observe significant growth indicating excellent health condition.

The livestock raceway

Here is a picture of the holding section for shrimp, small crabs (such as acropora crabs) and small shrimp (pistol shrimp or squat lobster, which by the way are size of a pinky nail!) They are held in individual transparent containers approx. the size of a film box (if you are born after the mid 90's you might not know what that is lol).

squat lobster, I can't believe how tiny they actually are compare to the online photos.

maxima clams in the diver's den section

And lastly, the diver's den clam section. I must say, almost all the clams in this section appears much larger than what is seems on the photo (contrary to the squat lobster), and honestly, the photos don't do justice on how beautiful they are. One of these clams I purchased looks like a mustard, brown color online but turns out to be a shiny gold in person! All of them are kept under 400W metal halide, 20K bulbs hence the very blue photo here. And one thing they offer that no one else do is live arrival ad 14 day guarantee.
Here is a couple videos:

20150317 Camera is back

Without turning this into a Tech blog, I just want to say I take most of my photos published here using my iPhone5S. And when that camera goes out of commission it becomes very difficult for me to take photos and post them.
After a long and hard battle with Apple I finally found a replacement and now back!
Here are some tank update! While I was away, I added two anemones!

7" Squamosa Clam

This is the new long tentacle anemone I found. I am a true believer now in the symbiotic relationship with specifically the Clarkii clownfish with the long tentacle anemone. I placed the bubble tip anemone in the tank two weeks before I introduced the long tentacle. It took the Clarkii about 3-4 days to settle into the bubble tip compare to 30 seconds of me introducing the long tentacle.

The new Long Tentacle green anemone, hosted by a Clarkii clownfish

And a new bubble tip anemone, not so bubble tip right now though

20141225 Snow onyx clownfish hosting anemone

It's a snow-less Christmas here in Wisconsin this year- pretty sad. So in Christmas spirit I am posting a video of my "snow onyx" hybrid clownfish with her anemone. My wife got me a waterproof case for my iPhone so after testing it out to make sure it was no leak, this was one of the first videos I took!

20141028 Reef Safe

A Cleaner Shimp

One of the most common terms one hears or asks in the marine aquaria is "Is ____ Reef safe?"

Well, to answer that question, first we must define what is "reef safe"?

Here is an article from Wikipedia defining reef safe.

So in short, I think most people would agree reef sate in the home aquarium means the critter you are referring will NOT hurt invertebrates, including coral. Even though in the broad spectrum, there really is very limited true "reef safe" creatures as most fish, even those who are vegetarian, would need to consume crustacean at some point in there life journey. But for the sake of general reference, it means a fish/invertebrate will not attack or cause long term damage to other commonly available aquarium creatures. 

Even those that are considered reef safe, one can still find an occasional specimens that is a black horse who wants to redefine their diet habit.

To illustrate, here is a small sample of fish that are "reef safe"

Yellow Tang- Primarily vegetarian, very rarely harms invertebrates.

Clown fish- Not an herbivore but will not attack invertebrates.

Seahorse- Very gentle creature, will not attach invertebrates, but will eat pods.

A list of "reef safe" invertebrates

Tridacna clams- will not bother anyone, no feeding necessary with sufficient lighting and adequate water quality

Small Polyp Stony coral- same as above

Cleaner shrimp- will not bother anyone, will help pick on parasites on fish

What about "not reef safe" fish?

Any fish in the following family cannot be trusted:

Angel- most will nip on corals or clam

Butterfly- most will nip coral

Trigger- will eat any crustacean, will also harm smaller fish, but not necessarily corals

Puffer- Same as above

Lion- Same as above

Grouper- Same as above

Some not reef safe invertebrates:

Mantis shrimp- will eat ANYTHING alive

Lobster- will harm fish/clam

larger crabs- will harm fish/other invertebrates

Anemone- this is a tricky one, but they may consume smaller, weaker fish or crustacean. 

20140729 Waikiki Aquarium 4- coral Extension

One of the most amazing things I've seen in Waikiki Aquarium is placing what we would normally consider "not reef safe" fish in their reef displays. Below is their South Pacific display with the mighty Gigas clam. You can see the beautiful table shelf acropora coral happily growing and extending with coral eating butterfly fish in the tank.

 This is a "smaller" tank (probably 1000 gallon) with anemone and clownfish display. Interesting enough- the tangs in this tank all look very beat up. They don't look unhealthy, just really beat up, I am guessing from all the clowns (very aggressive and territorial) and probably tangs beat each other up among themselves.

2014-06-15: Tank moving 5- Clowns

Here is the part I took a gamble- mixing clownfish is always a hit or miss. Sometimes they will bond and pair off. Sometimes they will fight tip one (or both) drops. But with a larger tanks and a lot more hiding space, I thought it's worth the gamble
Here is a clown I raised for about two years, it was less than 2" when I got it. And I think it must have came from a poorly managed farm it was so malnourished it took a long long time to grow to current size. He also never adopted to hosting anemones

The once below was acquired as a juvi too from a frag swap actually just this winter. The fish quickly grew into good size and hosted anemone right away. This is my prized snow-onyx designer clown. I will leave a bit suspense for now and let you know how did the two turn out when I mix them.

Feeding bubble tip centipede

After keeping bubble tip anemone for over a year and half and growing, propagating a bunch of them, I came to realize you can feed them pretty much anything protein based! Tonight I fed it a centipede I caught!

Hungry Rosy Bubble Tip Anemone

Hungry RBTA

Although my RBTA has been doing fairly well including splitting and growing, they seems to be always very hungry despite the every other day meal of a whole dinner shrimp.

I am debating to upgrade my light just for them. But again I do like the flow in the water look versus the stubby little bubbly tentacles (even though that's what most people get them for).

Rose bubble tip anemone

Anemones are basically a bag of water. So a large part of your success in keeping them alive depends on the water quality. Rose tip bubble anemones (RTBA in manynonline forums) is actually one of the hardier options with stunning beauty. I bought a couple from a fellow reefer whose anemone split from one into a dozen within 12 months. I have had them for three months now and they've increased to three. Althought strong lighting is preferred they will do just fine in medium lighting, actually from my observation, They tend to breed faster under dimmer lighting. I feed my anemones a mix of mysis dhrimp, brime shrimp, and marine cousine. I actually feel that the most important thing for these creatures are the symbiotic relatuonshipnwith a host clownefish (will talk more about that relationship later). So before you decide to have one of these beautiful creatures, I strongly advise hacing a clownfish with an established territory in your tank.

Zoanthid in home, abbreviated version

Zoanthids are one of the most commonly found "corals" in the home aquarium. Not only they are brightly colored and have a compact size, they are normally really easy to keep, grows and spreads in a steadily fast pace. They are ideal for new marine hobbyists who want to try their hands in invertebrates.

The reason why I put "" around the word coral is because technically Zoanthids are more anemone than coral. And just like anemone, they can be poisonous so handle with care (Personally I have brushed my hand and handled both anemone and zoanthids and have never engaged any harm from them, but please use caution as some people may develop allergic reaction to certain aquatic lives.).

Zoanthids do come in many many different shades and colors. The price can also vary greatly depends on their color and rarity. Generally a colony about 2 square inches would cost between $15-30. But in some occassions you will find stores or breeders selling rare speciments at "per polyp" price. The most rediculous price I have ever heard was $45 per polyp (and it wasn't even that beautiful). Personally I suggest you use your own judgement in how much you want to pay for them. If they are increadibly expensive, it might pay to just wait a while as these critters grow really fast and once the "rare" types becomes more popular the price will eventually come down.

Caring:

Light: They are the most forgiving of all corals I have ever kept when it comes to light. I have the exact same species of zoanthids placed both 3 inches from the water surface with a 250W metal halide blasting over it and another colony at the very bottom and the edge of the tank. The lighting doesn't seem to make them grow any faster, however they do seem to open more generously with lower lighting. In addition, most of them will show and "pop" with the best coloration if you use more "blue" light such as actinic or 420nm bulbs.

flow: I have seen them thrive and extend their tentacles right next to a powerhead, I have also seen them open up and happy at a very still location of the tank. Again, use your judgement, but with either extreme, make sure you do it slowly so they can adjust to them.

Water quality: Obviously in order to keep anything else in your tank happy, the water needs to be free of nitrate and phosphate, But you might want the water to be "slightly" dirty as the zoanthids do absorb a good deal of nutrients from the water. I can tell that my zoanthids had really good growth (ironically) when they are placed in a quarantene tank without skimmer.

Disease and damages: Zoanthids do have a number of natural enemies in the wild ranging from fish to other invertebrates. If you spot a fish nipping at Zoanthids, you are pretty much left with the option of which one you want to keep more in your tank. If you find some small critters (snail, star, crab) nipping on them, you can carefully monitor and remove them as it happens. One good rule of thumb is to do a "Lugol's dip" when you receive them. To do so, get a bottle of Kemps "Lugol's solution", a super concentrated bottle of iodine. Follow the instruction for a coral dip indicated by the product to kill off any hitchhiking parasites that comes with it.

Tomato clown hosts RBTA

I purchased two Rose Bubble Tip Anemine (RBTA in hobbyist term) from a fellow hobbyist. The disks were approximately 4" in diameter when fully inflated. At this time I have a pair of percula clowns and a mature tomato clown who has not hosted and anemone for over two years. Within 10 minites on the anemone's introduction, the tomato is already making herself comy in it. The percs? Not even interested