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:

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. 

20140930 Green Bubble Tip Anemone

Green Bubble Tip Anemone

I got this green bubble tip anemone two weeks ago. I have had lots of experience with rose bubble tip anemone (RBTA), but have never had a green bubble tip. To be honest I am a bit scared because I don't know if this anemone has the same light requirement and feeding habit as its rosy colored relative. This is why I have been hesitating to post about it to make sure it does well in my system.
I initially placed the anemone about 6" away from its current spot on to of the rock work. The anemone used the 1st hour of its stay here drawing around the rock to its current spot and has stayed there ever since. The anemone was not in very good health- the best way to judge an anemone's health is how sticky it is. I tried to offer it food for the first two weeks and none would stick. But the anemone had appeared to be doing alright- expanding and swaying under the light each morning.
Today I made another attempt to feed the anemone and the krill stayed! I must also mention, my 5" clarkii clown has been busy sharing her hosting duty between my other 6" RBTA and this GTA starting this week. So I think the anemone's stickiness must have something to do with the clownfish.
This has became one of my favorite corners of the tank as the GTA and the smaller RBTA flows with wave.
My feeling so far is they are hardy and very beautiful to look at, get yours here!

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.

Snowflake clownfish

Snow flake onyx purchase from the swap. These captive bred clowns are stunning with slectively bred in spots and neon blue shades! Normally retail for $60 or above, got the pair for $50!

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.