Flame Angel

My New addition

It's been a very very long while since I had the motivation to write anything on this blog since the clam apocalypse episode. My tank has shown signs of stability and is once again thriving (without clams still). So I decided to re-establish the blog while regain my confidence by adding some livestock.
I have always loved the way flame angels look. Unfortunately they are not always reef safe. Depends on the individual, and depends on the environment, they may either nip on soft/hard coral polyps or clams (which my previous specimen did)
So I am crossing my fingers that by the time I obtain a clam this fellow won't be nipping its mantles.

7 Saltwater fishes you should never keep part 6

First of all, I apologize for the long pulse before I resume writing in this blog. The recent tragedy in my tank - All six clams passed away due to disease, has left me depressed for days. I had questioned my hobby like all other hobbyists who have experienced large amount of death in their tanks.

I wish to use my long overdue what not to keep fish article to resume my writing here.
The sixth species of fish that are commonly found in the aquarium trade but I recommend against purchasing is the Banggai Cardinalfish (Pterapogon kauderni).
You might see them very commonly available and comes in fairly low price. On top of that, they are truly easy to keep.

The real reason then behind why not to get them, is that they is only ONE place on earth these fish are found. They are found in the seagrass bed, usually near a large congregation of long spine seaurchins near the Banggai Archipelago of the Indonesian territory. With every fish you buy, there is one less in the ocean to reproduce and replace the already depleted population.

However, as you can see these fish are stunning to look at and they do exist peacefully in large congregations- making it a great community reef tank inhabitant. So how can we find them? Here is the saving grace- They breed easily and readily in the home aquarium. You can begin to find more and more "captive bred" or "locally bred" specimens available in local stores and online or among local hobbyists community forum. As a natural mouth brooder, their breeding habits resembles those of African Cichlids. If you have experience with African Cichlid breeding, you should have no trouble breeding them (provided you are willing to find food for the juviniles).

Peacock Mantis

Peacock Mantis Odontodactylus scyllarus has nothing to do with peacock, nor a mantis, nor a shrimp. But just a kiss-ass creature all on its own. The peacock refers to the colorful appearance and the signature "eyes" on its tail that resembles a peacock's tail. The mantis part refers to its front appendix that not only shapes but also functions like that of a praying mantis insect. Finally, as you can imagine, it's easy to mistaken it as a shrimp as it possess many qualities of a common shrimp.

I have been wanting one of these for quite a long time but have not had one for several reasons: 1) they aren't exactly every popular in aquarium trade 2) depends on the source they can be quite pricy 3) they require absolute solidarity and can harm their owners if you don't know what you are dealing with.

It's only been one day since this little guy has been in this 24gallon species tank that has nothing but the mantis along with liverock, some soft coral, macroalgae, and some micro snails. I have prepared a crevice for it, but the little dude was so busy all night "remodeling" it by moving rocks around and puffing out sand. By morning the "cave" is officially a "burrow". They are "reef safe" by the way to a certain degree, that is they will not touch any sessile invertebrates such as anemone or corals, but will readily consume any crustasian, fish, snail, hermit crab, etc that are living alongside them.

There are two types of mantis- the slicer and the splitter. The slicer has razor sharp claws that can slice a fish into two halves before consuming them. The peacock mantis belongs to the splitting group: using its pair of hammer shaped claws, they "punch" the prey with up to 180lb force to either knock them out cold or to split the shell (even clams and snails) before consuming them. Another awesome feature is their two perky eyes- the most complex pair of eyes in the animal kingdom that can see 4 times more "things" than human, including 12 difference color channels (UV and IR included), how neat is that? 

Death of a clam

I have not posted for a while because I am really depressed for what you can read in the title. My beautiful five inch Tahitian Maxima clam died four days after I performed the fresh water dip. The clam first showed signs of revival the first day, and then things just went downhill really fast after the second day.

I soaked what was left of the clam in chlorine to bleach out all and any microscopic lives on the shell to investigate the cause of death. As you can see, there is significant boring algae infection in the core of this clam.

In this photo, you can see the little holes in the bottom of the clam shell, caused by boring sponge while the clam was young, the boring sponge left holes for boring algae to invade and take over. The shell infected is significantly thinner than the other half.

The Inside view of the infected area. It looks like death is only a matter of time for this clam.

So the lesson learned here is that before you purchase any clam in the future, You MUST lift up the clam and observe the entire surface of the clam's shell (including the bottom) to detect any infections that may be otherwise be hidden while you view it from the top and its side. To me, that was a $230 lesson. Actually, make that $430 as three days following the Maxima's death, the raised nitrate level in the water also killed my 6" Derasa clam. 

Maxima clam pinched mantle

Very Sad Story, My Tahitian Maxima clam suffered what many hobbyists refer to as "Pinched Mantle" syndrom. The "pinched mantle" is caused by a protozoa infection, similar to that of the malaria type for human infection. This type of infection is widely spread amongst Maxima and Crocea clams, and has recently spread towards other Tridacna clams such as Derasa and Squamosa.

After doing lots of research, I decided to perform the freshwater dip (FD) treatment. The principle of freshwater dip is to kill invertebrates and bacteria cells by osmosis while the water finds equilibrium between brime and fresh. The Tridacna clam is actually surprisingly hardy when completely submerged under the freshwater. The key is the water must be of the same temperature and of the same pH level as the home aquarium. The photo above is my clam being soaked in freshwater for 30 minutes.

The photo above shows the pinch of the clam prior to the dip. You can see the second scute of the left mantle is slightly shrank. It is better to detect the distress and treat it while the clam is still strong and relatively healthy versus making the very invasive freshwater dip during its latter stage.

This photo shows the clam an hour after the dip. The clam is obviously distressed and is gasping for both the "right water" and fresh oxygen. The clam remained in this stage for the remainder of the day without much change. I will post follow up article if the clam's condition worsen or improves.

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.