Show us your favorites!

[Kristy]

Everybody show off one or two of your favorite things living in your tank at the moment!

It's hard to get decent photos of my basket star, who spends all her time during the daylight hours curled into a tight little snarl that is not so photogenic. But a couple mornings ago I caught some photos just as the lights were coming on and she was still fanned out and open, and even better was actually angled in a way that she really resembled a basket!
http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff316/mekdean/Basket%20star/DSCF0417-1.jpg

And here just a moment later, she has already started to coil back up. Those arms are around 8" long now. When we got her over three years ago she was about 3" across when fully open.
http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff316/mekdean/Basket%20star/DSCF0422-1.jpg

[Europhyllia]

That's beautiful Kristy!

[Scream311]

No its Gorgeous !

[kkiel02]

You know mine is my anemone. Ill post a pic...

[Kristy]

I'll post a pic... Yes please! :)

Here's another favorite... Not a great photo, but a really great fish! One of the reasons this long nosed butterfly is so special to us is that he was paper thin and not a good eater when we got him, got picked on quite a bit by the purple tang so he always seemed to have a torn tail or torn fin those first few months. He now eats like a champ, has a nice healthy belly on him, and looks especially awesome when he fins up!
http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff316/mekdean/longnosedbutterfly.jpg

[Kristy]

That's beautiful Kristy!


No its Gorgeous !

Thanks Karin and James! I think so too, but some people don't seem to appreciate her beauty.

Come on, let's see some other favorites out there!

[Europhyllia]

I think what I like especially about it is that it stayed relatively small. I always read they got huge. But yours is still small. That's nice.
Hm... maybe I need one more Caribbean Critter before I can call it complete...

[kkiel02]

My phone just decided to die when I crawl up there for a top down photo. Heres an oldie but a goodie. I will try and get a newer one tomorrow as it has grown alot lately. It loves the room it has now. Currently I have my neon rose bta(which is finally settling in the new tank), a large purple tip green bta(wandered a bit with the new setup) and my favorite the flamethrower bta(been happy this whole time, very hardy) grown to about 7 inches wide now. I am going to only keep these three bta though. No more for me in this system.

[Big_Pun]

my mystery wrasse, it's always out and about
http://tapatalk.com/mu/6330e6e5-a3da-7892.jpg
http://tapatalk.com/mu/6330e6e5-a4d4-b82e.jpg
http://tapatalk.com/mu/6330e6e5-a4e4-719e.jpg

[BSJF]

My squamosa
http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z113/bluespotjawfish/The%20New%20Cam%20-%20June%202011/P6051383.jpg

The squamosa's roommate
http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z113/bluespotjawfish/The%20New%20Cam%20-%20June%202011/P6051406.jpg

Open Brain From Aquadome
http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z113/bluespotjawfish/The%20New%20Cam%20-%20June%202011/P6041287.jpg

Plate from Reefkoi (never have been able to do this plate justice in pics)
http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z113/bluespotjawfish/The%20New%20Cam%20-%20June%202011/P6041310.jpg

My picassos (proud papa here)
http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z113/bluespotjawfish/The%20New%20Cam%20-%20June%202011/P1011203.jpg

Oh, and I need to post a sweet pic of the babies, but they are all out of date. Time for new ones.

[Europhyllia]

Great pictures Lorraine. You already know the blenny is my favorite

[Europhyllia]

What I currently like about my tank is really how everything has come together: the sum of all parts. So it's tough to pick just one or two favorites.
But -since I am lacking the Troy-like patience- I am picking the two corals I was after the longest. I started looking for them in November and they are only collected in the summer. That's a long time waiting and wanting for an Instant Gratification type like myself.

http://www.dominopads.com/swiftiaorange.jpg
Orange Tree Gorgonian - one of them also came with tiny hitchhikers: sea rod basket stars!

and extra special since Caribbean Hard corals are illegal to collect: aquacultured Caribbean Open Brain/ Rose Coral:
http://www.dominopads.com/roseeating.jpg

Nothing expensive ultra super nuclear blast designer stuff :) - just special to me. I don't own a single coral over $45 and most of my critters are in the $20 and under range

[Kristy]

Chris, Mike would totally agree with you. The mystery wrasse is his fave in our big tank. Lots of cool points.

Wow Lorraine, that photo of the blenny in the clam is amazing! Does he hang out in there all the time? That's adorable!

Karin, I can certainly see why you had to have that orange swiftia gorg. The colors are stunning! I assume it's a NPS?

Just a general word of warning: Another reason I don't post pics of the basket star is that I would be remiss to encourage others to keep one unless they really understand what a commitment it is and how risky this is to keep. Very few people have been successful in keeping them alive in captivity because they generally don't accept prepared foods and the jury is still out re: any food they can be successfully kept on, live or otherwise. We target feed ours daily and have just had total dumb luck that we've been able to keep ours for over three years and watch her grow. We did not buy ours intentionally, she was wrapped around the gorgonian I was buying and the sales person identified her for us.

[Europhyllia]

I assume it's a NPS?

Yes of course it's NPS. :o It's a good eater though.
maintenance:
automatic feeder twice every 24 hours for a duration of 2 hours each -powdered seafan foods by Fauna Marin and cyclop-eeze
frozen small stuff (oyster eggs, rotifers, prawn eggs) - once or twice a day
frozen mix with larger items (target fed to include the sea rod stars) (mysis, blood worm, copepods, daphnia) - two to three times a day
daily - freshly hatched baby brine

so yes, not the thing for everybody but I like it :)

[hobogato]

hard to pick one baby, but this one is named skull

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c329/hobogato/250/DSC08085.jpg

[ramsey]

hard to pick one baby, but this one is named skull

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c329/hobogato/250/DSC08085.jpg

That's one awesome looking clown!

[Scream311]

i Sure do Miss this Guy... so much Personality

http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/ii77/scream311/POTMeyes052.jpg

but Talk about CHARACTER !

http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/ii77/scream311/IMAG0665.jpg

http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/ii77/scream311/IMAG0670.jpg