Tebstan's Pico

[tebstan]

I set up a Fluval Spec last week. I am without a camera to document it's progress this week! :( So, I'm hijacking a pic of the tank from txg8gxp. This is his old tank, I can't take credit for the cool rock wall.

http://i556.photobucket.com/albums/ss9/TebstansTank/Spec%20Pico/pico.jpg

I added a little sand from my tank, and filled the filter cavity with rubble from my sump. It should kick start it with enough bacteria for such a small water volume. (1.5 gallons.) To help it cycle and have something to stare at, I added a shrimp from the coast.

I wish I had a pic of it. It's a cool looking critter, my best guess is they're some variety of eatin' shrimp. It's about two inches, giant whiskers and big eye balls, red patches on the body and red spots on the tail.


I almost decided against buying a critter for the tank and just keeping this fella. But then, he buried in the sand. Everyday I poke around in the sand to see if he's still there. He eats, and buries again. Molted once already, then buried himself. He's so boring.

So I'm back to deciding what to put in the pico. I really wanted a barnacle blenny or twin spot goby. All the recommendations for nano fish are beautiful, but 1.5 gallons is so small. I may just go with a cool shrimp.

[Europhyllia]

I LOVE cool shrimp!
Here's a Caribbean Spotted Cleaner. They live in anemones but will accept ricordea as a substitute
http://www.dominopads.com/anemoneshrimp.jpg

[Mr Cob]

fun tank! Can't wait to see a pic of it.

[tebstan]

I don't think the light on this is capable of growing much. Maybe a kenya. Maybe. I love the anemone shrimp, but will they be happy without a live host? There won't be any predators around so they should still feel safe.

[Europhyllia]

oh hadn't thought of that!
Mine actually eventually decided they wanted to live in a shaggy gorgonian so maybe they would take a kenya tree?

[Mike]

How about mini sea horses? Word is you know where to catch some at the coast. :)

[tebstan]

I felt so bad for that tiny seahorse! You could see the panic on its little snout. Poor thing.

It's tempting to try so much in this tank, it's really sharp looking. But ultimately I want something easy to maintain. I put so much time into the big tank, I want this one to have the simplicity of a betta bowl. So NPS is out, a fish is out.

I'll try some GSP, some trash palys, and a kenya tree. I can pull some gsp and palys from the big tank, but I'll have to track down a kenya.

I pulled out the boring shrimp and put in a pair of the tiniest peppermint shrimps. They're something to look at until I'm ready to commit to a stocking idea. I'm leaning heavily toward a pair of green marbled saron shrimp...

[tebstan]

I've added some kenya trees and GSP. I'm surprised the GSP opened; I wasn't very gentle when I ripped it out of the big tank.

I also added a temporary resident - an itty bitty molly miller. As it grows I'll move it to other tanks. I don't know what to expect for growth rate, but it will buy me some time to research and locate something like saron shrimp.

http://i556.photobucket.com/albums/ss9/TebstansTank/Spec%20Pico/SpecTank07-28-11.jpg

I'm glad the blenny picked a home where I could see him easily. When he's not cruising around, he rests in a little hole near the top center.
http://i556.photobucket.com/albums/ss9/TebstansTank/Spec%20Pico/MollyMillerinSpec07-28-11.jpg

His first meal in my care:
http://i556.photobucket.com/albums/ss9/TebstansTank/Spec%20Pico/MollyMillereating07-28-11.jpg

Seeing him at the pipette made his neighbor a little more trusting
http://i556.photobucket.com/albums/ss9/TebstansTank/Spec%20Pico/ShrimpeatinginSpec07-28-11.jpg

[txg8gxp]

I like the pic of the blenny in the rock

[Europhyllia]

what a cute little blenny!

[Mike]

Tiny Molly miller. Some up for grabs still- free. :)

[Mike]

Sorry to hijack the thread, tank is very cute. I like the rocks, seeing a FTS it is hard to tell it is that small. Good luck with the blennies and Kenya trees.

[tebstan]

Thanks Mike! The kenyas are doing great and the blenny seems to think the place is a mansion. He's always busy. I hope I don't end up neglecting the big tank while staring at the little fella :)

[Mike]

I thought you were going to throw a couple of them in there since they are so small...

[tebstan]

I put the two tiny ones in there... but one jumped the first night. I didn't find him until it was too late. :(

The two bigger ones have been living in my fuge, until I have time to move them to the display while I can watch them. I hope they pick a safe cave where I can keep an eye on them.

[Mike]

I hate it when fish jump. :(

Just glad that little guy seems to be working out for you. I like the little blennies, lots of personality.

[NateDogg]

Did you end up putting anything other than the Kenya trees and gsp in there?
How often do you have to top off your tank? My 3g was sometimes twice a day.
I really like the rock work.
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[tebstan]

I'm topping off once day, about a cup. Twice a day seems like a lot, did you have a fan on it? Doing the water change was so easy I was amused. I scooped out about a quarter gallon and filled it back up from the brute mixing water for the big tank. Done in about two minutes. :D

I haven't put anything else in yet, I will soon, just been busy. I'm going to try some trash palys, and some pink star polyps. Maybe a mushroom, I have plenty of green ones. It's just going to be hard to get it to attach.

The rock was all done by txg8gxp. All I did was add the barnacle. I think it adds a nice touch though. ;) Having all of the rock permanently mounted adds a new twist for me. I don't have complete control over where the soft corals end up. I can try to wedge them where I want, but if they fall and attach elsewhere, oh well. I won't waste time trying to glue them.

Here's the little blenny scoping out the barnacle for the first time. He still prefers the tiny hole in the rock wall, but as he grows he'll have to move to the barnacle.
http://i556.photobucket.com/albums/ss9/TebstansTank/Spec%20Pico/BlennyinBarnacle07-29-11.jpg

[NateDogg]

Never had a fan... would have helped. Man... you've got me wanting to set my pivot up again! Will that blenny out grow your tank?
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[NateDogg]

Pico... predictive text!@#

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[justahobby]

If I'm not mistaken, all Saron shrimp are nocturnal. I mention that since you said your other shrimp was boring and you may not see the Sarons much at all either.

[tebstan]

I'm pretty nocturnal myself. :) The other shrimp was boring because it stayed buried in the sand, night and day. With the saron shrimp, I'm wondering how safe they'll be around the minimal corals I'm putting in the pico. From what I've read so far, it doesn't appear that they eat coral, just stress them by walking on them frequently. They are predatory of other critters like snails, etc.

The molly miller will definitely outgrow this setup. I'm not sure how long it will take though; monitoring his growth rate will be interesting.

[tebstan]

I'm gonna need a smaller photo box.

This tank looks really cool from the top down.

I just added a green mushroom, some trash palys, and two polyps of fairy dust zoas. I put some gsp on rubble then buried the rubble in the sand, so hopefully it will look like a grass bed when it opens up. I hope it can grow this way.

Nothing is happy about my meddling at the moment, I'll get pics when things settle down.




The kenyas I added a few days ago are doing very well, two out of three have attached to the back wall roughly where I wanted. I'm going to leave the largest one on the sand bed.

One of the frags I wedged into the rock wall attached upside down! I was a little annoyed by this at first, but it's kind of cool. As it grows out to reach for the light, it's going to develop a cool shape.

http://i556.photobucket.com/albums/ss9/TebstansTank/Spec Pico/Kenyaupsidedown07-31-11.jpg

[tebstan]

The zoas are opening already. I'm really curious to see what happens with the fairy dust polyps. They look so blah in my big tank during the day but really pop at night under the actinic. I've read that zoas with "sparkles" or "stars" show more of that trait when they're kept in lower lighting - in the big tank they're up high right under the lights. Maybe this low light pico will make them look cool.

Here's what the parent colony looks like in the big tank:
http://i556.photobucket.com/albums/ss9/TebstansTank/Zoanthids/FairyDustfragsside08-01-11-1.jpg


fairy dust frag in the pico, still adjusting to new home
http://i556.photobucket.com/albums/ss9/TebstansTank/Zoanthids/FairyDustinpico07-31-11.jpg



teal "trash" palys - I don't know why everyone hates them so much, they're kinda pretty :)
http://i556.photobucket.com/albums/ss9/TebstansTank/Zoanthids/TrashPalyinpico07-31-11.jpg

[txg8gxp]

Looks like your tank is almost fully stocked already, I guess it's not too hard when you have a 6x6" area to work with:)

[NateDogg]

The palys are cool. I like them too. I think the prob is how invasive they are. That's not a big deal if you keep them separate though. I have some cool ones with a darker blue color. Was gonna offer you a little frag, but it looks like you are good to go. I like the tank.
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[tebstan]

Sad news. The tiny blenny jumped sometime last night. :(

The kenya hanging upside down couldn't hold it's own weight, so ripped off and fell to the bottom. I tried to glue a mushroom, which of course didn't work, so it also fell to the bottom. I can't reach in their to move things around without doing a large water change due to displacement, so they stay where they land.

The trash palys are doing fantastic. The fairy dust palys are stretching toward the light, but doing well. The GSP opened when I draped it across the rock high up, but hasn't opened since I put it toward the bottom. I'm assuming it needs more flow, so I added a tiny pump with a spray bar and will see how it goes.

I think it's odd that the kenyas are fairing poorly compared to the palys and mushroom. Maybe the shrimp are bothering them?

Pretty sad about the loss of the blenny.

[Mike]

Still have some free, if you want to make the drive over for it.

[tebstan]

I called a supplier about the saron shrimp. I was asking if she could tell me the approximate size they ship, and if she could recommend a quantity.

I was sad to hear that the species of saron they have reach 2 to 3 inches. :( I've found multiple sources saying this species, saron neglectus, reach 2 to 3 centimeters. Someone has their species misidentified or mislabeled. Either way, the supplier has jumbo eatin' size saron prawns, with them shipping at an already huge 2 inches.

Dang. I wanted a monkey shrimp.

Maybe I'll just go with a sexy shrimp or two.

[tebstan]

I added two anemone shrimp a few days ago, but only one survived. I'm not sure if I should risk ordering another one; they fought for a moment when I introduced them to the tank. Maybe it was coincidence...? Does anyone know if the anemone shrimp should be kept isolated?

http://i556.photobucket.com/albums/ss9/TebstansTank/Spec%20Pico/AnemoneShrimp8-24-11.jpg

Two of the LED bulbs have gone out and two are starting to strobe so they're going out soon. It's not the highest quality LED, I guess you can only expect so much and still get a desktop aquarium price. I've still got 26 bulbs going strong, but I'll be looking into new lighting soon. No DIY for me, I'm not that handy. I may just get one of these:

http://www.adana-usa.com/images/large/9W%20fixture_resized.jpg

Archaea 13W PC. I like the silver, it's snazzy.



I also added a cute little mushroom rock, that quickly turned to crud. (That's why I'm not posting tank shots yet.) I hope they bounce back. The were upside down in their bag for a while, and squished themselves. I cleared the tank of their panic slime, and now just have to wait for them get back to normal. The hardest part is just keeping my hands off and let it adjust.

[Europhyllia]

sorry about the blenny :(

[ErikH]

Your trash palys look a whole lot nicer than mine did! Sorry about the lil blenny, I really like the barnacle pic.

[Bluepowdertang]

Very cool! I'm thinking about setting up a little tank like this