On August 31st we added 2 orange diamond gobies that sift sand all day looking for food. We planned on putting 1 of the gobies in the 5.5 but we accidentally allowed both into the 28 and now we cannot catch 1 of them to add to the 5.5. But both seem to be getting along, in fact seem to be buddies, so we have decided to leave them both in there.
On September 11th we transferred the female "Killa" perc from the 12 into the 28 because she was hosting the delicate goni so much we were afraid she was going to kill it. She seems to be in heaven now because the frogsapwn in the 28 is larger than both the frogspawn and the goni that are in the 12. For some reason she got ich on September 23rd so we quarantined her for a few days then transferred her to the 5.5 after the ich was gone. But we felt bad having her in such small quarters so we moved her back to the 28 and the frogspawn doesn't seem to mind her hosting it all the time anymore.
Unfortunately though, I think Killa may have caused 1 of our diamond gobies to jump out of the tank. She has a habit of swimming with gobies and trying to "mate" with them and ends up irritating them. She did this in the 12 with the white chalk goby and we noticed her doing it in the 28 with the diamond gobies. When we woke up this morning one of the diamond goby was dead on the carpet. I'd say our perc has definitely earned her "Killa" name.
On September 3rd we added a beautiful male green mandarin dragonet that actually eats the mysis & Cyclop-eeze occasionally. We are really lucky in this because most mandarins will only eat pods. We set up a small container in the 28 that is breeding pods for the mandarin, as pods are his natural food source. Kermit was looking a little thin & we figured he had eaten up all the pods in the tank, so we took him to Down Under and gave him to them in hopes that he would be sold to someone with a larger pod population. We miss him but we can try again when our tank is older & has more pods.
On September 17th we added a longnose hawkfish and a cool blue lollypop tunicate. The hawkfish likes to perch anywhere it can find. The heater and the topmost rock seem to be its favorite perches so far. And it is as big a pig as Lenny. In fact, the 2 compete for the food during feeding time. I'd say they end up about even, even though the hawk is smaller than Lenny.
Last week (end of August) we found the dried up body of our last diamond goby. Apparently it also decided to go carpet surfing. We knew something was wrong when we couldn't see it sand sifting anymore. It must have jumped through the holes of the eggcrate we have covering the tank. Now our sand is getting a brown tinge on top so we are planning to add another diamond goby. Hopefully this one won't jump. We got one on October 14th but John heard that they should be in pairs so we got a larger one to pair with it. Haven't seen either too much but then the last 2 didn't come out until they'd been in the tank for a few weeks. Well, the last diamond we found dead on the carpet on November 5th so we have decided that diamonds are no longer a good choice for our tank. The next sandsifting goby will have to be a different kind. Not sure what kind yet, but we'll find something good.
We found the perfect sand sifting goby for our 28, it's a banded sleeper goby that we got from Fish For You on November 10th. So far it's settled in nicely and sifts the sand as often as the diamonds did but swims in the water column far more, rather than just perching on the sand like the diamonds did. It did really well, but I think it ate up all the creatures in the sand then starved to death. Bye-bye goby!
We had been looking all over for weeks for a flame angel but hadn't been able to find one. So on October 15th we decided to add a fish that's just as beautiful, a coral beauty angel. It's finally gotten comfortable in the tank so it's out all the time looking for food. It actually eats right off the turkey baster now when we feed it Formula 2.
Well it's now May 1, 2008 and we are down to just "Killa" the perc, Lenny the blenny and our newest fish, a dragon goby that sifts the sand. Our beloved hawkfish and coral beauty angel both died last week within a day of each other. We're not sure if someone was picking on them (dragon goby!) or if they were both just old. We'll miss them both!
It's April 11, 2009 and we're now down to just the clown & the blenny. We finally found out what's been spooking all our gobies - Lenny the evil blenny!! We saw the blenny bite and chase the poor dragon goby even though the dragon was double Lenny's size. Sheesh. So we're going to transfer Lenny to the 40 gallon as soon as we have all the other fish in it. Lenny needs to be the last fish in so that we won't have the same situaion in the 40 as we have in the 28. Once Lenny's been transfered we will get a sand sifting goby & another fish, probably a dwarf angel of some sort.
We added a beautiful plate coral on the 15th that has extended its long polyps a lot since it was added. Hopefully it won't decide to move around and sting the future inhabitants of the tank! It was shrinking, due to the coral beauty most likely, so we moved it to the 12 on November 10th. It still looks sad, not sure if it's going to make it. It didn't make it, John took it out on November 18th because it was truly gone. We're thinking the angel nipped at it and that started it on the road to its demise.
On August 31st we added 2 yellow sun corals one in the 28 and one in the 5.5 and a 4 headed green frogspawn in the 28. The sun in the 28 and the frogspawn are doing well, but unfortunately the sun in the 5.5 died. We're not sure what happened, as it was extending its polyps and ate like a pig on September 5th then on the 6th it started receeding and by the 7th it was gone =(
On September 24th we went into the City with Ron D. to the 6th Avenue Aquarium and came back with 3 corals: a red cynarina brain, a brownish-green pimply mushroom colony (both for the 28) and a 5 head brown frogspawn that went into the 5.5. We had to move it to the 12 though because it deflated. It was doing ok there until the lights in the 12 burnt out. Now it sits in the 2.5 where we hope it will recover.
On September 17th we added a blue tunicate. It's looking good. We've been feeding it microvert food and Cyclop-eeze. We will need to keep the water pristine for the tunicate, as tunicates are sensitive filter feeders. We actually moved it to the 2.5 because the silly clown started to host it after we moved the frogspawns to the 12. We had to move the tunicate to the 2.5 because the darn perc was hosting it & irritating it. But apparently the move was hard on it & it died in November.
Well, we did it again, on July 23 we came home with another coral we acquired from Aquarium Concepts in Hayward. It's a large green candy cane coral that now sits in the 28 gallon and is plumping up more and more each day.
Ron Diao had to tear his tank down so on November 5th he gave us his cleaner shrimp, a gorgonian, some polyps and some pulsing xenia that all reside in the 28 now.
On November 11th we brought back a nice rock with some red & green hairy mushrooms from Down Under. They're expanding a lot and look really nice.
It seems that the 28 sandbed may end up just housing mushrooms of different sorts because we added yet another kind on November 16th. The new one is a reddish-green sort of fringy looking type that cups up and expands during the day. It's a beauty!
We bought yet another coral on December 1st, a small green torch. It's more vibrant green than our other torch (frogspawn) and much smaller. I think it's a different kind because it has a different shape & smaller tips.
We have some new corals in our 28 gallon. In January we bought a beautiful blastomussa merletti that is a maroonish color with green centers. It's doing well & loves being target fed with mysis. We also in January bought an off-white fox/jasmine coral. This coral has not expanded as much as it can yet, but hopefully given more time it will. We have it in a low-flow, low-light area in hopes it will soon expand more.
During our sojourn to Aquarium Concepts on February 19th we bought another blastomussa, this one a wellsi variety. We got a great deal on it for only $29! This is amazing considering that it was originally $60. It's a reddish similar to the blasto merletti, but not as dark. So far it's doing well in there.
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