Pictures

Electric Blue Hermit crab (calcinus elegans):



Colony of some "globe"-ish SPS (possibly Porites?), along with colony of polyps (Order Zoanthidea/Zoanthids)



Stalks of pulsing xenia (Xeniid):



Hitch hiker stripped Brittle/Serpent Star, perhaps 1" wide.



Two Ricordea mushrooms (Corallimorpharia Ricordea):

Reef Traders Outpost is back!

Some of you may remember RTOP.COM? RTOP was a very popular Reef Aquaria site from Oct 1995 through Nov 1998, until I let it go to cob-Webs. I just started the new Reef Traders Outpost blog and am getting the old content loaded, so check it out!

Current Tank Inhabitents list has moved...

The inline contents at the sidebar of this bog was inconvenient and no one wants to mess with their IE settings. So, it's moved to an "old" page so it's not going to show up in the blog proper, but will be easily accessible. There's also a link in the sidebar.

Front view of tank"

Purchases, and more tending...

Brought the algae to Jims and received about $5 credit for it.

Purchased:

• Kent Pro ScraperM (Stainless Steel)
• Aquarium Systems/Marineland HoldFast

Used the HoldFast to anchor the Ricordea mushroom rock as it fell again.

Finally was able to clear the glass front and sides of all the pink coralline algae.

Tending the tank...

Cleaned up about 1 pt. of C. Racemosa, and another pt. of the brown kelp. Will bring it to fish store later today.

Repositioned the rock holding the two Ricordea Mushrooms, as it had been knocked over; probably by a snail. Will have to get some epoxy.

Performed 2.5g water change.

pictures

Fromia (milleporella?) sea star:



Stalks of pulsing xenia (Xeniid):

Picture

Side view of my Nano Cube tank, showing the brown kelp and pulsing xenia (Xeniid):

Water change, and pictures

Performed 2.5g water change.

Purple algea:



Bumble-bee Snail (Family: Pusiostoma):



Two Ricordea mushrooms (Corallimorpharia Ricordea):



The stalk of pulsing xenia (Xeniid) has finally separated, stuck on the brown kelp:

Pictures

Stalks of the pulsing xenia (Xeniid), one of which is separating:



Porcelain Anemone crab (Neopetrolisthes ohshimai):



Empty husk of Indo-Pacific White-Striped Cleaner Shrimp (Lysmata amboinensis):

The Cleaner Shrimp is gone...

I fed my tank a 1/4 cube of Mysid shrimp and was watching all the inhabitants "get excited", then I noticed I didn't see my Indo-Pacific White-Striped Cleaner Shrimp (Lysmata amboinensis). He was under the overhang of a rock low to the sand (which would be uncommon) and he didn't look right. He was moving but his shell seemed odd, and he seemed to be reacting to the food but wasn't going after it.

I left and returned about 30 minutes later and found two Narsarious Snails (Family: Nassariidae), a hermit crab, and a Bumble-bee Snail (Family: Pusiostoma) all over the remains of the cleaner shrimp.

Within an hour or so all that remained was an empty husk.

Was the shrimp mid-molting and was vulnerable? Or could it be a change in salinity (I had let my fresh make-up-water lapse a bit and added quite a lot at the same time)?





Here's a picture of a hitch hiker Brittle/Serpent Star, perhaps 1" wide.

Add more livestock...

Bought from Jim's Exotic:

• 1x 1" Electric Blue Hermit crab (calcinus elegans)
• 1x 1" Porcelain Anemone crab (Neopetrolisthes ohshimai)
• 1x 1/2# Tonga branch for the back filter section (almost full now)
• 1x 1/2" Scarlet Hermit (Paguristes cadenati)
• 5" x 2" rock with colony of 2-3 dz Zoanthids polyps, and 1 colony of some "globe"-ish SPS (possibly Porites?), and 2 small stubs of sponge (possibly)

Brought in the qt. of Green Grape Algea (Calurpa Racemosa) to Jim for which he gave me the Tonga branch for free!

Porcelain Anemone crab (Neopetrolisthes ohshimai):

Scarlet Hermit (Paguristes cadenati):



Rock with colony of 2-3 dz Zoanthids polyps, and 1 colony of some "globe"-ish SPS (possibly Porites?), and 2 small stubs of sponge (possibly)



This is how my tank looks now:

"Weeding"

Cleaned up about 1 qt. of Green Grape Algea (Calurpa Racemosa) - will see if fish store is interested, or will donate to Josh at work for feeding to his tangs.

Green Grape Algea (Calurpa Racemosa) encroaching the top of some live rock:



Kelp, Sargassum (probably):



The ziplock bag of Green Grape Algea (Calurpa Racemosa) and other algea:



My tank of "Weeding"

Algae mis-identification, maintenance, and baby shrimp?

I'm fairly certain that what I thought was "Halimeda goreaui - Green small bulbs in sets of three along long vine" could actually be Caulerpa racemosa, which seems to be universally considered not only a pest but possibly a significant hazard to my tank. "Halimeda species are crusty, calcified algae that look like a bunch of small platelets strung together in a chain" - wetwebmedia.com So, I'll have to thin it out greatly.

Good news is that I've seen what appear to be 2-4 tiny (< 1/4") baby shrimp in my tank, over the last two days.

I also noticed that my main circulating pump was not operating that well - I took it out and thoroughly cleaned it.

Added 2 Ricordea Mushrooms, and pictures

Bought from Jim's Exotic:

• 1 1" Ricordea mushroom with orange ring
• 1 1/2" Ricordea mushroom - all blue

Here's a good shot of the Sand Sifting Star (Astropecten polycanthus):

A picture of the a star Polyp colony (Order Zoanthidea/Zoanthids) surrounded by Green Grape Algea (Calurpa Racemosa):

And a picture of the pulsing xenia (Xeniid) as it grows on the kelp: