Cali Kid Corals

My 200 gallon mixed reef tank

My elegance caught it. Thats how big it is.

The person who is helping me quarantine knows who they are. :]

I actually only have 6 anthia left.. the elegance has been closed for 2-3 days munching and has just started to reopen.

I was trying to sell/trade the anthias but I guess this is an alternative to getting rid of them. I hope this elegance grows 2x its size.
 
There's a difference on how a dead/alive fish arrived at their demise.

Elegance corals don't have the sting to capture prey, especially a healthy fish. We're not talking about the sting of say a carpet 'nem here. We're also talking about anthias, which are active swimmers and aren't in the same areas as say an elegance coral. Anthias died of starvation, succumbed to sickness, internal parasite, etc. That's the difference that I was alluding to.

If I was to lose an anthias to an elegance coral, I would be questioning why it got there to begin with and how to avoid that in the future.
 
Ibn said:
There's a difference on how a dead/alive fish arrived at their demise.

Elegance corals don't have the sting to capture prey, especially a healthy fish. We're not talking about the sting of say a carpet 'nem here. We're also talking about anthias, which are active swimmers and aren't in the same areas as say an elegance coral. Anthias died of starvation, succumbed to sickness, internal parasite, etc. That's the difference that I was alluding to.

If I was to lose an anthias to an elegance coral, I would be questioning why it got there to begin with and how to avoid that in the future.
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All the fish are eating and swimming fine. Im fairly certain its just another one of goldbars victims but havent seen it myself for any evidence.

Now lets be honest, do you think that lowly of other people or just me? Did you think I just see a fish die in my tank, shrug my shoulders and hope no more die? Of course there is a difference to how a fish meets its death. Nobody can rule out an anthia dying before an elegance got it just because elegance have weak stingers or that an anthia is normally an active swimmer. Cleaning my tank and grazing my elegance, I did notice they have a much stronger, sticky feel towards their tentacles than any of my other corals. Like many other new hobbyists who run into a situation, I started reading on forums and others have written that their elegance corals have munched down on their fish that were perfectly fine the day before. That is what led me to this conclusion. Could be it died prior to being caught, or it could be it got caught alive. Could mentioning that my anthias sleep under the elegance at night make you change your stance on it dying before it was caught by my elegance? Maybe?

All my fish in my tank have been bought from others who have told me they quarantine for 2 weeks or more before selling. How bullshit their statements are is beside the point (If someone tells me they do or will do something, I trust they will see to it unless they have previous actions that suggest otherwise) For example, I frequently visit Maddhu, who sells fish in East San Jose out of his garage. He has showed me and explained to me his process for QT. I have even asked if some of his fish in QT would be for sale before the QT time was reached and he honestly said that although it is not advised, if I really wanted to buy the fish, he would sell it to me. That showed me many characteristics about him but for this topics sake, it showed he cared enough for hobbyists like myself to QT unlike many other businesses. So that limits the likeliness for parasites but obviously does not eliminate the variable of unwanted hitchhikers.

I watch my tank for many hours a week like most people do in this hobby. I dont sugarcoat anything and I have not seen any signs of deteriorating health on any of my fish. It doesnt take someone to be in the hobby for years to know whether or not a fish can swim or not.

Recently I did not have the luxury of purchasing fish from someone who said they QT. So that is why I asked around and found a nice individual who I have encountered previously to entrust my fish with. Keep in mind, I have only been on BAR for 2-3 weeks so I do not know many Bay Area community members. I specifically did not want to mention their name incase they did not want the publicity or my personal thought, which was the possibility people would start using the individual for their QT.

I know I mentioned previously I would like feedback on how I am doing but to say there is a difference on how something alive dies or ends up somewhere seems a bit obvious to the point you are coming off as belittling someone. Please clarify. If thats the case, I will no longer share openly about my tank and will only message those who care enough for an update.


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Many of us lose a fish or two when first introduced. It happens.
And VERY often, we really have no idea why.

BAR is a very friendly forum. I have been on it for many years.
But it can get testy at times, usually accidentally. I think that is the case here.
The big problem with forums like these : It is really hard to convey tone in posts.
In person, you can say "I disagree" nicely, not belittling or anything.
With posts, it is really hard.

Oh - and the cause could be a bit of both.
I would make a guess that the Anthias was injured badly, which caused it to be easily caught by the elegance.
You never know...
 
+1
Anthias are very tricky, especially when doing a harem. I envy tanks that have a school of anthias. My friend bought a bunch of anthias from Maddhu and they are rock solid. In my hands, small anthias checked out like flies and I discussed this with a lot of members on here for advice. Members on here are very courteous, diplomatic and helpful, with occasional jokes to make the day go faster as long as you don't take it personal. :)
 
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I'm sorry that you thought that my post seems to be belittling you in any way or form. As Mark has mentioned, I don't think the nuances of a casual conversation comes over in text form in replies of any sort and can be misconstrued. In this case, it seems like you were brushing the death and the constant warfare that is going on in your tank as something secondary. Apparently it isn't but it didn't come across that way as I read through this extensive thread.

I provided the info on both elegance and anthias because I've had experience with both and have been doing this for an extremely long time (my first reef tank was set up in 1999). What all those years of experience teaches me is that there are successes along the way, but there were even more failures. Lots of resources lost, in terms of time, money, and livestock. In the case of anthias, they do die occasionally from nothing as I've seen it before with entire schools of them (seeing a pack of fat ventralis stop feeding after 3 month+ is disheartening). Part of that goes back to an old topic that was discussed ad nauseum by Rich Ross and more than a handful of others back in the days of BAR - chain of custody. Ultimately, it's about education and conservation which leads to turning a novice into long term hobbyists.

I'll refrain from derailing this thread any further and seeing how my replies seems to have its negative effect, I will refrain from viewing and commenting any further.
 
Ibn said:
I'm sorry that you thought that my post seems to be belittling you in any way or form. As Mark has mentioned, I don't think the nuances of a casual conversation comes over in text form in replies of any sort and can be misconstrued. In this case, it seems like you were brushing the death and the constant warfare that is going on in your tank as something secondary. Apparently it isn't but it didn't come across that way as I read through this extensive thread.

I provided the info on both elegance and anthias because I've had experience with both and have been doing this for an extremely long time (my first reef tank was set up in 1999). What all those years of experience teaches me is that there are successes along the way, but there were even more failures. Lots of resources lost, in terms of time, money, and livestock. In the case of anthias, they do die occasionally from nothing as I've seen it before with entire schools of them (seeing a pack of fat ventralis stop feeding after 3 month+ is disheartening). Part of that goes back to an old topic that was discussed ad nauseum by Rich Ross and more than a handful of others back in the days of BAR - chain of custody. Ultimately, it's about education and conservation which leads to turning a novice into long term hobbyists.

I'll refrain from derailing this thread any further and seeing how my replies seems to have its negative effect, I will refrain from viewing and commenting any further.
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Thanks for clearing it up @Ibn. Meeting you in person has showed you are a very nice and knowledgeable guy that time we chatted about sps @Neptune. I cannot agree more that education and conservation are critically important in this hobby, especially in regards to marine life. I majored in Political Science and Environmental Studies in hopes of preparing me in my passion to preserve the environment for future generations but that barely even scratches the surface of this constantly increasing dilemma. I would want every person to enjoy what I had growing up, especially when it comes to the outdoors.

I do apologize for making these accusations and am posting it openly to demonstrate an initial miscommunication in tone and relay of information and how I have no negative feelings towards Ibn :).




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Tank update photo from last month. Lots of gha purposely so my sea hare never goes hungry. Its increased 3x its initial size.


I found a spot in my tank where the sps have grown an inch in 2months... Im reading that it is considered ridiculously fast. Some sps in other parts have remained the same, if not minimal growth.

Ill be honest, I have not done a water change in a while...


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Just picked up a vlamingi tang I have been looking for a while for along with a lawnmower blenny from Maddhu. Right when I put them into my tank, they started eating pellets and nori. Extremely happy with the quality of fish he stocks. Probably only time in my many years of fish keeping have I had a fish eat straight out of the lfs bag it came in.

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Also, a good friend of mine just let me borrow his urchin for my gha since its more my sea hare can handle. Things already finished a whole section in an hour. Anyone with gha should definitely get a the pintail urchin.

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I like them on plugs because they are super easy to move/sell/trade than if I had it glued to a rock. I initially only wanted rocks in the center with euphyllia while the fish have maximum swimming area but my coral buying has got out of hand.

If I had another chance to redo, I would get rid of all my montis, sps, and zoas. Just have euphyllia glued on all the center island rockwork with fish swimming over. Clowns bouncing around too.


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