Cuttlefish tank cycling.

[ekocak]

It does look like that, and it was taken out of an SPS display tank. It looks a little like the pocillopora they have growing all over the back of that tank...

 

[Jocco]

hehehe... right in the kisser! I was talking with my LFS and they said I can't keep snails alive possibly because the water isn't as cool as they would like it. Just throw'n that out there.

 

[ekocak]

My water is almost 80 F. Doesn't seem to be a problem on my end.

 

[Jocco]

My water is almost 80 F. Doesn't seem to be a problem on my end.

Honestly, I have no idea
I give up on snails.

Excited for your cuttles!!!

 

[ekocak]

@Jocco I am so excited as well. My LFS says they may be doing a Reefgen run in early September, so theres a chance I'll be getting them then.

In other news, last night, I finally bit the bullet and made a concerted effort to manually eradicate the green hair algae by hand. Spot pulling it wasn't working, the decreased lighting regimen didn't seem to work, more snails and crabs couldn't keep up with it, and the more aggressive water changes seem to have only angered it. So last night, I reached for a tooth brush and hand scrubbed all the rocks and used a powerhead with a prefilter to catch the floating bits. It looks so much better, even though getting 100% of it proved impossible. Someone at the shop recommended using a small dose of hydrogen peroxide to keep it under control, but i didn't do this, as I'm hesitant to put anything in I can't test for.

 

[ekocak]

By the way @Jocco, how long do you acclimate snails for? I've found that certain ones require waaaaay more acclimation than others. Astraea snails in particular seem to die on me if I don't drip acclimate them over like 2 hours, which is dumb because I know they basically just ship them in wet paper towel. Also, sometimes they die because they're flipped upside down and too shocked to right themselves, so when I put them in I hand place them rightside up. I have a lot of luck with big turbo and/or trochus snails. I bag acclimate them and just do the little cups and don't seem to ever lose them. I know others haven't been as lucky, but they've been very forgiving to me. So far, most of the snails I've lost, were actually lost to hermit crabs wanting the shells. The turbo snails seem better at muscling themselves away from a persistent crab. I also have a limpet (which I got for free!) and some little chitons or abalone or something that came with the rock. The limpet is very cool and seems to like scrounging around at the back of the tank.

 

[ekocak]

Still waiting for cuttles.

 

[ekocak]

So, Blue Zoo has eggs for sale. My LFS keeps saying they may have ReefGen babies in about 3 or 4 weeks. Do I chance waiting it out for established babies or snag those eggs? What do you think @DWhatley

 

[ekocak]

I decided I just couldn't wait anymore and ordered some eggs. However, I may still pick up one of those started babies when (if) they get them in, since they'd likely be about the same age at that point anyways. And if I end up with more eggs, getting individuals from 2 different lines couldn't hurt. I'm so nervous and excited now. I have a ton of amphipods in the tank, but I'm thinking I'm very probably going to need to order some foods also.

EDIT: And now I've just noticed I placed my order on Lovecraft's birthday of all days. Coincidence?!

 

[DWhatley]

Sorry to be late to respond but I was very happy with Blue Zoo and have seen the same reported by others. Their shipping is as excellent as Live Aquaria's (and I cannot say that about any other shipper) and all of my eggs hatched.

As an aside, you can use our search feature - top right - and select some filtering to get historic info if someone is not on-line to help in a quick reply situation. An additional (and sometimes better) search is to use Google's site search (type: Blue Zoo site:tonmo.com).

 

[ekocak]

I've had another explosion of those little free swimming shrimp again. I tried to get photos but they move really fast. I did catch some (not great) video, but maybe it'll give some idea.

 

[DWhatley]

In the video they look almost like hatchling fish. Whatever they are, they should be good food if the parent source is not consumed.

 

[ekocak]

They remind me a little of "fairy shrimp" but those are freshwater.