My first O. Hummelincki

[skywindsurfer]

Once again Bubbles was waiting for use this morning. She was inside the estuary part of the tank again. After a while I guess she got tired of waiting for her breakfast and went after the sea cucumber. I quickly rescued the cucumber and gave her some krill. By the time I got the krill to her she had moved back to the larger part of the tank and I was almost able to coax her out onto the sand bed.

 

[skywindsurfer]

I just added some buffer this afternoon. Hopefully the numbers will be higher tomorrow.

 

[skywindsurfer]

This morning I placed some fake leaves/vines on the island. I got tired of that side of the tank looking bare and unfinished. I figured the leaves would be a nice touch. I also put a piece of fake tree roots. The plastic (at least I think its plastic) kind that you see in fresh water aquariums. I'll take some pictures and post them later. Bubbles doesn't come out as often as before in the mornings. She's only comes out to forage, and the rest of the time she sits in her den. Could I be doing something to make her feel uncomfortable? Any ideas on how to make her come out more?

 

[skywindsurfer]

I just finished taking the small propeller power head and placed it inside the rock jettie, facing the small cove. Now there is a very, VERY gentle current pushing inside of it. I also added another MAXI JET 1200 where the small propeller power head once sate. Now there is more than ample flow pushing the large body of water. I also added more buffer and some PurpleUp to the tank. I checked the pH this morning and it was about 8.0 - 8.2. Not as bad as it was, but still not there yet.

 

[skywindsurfer]

Just got home from getting something to eat and to my surprise, I found Bubbles crawling across the far end of the tank. Clear as day just meandering along. The tank is a little milky since I added more buffer and calcium and moved some sand around. I lost her in the fog, but I'm sure she's in the far right rear corner of the tank. I've decided to keep from feeding her until she comes out and explores a little bit. That way it forces her to get accustomed to her new home and become comfortable with crawling around more. The fish in the tank still hide in the rocks the majority of the time. We are down to just the three damsels, pajama cardinal, and the stingray.

 

[skywindsurfer]

So she's stayed at the corner of the tank walking back and forth. After a few minutes of edging ever so closer to the pajama cardinal, I decided it was time to feed her. Now she's just sitting at the top barely out of the water eating the krill I gave her.

 

[skywindsurfer]

Ok well one of our damsels has come up missing. Probably became a snack for a certain someone in the tank. hint hint. But I can't place any blame because the fish was looking sickly for some time. Bubbles just came out and was strolling in and out of the rock work. I gave her a piece of krill which she took rather quickly. Now I don't know where she went. She didn't exactly rush back to her den with it, but she did disappear into the rocks again so I'm not sure. Well now the count is 2 small damsels (both 1" or less), 1 pajama cardinal (same size), 1 cortez stingray (about 2" - 3" disk diameter) {note that I am guestimating all of these sizes as I have not actually measured them} and 1 octopus hummelincki. Everyone seems to be in tip top shape. The fish hide A LOT, along with Bubbles who makes rutine appearances, and little buddy (stingray) who just swims around the bottom all day(and night, lol my fiance has complained several times about him swimming near the surface making splashing noises and waking her up.) The smaller of the two damsels has grown accustom to hanging out between the oyster shells and under the mini reef formation I have in the center of the tank. The large damsel takes turns hiding in the oyster shells and underneath the large T shape rock that I have acting as an out cropping on the rock jettie. the cardinal is COMPLETELY anti-social and stays hidden behind the pumps/heater at the very far right of the tank and almost NEVER comes out. That fish belongs to my fiance which I tell her I dislike for it's strange behavior. Now don't go thinking this is something new because of the tank switch. Oh no, this has always been the way the cardinal has acted ever since we brought it home. My fiance just has a way with picking out the worst fish.

 

[skywindsurfer]

This evening I realized that Bubbles recognizes me as her source of food. I went behind the tank to see if she was in her den and as soon as she saw me, she came crawling out changing to her calm peach/tan color with a brownish blue eye spot. I put the food next to her and she calmly took it from me. She was a bit reluctant to give up the feeding stick though.

 

[skywindsurfer]

As for the tank, I've decided against tree frogs for the time being and just keeping fiddler crabs on it. I'm having someone build me a raised platform that will hold the island so I can keep it dry and out of the salt water. Also this will help from creating dead spots as well as freeing up that whole corner for my little critters to swim under. I'm going to make a cave formation of the rock work so that all of the fish can swim under it but at the same time they will still be blocked of from the lagoon. The platform will be high enough that I can add more water to the tank. I wasn't happy with the depth, so now I can have it higher and add more water. I'm just going to use some of the base rock beneath the island to make up the difference in height of the rock formations.

 

[skywindsurfer]

I just purchased 8 mangrove plants for the island. Hopefully by this time next week I'll have everything set up and the mangroves planted.

 

[skywindsurfer]

As I was adding 10 gallons of saltwater to my tank I noticed Bubbles sitting on one of the pumps. I took this time to feed her some krill. She actually let me hand feed her this time. Though she was a little over zealous grabbing my fingers as well.

 

[sulley]

everything sounds like it is gooing good

 

[skywindsurfer]

Ya. She's even getting more friendly. I just fed her some more krill. Before I did though, she came out and started grabbing my fingers and pulling on me. lol I am a little wuss though and put on a dive glove because I'm scared of being bitten.

 

[skywindsurfer]

While placing some corals I found Bubbles crawling around the reef following my hand. I thought that was so cute. Given her current size I decided to give her a whole table shrimp. Jewels was about the same size when I started giving her whole table shrimp. It took Bubbles a second to figure out it was edible and not trying to eat her. I took a few pictures and two videos which I'm going to post as soon as they are done down loading.

 

[skywindsurfer]

Since the pajama cardinal will not socialize or go anywhere in the tank other than that back corner, I placed it in the small closed off corner so it can be nice and happy all by itself.