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 State of the Tank: (cont.) |
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There haven't been any problems yet though it seems the older males (I have two) are a bit more aggressive toward each other. One of them is also targeting a couple of the new guys from time to time who are probably turning male themselves. In a tank this size, these are situations you just have to let work themselves out.
Also, we found one of the little guys alive in a filter sock one morning. If you've seen my set up, you know that had to be quite an arduous journey, especially down the standpipe. We returned the little Lewis or Clark to the main tank, seemingly none the worse for wear. But we'll see how it goes. We understand that not every one of these fish is going to make it though I probably didn't purchase enough to account for more than two or three casualties.
By the way, I doubt that I'm going to 'officially' quarantine Anthias anymore, especially if it means doing several at a time. I may hold them for a few days in the fuge just for observation or if I need to get them eating. But with these fish, I'm beginning to think a long term QT process does them more harm than good since they need such heavily oxygenated water, lots of current, and really top notch parameters. Even changing their water every day, which I did, may not be enough to keep conditions up to snuff in that little 15g tank. A few times I noted the water got a little cloudy, sending me into a minor |
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panic over whether the overload of fish waste would cause the tank to spike and kill everything. It had been so long since I dealt with fishkeeping on a level such as this that I became nearly as hyper-vigilant as I was went I first started in the hobby. This is no doubt a good thing but from now on I think I'll only set up the ol' QT tank when a single fish comes in. It was invaluable for conditioning the Copperband. It was an over-the-top hassle for the Bartletts.
Now, on to the Regal  : I introduced the Regal a few days after the Bartletts. I had another several days before leaving for Los Angeles but I wanted to spend as much time observing him in the tank in case any problems popped up. He'd been doing wonderfully in the fuge, eating a decent variety of food and doing absolutely no harm to any corals or even zoanthids!!! We prematurely darkened the reeftank lights that evening, sending everyone to 'bed' a little early, then left the room's ambient light on so the new fish might see his new surroundings more clearly. I was really hyper-vigilant with this one.
The transfer went flawlessly; I don't even think the fish panicked for the 4-5 seconds it was out of the water. But by the time I could climb down and walk back around to the front of the tank, it had already disappeared behind the rockwork. Now, the waiting began.
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