# Tabatha & TDF's Adventures



## Tabatha (Dec 29, 2007)

Hallo Everyone, me again...

Our fabulous 120 + Sump + Fuge will be turning a year this winter but somehow it seems much, much longer, doesn't it Ameek?!?

We've battled every algae under the sun due to nutrient rich old second hand live rock. We continue to battle cyano bacteria here and there and flatworms. Thankfully, those are the relatively easy issues in saltwater adventures.

For those who don't know, we have mainly a lot of small fish in a largish tank. 
- 6 banggai cardinalfish (5 tank raised)
- 4 ocellaris
- 1 leopard wrasse
- 1 midas blenny
- 1 purple dartfish
- 1 yellow tang
- 1 harlequin filefish (we lost the male after 6+ months)
- 1 algae blennie
- 2 blue/green chromis
- 1 lyretail anthias
- 1 dragonfaced pipefish (lost 1 after 6+ months)
- 2 green clown gobies (female appears to be pregnant!)
------
22 Fish

I'd like to add more dragonfaced pipefish as well as a dwarf angelfish.

Inverts
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- 3 cleaner shrimp
- 3 sexy shrimp (lost 2 after 1+ years)
- 2 porcelain crabs + 1 baby
- 1 emerald crab (others were moved to the sump after caught eating sps!)
- 1 rose footed conch
- ? various snails

We used to have a ton of LPS but these days, we have more pretty sticks (SPS) both rare and common.

We also have a huge colony of blue anthilia (thanks Ameek!), blue xenia and a huge toadstool which appears to be at least 6" in diameter if not more.

Perhaps I'll post some photos during the holidays...

I'll be setting up a Red Sea Max 130D in my office after the holidays.


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## conix67 (Jul 27, 2008)

Good to see you back here! I miss your photo update. Looking forward to hear from you more often on this forum.


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## gucci17 (Oct 11, 2007)

I look forward to the updates as well!


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## Tabatha (Dec 29, 2007)

Nice to see you too Conix, I will try to have new photos up over the holidays.

We made an emergency run to Sea U Marine Saturday night, we _thought_ 2 bulbs had burnt out over the tank.

I asked Ken if he had a Potter's Angel, low and behold he did, a nice size too, not too small but not fully grown. He also had a ton of Yellow Watchman Gobies which he had on special with Candy Striped Pistol Shrimp.

These will probably be the last fish in our system unless we loose more than one or two. We don't quarantine our fish. Yes, we know the risks. We have a slightly different philosophy to fish keeping than most in that we feed 2 - 3 times daily frozen homemade food soaked in garlic and Selcon and believe the secret to healthy fish is plenty of food as in nature, there is always food available and fish never starve.

When we returned home from SUM, we discovered that 2 of the bulbs were simply loose, not burnt out. We now have spare bulbs.


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## Tabatha (Dec 29, 2007)

*Xmas Photos!*

I bought a thumb sized frag from Ameek about a year ago. It's developed into a very interesting coral and I have another frag of it in the tank.










Frag reserved for Ameek:










Algae eating blennie perched on one of ou 4 clams:










Orange Spotted Filefish (for sale):










Gigantic Toadstool leather:










continued...


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## Tabatha (Dec 29, 2007)

Shrimp Gobies










Green Branching Monti (from Ameek):










Leopard Wrasse & Yellow Tang:










Mid Tank Shot:










Orange Monti:










Ameek: What is this?










Yellowheaded sand sifting Goby:










Schooling Banggais:










Full Tank Shot:


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## Ciddian (Mar 15, 2006)

wow tabatha, the tank is just stunning... I really can't get over the colours of the coral and the fish in there. Truly happy and healthy for sure.. <3


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## ameekplec. (May 1, 2008)

Looking fantsatic as usual!

Great to see all my little corals doing so well in there too! How's that purple cap I brought you?

That intense purple frag, isn't from me is it? I don't recall ever having one like that unless it's morphed a lot.


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## conix67 (Jul 27, 2008)

Nice update Tabatha! I love that purple acro frag. Everything looks good in there. Please post more pics!


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## gucci17 (Oct 11, 2007)

wow...you salties are making me drool...


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## Doctor T (Apr 23, 2009)

What else can I say - I love everything about this tank! Good to see you back, and thanks for the update!

Would like to hear more about your battles w/ algae, cyano, flatworms too. I'm going through that stuff as well.


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## MacD (Sep 8, 2007)

Could I ask specifically about how you guys have dealt with flatworms? I'm currently contemplating trying salifert's Flatworm Exit to deal with my infestation but I'm a little hesitant to try this stuff. What have you guys used to deal with the little buggers?


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## Tabatha (Dec 29, 2007)

Thank you for the kind words everyone and sorry for the lag, I don't like to post from work and weekdays are short on time.



MacD said:


> Could I ask specifically about how you guys have dealt with flatworms? I'm currently contemplating trying salifert's Flatworm Exit to deal with my infestation but I'm a little hesitant to try this stuff. What have you guys used to deal with the little buggers?


We didn't use any chemicals at all, we syphoned them out of the tank using airline tubing and filtering through fine mesh, returning the flatwom free water to the tank. You can also do this at water change time but we have automated water changes.

We also picked up a leopard wrasse and the yellowheaded sandsifting goby did a great job with both the flatworms and the cyano.


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## Tabatha (Dec 29, 2007)

*Fish Room Build*

My father is a master electrician, carpenter, master of all trades. He helped us build ou fish room when my parents came to visit from Quebec, he also added a dedicated circuit breaker to our electrical panel. A great guy to have around!

Here's my Dad checking out the ceiling situation before running new wires:










Dad pulling wire for new power centre:










Husband and Dad building the bench:










Almost done!










My Dad also built the tank stand:










More to come...


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## Tabatha (Dec 29, 2007)

*Plumbing*

Tyler of BWI did a great job on our plumbing!










Tyler himself:










Maiden voyage:


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## Tabatha (Dec 29, 2007)

*Fish Room*

Ta-da!


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## Tabatha (Dec 29, 2007)

*Juassic Tank!*

I've officially just renamed our tank "Jurassic Tank"! Here's why...




























A few more coming...


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## Tabatha (Dec 29, 2007)

We don't call him Mister for nothing!










FTS just a few minutes ago...


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## Tabatha (Dec 29, 2007)

*Frags*

A few goodies from our frag racks.





































Someone came to say hello!


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## Doctor T (Apr 23, 2009)

Wow, that is some clam! Great pics as always.


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## Tabatha (Dec 29, 2007)

*Green Mandarin*

I'd like to introduce you to our new friend, Gorgeous George.


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## UnderTheSea (Jun 2, 2008)

Love Gorgeous George  From the front pics he looks very healthy.

Did you add him to your tank right after QT? Did you train him to eat frozen?


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## Tabatha (Dec 29, 2007)

Our total system with 20g fuge pod factory and 30g sump is approximately 160g+. If he does appear to loose weight, I'll net him and begin training.

I've been going through our old photos and noticed that growth really took off when we switched from MH to T5 HO. I'll post some examples this week.


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## ameekplec. (May 1, 2008)

Georgie looks great! I though you were going to go with a target mandarin though?



Tabatha said:


> I've been going through our old photos and noticed that growth really took off when we switched from MH to T5 HO. I'll post some examples this week.


I don't want to say this too loud, but I TOLD YOU SO!!!!


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## Tabatha (Dec 29, 2007)

We got a target mandarin about 4 months ago, he lives in our fuge. 

Oh, and about the T5 HO's, yeah, you did!  MHs are waaaaay overrated!


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## Tabatha (Dec 29, 2007)

We swung by Fragd.it this afternoon and picked up a few goodies...

Love this Acan!









Pink Branching Cyphastrea (YUM!)









Tyree True Undata









Montipora Capricornis with blue polyps!


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## Tabatha (Dec 29, 2007)

*Growth Comparisons*

July 18, 2009









Today (Feb. 21, 2009)









Bird's Nest June 17, 2009









Today









Candy Cane July 11, 2009









Today









SPS July 11, 2009









Today









Unknown SPS July 26, 2009









Today









July 2009









Today


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## Tabatha (Dec 29, 2007)

*New Monti digi*



















Picked this sweet Monti digi at Sea U Marine this afternoon, LOVE the colours!

Also picked up a Firefish (Nemateleotris magnifica) and 3 yellow clown gobies for the RSM.


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## Ciddian (Mar 15, 2006)

Beautiful tabatha!


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## Tabatha (Dec 29, 2007)

You should swing by sometime with the bambino! I'd love to see you and meet Little Ms. Kat!!


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## Ciddian (Mar 15, 2006)

Oohhh it would be wonderful to pop by soon if you'll have us  I'll Pm you once the weather gets a touch better. Thanks tabatha :3


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## Tabatha (Dec 29, 2007)

Ciddian said:


> Oohhh it would be wonderful to pop by soon if you'll have us  I'll Pm you once the weather gets a touch better. Thanks tabatha :3


YAY! Looking forward to seeing you again!!


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## Tabatha (Dec 29, 2007)

*We're Grandparents!!!*

We're so proud, our Ocellaris laid their first clutch tonight! Mom is black & white and Dad is a regular tank bred false clownfish. It appears as though they're not finished laying yet... Forgot to mention that they've been hosting his elegance coral for about a year, they've pushed it over and laid the eggs on the stoney side.


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## Tabatha (Dec 29, 2007)

Moved some corals around this afternoon, we're creating a Montipora garden. Ameekplec -- check out your grape idaho, it's starting to (finally) take off and colour up. We moved it further down in the tank and that seemed to have done the trick! The red acro will be moved but the green bird's nest will stay. I love the bicolour (orange & lime) branching Monti from SUM!!


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## Ciddian (Mar 15, 2006)

Yay I saw your egg announcement on Fb!! LOL

I love that one with the green on the inside tabatha.


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## Tabatha (Dec 29, 2007)

Ciddian said:


> Yay I saw your egg announcement on Fb!! LOL
> 
> I love that one with the green on the inside tabatha.


I'd be happy to give you a frag, it doesn't need strong light. Do you still have your saltwater tank?

I got a better photo of the ocellaris hosting the elegance coral.


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## Ciddian (Mar 15, 2006)

No sadly I don't. I had a horrible accident when we moved, they took our air conditioner out and then we had a heat wave while I wasn't staying there. I got there too late. 

But maybe again one day. I do miss it.


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## ameekplec. (May 1, 2008)

Sweet! Nice clutch of eggs  

OOh, the swirling monti garden - is that orange monti the one I gave you, because if it is that's insane growth. Where'd you get the green monti? 

Hmm, if bringing the purple monti down a bit made it colour up even more, maybe I should give it a trip down the wall....


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## Tabatha (Dec 29, 2007)

ameekplec. said:


> Sweet! Nice clutch of eggs
> 
> OOh, the swirling monti garden - is that orange monti the one I gave you, because if it is that's insane growth. Where'd you get the green monti?
> 
> Hmm, if bringing the purple monti down a bit made it colour up even more, maybe I should give it a trip down the wall....


Nope, the orange monti cap is from Mike Leddy, the green cap is from you (started as a finger nail size frag!!!) and the grape Idaho is from you. If you look closely at the green monti, you'll notice there's a bright green branching monti, that's also from you and it's fused with the cap. I should have fused the orange branching with the green cap but oh well. Eventually they'e all merge together which is the plan.  When Yuri returns from vacation, I'll be getting a purple branching monti from him which will be added to the mix.

I've seen blue monti caps online but never in stores or forums, damn I'd like to get my hands on one!


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## ameekplec. (May 1, 2008)

Alledegly Yuri has a blue cap he got from Wei (the guy you got your rainbow/pokerstar monti from). Dunno if he still has that blue cap colony. I always love the looks of swirling montis all mixing together with a nice branchy acro/monti poking out.

Oh yeah, I also got a tiny TINY piece of a green cap with red polyps from Wei  It's growing out now - he lost his colony, and another guy lost the back up colony, so my piece has to make frags to go back to them, but after that . . . 

Nice, that green cap is doing super well - looks a little darker than the piece that I had.


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## Tabatha (Dec 29, 2007)

ameekplec. said:


> Alledegly Yuri has a blue cap he got from Wei (the guy you got your rainbow/pokerstar monti from). Dunno if he still has that blue cap colony. I always love the looks of swirling montis all mixing together with a nice branchy acro/monti poking out.
> 
> Oh yeah, I also got a tiny TINY piece of a green cap with red polyps from Wei  It's growing out now - he lost his colony, and another guy lost the back up colony, so my piece has to make frags to go back to them, but after that . . .
> 
> Nice, that green cap is doing super well - looks a little darker than the piece that I had.


Daaaaamn! When is Yuri getting back from vacation???!!!


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## Tabatha (Dec 29, 2007)

*SPS Porn*

*A Few of our Favorite SPS*














































This is the remainder of a frag after removing it from the frag plug, we're hoping it grows out into a colony over time.


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## ameekplec. (May 1, 2008)

shwing! That's some purdy stuff.

The loripes, is it tabling or does it grow up at all? I need to come over again to steal, er "look at" your tank.


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## Tabatha (Dec 29, 2007)

ameekplec. said:


> shwing! That's some purdy stuff.
> 
> The loripes, is it tabling or does it grow up at all? I need to come over again to steal, er "look at" your tank.


If you want to come over, you'd better bring frags for trading! 

Now that you mention it, although the coralites are all facing up toward the light, it is spreading out as though it's tabling.

Edit: The white on the loripes is actually bluish. Notice the deep green base? YUM! I love that SPSl!!!


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## ameekplec. (May 1, 2008)

Haha, for sure - I'll have some frags tagging along. Which reminds me - I have a frag of cloves ready for you


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## Tabatha (Dec 29, 2007)

ameekplec. said:


> Haha, for sure - I'll have some frags tagging along. Which reminds me - I have a frag of cloves ready for you


Darn, I just saw you yesterday!


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