Tim's 29gal Biocube Reef / Angler Fish tank build

[Hondatek]

Great video! The warty looks awesome.

 

[TLTGF]

Just chillin'...

 

[TLTGF]

For all you would-be Angler owners, Diver's Den has three beautiful specimen.

There's a large Orange Painted Angler, a rare all-black Wartskin Angler, and a fully grown 4"+ Yellow and Pink Wartskin!

They go super fast, but if you're ready!

 

[Khij159753]

I just read this entire thread and have a painted angler just got it like a week ago I am going to try to have it with a couple other inhabitants but will probably end up moving it to a seperate species only tank.

 

[TLTGF]

I just read this entire thread and have a painted angler just got it like a week ago I am going to try to have it with a couple other inhabitants but will probably end up moving it to a seperate species only tank.

Welcome to the party!

I had planned on Species only tank when I started. The last thing in the world I would ever want would be damsels in my tank. They were / are supposed to be food, but alas, he loves his shrimp too much.

After having all the damsels, I decided that since the Long-nose hawk has the same behavior and diet as the angler, and the fact that my angler is a decapodarian, I added him too.

That's great to hear about your fish too, and I hope you have continued sucess as well. Please feel free to use this thread to share any tips / tricks / and / or experiences.

 

[jjamontan]

One day I will start a tank for the little guy!

 

[Khij159753]

Mine has only eaten once. It was a live clown goby that I held by the tail with tongs in front of the angler.

 

[TLTGF]

Very sad day today. I woke up to find my angler and my hawkfish dead.

No rhyme or reason at this point. They were fine at 11:00p and gone this morning.

Of course all the damsels are fine. Nothing has been added to the tank in days. I'm really at a loss. I'm still in shock. My angler was my favorite fish and raising him and handfeeding since he was so tiny really got me attached...

 

[Hondatek]

Dang it Tim . So sorry to hear this happened.

 

[Beengirl]

Sorry to hear about your fish. We really do get attached to them sometimes.

 

[Sniperhank]

Wow, sorry to hear that man. Ill assume parameters are fine, any odd things considered like voltage or damsels rising up to bully?

 

[TLTGF]

Yup, levels are standard, I don't use a heater so that's out, hand was in the tank and no voltage feeling. Pump and lights running normally. The rise of the damsels is still in the running...although both fish were clean with no marks. Even the CUC was nowhere to be found which was quite odd. The only correlation between the two fish is their diet. Both eat ghost shrimp. Maybe had some type of poison in them by accident from LFS.

I don't know, which seems common among the fish death threads. I'll update if I find anything out. I'm out running errands now, so I'll be this afternoon before I'm home again.

Thanks guys for your sympathy.

 

[TLTGF]

Update: the small domino damsel is missing as well. One more piece of the puzzle.

 

[rob_mango]

Wow Tim so so sorry that is a big time bummer

 

[TLTGF]

I've been going round and round trying to figure out the cause of the untimely tank deaths. I retested the water again tonight, just in case.

Temp - 80.1
Ammo - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 0 (Yes, I have a picture to prove it.)
PH - 8.2 - 8.3
Phos - .01
Salinity - 1.0265 - 1.027

I didn't test Alk or Calcium, but I hate to believe that those are off, with regular PWC's.

Double checked the submergible refugium light to see if it broke and was leaking voltage when its timer came on, but it looked fine. Stuck my hand in the tank while feeding and felt nothing out of the ordinary.

All other corals and fish appear happy and behaving accordingly.

I keep going back to the ghost shrimp simply for the fact that I know I fed the angler about 15, the hawk got 2-3 and the damsel in question fought the hawkfish for one as well. I remember laughing about it... That was on Christmas eve or the day before, that I fed them.

My last PWC was a few days before that.
The only other thing that changed in the aquarium was about a week or two ago, I saw a bunch of snail eggs and a few days or a week later, there were about 50-60 actual snails crawling on the glass and on the rocks. I haven't looked for them since I saw them last. Don't see how that would be it, but just covering all the bases.

 

[Hondatek]

A bad batch of shrimp was my first thought since it's more than one fish gone . This is so not cool man. Are you still planning to keep this an angler tank ?

 

[TLTGF]

It'll be awhile before getting another. $180 is a tough loss, especially when I don't know the cause yet. I'd like to keep another angler for sure, just will be later than sooner.

 

[Kio707]

I'm sorry for your loses... Man that sucks. I know what you mean about the money too. When I lost my Aussie tusk ($250)... I was mortified. My favorite fish and somehow it died. But you inspired me. I'm going to get an angler for my new 180g. I'll be pming you a lot for advice. Once again, I'm sorry...

 

[TLTGF]

Thought I'd show some of the coral growth over the last few months.

Before and afters:

 

[jjamontan]

Before and after? When where the befores taken?