125 FOWLR take 2

[huma-huma]

forgot to add this photo the other day. these were another 3 boxes that I received on various days.

 

[huma-huma]

Since i took the 200w fluval heater out of the 72 to use in the qt tank, i figured id toss that and an evo 750 ph in the rodi water bin. now its set up so that the night prior to a pwc, ill simply plug those two in and ill have warm circulated water for my pwc's. I still need to stop at the hardware store to pick up 3-4 ft of 1" flex line. I figured since my old skimmer pump has a short in it, i could use it to pump water out of the rodi container. If i can get ahold of some 4x4 wood, im going to build a stand for the container so that i can sit the pump under it, then ill simply buy a 1" bulkhead and drill the bottom of thw container. Sure its a bunch of work but i need to be able to pull out every last inch of water from that container

 

[huma-huma]

Looks like the flame angel int going to make it. So tired of them dying for no reason. They eat great and are active members of the tank, then just die. Looking at other fish that have bright orange coloring

 

[huma-huma]

Looking at a hawkfish or longnose hawk

 

[TheTodd]

Can't go wrong with either. Both are characters a d fun to watch.

 

[SaltwaterNuB]

Looks like the flame angel int going to make it. So tired of them dying for no reason. They eat great and are active members of the tank, then just die. Looking at other fish that have bright orange coloring

Don't be too hard on yourself. I've lost my clown, kole, and orange shoulder tang in the last 2 months. Smh. All perms are great. I do w/c religiously. Everyone else looks great. I want a hawkish so bad too, but they're not the cheapest fish around. Lol

 

[huma-huma]

Don't be too hard on yourself. I've lost my clown, kole, and orange shoulder tang in the last 2 months. Smh. All perms are great. I do w/c religiously. Everyone else looks great. I want a hawkish so bad too, but they're not the cheapest fish around. Lol

Thank you for the words of encouragement. Im sorry to hear about your fish ive def had my fair share of losses so i fully understand. I have 3-4 fish that were $100 or over in our tank so the hawkfish price isnt too bad lol. (cant believe i managed to get away with spending that much money on fish)

 

[huma-huma]

Well im currently in the midst of a decent struggle with petco to get some sort of resolution to these 2 lost flame angels. At first, through email, they werent willing to do anything. Then after calling they wanted to offer $5 coupon (for $120 in lost fish) then offered $25, got escalated to a manager. At which point i was told i had to talk to the actual store manager and ask for a credit. Upon pushing further, im now awaiting a phone call from "upper management". I must say though that no expelatives were used and neither i or the agents lost our cool. It was aggravating but not upsetting at all. Although i dont understand their "protocol" for these instances, they handled themselves in a professional manner... Which is rare

 

[Gregcoyote]

Hawk fish, especially long nosed are excellent jumpers. I have lost several over the years as they figured out how to jump thru tiny holes.

 

[Gregcoyote]

Well im currently in the midst of a decent struggle with petco to get some sort of resolution to these 2 lost flame angels. At first, through email, they werent willing to do anything. Then after calling they wanted to offer $5 coupon (for $120 in lost fish) then offered $25, got escalated to a manager. At which point i was told i had to talk to the actual store manager and ask for a credit. Upon pushing further, im now awaiting a phone call from "upper management". I must say though that no expelatives were used and neither i or the agents lost our cool. It was aggravating but not upsetting at all. Although i dont understand their "protocol" for these instances, they handled themselves in a professional manner... Which is rare

It's hard for both sides. You think they could have sold you poisoned fish and they commonly deal with folks that run fish killing systems. I have a marine biologist friend that will run autopsies for me every now and then. But I haven't lost any fish for a while and when I did it was because of reasons I understood. I for example, can't keep Mandarins. No matter the amount of pods. I also have problems with clams. Everything else prospers and lives long lives.

 

[huma-huma]

Hawk fish, especially long nosed are excellent jumpers. I have lost several over the years as they figured out how to jump thru tiny holes.

I have screen lids that have not a single hole in them, so im confident about keeping him in there. And i cpletely understand about both sides. I even offered to submit any water for testing purposes and went as far as to say ill provide anything necessary to rule my tank parameters out of the equation

 

[huma-huma]

After a good long look at the mandarin, i decided to setup the 10g qt tank again. Ive moved the mandarin over and im going to start hand feeding him until he readily takes prepared foods. I know that its asking alot but after reading through several reefcentral threads, people are having consistant luck training their mandarins via this method. I attempted to feed him selcon and garlic soaked mysis, he did take two pieces but spit a majority out. So i left 3 lil chunks in the tank. I will be making a trip to the lfs in the am to get either frozen brine or live brine culture start kits. The transition will be as follows: live brine: frozen brine: frozen mysis, then hopefully pellets. Either way i need to get this lil guy bulked back up and on something reliable until i can get my pod farm up and running.

 

[Sniperhank]

Good luck buddy! If mine will start eating mysis out of the water column you can train it.

 

[huma-huma]

Got some good and bad news. Good news is the store manager from petco called me and refunded me for BOTH lost flames... I am a very satisfied customer now. They even tested the water and it came back perfect except my ph was a tad lower than theirs. Now the bad, the mandarin isnt eating yet and on top of that, the blue face is hiding and not coming out.... Its the one fish i REALLY want in my tank and its looking like this one wont make it.

 

[Gregcoyote]

Got some good and bad news. Good news is the store manager from petco called me and refunded me for BOTH lost flames... I am a very satisfied customer now. They even tested the water and it came back perfect except my ph was a tad lower than theirs. Now the bad, the mandarin isnt eating yet and on top of that, the blue face is hiding and not coming out.... Its the one fish i REALLY want in my tank and its looking like this one wont make it.

Getting the mandarin to eat prepared foods isn't always as easy as some make it sound. In my 30 years I never accomplished it. That's why I'm kind of negative about the sale of dragonettes. My son has kept one for a couple of years now, but mine, with a pod farm supporting him died a few months back. I am done with them. Hope yours works out!

 

[Ashley73]

Getting the mandarin to eat prepared foods isn't always as easy as some make it sound. In my 30 years I never accomplished it. That's why I'm kind of negative about the sale of dragonettes. My son has kept one for a couple of years now, but mine, with a pod farm supporting him died a few months back. I am done with them. Hope yours works out!

I was told they wont live ling on prepared foods.

 

[Gregcoyote]

I was told they wont live ling on prepared foods.

ORA sells mandarins that have been trained to prepared foods, but I have heard they can revert to their old ways and starve. Some mandarins do great without much fuss, my son has one. But I haven't had that luck. They can eat thousands of pods a day and strip a tank in no time. Great little fish that has a very high mortality rate in the trade.

 

[huma-huma]

Got a glimmer of good news. The mandarin took frozen brine today. Didnt go nuts but took a few pieces and kept them down. Hes slowly learning that the pipette is food. Hopefully progressing another step tm

 

[Sniperhank]

High five.

 

[huma-huma]

Good news!! Apparently someone i went to high school with got into the sw/coral hobby awhile ago and has been fragging his own corals for awhile. After a convo with him today, im going to be picking up a frag or two pf zoas tm... For free!! Setting up the 5g fluval chi tank