Paul's 40 Gallon Reef

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Sorry for the loss. Mandarins are one of my favorite fish, so I know how you feel to lose one.


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So i did go ahead on the order with the curious wormfish when I mentioned it a post or so back. Got it in Friday night. Came in a little larger and better looking than expected. He's a really cool little fish, but spent most of hiim time so far swimming into the glass and laying down in the back of the tank. I just found him this evening with only his tail fin sticking out of the sand. Curious indeed. I hope he adjusts soon to the tank, I would really like to experience this fish for some time. Upon picking this fish up I noticed some nice new coral by buddy got in a couple days back. I have an micro lord set back for me to get next week and had a impulse buy. Picked up a nice sun coral that needed some TLC, which I ended up taking back this morning to get a hammer in its place. The last thing I need is a ton of extra nutrients in my little 40 gal from keeping up the health of the sun coral. Here are some photos of everything including the sun coral I only had a day. :)


Curious Wormfish

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Video of wormfish- https://youtu.be/sdXwp8mqBPg


Sun Coral (also had 2 head of yellow variation)

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Wall hammer. Looks a lot more on the "gold" side in person.

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My torches posing for me when the pumps where off.

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That is a funny little fish you have there. Never seen anything like it.
As for the hammer, welcome to the gold standard club. Good luck with it.

Yes very interesting. I have never seen one either. Seen it on the wholesalers list and went for it. I'm hoping to see him swimming around today As far as the hammer goes, I've never had much luck with the walls. The branching euphyllia's seem to love me. I prefer the hammers to be walls for some reason though. This one looks good so far.
 
I was looking into it the other day, as my branching hammer grew like a weed before the hair algae killed it off. I wasn't able to keep the other gold hammer alive and it was a wall as well. So far, this one seems to be doing very well. I searched for gold variety of the branching and it seems that they are quite rare. Didn't find many hits.
 
Wow, that Curious Wormfish is cool. I have never seen anything like it either...I'm going to do some research. I wonder if they are related to any fish we are more familiar with...Congrats on him and the new Hammer!
 
Been busy lately so haven't really had time to update anything. I have since added a new micro lord that I had set back for me as well as another go at an orange spotted blenny. Everything is doing well for the exception of one of the bleached wild acro colonies that is has RTN. Not looking too promising for it. I did get another wild acro colony as well that has been doing great so far. I'll try to get some pics of everything soon. The blenny is hard to get a shot of because he hides every time I go near the tank. He's a trip, and a decent size as well.

In unrelated reef news I have been busy putting together my first ever vivarium out of a 20 long critter cage that I acquired. My buddy who runs my LFS (actually a "reef and reptile" store) have been slowly but surely talking me into getting some dart frogs. It's been a fun project so far, and these tiny colorful frogs are just delightful to view. Though I won't be doing actual "dart frogs" but instead I will be doing mantellas which are extremely similar in appearance and toxicity. I already have my frogs purchased that they are holding for me until the tank gets a little more established. Here are some cell shots of what we're looking like so far.

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If I remember correctly, @Ziggy953 kept dart frogs. You still around here Ziggy?
 
Been busy lately so haven't really had time to update anything. I have since added a new micro lord that I had set back for me as well as another go at an orange spotted blenny. Everything is doing well for the exception of one of the bleached wild acro colonies that is has RTN. Not looking too promising for it. I did get another wild acro colony as well that has been doing great so far. I'll try to get some pics of everything soon. The blenny is hard to get a shot of because he hides every time I go near the tank. He's a trip, and a decent size as well.

In unrelated reef news I have been busy putting together my first ever vivarium out of a 20 long critter cage that I acquired. My buddy who runs my LFS (actually a "reef and reptile" store) have been slowly but surely talking me into getting some dart frogs. It's been a fun project so far, and these tiny colorful frogs are just delightful to view. Though I won't be doing actual "dart frogs" but instead I will be doing mantellas which are extremely similar in appearance and toxicity. I already have my frogs purchased that they are holding for me until the tank gets a little more established. Here are some cell shots of what we're looking like so far.

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Paul,..I did the dart frogs and mantella's for quite awhile years ago along with a ' very sizable ' collection of tranantuas from every concieable continent and country,... soon you'll be making up your own fruit fly cultures etc,... the tanks are very beautiful and relaxing ,... maybe someday I'll give it another shot or two
 
Yep I was gonna say prepare yourself to become a fruit fly culturing master! I had a pair of D. tinctorius "Brazilian yellow heads" for 2 years before I had to give them up due to moving. Great little frogs.

Mantellas are sweet! What species did you get?

Also have you seeded the tank with springtails/isopods yet, if you're going to?
 
Paul,..I did the dart frogs and mantella's for quite awhile years ago along with a ' very sizable ' collection of tranantuas from every concieable continent and country,... soon you'll be making up your own fruit fly cultures etc,... the tanks are very beautiful and relaxing ,... maybe someday I'll give it another shot or two
That's pretty cool Dary. I've never been a big spider fan, but I've always loved frogs and such. Not many people locally keep these guys and my buddy has more fruit fly cultures than he knows what to do with, so I'm in good hands!
Yep I was gonna say prepare yourself to become a fruit fly culturing master! I had a pair of D. tinctorius "Brazilian yellow heads" for 2 years before I had to give them up due to moving. Great little frogs.

Mantellas are sweet! What species did you get?

Also have you seeded the tank with springtails/isopods yet, if you're going to?
The tank has been seeded with springtails, still working on getting some isopods. I did toss in a scarlet millipede to help with decaying matter. The mantellas that I went with are the "painted mantella", which two species get that same common name. I'm fairly sure these are mantella madagascariensis. They look just like this.
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Beautiful! Did you get juvies? And how many? I believe they're more of a social nonaggressive frog. Whereas some of the darts can be pretty territorial, especially females
 
Beautiful! Did you get juvies? And how many? I believe they're more of a social nonaggressive frog. Whereas some of the darts can be pretty territorial, especially females
Not sure if I'd consider them juvies, these are "medium" if I had to guess. He's has them a little while and they all look healthy, stay active, and eat like pigs. As of right now I have purchased 2, but may add a 3rd when I pick them up. There are 6 available ATM, with no more available at this time. From what I understand the mantellas are a lot harder to breed than darts. They are from Madagascar, where their habitat is slowly being taken over. ?

That's a beautiful frog Paul. How big do they get?
Thanks, I really like em! In the realm of poison frogs, these guys can get pretty big at a whopping 2 inches! ?
 
Paul, having a " fogger" on a timer makes a great addition to the terrarium and the froggies will love you
 
Paul, having a " fogger" on a timer makes a great addition to the terrarium and the froggies will love you

I'm still considering that Dary. I do have a waterfall that trickles around and I've been maintaining 88-91% humidity so far. And that's without misting.
 
Bad news, I lost my gold wall hammer yesterday. Wiped out quickly yesterday while at work. Not sure of the cause just yet, but all else is well. I tired to get some photos of the recent additions.

This blenny just wont let me get a shot! He's out all the time, except when I'm near the tank... figures. Managed to get a glimpse of him hiding with the flash.
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My buddy that runs my LFS texted me today letting me know he just found this guy as a hitchhiker on some acros he got in today. Swooped by on my way home form work to get this cool little acro crab!
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The new Acan. Notice the fighting conch in the background, hard at it. This is a pretty cool little snail glad I picked it up.
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The new wild acro colony brownie.
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In non reef related news, I picked up my mantella's yesterday and put them in the new vivarium. They are looking and eating good! Really enjoying them.
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From my personal experience, Those fancy colored hammers are tough to keep alive, they seem super fragile and sensitive,.... I have one that somehow has survived despite my best efforts to kill it ,.i moved it a little last week when I thought one of my new frags might look better where it was,..it explained to twice the size within a day !
Hammers and bubbles are my downfall for sure ,.. I do have a surviving bubble too but it's not the show piece in the tank either .
 
That's really upsetting to hear. I have been trying to get my hands on a gold branching hammer for a few days now. I'm nervous about spending that much money if one does for seemingly no reason on you [emoji24]
 
As much as I love those suckers I'm soooo hesitant to press the buttons on'em anymore ,... they may love your setup tho , you just gotta try one out and see I guess
 
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