Exploring the rocks at dusk
Acclimating
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Mandarin Dragonet Pterosynchiropus splendidus
| Sometimes erroneously called a Mandarin Goby, this popular fish with psychedelic colors can be hard to feed. They generally only eat live pods (copepods, isopods), which are tiny shrimp-like hitchhikers that reproduce in live rock and sand. The fish hovers over the rocks and sand, acting more like a lizard than an open-water fish. It is somewhat shy, sometimes appearing in the open, but usually exploring a shadowed crevice. |
Exploring the rocks at dusk
Acclimating
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Gold-striped Maroon Clown Premnas biaculeatus
| Aggressive species of clown fish. Great symbiote for bubble-tip anemones. Most maroon clowns have white stripes; the ones from Sumatra can show gold stripes. |
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Thorny starfish Echinaster (Othilia) echinophorus
| A pretty, peaceful algae eater. The LFS suggested that I feed Formula One under its mouth, but it seems to just ignore it and crawl away. Same with nori (seaweed), recommended by a book. So I don't feed it, but it seems happy enough grazing on the tank rocks anyway. |
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Pulsing Xenia Xenia sp.
| In low current (?), the polyps will rhythmically pulse closed (and then slowly drift open again). |
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Brown plate coral Montipora capricornis
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July 2003
June 2003
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Red blastomussa Blastomussa wellsi
| When feeding, each circular polyp exhibits a bright green mouth (or, on some, two mouths!). |
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Rose (bubble-tip) anemone Entacmaea quadricolor
| Great host for Maroon clownfish. Clown brings food to the anemone. Anemone eats Formula One, krill, and squid (but not flake food, even though the clown brings that too). |
The rose anemone and the maroon clownfish form a symbiotic relationship.
Sometimes the anemone and its tentacles will deflate for no apparent reason
Early days: April 2003
(1-2) acclimating; (3-4) bubble tips clearly visible
On 6/23/2003, in a few hours during the afternoon, my rose anemone split!
The maroon clownfish, trying to bury itself in the tentacles, probably
sped the splitting process. This asexual reproduction formed two clones.
Over the next week or so, each is healing the tear (to form a new mouth).
A few days later (6/28/2003), the split has joined, and a new mouth is
near to being complete.
The disk of the daughter clone got stuck to the glass.
The new pair of rose anemones
A few weeks later, on 7/18/2003, the smaller daughter rose clone split again.
Now there are three of them!
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Orange disk coral Fungia sp.
| Bright, fluorescent orange color. Small tentacles throughout disk. Mouth is at top, and opens for feeding (as seen in the first photo, eating some Formula One). The (bleached white) calcium skeleton of this coral is often offered for sale as a knickknack. |
When the mouth eats, the orange membrane expands.
The small tentacles were originally white, but turned orange under
intense light.
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Toadstool leather coral Sarcophyton sp.
| Leans trunk to expose top to the greatest light. |
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Yellow colonial polyps Parazoanthus gracilis
| Almost looks like (bad) aiptasia anemones, but are bright yellow. The two photographs below are a few months apart; the colony grows much denser very quickly. |
(1) March 2003; (2) June 2003; (3) July 2003 (after rose anemone attack)
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Green button polyps Zoanthus sociatus
| Most of the polyps are small and green. But a few seem to be taller, larger, and brown. The green ones disappear at night, but the brown ones stay out during dusk. The base mat should grow quickly under strong lighting. |
(1) March 2003; (2) July 2003
Half extended, half hidden, at dusk
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Green star polyp coral Clavularia viridis
| During the day, little clover polyps emerge and wave slowly in the current, like a field of grass in the breeze. At night, the green polyps retreat and you can see the bright purple base of the mat. The mat base grows quickly, spreading over nearby areas. It can be torn off to make new colonies. |
Pieces of the mat can be cut off and moved elsewhere.
They reattach there and continue to grow.
(1) Late June '03 ; (2) one month later
At night, the green tentacles retreat, and the purple mat base is visible.
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Purple firefish Nemateleotris decora
| Iridescent colors. Heavy tail appears to be constantly sinking, requiring fish to swim up to maintain level. The pair likes to school together. Generally appears to be a slow swimmer, but can dart amazingly fast if needed. Happy to drift in plain view in the front of tank. |
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Red firefish Nemateleotris magnifica
| Iridescent reddish colors, with long dorsal spike. Heavy tail appears to be constantly sinking, requiring fish to swim up to maintain level. For the first few weeks, they constantly hid in back, in a sand burrow under the rocks (perhaps terrorized by the purple firefish?). Now they swim in the open high water in front. |
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Blue stony coral Acropora sp.
| Mostly a rock with a blue undertone, but tiny polyp tentacles emerge during the day to give the feel of a fuzzy/hairy rock. Not sure of the species of this particular coral. |
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Crocea clam Tridacna crocea
| Incredible colors. Photosynthetic, requiring no direct feeding (but very high intensity light). Likes to burrow into the sand substrate (over weeks), winding up at the bottom of a circular valley. |
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Purple tang Zebrasoma xanthurum
| A rare variant of the more common yellow tang. Very fast fish, aggressive eater of most anything. Eats algae off rocks and sand, but also quickly devours anything being fed. Sometimes a challenge to get food to more passive fishes with the tang in the water. |
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Fire shrimp Lysmata debelius
| Deep red color. Hides in the back, under/behind rocks. Not exactly shy, though; at feeding time, the shrimp will very aggressively snatch food, e.g. stealing it from inside the tentacles of an anemone. |
Every couple of months, the shrimp molts, leaving behind its previous
exoskeleton.
On 4/10/2003, I noticed one of the two purple firefish had spine bones
where the last 1cm of tail should be! Over the next few hours, I got to observe
the fire shrimp eating the fish alive from behind. It was still
breathing, and sometimes would swim off into the open water. But it soon
returned to the sandy bottom under the rocks, and the shrimp would resume
eating it! Kind of a aggressive for a "scavenger" shrimp. In the months
before and since, it has never bothered another fish (including the other
three firefish that sleep on the sandy bottom under the rocks).
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Coral beauty dwarf angel Centropyge bispinosus
| Beautiful fish, average boldness. Usually near hiding places, but sometimes in front. Eats algae off rocks and sand. Iridescent colors in purple and red. |
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Red starfish Linckia multifora
| Very fun. Constantly exploring the whole tank. No feeding required (in a mature live rock tank). Probably eats algae films. Often seen with a leg or two extended into the water column, possibly feeding with foot tentacles. |
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For a couple weeks, the starfish seemed to get sick.
It didn't roam much, and its legs were curled over.
Eventually, it got better on its own.
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(Dwarf) Blue-leg hermit crab Clibanarius tricolor
| Very active, crawling over sand and rocks. Added >20 over time, probably about half still alive. Part of cleanup crew: eats algae, other scraps. |
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Conehead snail Astraea tecta
| Part of cleanup crew. Eats algae off glass walls. |
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See those tiny white oval "seeds"? They seemed to emerge from the snail
shell.
Might they be eggs? They weren't secured to the pump long enough
for anything obvious to happen.
| webmaster@geddis.org | reef.geddis.org | Last updated 03/31/07 |
