Ok - so here is my other tank! For reference - here is the link to my 14g...
http://www.thereeftank.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=112039
I don't think I need to repeat EVERYTHING from my other thread - but I actually got this tank on 1/11. It was a total whim - I must admit. I walked into my LFS that afternoon and there was my store owner emptying it out. It was his and he had decided to bring the inhabitants into the store for his display tank. It was about 9 months old and the back wall was covered in
coralline algae. They were still emptying water out of it - but they had already written a price on it of $170 for the tank, heater and the stand (I actually have my 14g on that stand). I brought it home thinking that I would put my odd ball clown pair of
black ocellaris and true perc in it.
My LFS had just emptied his coral display tank of it's LR - all deep purple so I bought a few pieces - I think about 14lbs and some live sand and water. Brought it home and set it up! I also used this little bottle of bacteria that he gave me to cycle the tank. It worked and after a few days I moved the clowns in. I also put their bleached anemone in with them. He's been on a rescue mission since I bought him - and although this tank was newer - I knew he'd be closer to the lights and thought that might help (he's really done great in the tank so far btw!)
Ok - so these guys were only in the new tank a week - and I happened upon 2 gold stripped maroons at a LFS that he had got in on that Tuesday. In his store set up - the fish are allowed to swim back and forth though multiple chambers and these 2 were choosing to be in the same one. Now I knew that GSM's were one of the hardest to pair up do to their aggressiveness so I decided to bite the bullet and buy these two fish! I talked to a local hatchery who told me that if they were choosing to be in the tank and if I could watch them for 10 minutes with out seeing aggression - that with GSM's this would probably be enough to know they'll be ok. I knew that if they didn't work out together - I could take them back and find them a better home.
So - I knew that the GSM's should really have a tank to themselves - and even though I had just moved them in - I decided to move the odd ball pair out and put the maroons in. I know most people prefer to have maroons in a larger tank - but I did some research and found that have also been happy in smaller tanks - and once my breeding set up is complete - they'll actually be in a larger breeder tank.
I re-acclimated the odd ball pair back to their old tank, acclimated the new GSMs to their new home and decided to leave the anemone in the nano. The GSM's were smaller than the others and I thought this might be better for the little guy.
So - as of 1/18 the 12g NanoCube was home to it's GSM pair. It was also home to 2 certh snails from my main tank, 4 narcissus snails and some cute little white shelled hermits. I watched the 2 GSMs closley over the next week to be sure they were ok with each other. When I first bought them the smaller had some of his fins torn (from another fish - not the larger GSM) and wanted to make sure they were fine together. Well - they were! They swam together side by side and the smaller one showed submissive to the larger. Success! I may actually have paired 2 GSMs!
Here is a pic of the larger of the 2 GSM's the day after I brought her home. As you can see - they're still a rusty color - not a deep maroon, but both have yellow already developing on all of their stripes -the smaller ones yellow has gotten stronger since he's been home.
Over the last few weeks there have been some diatom blooms, and had a patch of cyano that I removed... Other than that things have gone really well. The larger of the 2 GSM's found the anemone and they are super happy together. The smaller one sleeps right below it.. Here is a pic of them sleeping this morning.
I know the GSM is a bit large for the anemone - but they have really been doing well and I'm proud to report that the nem is sporting some neon green on about a 1/3 of his tentacles! It's only on the top 1/2 - but I think this is a great sign. When I bough him he was as bright white as a piece of paper - with occasional brown pin point sized dots on the tips of his tentacles. If you squint your eyes and look really close at the top right side of the anemone - you can see the green!
I'm probably overfeeding a bit - which I think is part of my algae problem. But I've heard that in order to get a pair to start spawning they need to have frequent and varied meals. I've backed of my feedings a bit to give the tank a chance to rebound... The GSMs mainly get rods food and the nem gets krill. The krill is a new addition (he previously was just getting rods too - and he's loving it!)
So - here is a FTS from this morning - the nem and the GSM pair are on the back of the large top rock... so it looks kind of bare when they're all sleeping! The nem chose that spot - when it was in the old tank it used to take up home in the deep hole that it would barely come out of. It lived there for a few months but in the new tank finally came out and found a much better spot - it has already grown since it's move and it's great because this tank is on my nightstand - and where it moved to I can see it from my pillow! So when I'm laying down at night - I can watch the tank going to sleep too! I love it...
Then here is a room shot - please ignore the mess!
