Now everything I feed Sunny and the pink Suns, it becomes a feeding frenzy for Felicia the elusive Fire Shrimp, Chris the Skunk Cleaner Shrimp, the Sexy Shrimps, Penny the Pom Pom crab and even the Nassarius snails. All the shrimps learnt to station themselves next to the Sun Corals and snatch whatever mysis shrimps that they can land their hands, oops I mean, claws on immediately after I feed them. Next to the pink sun are some unknown purple sponges? Only time will tell what they are. Today I even spotted a small crab, which probably hitch-a-hike from the other corals that I am temporarily holding here before introducing them to my office tank.
Yes, my colleague bugged me to start a new pico reef in the office and that was what I did. We started one just a couple of days ago and there is now Franco the Clown Fish with two feather duster fan worms. I will be bringing the Jasmine Polyp that I kept in the breeding container shown here soon.
By the way, the 16th photo onwards were taken using my iphone 5. From one of the photos, Coco can be seen growing out 2 new crowns. Thanks goodness!
It is with much excitement for me to announce that a full month has past and these are the latest photos of the aquarium that was set up at the turn of the year. I am personally proud that I have accomplished much and the following is the latest update in terms of the livestock (not in order of purchase or stocking):
- 1 Clown Fish
- 1 Cleaner Skunk Shrimp
- 10 Sexy Shrimps
- 1 Pom Pom Crab
- 3 Turbo Snails
- 2 Nassarius Snails
- 1 Coco-worm
- 2 Feather Duster Worms
- 2 Galaxy Star Polyps
- 1 Sun Coral
- 1 pink Cauliflower Tree Coral
- 1 plate of Daisy Polyps
- 2 plates of red mushrooms
- 1 plate of blue mushrooms
- 1 plate of Rhodactis mushrooms
- 1 plate of mixed green Zoanthus
- 1 Mushroom Finger Coral
- 2 Xenia
- 1 rock of red macroalgae
- 1 Chaetomorpha
Interestingly, the blue and red mushrooms seemed to recover from the shock of being newly introduced into the aquarium and are getting bigger everyday. The Daisy Polyps, Rhodactis mushrooms and Mushroom Finger Coral are also growing larger. Even the rock with the initial clump of Xenia is recovering back.
The only recorded casualties thus far are:
- 1 orange Cauliflower Tree Coral
- 1 green Zoanthus
- 1 Caulerpa macroalgae
The other technical information is as follows:
- 1 Ocean Free Super Hang-On Filter 2
- 1 Ocean Free Super Hang-On Filter 3
- 1 Green Element 3W LED light (4 white, 2 blue)
I got a few additions and when I dumped the 2 Nassarius snails into the tank, they immediately scurried off into the sand and burrowed right into it. What astounded me was I saw Penny next to them and was worried for a second if I crushed her to death.
Fortunately, I saw the real Penny somewhere behind the rock works. So the one I saw earlier was her moult, which was a good decoy.
I know how sensitive shrimps can be, so I took time to acclimatize a bag of 10 dancing Sexy Shrimps, which were about 1 cm in length. Actually, I didn't want to have so many of them and I think I would have to give some away when they grow bigger. The blue and red mushrooms were still adjusting to their new environment. The Coco-worm, which I shall just name Coco Lee Wen, oops I mean Coco, was doing fine too.
After releasing the Sexy Shrimps, it is a joy to watch them gather together and do their butt swaying in the water. It is now a routine for me to fall in all of them every day, at different times of the day, to do a headcount and watch their dancing routine. It's amazing how they love to gather around in their groups in the open, so it's pretty easy to find them. They seemed to be hosting the green mini Zoas and red mushrooms. I just hope they won't start tearing them apart when they go all hungry.
