Ok,

Scrunchy is getting too big for her net breeder, so I am going to have to do some "musical fish tanks." I caught the percula clown (Creamsicle), the cleaner shrimp (Peppermint), the six-lined wrasse (Seashell) and am drip acclimatizing to the 55 gallon. Capture of the six-lined wrasse required removing every piece of live rock and I still had difficulty. The three breeder tanks floating at the top of the tank didn't make it any easier... I think the cuttlefish were laughing at my feeble attempts...

I never caught the camelback shrimp (Shrimpy), so that is sure to be a cuttle's dinner some day...

As long as the fish survive moving to the 55 gallon with the big maroon clown and the three blue damsels, I releasing the cuttles to the wilds of the 30 gallon.

Woohoo! I think in another week or two mine will be coming out of the breeder. They'll still be too small to have free reign of the entire 75, so I'm going to make a dividier out of egg-crate and fiberglass window screen, and give them a couple square feet of floor space until they're a bit bigger.

Dan

Cool!! get ready for your hourly heart attack whenever you think one is missing =)

Well,

Phase 1 wasn't a complete success... The cleaner shrimp went in first, and promptly hid, but at least no one picked on her. The six-lined wrasse went in next, hid, but I saw her sneaking around to pick on the blue damsels, she will be fine. The percula clownfish (about an inch long, captive bred) looked terrified and hid by the cleaner shrimp as the other clown (about 2.5 inches long) and the damsels picked on her. We went out to eat (since we STILL do not have a kitchen) and when we got back she had jumped into the overflow (or castle as my 4-year-old says). I was able to rescue her out of the overflow and put her back in the 30 gallon.

Now the clownfish is only a tiny bit bigger than my biggest cuttle. Do you think she will survive with the cuttles or should I make a divider like Dan?

I don't know about using a divider with cuttles...you are asking for the dreaded "cuttle bump of death" when they jet into it. Maybe you should just trade the clown in at your lfs for some crabs (food) ?

Somehow I don't think my daughters are going to go for giving away Creamsicle. I have thought about getting rid of the damsels and the bigger clown since they were the "mean" ones. Also, they were part of the package when I bought the 55 gallon. I will call my LFS. I may just make the divider in the 55 gallon, or let Creamsicle live in the sump/refugium...

I tosssed my Domino Damsel in the sump when he tried to be obnoxious to megas one to many times and he lived there for all of megases life span and all of Zim's before finnally passing on when i moved him back to the big tank
Weird :( guess he got used to no lights

Sounds like it might be time for that little nano tank you never thought you'd ever have. :grin:

I dont think a clown fish is a good idea for a tankmate for the cuttle. Clowns are pretty aggressive and territorial.

If it were me, I would try to leave the little clown in the tank with the others and let them sort things out. Ive had two clowns in a tank before of different size and they stopped fighting after a while and actually became friends. They probably just need to sort out territory.

You can also think about just adding a small tank into your system. I have 10 gallon tanks or custom plexi tanks that I am able to hook up within 5 minutes to my tank. For example, my juvenile cuttle section is on the back of my tank. An extra siphon tube from my overflow siphons water to this small tank. The small tank has an output near the top of the tank that drains to the sump. This output height determines the water level. Just be sure you are using a large size output drain, to ensure that it will not clog up. If you do not use a overflow, you can use a powerhead to pump the water out of the tank through a tube and into the external tank. Float switches can also be used to turn the pump off if the water for some reason gets to high or near overflowing in the extra tank..

Well the six-lined wrasse has disappeared from the 55 gallon, so I don't think they were able to sort things out :shock: . I lifted up every piece of live rock and couldn't even find a body (it's been missing about 2 days). I don't think I will be letting the little clownfish try to make it, I think he will have to live in the sump. I am going to call the LFS and see if I can trade the damsels for a bunch of hermits...

I'm impressed! How big was the wrasse?

Dan

I don't think I will be letting the little clownfish try to make it, I think he will have to live in the sump.
I always think of the sump as the ghetto.

Originally posted by DHyslop I'm impressed! How big was the wrasse?

It was small, only about an inch long - it was the same size as the damsels. For the first half a day, it was holding its own against the damsels (and the clown that was 2x its size...) but they must of ganged up on him... I checked behind the tank to see if he jumped out, but no body. It's a mystery.

Perhaps hes just buried somewhere? Ive had wrasses go missing for a couple days...

The wrasse acted more like a damsel, flitting in and out of the rocks, annoying the little clownfish, I never saw him bury in the sand in the 30 gallon. I will keep searching in the hopes of finding him...

Due to a major inking event by Scrunchy, the clownfish is being drip acclimatized to live in the 55 gallon's sump and Scrunchy was released to the wilds of the 30 gallon. She promptly retreated into the rock-work, probably never to be seen again... but she did seem happier once released. The other two aren't as big and will be released once I get my next shipment of shrimp (I only have 9 shrimp left :shock: ).

Can you find Scrunchy? Give up? See next post for a hint.

Scrunchy checking out the cave.

I saw Scrunchy this morning, and haven't spotted her again. The other two are still in the breeder tanks.

How do I know if they eat in the big tank? Do I just put enough shrimp in there to make sure they can find them?

Baby A and Cuddly made the transition today. I am a little worried that they are males. They squared off with each other right after I released them...

Females can sometime exhibit the same behaviour. I usually drop food in at the same place. Soon they will alwys be in that spot, begging for food.

When they are young, i try to put a couple shrimps in to see if i can lure them out. If they dont come out, Ill throw a few more in to ensure that they will eventually eat.

I structured my rocks so most of the hiding places can be seen from certain angles and had a powerhead blowing across the back side of the tank, so they dont frequent those areas as much. It helps a lot in keeping track of them..

Thanks for the advice Paradox. Tonight we saw that Scrunchy had a shrimp in her tentacles, so I know at least one of them is eating. Each cuttle has her own part of the tank that they like to hang out in, so I can tell them apart (for the moment...).

Woohoo,

My LFS agreed to take the yellow-tail damsels and the maroon clown in trade for hermit crabs! Now all I have to do is catch them...:goofysca: Then the percula clown can live in the 55 gallon until the cuttles are big enough to move...

It pays to have a good relationship with a LFS! :grin:

Finally caught the camel-back shrimp tonight and moved her to the 55 gallon. Just in time, since I saw Cuddly catch a shrimp the same size as the camel-back :shock: .

The cuttles seem to be growing bigger right before my eyes, I don't know if it is being released into the big tank, or just a growth spurt, but every day they look bigger.

Here's the latest picture of Baby A

I got 15 hermits for the yellow tail damsels and the maroon clown. Of course, I had to take almost every piece of live rock out of the tank to catch the damsels... and I could only find two instead of three. Either he went the same way as the six-lined wrasse or he is still hiding, :shock: .

I had to laugh at the LFS guy, he was trying to catch a six-lined wrasse for someone when I got there. He was only using one net, and the tank was filled with live rock. He was not successful. Those six-lined wrasses are wily...

try catching fire fish is a tank full or high priced sps, and not damaging the sps at the same time.

Ive made fishtraps with 2 litter bottles before and successfully caught a flame angel out of my reef. I had food in it, and a trap door that closed quickly if i let go a string. I had the string held by a weight on my desk, so if I happened to see the fish in the bottle, i can just let the string go.

:shock: :bugout: :goofysca: Ok, I put the percula clown in the tank (from the sump) last night... this morning I found her in the sump again... she had to jump in the overflow, travel down the pipe, wiggle through some foam, bioballs and squeeze through a slit to arrive in the sump. How did she do it? Why did she do it? Is this what happened to the other fish??? I may have to set up the video camera...

I was watching the giant squid special on the Discovery Channel tonight when I ran downstairs during a commercial break. Scrunchy was putting on the most amazing display of colors and textures. Unfortunately most of the pictures turned out blurry.

yes i love the faces they make, my favorite is the predator face, or when they bring all of there tenticles together and look squid-like

Latest Scrunchy pictures...

Here are the latest kid pictures...Scrunchy, Cuddly and Baby A and yikes I need to clean the front of my aquarium...

cute!

cute!

Very!