So I think I have the chiller licked. For now anyway, I've taken off the front filter/grill and have a small fan positioned to blow air through the unit. I also removed the guard on the pump intake (bascially a little filter that screws in so that fish don't get sucked in, since I use a filter sock this won't happen anyway). There was some speculation that the chiller was continually blowing fuses due to a reduction in flow. Today I'm going to dismantle the pump and soak whatever needs soaking in vinegar. I can't really remember the last time I even checked that pump but it seems to be "sucking" as usual. I haven't had a fuse blow in a whole week now!!
So I was just looking at the tank and I must say, there isn't really anything more satisfying in this hobby than bringing a new fish home and haivng it eat. I always worry so much about my fish and whenever I add a new fish to my system (which hasn't been very often as of late, I've only added one fish in 2 years prior to the addition of the gramma). I was so pleased to see it eat the very next day. I konw grammas are a bit docile when out of their element and you usually don't see thme for days on end after adding them to the tank but this little guy was out and sneaking bits of food whereevery he could. Now he's out almost all the time except for when the regal is doing his retarded air collection at the top of the tank and swimming around like a freak. I'd get out of the way too if I were him :p
So I say all this because, yes I bought another fish. I was kind of reluctant to post about it, they're not the easiest fish to keep, and well...its another tang (woo woo, I can hear the tang police in the background). So I bought a powder blue tang. Yes, I'm perfectly aware that I'm a horrible person keeping 3 tangs in a 90 gallon. But I've always wanted one. Actually I've been lusting after one for quite some time so it was pretty hard to resist this one. Also, the "other people kill them all the time and it has a better chance in my tank" excuse works for me at the moment. I've already decided that if this doesn't work out, I will not be trying another one. He's fairly healthy looking, although I can see his spine a bit when he swims so I'll be working on fattening him up. But he looks like he has a pretty good chance. I've also got the sharknose goby in there if he icks up.
Of course, the addition of another fish poses a bit of a challenge to the hierarchy I've got going on in my tank. Interestingly enough, I always thought I knew where everyone stood in my tank. The wrasse was the boss, the regal was a big wussy that liked to appear like he meant business but really he'd duck for cover if there was a problem. For the most part the scopas tang could really care less unless there was nori involved and most of the time seemed rather clueless.
With the addition of the new tang, this hasn't been the case. The wrasse was interested for the most part but after finding that the new tang was not food, left him alone. The regal was more concerned with how close I was getting to the tank without a sheet of nori and chose to bolt for the protection of the rocks. However the scopas tang was having none of this crap and quickly drove the PBT into the back of the tank adn wouldn't let him come out. I was quite surprised that the scopas would be such an asshat. I immediately shut the lights off and waited it out. Ambient light in the room would be good enough to see what was going on, yet maybe all the fish would settle somewhat. A few hours later I turned the actinics on for awhile. Still not much action, the wrasse continually searches for snacks amongst the rocks and such. After about an hour of actinics I really felt I needed to see my new fish so I cranked the lights back on. There was my little PBT, eager to come out and see what was going on but he was continually harassed by the scopas who was doing a fair bit of posturing and aiming his arse end towards the PBT. The PBT now has a little chomp out of the back end of his dorsal (which I don't remember seeing at the store, but that doesn't necessarily mean anything, I was pretty excited to be getting him :P). Lights stayed on long enough to feed and then off again.
This morning, the PBT has decided he can stick to one end of the tank without the scopas bugging him. I guess they've gone to their respective corners. The scopas dorsal is up most of the time. I guess he's still a bit agitated (usually its about half up, pretty relaxed looking) but for the most part I guess they've decided to ignore each other as long as the PBT doesn't come over to the wrong side of the tank.
But the best part is that he's nibbling on algae on the rock and glass and stuff. At this rate, that side of the tank will be nice and clean right quick. He even ate some mysis which to me is pretty encouraging. I was cheering him on as it got close "oh there it is, eat that one, eat it! Yay!" (yes I need to get out more). I'm still not fully comfortable with my purchase yet (still might have been stupidity on my part, plus I looked at the bill and just about crapped my pants! He was $90!!!) but he looks like he is settling in alright. I think the flow might be something he'll take some getting used to as right now he's hovering around under the wavebox where there isn't much current.
Holey crap, he just ate some caulerpa!!! I think I'm in love!!!! He's worth every penny if he eats that stuff.
Ooh a long one today. And I still have more. So once again my nano has been taking a hit. I had lost several little zoo colonies (like 10+polyps) and someone has been going to town on my ricordea. I've lost 3 in 2 weeks. Finally I'd had enough, I was going to find the culprit. Plus I could see a colony had fallen behind the rocks. So I yarded out all the rocks. I had about half the rocks out except for two larger ones and I heard the distinctive "click click". So the little bastage was in one of the big ones. That was that, he was dead meat. I let the first rock just rest out of water, maybe he'd just crawl out on his own. I carefully inspected the second rock and gee theres all my zoos crammed into a hole. I took a deep breath not really knowing what I was gonna find in there (see my 2 foot worm photo *shudder*) and started yarding out bits and pieces of rocks. Lo and behold theres like 5 zoo frags and a fairly large crab with black tipped claws. Smell ya later dude. Thats the last $40 meal you'll ever have. Then while I'm picking algae off rocks I find another tiny little guy. He went to visit the first crab :p
Hopefully my problems are solved in there. I still don't really know what was making the clicking sound.
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