A Place for Rare Zoanthids

If you're interested in zoas like I am, you should check out Rare Zoanthids, a website dedicated to showcasing rare zoas and possibly helping you find out where to find them. Even though I am taking a temporary (yet extended) break from the hobby, this site really brings back a lot of memories for me.

In addition to the colorful pictures, there's also descriptions on how to ID the zoas as well as how to care for them. It's definitely a cool resource if you're new to the hobby.

More Pictures of the 29... Close-ups!

Contents of the 29 Gallon for Sale

I'm not sure if these pictures will help or hurt the sale, but a bunch of people have been asking for them. Basically, since work and chores have gotten in the way of the hobby, I am now forced to get out of it completely for awhile.

The photos below show the tank as is today. Even though the pics suck, there are certainly some diamonds in the ruff in this tank.

Among some of the zoas that are in there, green death, purple death, peach rainbows, AOG's, reds, blues, galaxies, etc. There are also some nice ricordias with neon green mouths in there. Their coloring have changed somewhat in the 20K bulb... I think my preference is still 14K but I wanted to test it since I didn't have actinics over this tank.

Anyway, I'm asking $240 OBO for everything inside the tank. (Which also includes 2 clowns, a well behaved damsel, an urchin and all the live rocks) I think if better cared for, these things should bounce back bigger and better within a couple of months.

The end of an era... or was it just a year?

Well, the wedding has come and gone and now we are on the hunt for our next house with a yard. We decided on a place in East Atlanta that has pretty much everything we're looking for so we're now in the process to clean up the house and hoping that both the offers and the timing will work to our advantage.

The condo market right now isn't too great in Atlanta... so to help sell the house, we are looking to get rid of any access furniture that we don't need and unfortunately, I've decided that the fish tank is one of these things.

So while it's sad to have to sell off my 90 gallon tank... I'm hoping the next upgrade will be bigger, badder and less expensive. I'm pretty sure it won't be less expensive but one can dream.

Some good have came out of this though... I got some money to help pay down wedding debt and this will be one less thing to worry about in the coming months as we get ready to move. Also, it was good to get a bunch of people seeing the tank and all of them only had positive things to say about it. *Whew*

In the end... if it only took me a year to get all these awesome corals, the second time around should be a lot easier.

Bacterial Bloom and another new fish!

A couple of days ago my tank randomly turned very cloudy... besides for the tang, I didn't really add anything else over the last few days. Needless to say, this is strange. The last time the tank turned this cloudy, we were cooking something in the house that smoked up... carbon took care of it last time in a day, but again, it did nothing for the tank this time even with two bags.

After much reading, it seems like I have a bacterial bloom. Since the haze is gray/white and not green (algae) or yellow (ammonia?) that seems to be the only logical conclusion. I guess to back track just a tad bit, I even took my water to the store to get it tested and everything came back and I quote: "perfect!"

Ah well... with perfect but cloudy water, this was good enough for me to add yet another fish. Although my first two tangs suffered ill fates maybe due to high nitrates or bad collection habits... I was REALLY glad to see that my Mimic Tang was healthy, eating, and not fighting with the existing inhabitants.

Well, I wanted to push my luck and decided to add a Clown Tang into the tank. I've always loved the colors and the patterns on these fish and so fargood to see that he too is getting along with the other ones in the tank. Now all I have to do is wait for the haze to be gone and I'll be back to my happy self again.

Tang Attempt #3

I went to the Buckhead fish store after work yesterday to pick up a couple of clowns for my new tank. Yeah, I realize it's a bit soon but the cycling time for my tank has been minimal mostly due to me filling the tank with dry rocks and live rocks from my 90. Well, I ended up not getting the clowns but walked out with some more rocks and a mimic tang.

My favorite tangs thus far have been the red sea sailfin desjardini, achilles tang, the purple tang and some of the powder blue and browns. Most of the others have not been of interest to me but for whatever reason, this one REALLY caught my eye. Apparently, according to the store owner, this particular Mimic Tang was mimicking a Eibli Pygmy Angel like the one pictured below... which must have been it cause I remember liking those as well.

Well, the crazy store owner quoted me $110 for this fish... after much MUCH debate, I ended up getting him. This was probably a bad decision b/c the two tangs I've tried before had not fared well at all. The purple tang died. The hippo tang also died mysteriously after a week due to not eating.

Also, the flame angel I bought was terrorized to death by the Potter's Angel and MUCH to my dismay, didn't make it through day two.

So here I am, buying a tang which doesn't stand much of a chance living (apparently)... as well as mimicking another dwarf angel which may cause issues in itself... I dunno; almost everything about it smelled fishy to me.

But the funny thing was... while I was worrying about this fish, the owners were worried about this tang terrorizing my current tank mates. I guess we were on different pages.

Well, I'm glad to say this story has a happy ending so far... when the fish finally rang up, it was only about $55 w/ the ARC discount. At first I thought I got a killer deal but I was just misquoted the price. Also, since the introduction to the tank, it seems like it has taken on the dominate role. The other fish are cautious, but no one has even tried to harass the tang yet (which I guess they didn't harass tangs before either). Vice versa, the tang hasn't decided to pick fights with anyone yet. I'm not sure if the colors will continue to stay as the Eibli, but I hope so... I really like the way this one looks... but I guess time will tell.

Can anyone ID this?

Could this be a new baby plate coral about to form? It looks awesome but I have no idea what it is. Can any of you ID it?