yikai

Dorsal fin of males are long and conspicuous. Females have short tiny dorsal fins

are the mandarins in your pic different? if so, both are males.

two of my favorite shrimps. Periclimenes venustus (Clapping shrimp) and Urocaridella sp. (Yellow arrow shrimp) so much fun to watch. highly recommended for any small tank.

harvested a big handful of these mini tubeworms that were living in the overflow box of an old matured tank. less than a month and they've grown noticeably bigger, almost twice the size, and now have developed some color on the feathers. i just find they add a certain quality to the sandbed. looks more alive. not for aesthetics reason. tons of them everywhere.

some coral shots from refugium, which is slowly converting to a nano tank...

Pintail fairy wrasse. Cirrhilabrus cf. lanceolatus. looks very similar to the previous wrasse but the tail is not crescent. This is a young specimen, and in time, the tail will develop a sword shape. a little point at the tail tip can already be seen.

Cirrhilabrus "lunatus" from Philippines. Totally different looking from its japanese counterpart. More research needs to be done on this fish.

Synchiropus tudorjonesi. that's it for today. will do a proper update on saturday.

now for some shots from the refugium, which is slowly turning more into a nano tank. here's a porcelain crab, sitting snugly in a green lobo.

more pics of the fangblenny and margin damselfish. both small, and peaceful. excellent fishes for movement and adds liveliness to a tank.

Some new fishes from recent red sea shipment. Meiacanthus nigrolineatus - Red Sea fang blenny Ecsenius gravieri - Mimic combtooth blenny. excellent algae grazer. Dascyllus marginatus - i love this damsel. the pearlescent body is very reflective under the MH. can't replicate the sheen in picture.

just got back my camera, so some updates from the past 2 weeks. Chrysiptera annulata. An interesting damsel with huge pelvic fins, unlike any other!

Lotilia has so far only been known to pair with Alpheus rubromaculatus. even when you order it from the supplier, they are shipped together.

nice scape! low, neat, simple. i like it.

not sure bro.

aannyyywayy, long story short, nothing else happened. floor is clean. tank is normal, fishes are all normal. i do have some updates but will leave to the weekend when my camera is back.

yes today was an eventful day. my family was out of town and there was no one at home. i am unable to go home for 3 days as i have in camp duties. so i asked fuel to drop by whenever he can to keep an eye on things and to feed the fish. today he went over and told me my sump tank overflow all over my living room. culprit? a clogged filter sock placed higher than my sump tank. the overflowing filter sock caused water to flow out and onto my floor. while this is a small problem, and no casualties were reported, it is an extremely troublesome and messy task to top up water in my almost empty return pump compartment, and clean the floor and mop up all the salty water. i took half day leave to come back and clean up. this is a super elementary and amateur mistake that i can't believe i fell for. but i underestimated the filter sock. so everyone reading this, don't repeat this mistake. had it not been for fuel, my sump would have continued draining and my tank probably would have ran dry till i came home lol. the ice cream wasn't enough repayment! dinner on me.

iwarna philippine shipment - semifasciatus angels male and female - burgess butterflies x3 - many cebu pylei fairy wrasses - luzonensis anthias

Will always have ich. Try adding another angel or butterfly and you will see a spike. It's a delicate balance maintaining ich in a system. Each time new fish come in, ich will attack a vulnerable host and escalate. Healthy fish which r "immune" will get a light outbreak but nothing serious. In time, if everything is healthy and ok, the new fish will resist and everything will no show signs. But cycle will repeat when new fish is added. That is why ich exists as a delicate balance. Adding fish slowly and little at a time can prevent severe losses. But try adding 3 ATs or PBTs at once now and I guarantee your old fish will suffer badly. Your practice is a fine example of keeping fish healthy without QT and many can learn from you. QTing everything will not have any ich, but is troublesome. This method of living harmoniously with ich is also possible, but you must be disciplined as you have shown.

Yes misbar bandit is very rare. There's a pic posted by digi of a bandit pair and one is severely misbar. Even rarer than this

beautiful scribble face!

misbar bandit

CF - naoko fairy wrasse - flame fairy wrasse - rhomboid fairy wrasse - neopercularis hogfish - flame angelfish - multicolor angelfish - lemonpeel angelfish - multibar angelfish - venustus angelfish - yellow tang - 50 cent coin size black tangs, only 4 left. the rest export - helfrichi firefish - bartlett anthias - semifasciatus angels (females, and only 1 changing male) - very healthy and beautiful female bellus angel

here is what an adult pintail fairy wrasse looks like, photo from BH and LADD. i hope mine grows to this form in future, but regardless i am still happy to find one. i have a few more tank updates but i'll save it for when the camera comes back. cellphone pix are too crappy.