FuEl

Yep it's true that most butterfly fish feed exclusively on corals. Yellow longnose and copperband butterflies don't feed on algae or corals. Their forcep like mouth is to reach small inverts hiding in coral skeletons/between rocks. Not as hard to keep compared to those feeding on corals but still you need to get them feeding as soon as possible for success. Another butterflyfish which you could consider is the racoon butterlyfish, one of the easier species.

Omg...$500 for an AT...I rather get another pair of blue frogs with that $.

Only confident to I.D the second one..good old familiar A. millepora?

After feeding this species (not identified yet..too lazy to check ) for few months, the male has apparently colored up tremendously. From a dirty green looking fellow to...........................

Yep I thought about the fish. Been using water from a clownfish tank and for my upwelling I have 3 fish (2 glass perches and one juvenile milkfish (I think)) in the sump. Does'nt seem to help them much. Desperate, I've added a brain coral into the sump to see if it helps. I'm starting to get mortality of my largest larvae (more than 1cm in size) which is real disheartening. They seem to die without any apparent reason, even after fresh change of water (Natural seawater filtered down to 1 micron) and replacement of fresh food). Now I have probably less than 60 larvae (in total) left at days 67-72 post-hatch (Started with about a thousand of them). I'll be over the moon if just one individual settles successfully, since I'm rearing them on low and simple technology. Then again I have blood shrimp larvae around 45 days with pleopods being visible at around 30 days+. I've a feeling I will have more success with these as they do appear to be stronger physically and to be more voracious feeders. Hopefully at least something settles.

If you are that concerned go for soft corals as these don't form the building blocks of coral reefs. Most of reef formations are formed predominantly by stony corals like Porites, etc. There are always people selling acropora frags if you are ready for them. Even LPS (Eg. Euphyllia) can be fragged if you know how. Good thing is that coral trade is regulated by CITES. But as a consumer you could always request for captive propagated corals. We need to see a change in mindset of most reefers before reliance on wild corals can be reduced.

Should have put up the filefish for adoption instead. Never introduce a non-native fish into local waters no matter how harmless it looks.

Buying magnesium supplements is a waste of $ as you will need to add alot to increase the levels to recommended levels (1200-1500 ppm). Best bet to increase the levels is via water changes using commercial salt mix. Get to replenish other trace elements as well.

Dinoflagellates can be present in our waters too. Normally such outbreaks are associated with increases in nutrient load in the water, in your case might have been caused by disturbing the coral chips and releasing everything into the water coclumn.

D.I.Y a surface skimmer is quite simple. Get some pvc pipes, form a small square or rectangle. Drill a hole through the frame and insert another pipe into the hole. This pipe will guide surface water into the floating rectangle. Use an air pump to blow air into the protruding pipe and all your floating debri will be collected into the floating device. Then soak it up with whatever you wish.

Added new corals during this time? Melting away sounds like brown jelly disease, which often infects newly imported corals. Not sure if it is infectious between different coral species though.

Anyone know of any places that will be bringing in peppermint shrimp (L. wurdemanni) around December or even somewhere in November?

Market prawns, squid (remove the head due to the ink), mussels. Blend and drain the nutrient rich water through stocking or other mesh. If not your water will turn cloudy when feeding such food. Then store in the freezer.

Hmm..some larvae I placed with the adults in a net. Left them in for 2 days..nothing happened. Frustrating getting them to settle.

I got superworms that will come towards you when you call them. Give them a piece of fruit and they play ball with it. Each superworm is uniquely intelligent, with the appropriate care it can metamorphose into a cute black beetle. Each worm is specifically chosen to be the best among the batch. Each worm costs $2. Hmm.. Do I need a permit? The toughest thing with keeping land hermits is moulting. I doubt many consumers are aware of it. Finally my individual molted when it was the only one left, other hermits probably stress/cannibalize molting individuals and they die due to failure to molt. Also keep them away from ants. After the last one successfully molted, ants ate it.

Wow a reply from Germany..unexpected. Yep I have the feeling they need a settlement cue too. Most larvae finished developed their pleopods at around day 50-60. Now it's already day 61 and they are not metamorphosing yet. I'm adding water into their culture (Taken from adult tank and from a clownfish tank) and have a liverock placed in the sump but so far none metamorphosed yet. Most of them lost their elongated 5th periopod (from the upwelling current) so I'm not sure how that will affect metamorphosis. I thought of placing adults in the sump, but I only have one pair of animals to work with. Unfortunate if they should die in the sump as water quality is a concern as I'm not using any protein skimmer. Probably I might try that tomorrow, placing a few larvae in the broodstock tank. Thanks for the kind tip.

Make sure it's treated. As in, it has soaked in seawater long enough. If not soon enough your seawater will be brown due to tannins leaching from the wood. Might make your water acidic too.

I kept the E. draconis before in my frag tank without anything to bully it. It just failed to start eating and kept swimming at the surface. Only lasted me 3 days..

59 days old. Not settled yet... Eating blended seafood mix.

"The protein-containing aquarium water diffuses into the skimmer through the opening in the bottom and on the rear, which is gentle to the plankton, thus suitable in particular for breeding tanks with living plankton." From this statement it seems that water passes through a membrane before entering the skimmer? Maybe the only way to know is to have a look at the skimmer itself..

Try not to restrain frags too much, if possible don't restrain them at all. They recover faster that way..bacterial infections occur more often you restrain them.

Shaguar XK..The brand speaks for itself.

That's an eel la..dun confuse mUAr_cHEe. Tsk..catch for me the next time you see it ok? I love that eel alot!

Hmm..normally the stated price is for the price of the room during that time only. Anything else is between you and the masseuse. I know..

Boiling water won't get rid of NO2 or NO3. Neither will it get rid of other minerals like silicates. It will only kill germs/bacteria and get rid of chlorine. That's about all it does. Check your test kit, get a reliable one if need be (Salifert would be a good bet). If tapwater had nitrite levels of 30ppm, all people drinking out of taps in Sg would be long dead.