Donya's Pico Experiment

[Donya]

I decided I was going to do one of these, so I better get it started since stuff's been changing despite the fact that I had to wait on an AC fix to put any inverts in. The room's AC is getting ripped out and replaced tomorrow, so that will leave it clear for beasties to go in.

The tank:
- 1.5 gallon Tetra Water Wonders
- Acrylic
- Whisper 3i filter - air pump driven with room for rubble in the chamber.
- LED lighting, not sure how many watts.

Fresh out of the box:

Seemed pretty nice at that point, but not without issues.

Rubberband hackery to stop the light from coming down unexpectedly with the lid off:

Most recent ugly hack to stop salt from spitting out of the hole in the lid:

Surface aggitation issues I mentioned in the older thread where I first posted this tank have been resolved, but it's unfortunately a tradeoff between filter splash and aggitation, hence the need to cover that hole with something. No more salt forming on top of the lid. The holes at the back don't seem to have this issue. There is occasional salt around where the lid contacts the tank, but it's minimal and quit managable compared to my open-top picos of similar size. Definitely won't have issues with salt getting all over my desk again.

So, I went ahead and got the tank going with LR while waiting on the AC, since I did a brief temperature study and saw that overheating wouldn't be an issue (at least not for the LR - still a tad warm for snails and the like due to the room temperature). The tank cycled already, so I have been feeding the LR bugs on some food pellets to keep everything turning over until more critters go in. Despite my initial predictions that this tank would have to be fully non-photosynthetic, it seems macro will indeed grow happily under the LEDs.

Before (on the 20th), as I thought it was going to have to be:

Right after that photo I added a little snippet of macro that was about 3-4cm long with only ~1cm of a stem with the little balls on it. Unfortunately it seems I forgot to take another picture of it, but it just barely sat above the top of the rock. Here it is 8 days later:

It's about trippled in mass since I put it in. That's more growth than I see from the same species in my other tanks. So much for making guesses - better to just do the experiment.


Stock that will go in soon:
- A little freebe whelk that has turned out to be a bit meaner than expected but gets along ok with hermits.
- One young Ciliopagurus strigatus hermit, until he grows substantially anyway. This could take a looooong time, since he's pretty small. Unfortunately, I have seen some adult C. strigatus having a snack on zoanthids, so softies (or at least zoanthids) are probably off the list of possibilities as long as this hermit is in there.

After that, I'm stuck as far as stocking and looking for ideas.

 

[sorgan]

The macro you got there is grape Caulerpa I believe, it will grow fast but if it starts turning grey at the ends you wanna really chop it back.

 

[Donya]

Yep, I know it's one of the grape Caulerpas; been keeping different Caulerpas since I started in marine. I'm not entirely sure whether this one C. racemosa or one of the others like C. lentillifera since it has seemed different than some racemosa I had in the past. At any rate, I've been cultivating it for a couple of years successfully in another bowl, which is where the starter fragment came from.

 

[sorgan]

Cool beans, just started an algae tank and thought I should warn you about caulpera's tendacy to go crazy.
Have you ever had a problem with these species? I was thinking of getting some and also a red species.
Also going for a few ulva spp, halimeda and whatever else I can get hold of

 

[Donya]

Have you ever had a problem with these species?

Only that all my gastropods want it for lunch. The bowl I use for it just has bristleworms because of that, and even they snack on it sometimes.

But on a more serious note, most of the standard triggers for spores/wilting don't seem to be a major issue with this type, provided it's in a stable enough environment. All bad events I've seen with the Caulerpas I've kept have ultimately been tracable to either physical damage or some kind of environmental shock/stress. This grape type can handle most parameter swings and quite a bit of physical damage, but it still runs the risk of a small amount of die-off from rapid fluid loss if one of the main stems gets snapped. All in all, whatever specific species it is, it's been good stuff compared to a lot of other macro I've had (including past grape varieties).

I was thinking of getting some and also a red species.

I do love the red species. I keep hoping the stores in my area will get a bit more interested in macro and start getting some of those, but they all seem pretty stuck in a rut with grape Caulerpa.

Also going for a few ulva spp, halimeda and whatever else I can get hold of

I have tried a couple of times with some Ulva species, but never had long-term success. Other than the fact that all my inverts eat it, it seems to have a higher lighting requirement that I couldn't quite manage, although I don't know whether it holds for all Ulva species or just the couple that I tried.

 

[Donya]

Well this is irritating. Took the thermometer out today to move it over a bit and it seems it's left a mark on the tank wall. This thermometer has never left a mark like that before (had it for years used on glass, acrylic, and other materials) but the little ring it left is pretty rough and does not respond to a fingernail. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it's just a stubborn mineral deposit. Even if it stays, it's not visible from most angles, but still...of all the places I had to stick that thing, it had to be right on the front.

 

[seffieuk]

but still...of all the places I had to stick that thing, it had to be right on the front.

Oh gawd, thats the sort of thing I would have done as well

Seffie x

 

[Donya]

To keep my mind off of that suction cup ring (which does seem less obvious this evening....fingers crossed! LOL), I have been taking photos! One thing I can definitely say for this tank is that it photographs really well compared to my other tanks.

First critter in: Mr. meanie snail. Not such an eventful entrance...

And the main attraction currently:

I'm not sure how he gets himself stuck like that against the plastic plant, but it's happened more than once now. Some re-arranging may be in order if it keeps happening.

The LFS is supposed to get some bumblebee snails in tomorrow, so one of those is probably next on my critter list.

 

[seffieuk]

I see what you mean about the photos, lovely but the Halloween hermit is a gorgeous photo and what a nice shell he has chosen

Seffie x

 

[Donya]

Alas...no Bumblebee snails to be had. Those things seem to be very rare in this area for whatever reason. I'm trying some Nerites instead. I've found Nerites to be ok in with hermits that have cutting-type pinchers, which Ciliopagurus strigatus also has. I've got backup tanks the Nerites can live in if things head south for any reason. Running out of food won't be an issue either since they are happy to gobble up shrimp pellets, just like my fw Nerites.

 

[Morri]

Nice shots of the Halloween is that with a macro lens?

 

[Donya]

Nice shots of the Halloween is that with a macro lens?

No macro lens, just my same cruddy old camera that usually makes a fuzzy mess of tank photos. I assume the LEDs must have a spectrum that the camera handles better than my other tanks' lighting or something, since in the past I've never been able to just hit the flower button and immediately get a reasonable photo without a lot of bothering about.

 

[Donya]

Well, my little tank is now experiencing a small jellyfish explosion...and unfortunately it's not Cladonema, which are totally cool little jellies to have. Instead it seems to be Staurocladia, which are shaped like some hybridization of mandlebrot and julia fractals. While interesting under high magnification, they're completely crudding up certain parts of the tank walls. Staurocladia jellies can't be shooed away easily either, since they crawl very slowly rather than free swimming like Cladonema. I'm kind of hoping the population will decrease a bit over time, since they reflect light in a way that looks like hundreds of little nicks and dings in the acrylic...so of course I completely freaked before I had a look with a handlense.

 

[Donya]

Now with a new Caulerpa that I haven't had for years and sorely missed having all that time:

The red plastic plant is currently acting as a vertical support for the grape Caulerpa, since I fear the grape Caulerpa may not last too long if it doesn't get some height to it so that it doesn't get stomped on and munched (some degree of stomping and munching already set its growth back a bit). Once it gets some height and needs more room, the plastic plant can move. And, of course, there are also little white fuzz spots from the jellies. At least they've mostly moved to one of the side walls. The less-fuzzy white speckes are Nerite eggs.

In case the lower left of that photo was alarming, the crab just had a molt:

Also, I have learned also something new today after examining the shed skin: hermit crabs can have gender issues. The last shed skin for this hermit showed NO PLEOPODS, which usually means a male. I couldn't see any on the body either when the little guy was changing shells before that. Unfortunately, I didn't think to check goniopores since pleopod-less hermits I've had always turned out to be male. Now, after another molt: YES PLEOPODS, and they're quite long. It's hard to see from that photo above, but the bunch of molt material in the left corner is the pleopods. Closer inspection of the molt also shows female goniopores. I did some journal searching and there is apparently an "intersex" stage in individuals of some species. I have more reading to do before I can figure out whether that's what went on here, or if it's just that pleopod presence doesn't work for sexing immature females.

 

[kiriyama]

Cool pics, nice project, lovely shell your crab has picked, very tempting