stage five cont.....

Welcome back to stage five there is so much more to share, that we needed to make another blog so lets get started. From the last blog we displayed some beautiful fish and coral as we will do so today.

capnella

This little beauty was a Malteseputter choice, it is a soft coral that branches out like a tree. It has a nice copper color that stands out in jewel reef. When it is closed it looks like a pine cone. The size at full growth is still unknown to us, but we think he is going to get huge. We named him Merlot, for you wine lovers you know that Campanella is a popular wine that comes in a Merlot.

coral banded serpent starfish

So far this is the only time we've seen this little guy out front and center, and this was the day that we purchased him. He is a bottom feeder that moves more like an octopus than a starfish. How he eats is unknown because he stays well hidden in the reef, so given time we may have more of an insight for you later on. We named him McKay.

fox glove coral

This bubbly guy was Sweets choice, he is a soft coral that feeds off of photosynthesis (light). Under the light which is hard to see in this picture, he actually has iridescent coloring like a saltwater pearl. This guy earned the nickname Bubbles.

cleaner shrimp

Ah the cleaner shrimp! These guys like to hang upside down most of the time patiently waiting for a fish to swim by to make a pit stop for a little makeover. These shrimp actually attach themselves to fish to remove parasites and other undesireables and the fish really don't mind the cleaner shrimp doing just that, which makes them an essential part of the reef system. Oh, and they're cool! They are nicknamed The Peppermint Twins.

white star polyp (yellow)

This pretty little thing was Luckylavender's choice. It's just like the white star polyp (green) only it is a brilliant yellow with a pale pink underside, which makes this coral a very colorful and calming addition to jewel reef. It's fun to watch it retract when you brush against it, to only watch it bloom once again. His name is Sunny.

green brittle starfish

This alien-looking starfish was the choice of Brother Bates. This starfish is the most active one that we have, he's usually in the back chilling and as soon as we put food in the reef, in a matter of 10 seconds he's out and trying to grab at every piece of food particles that he can get his octopus tentacles on. The cool part is when he finally catches a food particle at the tip of his tentacle, because he rolls it up until it gets within close reach of his mouth (underside of his body) like an octopus and then meals away. We nicknamed him Spike.

koko worm

The KoKo worm is beautiful to look at unless he's hiding, but to watch him come back to life is the most amazing thing to see because it's like watching a flower bloom except for it's not petals, but feather-like pom poms. The slightest disruption in the reef will make him retract into his worm extremely fast. We're guessing that he's light and motion sensitive due to the fact that there's no eyes, but somehow he knows when to duck and cover. His nickname is CoCo Chanel.

two emerald crabs with a turbo snail

These small true crabs are probably our most amusing reef mates yet. Why? you might ask...because they're very bold to be so small. One day while enjoying the reef tank, we noticed the angelfish getting a little too close to one of the emeralds, and the next thing we knew the emerald decided to protect his space by putting up his dukes ready to fight, and mind you the angelfish is much much bigger, but the emerald crab didn't care not one bit about size and almost got ahold of the angelfish, and this is how they got the nickname The Fighting Celtics, but the angelfish kept moving on about his daily routine as if nothing had happened. These guys are another source of janitorial services within the reef tank that cleans up algae and debris left over from those pesky little things we call fish. The turbo snail in the photo was nicknamed Lucky due to the fact that when we purchased our live rock he was a hitchhiker within the live rock and continued to thrive even though he was out of water for awhile.

maxima clam

Bet you've never seen a clam this beautiful before HUH??? His mantle is a velvet purple color that feeds off of the light, but the muscle inside is the actual filter feeder. He helps to keep the water clean so he's not only beautiful but a beneficial addition to our peaceful reef tank, and soon he'll have similar individuals to compete with. Because of his coloring he earned the nickname Crown Royal...anyone got a glass and some coke?!?

blue and green chromis

These guys were Malteseputter and Jewel's choice due to the fact that they were one of the few fish that we could have a school of in this sized reef tank. They are really pretty because they change colors from blue to green to yellow depending on the angle and light. They stick together and are very social and sometimes you get a glimpse of two sharing food, but it looks like they're kissing. We couldn't possibly name all individually so we named them The Marlins.

Stage five

march 15,2009

Look at that Stage 5 is the best so far and it keeps getting better as you see and is bursting with life. We went down to the pet store with the family and spent over 4 hundred dollars in coral and fish. The person helping us was all over the place trying so hard to keep up that he forgot some of the live stock we wanted OPPPS!!

arrow crab

This cool guy was the choice of my brother in-law, it is a crab but looks like a daddy long leg. He sits on the rock swaying about moving the substrate around finding food. His legs will get to 12 inches but his body will be around 4 inches. When we put him in the tank for the first time he looked like a rain drop.

White star polyp (green)

This coral was Malteseputter's choice, it does look like grass waving in the wind. Its a low to mid level placement coral and feeds mostly off the light, and with all the other corals we must add calcium and mineral supplements to the tank. This one is pretty to watch.

pair of black and white clownfish

Ah the black and white clowns.... they are two of the most calming fish to watch, oh and very cool to watch. They are always beside one another, you see one there is the other kinda like us "smile." These guys were our choice, but jewel named them daniel and vala from the show stargate sg-1.

flame firefish

Now isn't he pretty? Another choice of my brother in-law. The firefish loves to hang out in the open water, but spook him and he goes into the rock wall faaasssst maybe the quickest fish in the tank. I would go into all the colors that are on him but it would take forever so lets just say that he is a very colorful fish and a beautiful addition to jewel reef.

bicolor blenny

Here's one of the smallest additions to jewel reef, and quite cute I might add. This little blenny was a surprise by malteseputter and was put in the day after the initial big buy. When jewel noticed him chilling on one of the rocks, she asked, "What is that?", but as she watched him his behavior was so cute that she fell in love with him instantly. What he likes to do is hang out on rocks watching the daily routines of the tank, and when he thinks that things aren't kosher, he dips into one of the live rock crevices. One of the amazing things about him is that at night he will blend with the rock by changing his natural color to milk white. You might ask what makes this little guy so cute? As you watch him, he'll get as close as possible to you, and look up and down only by moving his eyes.

galaxea coral

This beautiful yet aggressive coral was picked by jewel...go figure that she would pick something aggressive "smile" is one of our more impressive corals at this time. As you can see, the white at the bottom right are actually sweeping tentacles which are used for eating and stinging any coral or fish within 4 inches in each direction. He's another one that waves in the current looking like grass in the wind, and we're hoping that he will also glow under the lunar lights when we finally obtain them. Jewel is one proud mama of this big baby!

Stage four

Ah stage four a great step for us where we were able to add live stock that we wanted not what came with the live rock. Lets see first new addition where the fire shrimps you see on the right they do hide alot, but they do let themselves be known when it is feeding time. They bully the other shrimp when they get too close to there home but stay to themselves. As you can see on the photo on the right they have plenty of spaces

to hide.

march10,2009 Fire shrimp

The peppermint shrimp are even more elusive they come out only at night, and that photo took a long time to get. He was added to the tank to help with the aiptasia problem and they seem to be working so no new growth and declining in the ones we do see so yip yee. Our pride and joy even to this day is the flame angel you see to the right a brillant orange with black markings and royal blue tip on his fins. flame angel
peppermint shrimp with a mushroom polyp

This guy has a lot of personality trying to be the big fish in the tank but we'll see how long that lasts when we get a tang in there, but for now he is the top fish. Last but not least the coral frags that we added, four to be exact the the mushroom polyp to the left and the three different button polyps below and these are what makes a reef tank great as you will see. To all friends and family stay tuned more is to come.

Purple button polyps











Green button polyps

Stage three

After 5 days of waiting for the tank to mature enough, we added a small amount of live rock. What is live rock? You might ask..... It is pretty much rock, dead corals from the reef that has been enriched with beneficial bacterias and life forms and a few pests to help with the biological filtration. It all helps with the ecosystem of the reef tank.

February 28, 2009

After this set of rocks on the right, that we had added we found a little ((friend)) called an Aiptasia which uncontrolled can be a real problem in a reef tank, but so far we have kept the pests under control. As you can see the tank is finally starting to take form. We never in a million years thought that we would spend this much money on rocks especially the ones that don't sparkle (bling bling). Please stay tuned for stage 4!

Stage two

The second stage was setting up the tank; filling it with water, adding salt, getting the specific gravity (salinity) just right which let me tell you for a beginner was quite troublesome because the instructions did not account for the substrate, but we made it through. We then moved on to assembling the added equipment such as the filter, protein skimmer and lights. We were up all night putting it all together but as you will soon see it was worth every pain staking step.

February 26, 2009

It took us 2 days to be able to take this picture. WHY??? You might ask! It was soooooo cloudy from the initial stirring up of the substrate (crushed coral) that we couldn't see the heater. One of the many issues that we faced during the start of a new and exciting project...oh and notice we said "exciting." Stay tuned for the next step.

The beginning

Hello our names are Malteseputter and Jewel. We have been married for 10 years and would like to include everyone on a project that we have decided to start and it seems to be going great so lets get to the first stage.

On feb 23, 2009 this tank found its way into our happy abode. It is a 84 gallon Fluval Osaka 320 with hanging t5 fluorescent lights and an wood grain stand. A 405 fluval canister fliter, 300 watt heaterstat, a seaclone protein skimmer, and a power cord with built in timers so we can have day and night simulation with the t5 lights. Stay tuned for the next stage.