New tank mates and one loss

Well since the last time we posted it's been an emotional rollercoaster with some new arrivals and one that had to leave jewel reef, but he will not be forgotten. Now we will begin with the bad news; four of our hermit crabs were killed by the arrow crab and this is why he is no longer with us. He went back to the pet store on Saturday so this cool guy was not invertebrate safe so we say good bye to Yao Ming, but Brother Bates did pick a cool coral in his place as you will see.

arrow crab-hope he finds a good home

Now on to the good news: this tank is really starting to look amazing but it is far from done, this photo was taken Friday which means that we are up to date on the posting, so from now it is in real time and we hope you have and will enjoy our journey with the makings of a reef tank.

April 4 2009

More zoanthus (green and orange) this beautiful coral was picked out by Jewel and we are trying to add more brilliant colors but its hard because of the age of the tank, but we have plenty of time and room to do it. He is another that feeds off of photosynthesis, he closes at night and will be completely open ten minutes after the light come back on. The name that was chosen for this guy is "Bi Colony".

orange and green zoanthus

This clam was the picked by Sweets, it is called a Derasa clam with some wonderful colors within her from brown and white outlined in a neon green color. We tried to put her on the rock wall but she seems to like the substrate better. She mostly feeds off of photosynthesis but, she also filter feeds meaning that she will help clean the tank of left over food and other undesirable things that float around "keep up the good work." "The name that was chosen is Pearl".

Derasa clam

This fat little coral was the pick of Jewel; its called the Tongue coral. He lounges on the substrate and feeds off of low light and looks like a hairy tongue. The colors on this little guy is mostly beige and a little mother of preal on its base and the hairs look like tentacales that wave in the current. The name that was chosen for this one is "((Cousin)) Cuz Its Tongue".

tongue coral

Now this guy here is one that Malteseputter is trying to figure out what's up with his wife's side of the family because Brother Bates picked this beautiful, yet aggressive coral. It is called the long tentacle frogspawn coral which has a brilliant transparent green coloring with sweeping tentacles that will sting anything that gets too close. The bubble like tentacles is where it gets its food, and also feeds from the lights. He was the exchange for the arrow crab and what a good exchange it was. It turns out that all arrow crabs like to feast on other crustaceans so if you do start a reef tank leave that guy out. Don't you just want to pop these bubbles like bubble wrap.... :-) He earned the nickname "Puph Daddy."

long tentacle frogspawn coral

This is the last guy of the blog. Well, not much can be told about this montipora coral . He is a frag from a bigger coral and from the photos online of this guy he will grow like a tree and have a deep purple coloring but for now he's just a little guy. It was the choice of Malteseputter and we do have high hopes for him. He has earned the nickname "Stix." Due to him being a SPS (small polyp stony) and jewel reef being at the beginners stage this will be a test to see if we're ready for the bigger and better corals.


montipora coral (sps)


Well, thats all for now but we still have two fish in the quaratine tank and should be in jewel reef by next Friday, and I can't wait until you see them so stay tuned for the next blog and have blessed week.