Clown Fish (Amphiprion ocellaris)- We finally got two clownfish! I got them from a local breeder for a good price. It's nice to be able to buy tank bred fish, knowing you are not taking them out of their reef homes. We were hoping they would adopt the pink cataphyllia but they don't seem to be that interested yet. It is possible that they are still determining their sex. When they were bought, they were both male. Once a pair of clowns are put together, the more dominant fish will then become female. Once this happens and they decide to start breeding, they usually look for a "safe" place to lay the eggs, usually on rock near an anemone. Most commonly in the wild they will host an anemone for protection, however they will also host other corals, such as cataphyllias or xenias, anything that "waves around with long arms".
They are very cute and are one of my all time favourite reef fish. Here are a few pics of them a few days after we got them.
Brain Coral - Every reef tank needs a brain! This brain is a Favites spp. It is a nice colour green in the water, given that the tank only has fluoro lighting. It's not an overly popular coral with the studio dudes, as it "doesn't do anything". I've tried to explain that not all corals jump up and down and perform shows everyday, some are just pretty and sit there! Anyway, I am trying to now pick out corals with more "movement". Interestingly, at night when the lights are off in the tank, the brain actually does "do" something. It has long sweeper tentacles that expand out and wave around. It is unsure why they do this, but it is believed they may be used to detect the settlement or advance of corals. So give the brain space!
Whisker Coral (Duncanopsammia axifuga) - Bought this one from St.Kilda Aquarium. I really like this one as it looks like a bunch of flowers. The polyps seem to be out for most of the day. The other day, the fungia (door mat) decided it wanted to try to smother this coral. It literally moved itself over, inflated itself and half covered it! We quickly removed it and the Whisker Coral seems fine now
Orange Dashed Goby (Valenciennea puellaris) - Well this little girl has been one of the highlights of the tank so far. We needed a sand cleaner of some sort, so thought she would do a good job of keeping the sand nice and clean. Well, we bought her on a Friday and over the weekend she decided she would do a little re-decorating! On arriving at work on the Monday, the tank was like a snowstorm and all the rocks were covered in sand! Well she did the job she was put in there for - the sand was now brilliantly clean. After cleaning the sand off the rocks, we could see she had made herself a little home under one of the flat rocks, with a tunnel excavated from one side to the other.
She cleans the sand by taking large gulps of it and filtering it through her gills. It's so funny to watch. We have been feeding her frozen mysis shrimp as she won't eat flake food.
Torch Coral - On the weekend I went and got a Torch Coral (Euphyllia glabrescens). This has settled in nicely and looks great. It is brown with yellow tips. Everyone in the studio thinks it's great because it "does" something. The tentacles move around in the current.
Pepe (the peppermint shrimp) - Great news - Pepe was spotted tonight. Everyone thought he was long gone. I dropped a bit of food in to tempt the goby out for a photo and I saw two little feelers appear from the rock. Wondering what they were, suddenly the little red transparent body of the shrimp appeared! Pepe is ALIVE! He looks very healthy and has at least doubled in size. He is sharing his home with the goby, which is very cute. Thought the goby might have had it for lunch, but it obviously doesn't eat that sort of shrimp!
Anemone - Last but not least, the little unidentified coral that appeared in the tank is growing and has moved itself up to the highest point in the tank (presumably to get the light). Aquarium friends tell me it's a bubble tipped anemone, so we'll see what happens with it!
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