332 replies to this topic

[Chasmodes]

Hi everyone.  It's been a long time since I've posted an oyster reef tank update, so now I finally have something worth updating and showing.  I've kept a sloppy tank with the fish and inverts since my last post about this tank, nothing like my 20g tank when it was in its heyday.  But, I've added enough structure to the tank and cleaned things up, and I have a decent selection of fish and invertebrates, so I decided to resume some videos on this topic.  I hope you enjoy the update.

 

[Fleendar the Magnificent]

Absolutely an incredible brackish tank! Think you'll be able to (or want to) catch and put a tiny brackish puffer in there? Love the puffer fish. Just don't eat em!

 

Keep up the beautiful tank and videos!

 

The Grumpy Old Man.

[Chasmodes]

Thanks Chris!  Yes, one of my goals is to catch and keep a small spotted burrfish.  They don't get as big as the other puffers in my area.  The only downside is that I heard that the blennies nip the heck out of their fins, so, it would be an experiment.  If it doesn't work out, then I know a good home for the burrfish.

[MattMudCrab]

looking nice. I have been maintaining my 40 gallon long at a specific gravity of 1.017. This appears to be the sweet spot for my tank. The thin stripe hermit crabs are huge. The striped blenny in all of his trouble making Glory is doing quite well. The naked Goby finally starting to show mostly dark stripes. It actually stays out and swimming quite frequently. I have now two full grown cling fish. My wife actually tong feeds the biggest one. Hides out in the same spot and will come out to take a shrimp pellet or krill. I still have one grass shrimp left. I guess thats not too bad for having collected them in July 2020. There was actually three but the naked goby has gotten big enough to swallow them whole. I had to purchase a UV sterilizing pump to keep my water from going green. I still am looking for ideas of other fish to put in the tank since I do not anticipate being anywhere to collect anything. Ive kept Sailfin Mollys in there, which do OK, when the millennials not trying to eat their tails. I am thinking about going ahead and pulling the salt level up to marine level since Im so close already. But I cant really think of any fish to put in it that I could buy that would look like they belong. Obviously all the marine fish available are extremely colorful and just would not look right.

[Chasmodes]

looking nice. I have been maintaining my 40 gallon long at a specific gravity of 1.017. This appears to be the sweet spot for my tank. The thin stripe hermit crabs are huge. The striped blenny in all of his trouble making Glory is doing quite well. The naked Goby finally starting to show mostly dark stripes. It actually stays out and swimming quite frequently. I have now two full grown cling fish. My wife actually tong feeds the biggest one. Hides out in the same spot and will come out to take a shrimp pellet or krill. I still have one grass shrimp left. I guess thats not too bad for having collected them in July 2020. There was actually three but the naked goby has gotten big enough to swallow them whole. I had to purchase a UV sterilizing pump to keep my water from going green. I still am looking for ideas of other fish to put in the tank since I do not anticipate being anywhere to collect anything. Ive kept Sailfin Mollys in there, which do OK, when the millennials not trying to eat their tails. I am thinking about going ahead and pulling the salt level up to marine level since Im so close already. But I cant really think of any fish to put in it that I could buy that would look like they belong. Obviously all the marine fish available are extremely colorful and just would not look right.

 

That tanks sounds great.  I'm actually taking a huge leap forward tomorrow toward getting my 100g version on the way to being set up.  It's been way too long of a project.  I have a buddy coming to help me finish the stand.  I could use it as is, but I want a real piece of furniture since this tank will be the centerpiece of the room.

 

A spotfin butterflyfish would be a good tank mate as long as the blenny doesn't pick on it.  They often are caught in the Chesapeake Bay during the summer (tropical strays).  I think folks catch them all the way to NY and maybe further North too.  They'd give a nice splash of yellow.  There are sites that sell them.  If you can't find those sites, let me know and I'll PM you the links.  Also, you can get sheepshead minnows on-line too, and they'd fit the biotope.  I think that they'd be OK in your tank.  Blennies like to nip their fins in my tank, but a larger tank with fewer fish might do well for the sheepshead minnows.  I'll find that link too and PM you if you can't find it.

 

Where did you catch yours?  North Carolina maybe?  If so, there are more tropical stray species to choose from.

[MattMudCrab]

I collected in the Virginia area of the Chesapeake. Mobjack bay vicinity. My male sailfin just died yesterday so I will be removing the lone female. I truly dont think sailfins can handle that degree of salinity for too long.

[MattMudCrab]

I thought about a Sargent major.

[Chasmodes]

Sargent majors get kinda big and mean.  They're cool looking.  I don't know if they stray that far North, but the spotfins definitely do.  And, they do well in aquaria.

[MattMudCrab]

Ive noticed when Ive tried to add other open water swimming fish the blini will beat on them for a few days. Obviously with mollies there are way too delicate to be nipped on. And when I had the solenity fairly low I did Australian rainbow fish which adjusted quite fine to 1.010 sg but the rainbow fish nipped them too much. Course this was also in a 20 gallon high . Is the butterfly fish scrappy enough to handle the blenny until hes established himself? Or do I need to look for fish that are slightly more aggressive so they can dish back what the blenny might put out?

[Chasmodes]

I don't know for sure, but, I don't think butterfly fish are a threat to blennies.  Killiefish similar fish are potential egg eaters or fry eaters, so maybe that's why the aggression.  that said, it's an expensive investment if it doesn't work out.  I'm going to try one eventually, but right now, I don't have first hand experience.  It will be in my 100g version so there should be plenty of room.  I've seen my blennies go after my sheepshead minnows, so I get what you're going through.  How many blennies do you have?  

[Chasmodes]

BTW, I had a feather blenny many years ago and got along with all of my fish, except for one.  I kept a blue angelfish and several pygmy angels which are related to butterflyfish.  I also had a bluehead wrasse, a small cowfish, a pseudochromis, and a blue devil damsel.  Everything was great, until I added a niger trigger.  When I got home for work, I went down to feed my fish and saw the trigger and blenny fighting big time.  The blenny had bit out one of the trigger's eyes, and the trigger took a chunk of flesh out of his belly.  The blenny died an hour later, and the trigger died from an bacterial infection despite my attempts to treat it.

 

Anyway, my point is, although it's a different blenny species, it's a tough one, and it left the angelfish species alone.  I can't speak for striped blennies, but, they occupy the same oyster reefs in that area.

 

A sergeant major would definitely be tough enough.  Let me check the Bay species list and see if they're on it.

[Chasmodes]

I didn't see any damsels on the list, but, the list is from 2007.

 

 

However, a guy named Jim Casper has a YT channel that has vids of tropical strays that he's caught. Scroll down to some of his other videos. https://www.youtube....micasper/videos

 

Angelfish are tough, and it look he's caught juvenile blue and french angels.  The only problem with them is that they grow to 18" long LOL.

 

OK, I just saw one of his vids where he caught sergeant majors:  

[Chasmodes]

Here's another cool video about tropical strays seen or collected off Long Island, NY.  If they show up there, they probably show up around the mouth of the Chesapeake too.