332 replies to this topic

[Doug_Dame]

Sorry to hear of that. Your fish are quite well known "friends to all." At least, in this neighborhood.

[Chasmodes]

Thanks Doug.

 

I also keep a 20g high oyster reef brackish aquarium, but this is an invertebrate tank only right now.  I don't know if I'll keep fish in it or not.  I don't do a ton of maintentance on it, just let the inverts do their thing, feed them daily with flakes, and feed the anemones and crabs frozen shrimp now and then.  There are at least two species of mud crabs, 3 ghost anemones, about 20 grass shrimp, a few live mussels, a few barnacles, a bunch of amphipods that rarely come out, and a bunch of clam worms (bristle worms).  I feed the filter feeders oyster egg solution as well a couple times each week.  Once in a while, I get a treat when the crabs, amphipods come out, and also like to watch the anemones eat.  Well, last night, I had quite a surprise when I found a grass shrimp feasting on live remains of a half eaten bristle worm that was in the swimming/mating form.  I never thought that grass shrimp would do that since they're so timid.  I always thought bristle worms would be aggressive too, but, they are not at all aggressive and really help as part of the clean up crew.  Anyway, I have a short video of the grass shrimp feast:

[Chasmodes]

Last week, I noticed another skilletfish acting weird, not coming to the front to eat, breathing heavy, not interested in food if I put some near it, etc.  My fear was that it was going to die like the other one did, mysteriously.  So, I decided to treat it with Prazipro, thinking that perhaps I never got rid of the flukes.  My reasoning was that a couple gobies have been scratching for a while now, not going crazy or acting sick, but, that is a sign that it could be flukes.  Anyway, that was Wednesday night. 

 

On Friday night, I got home, took out some leftovers for dinner, put them in the microwave so that my wife and I could eat dinner and watch a TV show.  While the food was in the microwave, I went downstairs to check on my fish.  

The sickly skilletfish was still in the same shell, doing the same thing.  The previous night, at feeding time, only two fish came out to eat, the others hid in their shells, although a few of them did eat when food drifted by.  But, normally, they all come out to eat out of my hand.  I shined my flashlight around the tank, as not many fish were poking their heads out, and that worried me.  Inside one of the shells, I noticed one of the male blennies upside down, breathing heavy.  There was another male blenny that wouldn't come out of his shell and eat that I noticed the night before too, and he had me worried.

 

I went into panic mode.  I had plenty of circulation and aeration in the tank, but, maybe the fish couldn't take the meds.  So, in my mind, 90% water change, so I drained the tank.  Only a small amount of water was in the tank, with the fish.

 

While I was at it, I figured that I'd pull out the oyster cultches and fix some of the things that fell apart over time.  For example, there was an overhang that I thought was really cool that broke apart and fell, and I really wanted to fix it.  There was another couple of oysters that fell off that weren't originally glued well also.  These things really bugged me, even though things looked OK in the video, I hated knowing that it wasn't as I had planned.

 

Of course, pulling out the reef meant that fish could be in the reef, out of the water, and I had to shake a few fish out.  The blenny that hid in his shell wouldn't come out that I was worried about was one of the fish that I had to shake out.  I finally did, and then I saw why he was behaving that way...not disease...he was guarding eggs!  Well, that was good news.

 

Anyway, I thought the upside down blenny was dying for sure, but, after removing the reef, I counted all of the blennies swimming around just fine.  He was probably just in the shell, as they always do, acting goofy in his shell.  I panicked for no reason.

 

Of course, when pulling the reef out, I was worried about leaving a fish stuck in it, but as it turned out, all of the fish were accounted for.  I didn't find any crabs, so I don't know what happened to all of the crabs in the tank.  They could still be in the tank buried in the sand.  I hope that they weren't in the reef, because it's been out of the water under repair since Friday night.

 

I filled the tank with newly mixed brackish water, increasing the salinity just a tiny bit.  I left about a dozen loose oyster shells in the tank for hiding spots, and tossed in a half dozen PVC pipe sections for additional hiding spots, with the hopes of calming the fish down and easing potential aggression.  

 

Anyway, I repaired the large overhang and it looks really good:

 

I beefed up the two other overhangs and any other loose oyster shells:

 

I also removed a dozen complete oyster shells that I collected that were laying by themselves on the sand, that were loose or had come completely apart, with the purpose of gluing them together.  I also wanted to glue them to the cultches to provide more hiding spots on the main structure.  The clothes pins are about a half inch thick, and are perfect spacers for gluing open oyster shell hiding spots.  I used thick rubber bands to since them tight so the glue would hold nicely.

 

 

 

After they dried, last night, I glued them onto each of the structures pictured above, adding a dozen new open oyster shell hiding spots solidly to the structure,  Previously, these shells were either lying on the bottom of the tank, or loosely stuck in crevices in the reef.

 

The problem is that, even though the dead oyster shells are great cover, and the fish use them, they eventually come apart and become litter on the bottom of the tank.  I wanted something more permanent.  And, since they also like the permanently glues ones on the reef, I figured more is better. 

 

Tonight, I will remove the remaining oyster and clam shells from the tank and repair them.  Then, I'll place the oyster reef back into the tank, and tomorrow night, place the repaired oyster and clam shells strategically in the tank (where I can easily observe them).  I need 24 hours for the glue to cure.  

 

By the way, I used Gorilla Glue again.  Most of the reef is still really solid, so I'm happy with how it held together over time.  I just used more of it on the overhang, and it's really solid now.  I just didn't use enough glue the first time.  Also, last night, after gluing the new hiding spots permanently on the structure, it looks really good.  I couldn't be happier.

 

I still am not sure what to do about the "sick" skilletfish.  I may QT it and try and treat it.  Maybe the water changes will help it recover, I don't know.  I'll do another one tonight, maybe 50%.  The rest of the fish are doing OK, although disoriented because their favorite hiding spots were removed.  I think that once I return the reef to them, they'll get back to doing what they do.

[brackishdude]

Glad to hear you are still having good luck with the gorilla glue, so long as you used enough of it.  I was eating oysters on the half shell over the weekend and thinking of you.  Our tanks are so similar it is eerie, with the exception of yours having the oyster reef, which is the sena qua non of a good brackish tank, IMO.  I hope to have the time and gumption to build one half is pretty as yours

[Fleendar the Magnificent]

@brackishdude.

 

I love oysters on the half shell, but after finding red wiggling worms in some and a pea sized live crab in another, it kind of turned me off. Kinda concerned about Vibrio as well. Miss the flavor though!

[Chasmodes]

Thanks Andy.  If you build a reef, save the oyster shells and keep them matched as you finish eating them some way.  The most time consuming part of building my reef was finding matched shells, painstakingly going through piles of them to match them up.  It's much easier if you can find then already matched.  Using Gorilla Glue may cost some time, as you need about 2 hours for the glue to set and 24 to cure, but if you're patient, you can build a pretty large reef in a week.  It wasn't that difficult, once I got the hang of it.  

 

Last night, I removed the remaining complete oyster and clam shells, and the PVC pipe.  I'll glue the compete shells and place them strategically into the tank tonight to provide additional hiding spots.  Once I build the larger reef, I'll wind up gluing these to the other sections of the reef that are currently not in a tank.  I placed the improved structure with the repaired overhangs in the tank, and I'm really happy with how it turned out.  

 

I moved the remaining shells in the tank that were halves or pieces to the front of the tank until I decide what to do with them.  I will keep the ones in there that have good "life" on them.  I may or may not keep the others.  What I've learned is that eventually, some of the shells, even complete oyster shells, will be buried in the sand.  Current and critters cause this.  I have no idea what happened to the mud crabs in the tank.  They may still be in there, but I haven't seen them.  They could have been in the reef when I removed it for repair, but, I never saw any sign of them climbing out.  I might find one on the floor in the rec room some day, LOL.

 

Anyway, below is a pic of the remaining shells that I glued lat night.  I use a clothes pin to create a 1/2" gap.  There was a journal written about the gap preferences of striped blennies (and other benthic fish) for breeding purposes, and their findings showed that 1/2" was the optimal gap.  I glued the inside base of the shell with Gorilla Glue, placed the pin in the front of the shell, and used rubber bands to bind them until the glue dried.  The clams need less glue, because the joint is stronger than oysters.  I used the clothes pin for them too.  The clingfish prefer the clams, it seems, but that may be because the blennies prefer and use up the oyster shells.  In truth, when hiding, they all use anything available.  Here are my gluing efforts, and results:

 

The tank was too cloudy last night because of the work that I did removing everything, so I couldn't take a pic.  I cleaned out the filter and put in a new pad.  Hopefully, the filter will keep working.  Last night I found it had stopped.  I cleaned it out again and the impeller was stuck, so I freed it.  Although it's noisy, it was working after the repair and cleaning.  

 

I took a pic this morning after the filter did some work.  I don't have an FTS before the repairs (with the overhangs collapsed), but here's a video where you can see it in the first 30 sections.  After that, the pic shows it all repaired:

 

 

[Fleendar the Magnificent]

THAT is really cool! The oyster shell reef is awesome!

[Chasmodes]

Thank you Chris!

[Fleendar the Magnificent]

You are quite welcome! Look forward to seeing this when it's done!

[Chasmodes]

I "planted" the remaining complete oyster and clam shells throughout the tank, some placed on the reef structure, some in the substrate.  I grouped most of the razor clams together to simulate a colony of those, and moved the half oyster shells around the bases of the reef structure.  I think that it turned out pretty well, very similar to the early days of the reef.  I may move the two major cultches on the right side a little tighter together, and more to the left, to create additional open space under the overhangs.  Overall, I'm happy.

 

The fish seem happier, much more bold today than the past few days, coming out for food and even eating out of my hand.  The one skilletfish that I'm worried about is still not eating...I'm not sure at this point that there is anything I can do for it.  It doesn't look all that bad, so maybe it will turn around, we will see.  If it starts eating again, then I'll feel much better.

 

Here's the latest FTS:

[Chasmodes]

I shot a couple videos and uploaded one to YT last night.  The fish are still skittish from my hands being in the tank so much.  To them, it must have seemed like Godzilla crashing through town when I broke the scape down and set up up again.  The fish are cruising the structures and checking out all of the new hidey holes, re-establishing territory, etc.  My guess is that egg laying will start again pretty soon.  The males are all nicely colored now, which is either a good sign that they're going to spawn soon or that their happy in their new oysterscape.  It could be a little of both.  Anyway, hope you like the video:

[Chasmodes]

Bad news:  

My largest male blenny committed suicide, and jumped out of the tank last Thursday night.  I found him all dried up on the floor.  I had one small spot that they could get out next to my HOB filter, and that's where he was, on the floor, under that spot.  I found a temporary solution to fix that issue.  I don't know if it jumped because of me rearranging the tank and huge water change, or if it was spawning stress from rival males.  The tank is almost like it was before, with even more hiding spots.  I thought that they might resume finding the same shells that they had before, but, they seem to have found new spots to defend.

 

Good news:

I think that I mentioned that during the winter, with water temps dropping into the 50's, that my fish pretty much stopped laying eggs.  The amount of daylight might have something to do with this cycle too, as there is exposure to daylight via a nearby window.  I didn't see any other spawning activity during that time.  I was a bit worried about that.

 

However, things are beginning to happen again with the blennies.  Now that spring in my area has arrived, and tank temps are now around 62F, they've started some spawning activity, but the male blennies are all fired up.  Also, when I broke down the tank, I found a shell with eggs in it, so, it's not because of the giant water change.  Things were already happening and I just didn't observe it.  

 

In this video, you'll see a male striped blenny (Chasmodes bosquianus) flash and chase a female, trying to lure her to his shell.  He is interrupted by a rival male, and a confrontation ensues, with the first male winding up chasing the other one off.  Enjoy!

 

[Fleendar the Magnificent]

Awesome tank! Love it!

 

Know what you mean about being concerned for your fishes' health. I have a male banded darter that's very personable with me and always swims to the top for food when it's feeding time. He's become extremely skinny with a sunken belly and I am worried for his health. I moved him into a smaller tank with a few other darters and my tiny punky so he can get more food. He eats but whether I can bring him back from the condition he's in or not is to be seen. You can only feed them so much without destroying the parameters of the water.

 

Really NICE job on the oyster reef!

[Chasmodes]

Thank you Chris!  It sounds like he has internal worm parasites.  There are meds you can buy to spike the food with and treat him.  Metroplex sticks in my head as one of them that somebody recommended?  The website was Reef Central, so I'm not sure if this medication works on freshwater or not.

[Chasmodes]

Last week, I showed males starting to get aggressive due to spawning activity, re-establishing their territories, more actively defending oyster shells, sparring with each other, and flashing the female while trying to herd her towards their shells.  

 

This weekend, for the first time since I broke down the tank, I found a male guarding eggs.  I wouldn't be surprised if the others are also guarding eggs.  I can't tell because they both hang out behind the oyster structures out of sight until I feed them.

 

I was worried about this particular male before I broke the tank down, because he was the smallest male.  He was picked on and chased by the other males, and was the only one that hadn't bred with the female, to my knowledge.  Now, he chases away the larger males and defends his shell as brave as any blenny possibly could!  And, his shell is right in front of the tank for me to film.  Soon, there will be fry swimming around again.  Here's a video showing the eggs and other activity around the tank, and also, later in the vid, you can see the female skilletfish stuck to the glass, and can easily see that she's ready to lay eggs too.  Hope you enjoy the video, thanks for watching.

 

I guess my theory was correct, that when temps in my basement went down, breeding activity came to a halt.  When they crept back up, it resumed.  I suspected that would happen before the winter began.  There were eggs in a shell when I broke the tank down, and they've resumed again a few weeks later.  

[Chasmodes]

I was thinking about the health of my tank last night.  My fish seem to thrive even though it's a small tank.  I have 11 fish that are between 3 and 5" long.  They're all fat and breeding.  When I caught all my fish, they averaged and inch long, and grew to adult size in about 8 months.  I've had this tank set up for two years now.  I began with 7 striped blennies, 5 skilletfish, and 5 naked gobies.  I now have 4 striped blennies, 2 skilletfish, and 4 naked gobies.  

 

How I lost fish:  

Blennies - One adult female blenny jumped out of the tank after my disease outbreak while being treated in QT.  The other blenny lost was a male that jumped out of my DT a couple weeks ago.  I had one adult male blenny die after going blind about 6 months ago.  

 

Skilletfish - Two adults died of disease during the outbreak, one just went missing this week (it was the one that wasn't eating).  I assume it was an internal parasite.

 

Naked gobies -  I lost one a few months ago, unknown, found dead but seemed healthy until then.

 

I haven't been testing my parameters in months.  I got lazy, so last night, I tested for ammonia (zero), nitrite (zero), nitrate (50).  I thought that if a fish was missing and died, that the levels would have been elevated, but not, so I was surprised by that.

 

Invertebrates in both tanks:

Ghost anemones - I had three in my DT and thrived until I returned my fish from QT, then they disappeared.  I had three in my invert tank, and one is huge and thriving.  The others could be alive somewhere in the oyster cultch.  They move around a lot and are hard to see, but I haven't seen them in a month or so.

 

Tunicates - I had them in both tanks.  They live about 6 months as adults then die off.  Every now and then, I'll find one inside an oyster shell, but haven't seen any in a while now (about three months).  There could be some deep in the cultches, but I may have killed them when I pulled the reef apart for repair, because the reef was dry for a few days.

 

Barnacles - Some died that I collected, but, I still have a few (2 different species) that have lived for over a year now and are doing well.  I think that once they survive the early stages of captivity, some adapt and do well if fed properly.

 

Mussels - Same as barnacles, I've collected and kept about a dozen of them between the two tanks, but most have died off.  I still have four alive that seem to be doing well that are a year old now.

 

Grass Shrimp - I've been able to keep them in the DT with the fish for about 6 months, then they gradually disappear.  Some jump out of the tank, and I think the fish killed and ate some too.  In my invert tank, they can't get out, and have lived over a year now.  I started with about 30, and there are about 20 left, but, they're hard to count because they move around a lot, and hide throughout the reef.  So, there could still be 30 in there.

 

Mud Crabs - I've kept two different species.  In my DT, I didn't find any when I pulled out the reef, but, there could still be some in the tank.  They hide in the reef and also bury themselves, and I really didn't look for them.  Some may have died or crawled away when I pulled the reef out of the tank.  I haven't found any on the floor though.  In my invert tank, there are 6 mud crabs, at least, that I see now and then.

 

Bristle worms - They are doing well in both tanks.  I see them out all the time in my invert tank, but never come out in the fish tank.  I see them burrowing around the glass in the sand though, so they're there.  I think that they only come out at night.

 

Amphipods - The fish ate all of them in the DT, but some are still alive in my invert tank.  I see them now and then feeding on algae on the glass.  They're nocturnal, and very wary, and hide all the time.  

 

Copepods - I had a bunch that I always saw on the glass, but since I used Prazipro, I haven't seen any lately.  It might be because I cleaned the glass, but I used to see a few even then.  The glass is starting to get algae again, and is due a cleaning, but I think I'll wait and see if any pods appear.  I never see any in the invert tank, because I think that the anemones eat them.  I'm sure that some are living in there though.

 

Snails - I found one lone micro sized snail living in my DT when my fish were in QT.  But, I haven't seen it since the fish were returned.  The fish may have eaten it.

 

One possible thing that could have happened is that maybe some of the inverts that died off in my DT when I returned my fish from QT, could have been due to elevated ammonia.  I did water changes during that time and tested, and there was some ammonia and nitrite present, prior to the water changes.  That could have caused the die off rather than the fish eating them.  I don't think it would have affected the grass shrimp, but the anemones and snail could have been victims due to that.  

 

So, the question, in my mind, is, will some of these inverts survive with adult fish or are the fish killing them?  Ultimately, I'd like to keep the whole cast of characters, a true biotope.  We will see.

[Chasmodes]

Recently, I posted the status of life in my tank, and pointed out that anemones disappeared from the 20g long fish tank, and that I hadn't seen two anemones of the three that I knew were in there in a long time, and thought that they were dead in the 20g high invert tank.  

 

Well, I have an update.  In the 20g high invert tank, I found one of the anemones.  It must have been hiding in the oyster reef, and finally moved out into the open one day.  Here is is, stuck to one of the oyster shells.

 

Then, two nights ago, I pulled out my magnifying glass and was going around the tank looking for other life, and found an anemone!  All this time, I thought that the anemones were killed by the fish in this tank.  It was poking out of the sand, tentacles only.  At first, I thought that they were worms, but under closer inspection, definitely an anemone.  It hasn't been out since then, unless it moved again.  I don't have a picture of that one yet.  I have to wonder about the other anemone that was in there, if it's still alive too.

 

Anyway, I thought that was pretty cool.

[Fleendar the Magnificent]

Unfortunately my banded darter didn't make it. Could very well have been internal parasites.

[Chasmodes]

Sorry to hear that Chris.  

[Fleendar the Magnificent]

I guess that when you keep wild fish, internal parasites are always a risk. Hopefully no others have it.

 

Thanks kindly

 

Chris