332 replies to this topic

[littlen]

Definitely better to be safe than sorryso retreating is a good idea. Especially since you lost a lot of fish initially.

But FWIW, some fish will appear to scratch or more accurately flash as a display sign. Being territorial and scrappy, your gobies, (or blennies/clingfish) could be displaying or giving a warning to a passerby.

[Chasmodes]

Thanks Nick.

 

The tank is doing well, as is the QT process.  All of the fish are eating well and active, but they seem more aggressive right now.  I'm not sure if it is due to breeding behavior, or just stress from a QT environment.  As far as the fallow display tank, I found a third anemone on the underneath side of the oyster shell that the second anemone adopted as home.  I thought earlier that they were tube anemones, but now I think that all three of them are ghost anemones.  The one that seemed in poor health that I moved from the 20g high to this tank seems very healthy again.  Here is a video of it below, sorry for the poor quality.  I'll try and get a better shot of it in the future.  The anemone moved from a razor clam across about 3" of sand to the base of the largest oyster cultch, and has stayed there ever since.

 

I also found another unidentified invertebrate.  I think it is some type of worm, but I'm not sure.  It has moved to another oyster shell since this video, so it's not completely sessile.  Here's a video of it:

 

Most of the tunicates died off, but 3 of the larger original ones are hanging in there and seem to be healthy.  I have two "new" ones that I've found that seem to be juveniles, about 1/4" wide now, one that I've found on an older oyster shell that I collected and also one on my cultch, which leads me to believe that they reproduced in my tank.  The grass shrimp, mussels, barnacles, and the many bristleworms are also doing well.

 

[Chasmodes]

Looky what I found in my tank?

 

 

This little snail shows up 6 months after my last collecting trip.  I never saw any evidence of snails in either of my tanks.  Last night, I saw it feeding on the side glass of the tank.  It is tiny, and at first, I thought it was just a gas bubble from algal growth on the glass, but it moved... So, I zoomed in with the camera, and saw it was a gastropod, and took the video.  I have no idea what species this is, and I assume it's a grazer.

 

Why is this a big deal?  I keep finding life in the tank that I haven't seen before, like this snail, and the third anemone that I didn't know that I had.  Where the heck did this guy come from?  I was wondering if things can be introduced via bottled store bought plankton?  Anyone know?  I've tried several kinds, the latest being Reef Nutrition Oyster Feast and phytoplankton...

[littlen]

I like the photobomb @ 1:26.

It's probably a Queen Conch. 

[gerald]

It looks smooth and with no distinct pattern, correct?  Flipping through Shells of the Atlantic (Abbott & Morris)  I'd guess maybe a Periwinkle, Dove snail, or Sargassum snail?

[Chasmodes]

Thanks guys. 

 

It looks smooth and with no distinct pattern, correct?  Flipping through Shells of the Atlantic (Abbott & Morris)  I'd guess maybe a Periwinkle, Dove snail, or Sargassum snail?

 

I think you are right about the smooth shell Gerald, but it is so hard to tell with the resolution of my camera.  If I ever see it again up close, then I may be able to get a good picture.  It is tiny, like 3mm, maybe 4 at most.  I was thinking that it was of the genus Odostomia or Hydrobia because both are tiny like this as adults and have a smooth shell.  I checked all of the snail species for pics using the Google Image Search Chesapeake Bay Species 2007 list, and these two seemed to look like my snail the most.  I was hoping that this might be a bigger species like a periwinkle or dove snail though.  Either way, I never thought that I had any snails in there...was looking to maybe collect some this year, but hey...maybe I don't have to!

 

Yeah, Nick, I can't shoot a video without a grass shrimp photobombing it

[gerald]

To be honest, I only looked at the color plates in the middle of the book.  Odostomia, Hydrobia, and a bunch of other tiny snails are only included as line drawings in the text pages, not on the photo plates -- i didn't even look at those.   So -- i don't know what it is.  But yes a better photo might help!

[mattknepley]

Really cool how much "surprise!"life is showing up in your tanks. Glad to hear the qt-ers are healthier, if grumpier...

[Chasmodes]

Thanks Gerald and Matt.  I saw the snail a couple days later, but it was too far away to zoom in for a good picture.  

 

Yeah Matt, it is fun finding the harmless stuff, but not so fun to have to QT the fish.  I'll be able to end the copper treatment next weekend, and then in 2 weeks after that, return the fish to the display tank.  I'll keep the QT up and running for new fish that I collect.  I also will use my other 20g tank as a holding tank (kept fallow) for macroalgae and invertebrates that I collect.  After 6 weeks of keeping "life" in there, it should be safe to put them into the display tank.  I'm hoping that eventually, this will be kind of like a disconnected refugium, where I can grow and culture amphipods and other critters that fish can eat.  By the time that I get the big tank set up, then everything will go into it, maybe by summer's end.  That's my goal.  I have a lot of work to do in the meantime.  I've spent most of my free time fishing of late, so I need to stay home and get some work done (other than honey do's).

[Chasmodes]

I am not sure what to think about keeping tunicates in the future, because I can't find much info on line about this species (Mogula manhattensis) in captivity, other than for short term lab work. I've been feeding them bottled phytoplankton and oyster eggs. So far, I've been able to keep some of the adults for about 8 months, then they die. I think that their life span is about that, based on what I've read, so maybe that is all that I can expect in my tank. That also explains why the larger tunicates died first. Is my tank the optimal environment for them? Probably not, because the ones that lived haven't grown to the full size of the larger ones that died. They are surviving, but not necessarily thriving, although...

 

I suspect that my food regimen is working because I've had juvenile tunicates showing up throughout the tank. I've found six juvenile tunicates, and have two adult tunicates left.  But it is expensive to keep buying bottled plankton.  I'm researching on how to raise my own plankton, and it seems pretty easy, so that should reduce the cost of feeding the filter feeders.  Some of them juveniles are growing pretty fast. I also found out that the crabs eat them now and then, especially the juveniles. I couldn't figure out why they'd eventually disappear, until I found a mud crab eating one. I've discovered a dozen juveniles, but now can only find 6 of them. 

 

The worms are similar to a bobbit worm, but most likely, the species is a common clam worm, a.k.a. ragworm, Neanthes succinea. There are 110 species of bristleworms found in the Bay, but this species seems to be the best match (videos, pictures, and also based on them being found in brackish water like my collecting site, at and SG of 1.014). They don't bother anything. They eat leftover food, so I consider them part of my clean up crew. I'm sure that my fish will eat prey on them also. They avoid all of the other critters, preferring to dart back into their burrows rather than prey on them, or defend themselves, except for each other. I've seen two of the worms encounter each other, and one of them attacked the other with a quick nip of it's toothy proboscis. The "teeth" are much smaller than those of the bobbit worms that I see on line. The "Chesapeake Bay Program" puts out a list of species that have been collected, called "A Comprehensive List of Chesapeake Bay Basin Species 2007". The family name "Eunicea" is on the list, but no associated species, which leads me to believe that they might not have collected any Eunice worm species yet, but perhaps they anticipate that they will. Anyway, I searched images for all of the listed worm species and narrowed it down to a couple.

 

Feeding my fish: During the winter, I've fed them frozen brine shrimp, frozen mysis shrimp, frozen clams, frozen bloodworms, and a frozen seafood mix. I rotate foods so they don't get used to any one of them. I've fed them flakes in an auto feeder when I went on vacation a couple times, and started feeding them flakes a few days before (and only flakes) so they'd get used to eating them. But once I return from vacations, I go back to frozen or fresh foods. During the summer last year, I fed them fresh razor clams, fresh clams, fresh oysters (from the store), and keep grass shrimp in the tank (they'd preyed on them now and then, but not as often as I thought), and also fresh mussels. They also ate a tiny mud crab that I had in there, but leave the larger ones alone. I plan to raise amphipods in my holding tank and use them for food as well. They ate all of the ones that I collected. I can't get to the collecting spot as often as I'd like, but my goal is to provide them with the best diet that I can. The bristleworm population has exploded in my tank, so my guess is that they fish will eat them if they can catch them. I know for a fact that my skilletfish will eat them, because I dropped one in my QT tank to see what happened and the skilletfish was the first to get there (ate it whole).

 

Status of my tanks: Copper treatment is over, and I'm doing 25% water changes and added carbon to my filter to get the levels down. The fish go back to the display tank in 8 days, so I can't wait. 

[Chasmodes]

I have some new additions to the oyster reef system in my holding tank shown in the video below.  On Saturday, I brought home two small four spined sticklebacks, Apeltes quadracus, two species of Ulva macroalgae, a few more sea squirts and a cluster of mussels, and two beautiful large ghost anemones.  When I say large, I mean about as big as they get, about 1.75" wide at the tentacles, and about the same length for the base.  These are also not pure white like the others in my display tank.  Rather, they have a pinkish hue to them.  Here's the video:

 

The sticklebacks are feeding on small copepods and amphipods, but ignore my offerings.  I guess I'll have to start raising some baby brine shrimp or buy copepods until these fish are big enough to eat the frozen foods.  My plan is to keep them in this tank for a while, but move them into quarantine and treat them with copper.  At that point, the holding tank (my 20g high), will be for invertebrates and macroalgae, and will remain fallow.  After 6 weeks, then I'll move stuff to the display tank.  If I go collecting and bring more stuff home, then that clock resets.   The point is that I don't want to introduce ich to my display tank.  

 

Eventually, this summer, I hope, I'll have my big tank set up and all of the fish and invertebrates will move to that tank, except for the sticklebacks.  I will keep the 20g long as a stickleback tank, with macroalgae as the dominant aquascape, with perhaps an oyster cultch or two (to be made later).  

 

After this weekend, all of my fish that are in quarantine will move to the display tank.  I had a tragic death on Friday night, however.  One of the female blennies went carpet surfing.  I have no idea how she got out.  My guess is that she jumped through the egg crate top that I had, because there weren't any other openings large enough for her to fit though.  Now I'm down to 5 males and one female blennies in the tank.

[brackishdude]

Kevin, please keep the updates coming!  The similarities of our tanks is eerie.

 

I will be going down to the coast again Sunday through Tuesday to catch some speckled Trout and red fish in the marsh out of Venice Louisiana.  On the second day, my son and I will spend a great deal of that time with our dip nets and casting nets, along with several new minnow traps I intend to set over oyster beds.  I hope I can catch some Skillet Fish and Blennys, and May Be Some New Things to make you jealous this time.

 

Do you have any brackish hermit crabs?  I think that is just about the only thing in my tank now that really distinctive compared to yours.

[Chasmodes]

Kevin, please keep the updates coming!  The similarities of our tanks is eerie.

 

I will be going down to the coast again Sunday through Tuesday to catch some speckled Trout and red fish in the marsh out of Venice Louisiana.  On the second day, my son and I will spend a great deal of that time with our dip nets and casting nets, along with several new minnow traps I intend to set over oyster beds.  I hope I can catch some Skillet Fish and Blennys, and May Be Some New Things to make you jealous this time.

 

Do you have any brackish hermit crabs?  I think that is just about the only thing in my tank now that really distinctive compared to yours.

 Very cool, make me jealous!  I love reports and also eye candy of our favorite fish

 

We had a tough time catching blennies and skilletfish along the live oyster shells that we found.  We did much better collecting where oysterman (or recreational anglers) shuck oysters or us razor clams for bait.  The empty discarded shells attract a lot more fish, and all you have to do is to scoop up the empty shells and the fish are inside.  We also caught some in grass and macroalgae, but most of the fish came in discarded shells.  That said, if you bait the traps with any shellfish, you should have no trouble catching them in your traps.  There is a guy locally that puts a Gopro in his crab trap and posts the vids on YT, and in one of the videos, his cut fish bait (or chicken, can't remember) had a blenny come in for the feast.

 

Hopefully you'll find a few species of blennies.  I know some folks that collect in Galveston that report catching 5 different species of blennies, and I'd imagine at least 3 of them would be available to you including Chasmodes longimaxilla, the stretchjaw blenny, which looks very much like my blennies.  You may find crested blennies (Hypleurochilus geminatus) and freckled blennies (Hypsoblennius ionthas) in your area too.  Now those would make me jealous!  

[Chasmodes]

Let me clarify, I'm sure that the live reefs "have more fish", it is just that they are much harder to collect.  The net gets caught on the oyster cultches.  Having loose discarded oyster shells to scoop up around makes it easier to catch fish.  Just scoop up the shells and fish will be in some of them.

[Chasmodes]

The fallow period is over and my fish are not out of QT and back into the display tank.  While in QT, they were pretty much doing the same territorial chases that they've always done, defending their favorite piece of PVC pipe.  But, after a few days in the display tank, the males established homes in their favorite oyster shells and really colored up into their spawning colors, pretty much like the one that I caught last week.  Not only that, they're defending their 6" of space, all the while chasing, flashing, and harassing the female, I guess, to breed.  It's weird though, like a love-hate relationship.  They get all fired up and flash when they see here, then they both display side by side and shake (mostly the male), then he chases her away.  Only, all of the males are after her like this.  Her tail has been pecked a lot, and at one point was almost down to the caudal peduncle, but has since grown back some.

 

The male spawning coloration includes a bright blue spot on the dorsal fin as well as a dark stripe and a yellowish/orange stripe along the front half of the fin.  Also, they darken up their entire bodies almost to the point that their stripes fade away, their fins become tinted with orange, their pelvic and anal fins darken up and are trimmed with a white and black border, and their cheeks become and orange or peach color.  You can really see this in the video that I'm posting below.  That bright blue spot is quite pretty.    The males are about 3.5 to 4 inches long now.  In the six weeks that they were in QT, they grew quite a bit.  It's hard to believe that it was less than a year ago that all of the fish were less than an inch and a half long.

 

The female remains in the juvenile coloration, mottled with vertical bars and faint horizontal variable stripes.  She is the smallest fish in the tank at 2.75 inches, but she is tough as nails.

 

In this video, there are two scenes of a pair of males sparring over territory, presumably over a potential place to spawn and guard eggs.  The first battle begins at the 3:30 mark, and the second one at the 5:02 mark.  The video finishes showing the object of their affection, a female striped blenny.

 

 

[Doug_Dame]

I have posted this before, and I suspect I will post this again ..... WE NEED A *LIKE* BUTTON.

 

(Please hit the LIKE button, if you like this post.)

[Chasmodes]

Doug, FYI, I also pressed "like" on your post.  

[Chasmodes]

I can't stop watching the sparring video.  I bet most of the YT views are mine, LOL.  I haven't found much about striped blennies on line, much less something showing them fighting.  I guess that is my purpose, to give these little fish some visibility in the public, because not many people in Maryland know what they are.  Most of the time, people that fish for game fish in the Chesapeake Bay think that they are snakeheads, and often kill them under the false ID.  This is even more of a problem than the DNR may realize, as snakeheads are now distributed and well established in just about every tributary of the Chesapeake Bay.  There are people posting pics from catches of fish up to 16 pounds at the Blackwater Wildlife Refuge and nearby rivers on the Fishing Maryland Facebook Page.  Anyway, I want people to know how cool these fish are, to be familiar with them, so they don't kill them as snakeheads.  It was my goal to simply have a tank of these critters, my dream tank, but now perhaps my purpose is much larger.  But anyway, if you haven't seen the video and are interested in this type of behavior, then I encourage you to take a look at it.  The video is over 7 minutes long, so I understand not wanting to watch the whole thing, so the action starts around the 3:30 mark and then again at the 5 minute mark, so just scroll to those spots and you'd hit the most interesting moments.  Hope you like it.

 

#SaveTheBlennies!  (I have no idea how #words work, but if I could make it work, then here it is, LOL).  I am actually drafting an article about them and will post it on my blog, and on the Fishing Maryland FB page...maybe that is a start.

 

There is a video on the Virginia Living Museum blog showing feather blennies fighting.  I can't seem to get the video to load, so I won't post the link.  

[littlen]

Kevin, this is the personal blog of the guy who's video you found on the VLM website.  He has many posts on Bay inhabitants.  Here is a link (scroll down) to the oyster reef tank at the VLM: http://fishguy-virgi...0&max-results=7

 

Not sure if this is the same fight video, but here is a sparring match: http://fishguy-virgi...8&by-date=false

 

Every post is a really nice read with pics/videos of native salt and FW species.  (Warning: LOTS of darter stuff  )

 

...perhaps you'll see where my avatar comes from, with permission of course...

[Chasmodes]

Thanks Nick, that site seems to be better than what I had bookmarked, and quite a bit more material!