And the Seedling Is...

Neomeris annulata

Also known as Spindleweed Algae, Sea Sausage, Caterpillar Weed, Fuzzy Tip Algae.

From www.midwestmarineguy.com

Requires high lighting like that needed by clams and SPS corals. Neomeris Annulata also requires a lot of calcium to keep growth steady. Pristine water conditions are also necessary, only trace amounts of nitrates to keep the Neomeris Annulata fueled, should be in the water.

Treat the Neomeris Annulata as if it were a coral it should grow like wild for you. This is a very tricky macro algae to keep around(for many who want to keep it) for long periods of time.

Neomeris annulata produces chemicals which deter fish from eating it. Parrot fish , urchins, nudibranchs, and Rabbitfish don’t seem to eat them. Sea Hares will eat the Neomeris Annulata, but it is inconsistent between Sea Hares and the Sea Hare will not rid the tank of the Neomeris Annulata. The Neomeris annulata algae is on the obnoxious algae list.

So it -can- be a nuisance algae, but it is a very, in my opinion, attractive algae that behaves as if coral.  On the "difficulty to maintain" it ranks a 4 out of 5 (5 being the hardest).

We'll see what happens.

Noticings of Early May

I've been eying a few new discoveries in the tank.  Some have been for weeks, others only a couple of days.

Not sure what this is, but to the eye it looks like a seedling.  Here with magnification, I'm back to being stumped.

Not sure what these two things are, either.  A good picture of the "Feather-Mounds" is in the first image of the "seedling" directly to the left.

Meet the New Inhabitants

Purple Tipped Sebae Anemone hosting a mated pair of Ocellaris Clownfish

Neon Blue Spot Mushroom

Encrusting Anthelia

Star Polyp Coral - It has since opened up

Not pictured is the nocturnal Brittle Starfish (for obvious reasons).

More pictures to come as they are collected over the next few days.

The Luxury of Time has been Taken Away

It's been a week since the Damsels were returned.  I've been growing accustomed to spectating.  Things have changed.

My wife called about 9am.  A client of her employer has a leak in their tank.  They have a ton of things they are nearly giving away just to save them.

She didn't know specifically what they had, but there were fish, coral, live rock, and live sand.  She gave me her clients phone to call.

I called and asked if I could help, verified what I would need to bring (just a couple 5 gallon buckets) and got the directions.

This had to have been a 300 gallon tank.  When I got there the water was two thirds of the way down.  Their basement was littered with 40 gallon Brute cans with the live rock, corals, etc.  The fish were still in the tank.

We talked a bit about the size and maturity of my tank and equipment.  They had a couple of clowns, a couple cardinals, some shrimp, 3 starfish, what looked like an eel, plus some angels.

I let them know I would do everything I could to help save what they had.  Part of that was not to take on too much.  I ended up with the two clowns, their hosting anemone, the live rock the anemone had claimed, some mushroom coral, a couple other types of polyp coral, and two cardinals.  Oh, and a starfish.  I figured I was pushing the limits of the tank with 4 fish and an anemone so I elected to get a starfish for help with the cleanup crew.

It took a few hours, but everything has been acclimated to our tank.  The anemone re-situated itself in it's bowl-shaped rock.  The clowns have found their host.  The starfish is hiding, and the cardinals really don't know what to do.

No more spectating.  I am now an active participant.

Current Tank Specs (as of May 23, 2011)

Current Nutrient Levels:





Fauna:

• (2) Percula Clownfish (added 3/25/2011)
• (1) Heteractis crispa Anemone (added 3/25/2011)
• (2) Pajama Cardinals (added 3/25/2011)
• (1) Black Brittle Starfish (added 3/25/2011)
• (5) Dwarf Red Leg Hermit Crabs (added 3/11/2011)
• (1) Dwarf White Leg Hermit Crab (added 3/11/2011)
• At least (2) Fire Worms (discovered3/25/2011)
• Stomatella Snails (discovered 3/11/2011)

Flora:

• Neon Blue Spot Mushrooms (added 3/25/2011)
• Encrusting Anthelia (added 3/25/2011)
• Star Polyps (added 3/25/2011)

Hardware Components:

• 75 gallon tank
• 48" Coralife Lunar Aqualite (4 Moonlight LEDs, 2 T5HO Actinics, 2 T5HO 10K)
• Eheim Jager 150w fully submersible heater
• Marineland Emperor 400 power filter (not in use)
• CPR Aquatic Bak-Pak 2 protein skimmer 
• (2) Hydor Koralia Evolution 750 gph power heads
• (5) Hydor Koralia Evolution 425 gph power heads

Environmental Components:

• 60# Crushed Coral (removed July 2011)
• 20# "Live" Sand (removed July 2011)
• 75# Live Rock