A tank Gerwin might be proud of

[guitarest]

Well maybe if he wanted to do a native tank....

Minus 30+ fish
Minus 7 Blue Crabs
Sadly a few also passed away

I think the tank has finally stabilized and I wake up in the morning (every morning) to happy fish who live in a oil free environment unlike many of their family who are now having to survive not only natural circumstances but also the additional stress of oil in their environment.

Enjoy...

[guitarest]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TZaAae9Bu8

[Jessi84]

I LOVE the idea...I have a few native fish in my tank...rock gobies...they add ALOT of character. My favorite native in your tank would have to be the atlantic spade fish...it's what helped Gerwin to convince me to start a saltwater tank! Found one on the beach by pier 49 over a year ago so I brought it home in a shell and kept it alive for a while in a gal. jar....till I had to get a petsitter one weekend (w/ killed it from not checking it's water level) I'm eager to go find some more cool natives myself one day soon.

[Gerwin]

If I had a THUMBS up Smiley I would give it but Admin has us on the reduced smiley option.....

[guitarest]

I LOVE the idea...I have a few native fish in my tank...rock gobies...they add ALOT of character. My favorite native in your tank would have to be the atlantic spade fish...it's what helped Gerwin to convince me to start a saltwater tank! Found one on the beach by pier 49 over a year ago so I brought it home in a shell and kept it alive for a while in a gal. jar....till I had to get a petsitter one weekend (w/ killed it from not checking it's water level) I'm eager to go find some more cool natives myself one day soon.

Jessie if you want some rock gobies I have loads of them for the asking..... I bet under every rock, shell and all over the glass they are everywhere. And if you really know your fish maybe a stop by to look at the tank in person to help ID a few fish that are still not properly identified. I received a message from Youtube and the fish that I looked up on the net that I thought was a Needlefish is really a Pipefish and I have 2 of them and they are supposed to be hard to raise (shhh dont tell them pls)....

[guitarest]

If I had a THUMBS up Smiley I would give it but Admin has us on the reduced smiley option.....

Thanks Gerwin, hey quick question how long is the charcoal and those little macaroni looking things in the pouch are supposed to last in that huge filter I got from ya. Its been almost 2 months (yeah its been that long). I clean the filter element every weekend and do the same with the smaller tank filter unit by removing the embedded nasty stuff but the charcoal is starting to look grey.

[Redfish]

The tank looks great. Just wondering what you are feeding the fish?

[guitarest]

A little bit of everything in small quantities. For the crabs they get to eat frozen shrimp and freshwater catfish I purchased at roushe supermarket. For the fish (most of them) they get a variety of frozen blood worms, brine shrimp, tropical flakes, tropical crisps and most try to steal a bite or two from the blue crabs. The hermit crabs chow on the shrimp sometimes (whats left) and they love those green algae tablets that you normally give the fresh water algae eaters. I have purchased loads of dried foods and many of those purchases while not wasted money these eaters refuse to eat. Finally the most difficult eater is the pipefish and he loves the freeze dried shrimp crushed up really fine.

These guys get food twice a day the morning is the frozen foods and the evening is the dry foods. Its taken a while to get it right (and I pray I did get it right).

Do you have any suggestions that might help? I am in a learning stage here guys and gals. While I have had fish tanks for almost 35 years or nearly as far back as I can remember I would gladly accept any advice from anyone.