Tank update

I found the Yellow Watchman goby when I was doing the water change-out last weekend. It was in the second chamber in the back of the tank. Unfortunately, I was unable to net it and bring it back to the front of the tank. After a few tries, I actually lost sight of him and was unable to find him again after 15 more minutes of searching. If I can successfully capture him, he is destined for a return trip to the fish store. Ben and I really do not want another fish that likes to hide in the back.

The flame scallop can still be seen in the back right corner of the tank. It is no longer wedged in between the back wall and the live rock, but it is still in the same general spot. It's shell is open and its tentacles are extended. I am concerned that it can still be seen under the lights during the day as they tend to like darkness, but maybe it will be ok.

The new Fungia coral kept rather still this week. It is getting somewhat buried in the sand by the Lawnmower Blenny's "dancing" in the front corner of the tank, but it hasn't relocated. When we first put it in the tank, it looked mainly like a coral skeleton, but now at night its tentacles can be seen. I am excited to see what it will look like when it has settled into the tank some more!

Fungia

Ben and I decided to purchase a Fungia coral for Mother's Day for Allie. Nothing like a little aquarium expansion to show a woman you care! This is the first coral that we have for our tank that sits in the substrate (sand) rather than on the live rock like all of the others. Surprisingly, these corals are able to move around the tank although you would never guess it from looking at them. We will have to wait and see if our Fungia decides to be sedentary or if it likes to take small day trips.

Watchman, where are you?

The little yellow watchman goby that we added to the tank has been noticeably absent this week. I still have not seen him out and about or even hiding underneath the live rock. I will need to do a thorough check of the back chambers when I do the next water change-out. This is not what we have been hoping for with a new fish!

The flame scallop continues to spend its time along the backwall of the tank. We will continue to feed it and watch its progress, but this is definitely not a good sign.

Hair Algae Help

Earlier in the week, I added a Mexican Turbo snail back into the tank. We had a couple turbos in the tank in the past, but a couple died from flipping over and not being able to right themselves. Mexican turbos (as well as Astreas) are not capable of flipping themselves over if they are knocked off of the wall and fall onto their shell unlike the Cerith, Nerites, and Nassarius snails. This lack is thought to be due to their natural environment (shallow surf waters) which have more than enough current to allow the snails to be righted by the water action. If a snail is left on its back for a few hours, it will most of the time die. At any rate, turbos are known to be great at removing hair algae, so I thought it was worth another attempt. Boy was it a good choice! This little bugger has done a bang up job at trimming down the hair algae! Blenny, why are you here?

Since the last water change-out and tank clean-up, there is been very little red slime in the tank. I have been attempting to get that algae under control for months now and it looks like I might finally be making some headway! Yahoo!

The flame scallop has been seen lying at the bank of the tank wedged in between the live rock and the back wall. It is not moving back to a dark space when the lights come on as is normal. I fear that it might be on its way out. We will continue to watch it this week.

On Sunday, May 4th, Ben and I and his grandparents (Grandma & Grandpa Render) went out to some of the local fish stores to look for a fish for Ben. He has been wanting to replace his firefish ever since we decided to return it to the stores. Ben was really looking forward to purchasing a Neon Goby, but we have been unable to locate one for some time now. We stopped in at two different stores on Sunday, Aquatek and Gallery of Pets. We didn't see anything that interested us at Aquatek, so we zoomed up to Gallery of Pets before they closed. They didn't have a Neon Goby, but they did have a small Yellow Watchman Goby that caught Ben's eye. We purchased the watchman and brought it home to acclimate. It acclimated for about 90 minutes and then I released it to the tank. It swam to the bottom of the tank and hide underneath some of our live rock. We will have to see how it does in our little aquarium!