Reef Central Online Community

Go Back   Reef Central Online Community > Blogs > Aaarrrggg's 144g Half Circle Dream
Blogs FAQ Calendar Mark Forums Read

Notices

Follow my Oceanic 144g half circle reef tanks progress.
Rate this Entry

Jawfish Prep

Posted 02/10/2012 at 12:39 AM by Aaarrrggg
Updated 02/10/2012 at 01:18 AM by Aaarrrggg

I've been mulling over what fish to get next. I was getting close to pulling the trigger on a [URL="http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=15+23+83&pcatid=83"]Midas Blenny[/URL], but then I realized it was just because I was pining for a Blue Spotted Jawfish...

[IMG]http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r161/TheAaarrrggg/midas-mod-1.png[/IMG]

I'd previously ruled out a jawfish because I'd assumed my sandbed wasn't deep enough. Well while I was "diving" in the tank, sticking down some frags, I decided to find out once and for all. It turns out that in the center it is actually 3" deep! So close!! Just 1" off jawfish happiness!!!

I immediately went out and grabbed another bag of pink fiji live sand. I did my best to empty it carefully near the sandbed at the center of the tank, but the resulting sand storm was terrifying! Even worse, when I put the lights back on it happened to be at "sunset" time and the tank lit up blood red! ARGH!

[IMG]http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r161/TheAaarrrggg/red-tank.jpg[/IMG]

As the water began to clear it revealed that all the upheaval might have brought 2 fish hearts closer together...!

[IMG]http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r161/TheAaarrrggg/2xhosting.jpg[/IMG]

The 2 lovebirds (lovefish?) decided to spend that night sleeping at Guybrush's bachelor pad on the left side of the tank. The next night Marley was back in the nem, but Guybrush was allowed to sleep next to it near the right overflow. He still hasn't swam as deep into the tentacles as Marley does, but he now skirts the tips without being chased away. Progress!!

When the water finally cleared I was left with this:

[IMG]http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r161/TheAaarrrggg/sand-pile.jpg[/IMG]

I smoothed it out a little and added a few pieces of LR rubble for burrow making.

[IMG]http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r161/TheAaarrrggg/jawfish-spot.jpg[/IMG]

The next step was the jump proofing.

I tried putting some of the netting between the lights and the water, but unfortunately they're too close and it cast an ugly checkered shadow down on the tank.

Instead I picked up some eggcrate (light diffuser) from Home Depot and cut it to fit the gap at the back of the canopy.

[IMG]http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r161/TheAaarrrggg/BSJ-prep.jpg[/IMG]

After attaching it I suddenly released that the holes in the eggcrate would probably be big enough for a jawfish to jump though... D'oh. Off it came again and I zip-tied some netting to it:

[IMG]http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r161/TheAaarrrggg/BSJ-prep2.jpg[/IMG]

I'm hoping that I can get away with the top being left open. It's about 11" from the water to the top of the canopy and that would require a pretty lucky (unlucky) jump to navigate the 2 sets of holes. There's still a chance a fish could jump up onto the plastic edging on the inside of the canopy, but I'm hoping that if they managed to get up there they'd also be strong enough to wiggle their way back into the water.

As soon as I find some large enough, I also plan to buy some filter foam to close off the tops of the overflows so nobody can jump down them.

With the preparations complete, it was time to claim my Blue-Spotted Jawfish!
Posted in Uncategorized
Views 10742 Comments 0 Edit Tags Email Blog Entry
« Prev     Main     Next »
Total Comments 0

Comments

 

All times are GMT -6. The time now is 03:35 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Powered by Searchlight © 2024 Axivo Inc.
Use of this web site is subject to the terms and conditions described in the user agreement.
Reef CentralTM Reef Central, LLC. Copyright ©1999-2022
User Alert System provided by Advanced User Tagging v3.3.0 (Pro) - vBulletin Mods & Addons Copyright © 2024 DragonByte Technologies Ltd.