Pictures of Ninong's tank in progress.

[Elmo18]

Lovely lookin' fish Ninong! I have a Foxface in mine but its the One Spot version. They're very cool, and always pickin on the live rock for algae.

Nice closeup shot of that Strombus

I'd also like to see a full tank shot, with the final live rock placement. I'm starting a new 29, and still deciding on some aquascaping.

- Elmo

[Ninong]

Now,did I hear right and you said that the R.yuma cost 96.00 bucks? ! I didn't know it was that expensive,Ninong.

I have seen them priced at $100/polyp online. I saw a nice piece with three polyps, each about 1.5" across, and it was priced at $320. And that was an online place that is cheaper than most LFS. This particular LFS charges $60/polyp for R. yuma and this piece had two polyps. They give you 20% off on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, so it was reduced from $120 down to only $96. They had only one other piece and it was a single polyp about 1" across priced at $60 before discount. But I liked the more expensive piece because the big polyp was large and more colorful than the other piece.

One question,Ninong,does your Seganus change color if it sences treat or see you approching tank for example?

He was all spotted up when I got him home in the bag but he cleared up within minutes, before I even got him out of the bag. He cleared up while the bag was floating in the tank. So far he hasn't spotted up again but he does seem to flare his spines every time he sees his image in the black mirrored rear tank wall.

Scott,what happened with the DHL?

They lost his fish. They finally delivered it two days after it was shipped. It was shipped Tuesday and it didn't arrive at his house until almost noon Thursday. That was what they call Priority Overnight Service. When he called Wednesday afternoon asking what had happened, DHL had no information on the shipment at all. MDL (the online vendor) verified that they had shipped it Tuesday but DHL couldn't find anything on it until late Wednesday. It was barely alive when he finally got it.

[Ninong]

Lovely lookin' fish Ninong! I have a Foxface in mine but its the One Spot version. They're very cool, and always pickin on the live rock for algae.

Nice closeup shot of that Strombus

I'd also like to see a full tank shot, with the final live rock placement. I'm starting a new 29, and still deciding on some aquascaping.

- Elmo

Thanks!

I removed another fairly large piece of Buna Spiney rock last week and put it in the sump. I rearranged a few pieces at the same time. I'm not sure how much more rearranging I will do but if I had it all to do over again, I would order 130-lbs of mostly Kaelini with a little Tonga Branch. Right now I have probably about 145-lbs of rock in the tank and I think it's still too much.

[Reefland]

Hey hey, what is all this talk about new fish and corals and nobody tells me anything

Scott,what happened with the DHL? FWIW, I've had a terribile experience with them as well. They were not on time and handle my box pretty rough as well.What I mean on time is they never showed up untill I called and raised hell(they couldn't find me they said ).

They lost his fish. They finally delivered it two days after it was shipped. It was shipped Tuesday and it didn't arrive at his house until almost noon Thursday. That was what they call Priority Overnight Service. When he called Wednesday afternoon asking what had happened, DHL had no information on the shipment at all. MDL (the online vendor) verified that they had shipped it Tuesday but DHL couldn't find anything on it until late Wednesday. It was barely alive when he finally got it.

DHL is what happened. I am waiting to post detailed experiences until I see how the "DHL" experience turns out. The quick of it is that I looked at their site and saw that they shipped DHL and FedEx, I made the mistake of assuming that the DHL was used on a limited basis for perhaps Puerto Rico shipments or maybe Hawaii. My mistake there I guess.

Be on the look out and it wasn't just fish, I got a couple of your favorite pieces of livestock too. Do cross your fingers for our Foxface though.

[zhenya]

Scott,

First off, I'm sorry this had happened to you and hope that your fish will rebound. I swore off DHL and will never use them,by the way. When I shipped some stuff I always try to use UPS overnight or Fedex.

Be on the look out and it wasn't just fish, I got a couple of your favorite pieces of livestock too.

Do you mean to say that you got some other livestock lost as well with this shippment?What was it and did it survive the ordeal? Man, this makes me so mad I'm crossing my fingers and toes if that will help your fish any.

Ninong,
I wasn't questioning how you spend your money my friend.I just never realized how expensive this polyps are becouse I never bought any.I had some R.florida,a whole rock covered in them that I gave to Ilia for free ,just to get rid of it as it was spreading fast. Little did I know that there was one polyp left behind...it is now two...you get the picture I also discovered that there is a Rodactis mushrooms that is spreading on my rocks(I thought I got all of them out too...wrong ). Regarding your Rabbitfish spotting with darker color,mine does it all the time when lights go out at first but then relaxes after awhile. So I figured it is a defensive mode along with spines flaring posturing. My Seganus really loves Nori but I stopped giving it to him in hopes that he/tangs will graze on Caulerpa but it did not work and I think I'll resume Nori treats again.
On a side note,what type of camera do you use,Ninong? Your pics are exellent,I mean the focus and color rendition as well. That Strombus shot is really stands out ;)

[Ninong]

Scott,
First off, I'm sorry this had happened to you and hope that your fish will rebound. I swore off DHL and will never use them,by the way. When I shipped some stuff I always try to use UPS overnight or Fedex.

Do you mean to say that you got some other livestock lost as well with this shippment?What was it and did it survive the ordeal? Man, this makes me so mad I'm crossing my fingers and toes if that will help your fish any.

No, only the Foxface from MDL was shipped DHL. His other livestock didn't come from MDL and it wasn't shipped DHL. It arrived on time and in good shape.

Ninong,
I wasn't questioning how you spend your money my friend.

I still can't believe I went for that. I thought they were crazy a week ago when I first saw it but then I started checking online and realized they were not higher than other places. In fact, most other places were even higher. Then I waited for the 20% off thing.

I just never realized how expensive this polyps are becouse I never bought any.I had some R.florida,a whole rock covered in them that I gave to Ilia for free ,just to get rid of it as it was spreading fast.

R. florida is MUCH cheaper than R. yuma. I guess it's because the R. yuma comes on pieces of live rock all the way from Indonesia and the R. florida comes on pieces of live rock from places like Haiti or maybe even Florida, who knows??? They're not supposed to take anything other than really tiny pieces of live rock out of Florida waters. I think the live rock that the polyp is attached to has to be less than the size of a quarter to be legal from Florida.

Regarding your Rabbitfish spotting with darker color,mine does it all the time when lights go out at first but then relaxes after awhile. So I figured it is a defensive mode along with spines flaring posturing.

I'm just guessing that it is stress related. Mine hasn't done it at all since he was in the bag. I'm looking at him now but he doesn't see me. He usually only hides if I get right up in front of the tank. He doesn't seem to notice me over here at my desk or, if he does, he doesn't consider me a threat from way over here.

My Seganus really loves Nori but I stopped giving it to him in hopes that he/tangs will graze on Caulerpa but it did not work and I think I'll resume Nori treats again.

I fed mine some fresh Romaine lettuce shortly after I put him in the tank. I just stuck it into the Buna Spiney rock but then I had to hide so that he would come out and get it. He did, but he made a mess by pulling it out of the rock and most of it ended up stuck to the overflow grate. I need to get one of those nifty little lettuce clips that you stick to the glass. Then later I fed him some Formula Two flake but I have to drop one piece at a time so that he gets it before it goes up against the overflow. I have to time it based on the position of the Sea-Swirls. That way it will have time enough to start sinking and bouncing around in the water column so that it catches his attention. And I have to get several feet away so that he will come out.

On a side note,what type of camera do you use,Ninong? Your pics are exellent,I mean the focus and color rendition as well. That Strombus shot is really stands out ;)

That's the same basic Kodak 2 megapixel digital camera that belongs to my sister. The only difference this time is that now that my niece has her own new 4 megapixel Kodak camera upstairs, the old camera is now downstairs in my sister's office. So I unplugged the docking thingy and plugged it into my computer. Previously I was having my niece load the pictures on her computer upstairs and then e-mail them to me. I think they lost a lot of the detail getting compressed for e-mail. It took me forever to figure out how to resize them on my computer and it looks like I probably didn't resize them enough as it is. The original pics are much larger than what I posted. Is that a function of the camera or my monitor??? I didn't even know I had all those programs on this computer but I guess I do. This computer I got from Dell last December, so it's fairly new. The monitor is a 19" flat screen with much more resolution than my previous 19" CRT monitor.

All I did was point and click, same as the previous pics. But this time I turned off the flash and used the close-up mode. In the past I did something wrong every time I tried to use the close-up mode. I think it was because I forgot to turn off the flash.

[zhenya]

No, only the Foxface from MDL was shipped DHL. His other livestock didn't come from MDL and it wasn't shipped DHL. It arrived on time and in good shape.

Sheesh,it got me going there for awhile Thank God for small miracles.

I fed mine some fresh Romaine lettuce shortly after I put him in the tank. I just stuck it into the Buna Spiney rock but then I had to hide so that he would come out and get it. He did, but he made a mess by pulling it out of the rock and most of it ended up stuck to the overflow grate.

Do you have one of those magnet glass cleaners? I usually just roll piece of Nori and use the magnet to hold it against the glass.My fish is so bold that I have to watch out for my fingers becouse they begin to feed before I'm done placing it there The Clarkii clownfish is the worst,she always goes for the finger first and then for the treat :eek3: It usually takes them about 3-4 min to finish off a half of Nori sheet,greedy little buggers ;) Oh, I usually get my nory for free from a sushi place that I frequent.
Also, I realize that R.florida is MUCH cheeper but I just never knew how much cheeper. Regardless, the yuma comes in absolutely gorgeous colors and yours is no exeption. Congrats on a great find.

As far as your pics go, I'm not sure what type of software you're using to resize them.I think there is a difference between compressing pics and simply resizing them but what exactly it means I have no clue.I mean I think I do but not enough to explain to someone else
Do you have anything blue in the tank that you can take pics off? I wonder how your camera will capture it,I can not get it to come out blue with mine for the life of me.I've tried all the manual settings and combinations of it to no avail.I think I might enroll in some class to learn how to do this properly and not just point and shoot.
Oh, I hate using flash-it washes everything out in my case.

[Ninong]

Gene,

The software is called Dell Image Expert -- Premium Edition and it was in my computer when I looked under Programs. There's a whole bunch of stuff in there that I have no idea what it's for. I sort of find out by accident.

I don't have anything blue in the tank, just a lot of lavendar and purple. But so far the colors are coming out exactly the same as they appear in real life as long as the metal halides are on.

[Ninong]

Gene,

Here are a few more pics including the full tank shot you requested and a couple extra to show the range of colors in the tank. I don't have anything that is actually blue yet. I guess I'll have to get something blue to keep you happy. I'm getting ready to leave right now and won't be back for several hours.



Full tank shot 9-5-03.




Another shot that is almost a full view of the tank.




Primus is more active today than he was yesterday.




Ricordea yuma 9-5-03.




Neomeris sp. algae 9-5-03.

[zhenya]

Ninong,

Thanks for the pics Its not that hard to make me happy,is it ?
Pics are GREAT!!! I hope you not worrying about the rock looking a bit on a green side, it is almost always looks the same after the cycle.Mine did as well but now it is all purple mostly.Kind of bland if you ask me.
Primus looks good,I'm sure you can tell that I'm partial to this species
I could actually see some blue on the rock in the shot of the yuma.Pretty cool.

[almostdiva]

Great pics Ninong!

We are a pretty easy mob to please!

Primus looks great. Your riccordia is beautiful, too.

I have some of that neomeric sp. algae, too. It's pretty cool.

Tank looks great (I dig the same conch/snail pic as Elmo)!

We're a greedy bunch -- show us more pics!

Rebecca

[Ninong]

I could actually see some blue on the rock in the shot of the yuma.Pretty cool.

There is an even bluer blue on the tip of the rock in the Neomeris alga pic.

[zhenya]

There is an even bluer blue on the tip of the rock in the Neomeris alga pic.

You know,you're right,Ninong Good eye! All my coralline comes out purple in my pics although I have different shades of pink and red and some on the blue side as well
That Neomeris algae is very cool looking, I wonder if Primus is going to live it alone or go for it


PS. Ninong, I was looking at the ecrusting coral on the same rock that the yuma is on,it doesn't look quite like the Pavona but more like a Merulina to my eye,although I could be dead wrong.What do you think? Anyway,it is very nice looking.

[Ninong]

PS. Ninong, I was looking at the ecrusting coral on the same rock that the yuma is on,it doesn't look quite like the Pavona but more like a Merulina to my eye,although I could be dead wrong.What do you think? Anyway,it is very nice looking.

I don't think it is Merulina. I'm not sure what it is but I thought Pavona varians was a possibility because it is a dull rust-brown color under metal halides but a fluorescent dark green color under actinics.

[scubadude]

I don't think it is Merulina. I'm not sure what it is but I thought Pavona varians was a possibility because it is a dull rust-brown color under metal halides but a fluorescent dark green color under actinics.

Pachyseris rugosa aka elephant skin maybe? Tank is coming along nicely Ninong Ya know I have tried to keep Neomeris algae and was successfull for a while 2-3 months but it seemed to fade away after a while....maybe cuz of my ca and alk levels didnt stay high enough.

[Ninong]

Pachyseris rugosa aka elephant skin maybe?

Rocky,

Yes, that is another distinct possibility. There is a picture of Pachyseris rugosa on page 248 and a picture of Pavona varians on page 251 of Borneman's Aquarium Corals. According to Eric, both of these corals can be a dull brown that turns fluorescent green under actinic lighting. Both can be found in shallow, turbid waters, which is where I suspect most R. yuma are collected.

Do you know if the coloration in a particular Ricordea yuma polyp will change in response to its lighting environment? Or is it a case of WYSIWYG and all you can do is hope to maintain the status quo with appropriate aquarium conditions?

Thanks,

[Poseidon]

Hey Ninong.... Thanks for the reeftopia site, somehow I had forgotten about that one, and it seems like a fantastic place to get snails and such, but can you give me the common name of Strombus alatus I can't find the latin name listed on that site...

Thanks, Mike

[zhenya]

Hey Ninong.... Thanks for the reeftopia site, somehow I had forgotten about that one, and it seems like a fantastic place to get snails and such, but can you give me the common name of Strombus alatus I can't find the latin name listed on that site...

Thanks, Mike

Mike,I know you asked Ninong and hope that he don't mind if I answer this one,I believe its called Fighting conch.

[Ninong]

Yes, it's the Fighting Conch and here is the link: http://www.reeftopia.com/Crabs_and_Snails218.html

[zhenya]

Yes, it's the Fighting Conch and here is the link: http://www.reeftopia.com/Crabs_and_Snails218.html

Thanks for the link,Ninong As you know I'm trying to rebuild my database. I were able to pick one up at my LFS the same size for 5 bucks couple of days ago, they had one about 2" but I was afraid to put iit in my 75 as I don't think I have enough sand area for him. Did you get your cuke from the same site?