Juvinile Remora (?) and brown mussels for fowlr tanks

[Anonymous]

Hi

First off, what an awesome resource this site and forum is. I have been 'lurking' for some weeks now, trying to pluck up the courage to post some questions.

I am on my second tank, just busy establishing it at the moment. It is a 1300 liter (I think thats around 450 gallons- someone correct me if I am wrong) unit that I built. It has cycled now for 10 weeks and I am in the process of introducing more live rock and the first fish. (Water all tests within parameters). My first inhabitant was a wrass, about 2 weeks ago. He is a happy, healthy little soul and is getting on really well.

I am very fortunate in that I live right on the ocean and am a serious freediver and spearfisherman. I can thus access my own specimens and live rock and water for PWCs is as easy as pumping 1000l on a clean day.

I have recently aquired a tiny remora (10cm or 4 inches) which I have added to the tank. He seems pretty happy, but has anyone got any experience at keeping them. I realise that they grow fast and when he gets to 6" he is going back in the ocean.

I also have a ready source of brown mussels (similar to the 'green edged' New Zealand ones common on menus) as I collect them to eat. does anyone have any thoughts on placing them in my sump (450 liter) as additional biological filtration? They are filter feeders (?) after all!

tank has 4 80w T5s for lighting (2 white, 2 blue)
Skimmer is a Deltec 851 (installed recently)
Sump has LR and large DSB with locally obtained live sand
Aqua Medic calc stirrer and large RO unit.
I intend the tank to be FOWLR.

Thanks in advance!

Andy
Durban

 

[Anonymous]

>... I realise that they grow fast and when he gets to 6" he is going back in the ocean. ..

Some may feel a bit nervous about puting any fish back into the ocean due to possibility of "unnatural" disease and other issues.

As for the mussels, you need to find out if they can live in your tank. I would not put many of them in there to start since if they dies off in large group, they may give you more trouble than they worth. Test it with a few and see if they do well.

Oh, more importantly, welcome to RDO!

 

[Anonymous]

I have had some in there for 10 days now (mussels that is... around 20 of them) The reason being is that when I picked them they had some red 1' anenomes on them. I now have around 15 of these anenomes thriving in my tank and sump- and they cost me nothing. The mussels seem fine and all open as they should. My observations in the wild is that single ones in large clusters are continually dying off and the surrounding ones are unaffected. A single one dying off in my tank or sump wouldnt be much more of an event than a live rock inhabitant dying off. My stocking levels are low and I dont intend to ever approach the stocking capacity of the tank anyway (Oh, I have been told that 1300 liter = around 350 gal), my skimmer is the best I could buy and my live sand is the real deal- straight from a coralline reef, into a bucket with water and home to the sump.

I cannot see any reason why that remora cannot be returned to the ocean. I have discussed it with the head of the local aquarium and they return specimens often. As all my livestock, sand and water comes from here, there is no danger of introducing a foreign organism or bacteria.

Thanks for the welcome!
You should see that little remora- nothing like the adults- he swims mainly with his pec fins and seems to like to hover with them- something like a puffer, and his tail expands on a stroke to reveal a large black dot- something like the 'eyes' on some butterfly's (flying ones- not fish) wings. Really quite a character! I may keep him a bit longer than I originally planned. He would look great in my next project, another 300-350 gallon floor level tank in my dining room to house some lions and local rock lobster- sort of a 'choose your own dinner' tank. The lobster are obviously not going to be bestowed with pet status!

 

[Meloco14]

Wow it must be nice to be able to obtain all your livestock from nice, clean water just a few steps away. As far as disease worries, normally I would agree that reintroducing a captive raised specimen could be a bad idea, but it sounds like your tank is 100% from local waters. As long as there is no other input to your tank that could potentially have foreign bacteria or viruses I think you will be fine. For the mussels, normally it is difficult to keep them alive simply because we cannot provide enough planktonic food for them. But in your situation if you regularly add fresh saltwater to the tank you can probably keep a steady supply of food in there for them. Seven Ephors concern was that if a large group of them starves and dies off at the same time it could cause an ammonia spike that could crash the tank. This is why it would be safer to try a small group first to see if they do indeed survive. Also, a smaller group would be easier to provide enough food for. Anyway, you sound like you have a great setup and situation there. I am definitely jealous. And again, welcome to the forum!

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the heads up on the mussels, I will remove the bulk of them tonight...ho hum, mussel soup for dinner....They are not the most attractive decorations anyway and are starting to attach themselves to my sump glass. It was never my intention to keep them long term anyway, just to keep them fresh. Now to get all the anenomes off without damaging them!
I am having a bit of a diatom bloom at the moment so am having to leave my lights off during the day.
Does anyone have any thoughts on the benefits of macro algae, specifically celipriae (spelling??) as part of the denitrification process. I hear they are very efficient.

 

[Meloco14]

Macro algae are a great way to export nitrate. If you have a lighted area of the sump you can put some in there, or add a refugium. If you search this site for macro algae or refugiums you will find any information you need. I am not familiar with that genus of algae. The common ones we have here in the US are Caulerpa sp., Gracillaria sp., and Chaetomorpha sp. Chaetomorpha is regarded as the best for our purposes, as it can float freely and will not go sexual and send spores all over your tank. It is not as nice to look at as some other types of macro algae though, so it's not the greatest if you're going to use it in the display tank.

 

[Anonymous]

:welcome:

Just chiming in here, wondering if you could post pictures of your setup andy37?

 

[Meloco14]

Ooh, good idea Lawdawg! Pictures of your setup would be great!

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Folks

I am happy to oblige with pics of my setup if you can wait until after the weekend. It is Fri morning here and I am going up the coast for the weekend so I wont be able to take pics until Sun evening. I dont have net access at home so I will post some time on monday am. Dont get too excited... tank very much a work in progress, very little LR in the tank as yet, bulk in my sump. The cabinet and hood are magnificent though, solid cherry to match my pub!

I am going to return the remora to the ocean, he does not seem very active or happy and I dont think he is appropriate....oh, and the mussels are on the menu on sun evening!

 

[Anonymous]

sounds great andy!

 

[Anonymous]

Some Pics of my preliminary setup, sorry about the quality, also some pics of the view from my windows- just to make you jealous . In some of the pics the hood is off and lying on the floor. None of the pics have the white T5s on in, they distorted the focus too much! I will post 3 at a time, in no particular order.

 

[Anonymous]

More..

 

[Anonymous]

more...looks like I have to do this one at a time....

 

[Anonymous]

more, sorry about the double post...

 

[Anonymous]

again

 

[Anonymous]

and again....

 

[Anonymous]

more

 

[Anonymous]

Prev pic shows tank and pub, tank cabinet made by the same people to match the pub. (tank is custom, we built it outta 12 mm glass on site, sump outta 8mm glass

 

[Anonymous]

'missing corner of pub and view, again- just to make you all green!

 

[Anonymous]

Prev: part of sump with Deltec AP 851 skimmer, kalkstirrer and RO filter, still waiting for solenoids to automate kalkwasser topoffs!

This pic, poor quatity pic of other side of sump DSB and some LR and baffles