Blue things!

[linderaberry]

What are the bluest blue things that experienced people are keeping in their tanks? Mushroom corals ....blue sea slugs.....blue trdacna clams... blue chromis.....?

Seems like maybe blue Linckia stars are poorly understood and so tend to die from no apparent reason.....I hate to kill stuff, even cheap things, even plants. So this is an important question for me:

What is the easiest-to-keep blue thing I can put in a tank under 40 gallons?

 

[Anonymous]

What about zoos?

 

[linderaberry]

Right, anything blue. Are you keeping a coral or something that harbours blue zooanthellae -- is that what you mean by zoos...?


Encrusting corals....isn't there a blue one that tolerates brackish conditions?

 

[Anonymous]

Zoanthids. I have seen some bright blue ones from time to time.

 

[bleedingthought]

Some SPS and LPS have blue in them also.

 

[SnowManSnow]

clams

 

[Anonymous]

Ricordia.

 

[linderaberry]

Sorry, uh, SPS and LPS mean what? This is the newbie zone....

What clams exactly are you keeping? Are they doing well?

What zooanthids, specifically?

 

[linderaberry]

Blue Ricordia ....that's kind of like Discosoma, right? Only not as toxic/aggressive? Please tell me about your experience with it.

 

[bleedingthought]

SPS are small polyp stony corals. For some examples, go here: http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/scat ... pCatId=322 .
LPS are large polyp stony corals. For examples of those, go here: http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/scat ... pCatId=321 .

Here's a blue ricordea, from liveaquaria as well: http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod ... d=2043&N=0 . They are mushrooms like discosomas.

Tridacna clams are usually the ones kept in reef tanks, as far as I know.

There are many (and I mean, MANY) different colored zoas (zooanthids) out there but their names usually don't mean much since a lot of people are naming similar/same color combinations different names.

As a general rule, SPS and clams need brighter light and better water quality (and SPS corals demand a higher flow tank). The ricordeas, zoas, and LPS are usually easier to keep, will do better in lower lighting, and don't need as much flow.

This is all just general information and not much in depth, though. :wink:

P.S. Here's a great website in addition to reefs.org: www.wetwebmedia.com !!! Love it there!

 

[TheJGMProject]

I would say the blue zoos or the blue ricordia. They're nice. Both would be fine for your tank IMO.

 

[linderaberry]

Thank you. I have so much to learn and you all are helping a lot. I just discovered the reef.org glossary -- I should have checked that out before whining about you guyzez abbreviations -- it's great!

Thanks -- okay, so now I understand why the names of zoanthids being sold are so weird and not usually accompanied by scientific names. Are zoanthids so much alike that I don't need to know what species they are -- I could just get a "blue zoanthid" and take care of it with some kind of "how to take care of a zoanthid" instructions, and it'd be okay?

I'm concerned about mushroom corals and zoanthids stinging small fish and eating small red shrimp that I'd want to have in the tank. How do I deal with that?

How many different kinds of blue tridacna clams are commonly used in aquaria, and which of them are the purest blue?

I wonder if I could create a sort of background of blue tridacna and rock, a kind of sharply sloping clam bed, against the back of the tank, and then have just a few strongly contrasting yellow and orange little fish and red shrimp in there among them and mostly in front of them. That would look cool as long as the clams were out. I don't know how much they stay out though.

Tridacna are big filterers but not big oxygen users for their biomass, right? Or not? I don't know how to deal with their biomass at all. Also, do they put out a lot of slime that is going to affect how much I need to run a protein skimmer? (Noise is a big issue for me.)

You guys are great. Please please tell me more about blue residents in your tanks...

 

[Anonymous]

You need to skim if you are going to have fish. The water quality will foul without it.

I have zoos and ricordia in my tank and they are not hard to take care of at all. I do not target feed them. They do not sting any of the tank mates. I have peppermint shrimp and they are not in harms way. Both zoos and ricordia do fair well with moderate lighting.

HTH

 

[SnowManSnow]

youll need to skim if you're going to have corals haha.. also, for clams and lots of the SPS corals you'll need adequate light.

just as an idea i have 400w DE MH over a 24 inch deep tank.

B

 

[Anonymous]

Blue hippo.

 

[SnowManSnow]

he means the fish.

 

[Anonymous]

Before you think about the Blue Hippo, how big is your tank?

 

[Anonymous]

Before you think about the Blue Hippo, how big is your tank?

ahh. right. don't do it in a 40. Although I saw baby blues at a wholesalers yesterday that were no bigger than an inch long. They were really cool... but I still wouldn't recommend them.

 

[bleedingthought]

You don't NEED to skim. I have a skimmer, and I wouldn't do without it, but you don't NEED one to have a successful reef. Things that you NEED are light for your corals and circulation for your corals and fish. You NEED those.

Yeah, the size tank you're thinking about is too small for any tang, really, IMO.

You won't have problems with zoas and mushrooms stinging or eating your fish/shrimp. It's some of the bigger corals and anemones that you have to watch out for. LPS and anemones are usually have really powerful stings. But back to the zoas, there are zoathinds and palythoas, which are usually bigger, and they are basically kept for in the same fashion. They're pretty easy to take care of and not incredibly demanding. Give them a shot.

Like I said, clams will need a good bit of lighting and suck up a lot of calcium. Because of the calcium demand, you'd probably have to limit yourself to the amount of them you're keeping. But then again, I've never kept a clam and a lot of folks around here could help you way more than I. Someone plase jump in. Now! :wink:

HTH (Now that you know the abbreviations! )

 

[linderaberry]

Anybody keep blue Hammers lobsters (crayfish)?