Survey: how well have you done with fish and coral?

[BradB]

Well, despite what happend to my last post (if you didn't read it, don't bother), I wanted to ask another question. Please refrain from anything off topic - if you want to give advice, or talk about other things, please start another thread.

I wondered what the general success of people on this board is at keeping fish and corals. By successful, I mean fish that are still alive and well, or live and well 6 months+ before dying or declining. Try to count each fish in your head, as we tend to think we are better or worse than we really are. Do not differentiate by species (easy vs hard, small vs big, common vs rare, all animals count the same in this thread).

Example:

Fish: 55%
Corals: 95%
time in hobby: 4 months

[ July 25, 2001: Message edited by: BradB ]

 

[JennM]

55 gallon reef, approx 50-70 lbs LR shallow sand bed, skimmer, powerheads for circulation:

Fish: 83.3% ONLY one fish of the original 6 I bought over 5 months has died. That fish failed to thrive, and there was no medication or treatment that could have saved him.
Corals: Over 90%,(I don't know off the top of my head how many corals/bits/frags I have) however some corals I've brought home from work were "salvages" because they were injured or damaged in shipping. These were not saleable specimens. Some have lived, some haven't but were "written off". Anything that made it was a bonus.

Time in hobby: 15 years or so. Marine tank was in storage for a couple of years, but kept a SW tank of some description for most of the last 15 years. Freshwater started before SW, and during SW hiatus. Current setup was started May 27, 2000.

**Note: I am also attempting to captive breed seahorses. (Since Feb/01) Survival rate of adults has been worse than with reef fish, about 31%. Part of this is due to having livestock transhipped directly to me, so it doesn't have time to "die" in the LFS. Statistically, these specimens are more in line with typical statistics of fish mortality from collector/captive breeder to end-user. However, I've got a mated pair of adult H. reidi and a healthy female H. kuda, as well as a small juvenile either reidi or kuda (I can't tell yet) that was given to me by a retailer aquaintance, because it was failing in his tank.

The only brood of babies thusfar was 14, 11 of which survived to day 5. Parameter changes claimed their lives. I've noted what NOT to do next brood. I hope to be able to supply other hobbyists with captive-raised specimens, trained to eat prepared foods as well as live foods.

Seahorse tank: 37 g with 10 g sump/refugium, skimmer, soft coral frags, and sponges.

25 g FOWLR/isolation tank: I have a resident Pyjama cardinal, and this is where my new seahorse specimens are/will be isolated prior to introduction to main tank. It's hard to find healthy seahorses, and I'll be damned if I'll add another horse to the main tank unless *I* have seen it healthy and happy in its own tank for a month.

I also have several other feeder/culture tanks/buckets/jars.

I need to start charging admission to my house....

Jenn

 

[Cruiser]

200 gallon tank, 250+ lbs LR, 2.5" Southdown sandbed, 80 gallon refugium w/5" SD-DSB, skimmerless, 40 gallon sump, 1150w MH & 195w PC's.

29 gallon quarantine tank.

In its current configuration almost all fish are over 1 year old, with the longest 5 years. Recent purchase of 2 gobie sps., and no fish deaths.....

Over 35 years keeping marine aquariums I have probably lost 10 to 15% over the years.
Probably lost about 25% during times working / operating at fishstores and wholesalers. Numerous species used in scientific reasearch during college / graduate days.

The 200gallon has been converted from fish dominant to coral dominant, and has replaced my corals tanks (150g & 90g), gotten rid of most corals to friends, but kept my Goniporas & couple of Acro's. I like maintaining challenging species to increase my knowledge / curiosity. Current problem is acclimating the Goniporas to their new tank, since the old tank was in direct sunlight with heavy algae / zooplankton environment.

 

[KenH]

Experience: 23 years with SWF and Reef tanks off and on. Last 9 years with reef tanks.

Main System: 225 Gal w/ 3" sand bed, 350lb LR, 2040W of 10K MH and actinic lighting, PM Bullet2 skimmer, PM CR622 Calcium Reactor, 2 MAG9.5 returns through 2 3/4" Sea-swirls and 4 Maxijet 1200s on wavemaker.

Recently upgraded from 70 gallon tank. Also have prop system, 20 gal desk tank and have had several other 10-55 gallon reef/fish systems over the years. I will keep my comments to my main display tank only.

Corals: Approx. 70 different species housed. Approximately 90-95% of all corals purchased have either survived or been given away. Longest lived corals include a moon coral, green sinularia, red mushrooms, green polyps, hammer coral and finger coral, all of which are about 5 years old. The 5 year mark is because of a divorce that required me to start over in the hobby at that time. Many other corals are in the 1-4 year range.

Deaths that come to mind:
Carpet anemone - Died due to inexperience on my part in understand its requirements and lighting was inadequate. This was more than 5 years ago.

Goniopora - Standard green variety. Experienced typical wasting away over 6 month period. I have had very good long term success on the other hand with Purple goniopora and alveopora.

Torch Coral - Died after about a year due to brown jelly infection.

SPS- I have lost a couple of SPS over the years for no obvious reason. Just receded and died after more than a year in the tank. Almost all had frags taken that continue to survive today. There have also be a few frags and wild colonies that died within a week of introduction apparently due to being weakened during transport. Most of these showed signs of bleaching or deterioration at time of introduction.

Impossible to count the fish over the years and mortality has certainly been higher than with corals. Concentrating on the last 3 years or so, I would say that I still have about 50% of my original purchases over that time. My longest lived fish include a Yellow Tang, 3 Ocellaris clowns, Decorated goby and Royal gramma, all of which are in the 3-5 year range.

Deaths that come to mind:

Dragon Wrasse - died suddenly after about 1 month for no apparent reason.

Leopard Wrasse - Died suddenly after about 1 week for no apparent reason.

Achilles Tang - Died after about a week due to incompatibility with a yellow tang and my lack of understanding at the time of the requirements for this fish (Incompatibility with Yellow tang, tank too small).

Kole Tang - Died after about a year without any obvious cause.

Copperband Butterfly - Died after about 6 months. Would only feed on the live rock or take brine shrimp soaked in Selcon. Just before it died, it suddenly took on a gaunt appearance around its face as though it was malnourished and died the next day. Perhaps nutrition was not being adequately met, but the death seemed to occur too quickly for that to be the problem.

2 Green Chromis - Disappeared 2 days after introduction to the tank just last week. Remaining 3 are still healthy.

Sleeper Goby - Died after about a month due to malnutrition. Would not take prepared foods and did not get enough nutrition from sifting the sand.

--- Ken