New Friends!

Mandarin fish blog entry #6

I have just added two new fish, a small ocellaris clownfish (Amphiprion ocellaris), and a large male green mandarinfish (Synchiropus splendidus).  Both fish are eating and doing well!  As is often the case, the green mandarin was quite thin and lurking in the corner of the tank hardly moving when I rescued him from the local fish store.  After feeding him some decapsulated brine shrimp eggs though, he quickly perked back up and has now joined his smaller spotted mandarin cousin in browsing the live rock, looking for food.

Thus far, he has only been interested in picking off the tiny brine shrimp eggs from the live rock, but I am hopeful that I will be able to train him to eat frozen mysis shrimp, since he should be large enough to be engaged by larger sized foods.

R.I.P.

Mandarin fish blog entry #5

Unfortunately, Eleanor the white spotted pufferfish and Eli the male spotted mandarinfish both jumped into the filter pump, and thus have passed on.  Even though the Nanocube tank is covered with a hood, there is a one inch gap which allows fish to jump out of the main aquarium and into the back of the setup, where the filtration system resides.  I don't know why the Nanocubes were built with such a gaping design flaw.  I have now placed a net in the back that will prevent any further ill-advised acrobatics.

Eleanor was a great fish who was often misunderstood.  She would frequently terrorize the shrimp by biting off its antennae.  However, Eleanor never meant the shrimp any harm, and was only chewing on hard things because she was teething.  After proper dental care, she never bothered the shrimp again.  The following is an excellent article on small puffer dentistry: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/fwsubwebindex/smpufferdentistry.htm

Meanwhile, in the absence of Eleanor, the shrimp has reached truly magnificent proportions.