State of the tank this week is good. Everybody seems happy with the world, except the Pest Bob I just nuked. The torch coral has taken to opening fully, and it’s several inches long and totally gorgeous. It’s definitely the highlight of the tank.
The pesky ricordea, while delighted with the world–it’s big, colorful, and spread out happily in the shot glass–sees no need to root to the rock I have so thoughtfully provided it. It gets another week, and then I’ll go to plan B, which involves using a fine bridal veil mesh to TIE his little corally butt to the rock. (Ricordea are so soft and slimy that they’re not a good candidate for super glue, which is the usual method with corals you can get a grip on.)
The most recently added zoas–a colony involving five Eagle Eyes and three bright green polyps–is either very happy or was very happy before and is proceeding anyway, because there are two new polyps on it. Both look to be Eagle Eyes (I like the green better, but I’m not complaining!) and it’s neat because over the last week, what looked like a teeny lump on the stem of one of the polyps gradually became a teeny tiny little polyp itself, budding off the main stem. Asexual reproduction at it’s finest!
The pink colonies I got from Otter continue to be very nice–one’s all pink zoas, the other is a combination of zoas and pinkish palys (the difference is vague, and mostly involved in the palys being taller and with longer fringe.) My mushroom seems to be happy, and his stem is getting very thick–I’m hoping that’s a sign he’s about to divide.
Future stocking plans are fairly tame. I don’t think I need another fish for awhile–the bioload might support a firefish or a teeny weeny clown, but I’m honestly not in it for the fish. Seeing the redcap goby bop around is fun, but it’s…well, it’s more like a teeny indoor garden than a fish tank. At some point I need to pick up the sexy shrimp that Otter’s rehoming with me, and that should cover my invertebrate stocking plans.
The last kind of coral I want to add is a candy cane, and then I’ll be content with slipping in some more interestingly colored zoos–there’s still a bunch of spots that are bare rock–or maybe picking up some of the green-striped mushrooms. I would love some clove or some frogspawn, but they’re just gonna have to wait for a bigger tank (YES, I SAID IT) which won’t be for awhile, if at all…although I might try to buy Otter’s ostensibly cursed 14 gallon off her when she gets rid of it….I could put it in the living room…
Ahem. Right. Anyway. Not until this tank crashes, so that I can see if the agony when all goes wrong is worth the joy of LOOK HOW COOL THE STUFF IS!
