Shy Dendros, Clowning Around, and Molten Shrimp

My last post was written a few minutes after I had placed the new additions in the tank. The Frogspawn was totally deflated when I went upstairs and I had intended to go back down and photograph it in the deflated state to do a before/after comparison... it really caught me by surprise that by the time I went back downstairs a couple of hours later, the coral was already inflating itself- even bloating itself- with water.

The Dendrophyllia (still tring to confirm whether or not it is a fistula species) has been closed all day. It was open the first day but was shy since this morning, and I'm not sure why. At first I thought it might have been mistaken for a a sun coral, which are typically open only at night, but it doesn't match the colors or other features... then I read that these corals (and some other non photosynthetic varieties) will usually only come out if they sense food is present. Hobbyists have had some success in "training" the coral to be open at a specific time or even all day via regular feeding patterns. I'll break open the mysis tomorrow and give it a try. I didn't have a picture of them completely closed up, but here they are partially open.

The two clownfish have been extremely active and curious so far. They almost always hang out together and visit all parts of the tank except the places where I can't see them.... they tend to swim directly in front of the Koralia which pushes them into the main pump output, and zoom around the tank. This is done repeatedly... sometimes I wonder how much "thought" an animal that size and complexity can experience because they really do seem to enjoy the brief ride. They are also gently beginning to host in the frogspawn, which hasn't yet shown signs of fatigue from the two small fish lightly brushing up against its tentacles from time to time. This process is fascinating; I took a video of them right after the lights went out on the first night.

The Scarlet Skunk Cleaner Shrimp had some irregularities in the thickness of its antennae today. I couldn't see anything else wrong with it, but it was still a bit worrying. I went back downstairs a few minutes ago and saw a lifeless-looking shrimp in a rock outcropping and immediately assumed the worst. Nope- the shrimp had actually molted. Next time I see the antennae looking a bit inconsistent near the tips, it might be a signal that it is time for another molt. Proper Iodine levels are very important for crustaceans to properly molt, so I will need to look into that in the future. I've read that these shrimp prefer to be kept with others- they are also hermaphroditic, and will readily mate in the aquarium. The larvae quickly become food for the rest of the tank inhabitants. Here it is "cleaning" my hand... it knows no fear.

I'm halfway regretting the drab Zoanthids that were my first coral purchase. There are such incredible looking Zoa species out there (scroll down). I don't want to get stuck with a huge colony of boring red ones. Maybe I can trade them in or something. Some of the nicer Zoas are rare enough that they can (later, after propagation) be traded back in at the LFS, which is a nice plus. I guess I didn't do so badly:

I'll be headed to the LFS tomorrow to pick up my test kit and a baster-type thing for feeding corals. Who knows, I might come back with more than that. :)