what I've been up to the last 6 months

[Fishfirst]

Well with a new place, new life, in a new city... it was finally time to setup a tank that challenged me and would keep my interest for many years to come. I decided that I would "push" the limits of my previous abilities, break rules, cause controversy, and most of all BE SUCCESSFUL! Size was a factor, unlike my previous house I was limited to a one bedroom apartment. So, despite my love of SPS and large fish like tangs and fairy wrasse... I decieded on a 92 corner tank that would be home to my second favorites: little gobies/fish, shrimp, NPS, and the showpiece fish orange spot filefish and a moorish idol.

In November it was time:

A few days later, I added some cherry picked liverock from a huge shipment that my shop just got in

A couple more pieces from a friends tank that was well established came a week later

Another couple weeks went by, and I added cleanup crew

the entire idea behind my cleanup crew was to have absolutely no crabs in the tank since in my experience they cost me more money than they are worth.
Clean up crew included:
1 Halloween Urchin
1 Red Tuxedo Urchin
1 Heart Urchin
6 Turbo Snails
1 Abalone
12 Tongan Nassarius Snails

A week later with minimal loss I added shrimp, the main invertebrate focus of my tank:


A pair of these



And a blood red shrimp which I don't have a photo of for some reason.
More to come later!

[snyderguy]

That looks awesome! Keep us updated on the tank. Love those corner tanks

[austinroberts23]

Looks awesome!

[funlad3]

I expect great things from you, and I'm sure you'll deliver. Your old tanks were insane, and I'm sure this'll be too!

[BV77]

Great to have you back

[Fishfirst]

Coral was the next step... Because of the limited space and the simplistic rock work I wanted to pick peices that were unique and had a wow factor with them as well as staying away from stuff that was extremely common, all except my first two corals in the tank were species that I have had very little personal experience keeping.

[funlad3]

Good luck with the elegance, mine died on me with a 3º temp spike that went up to 82º. They're awesome, but very hard to keep alive, as I'm sure you know.

[Fishfirst]

As I was acquiring corals, I added a few fish here and there.









And the finished product


I feel its about a quarter finished with livestock
As of right now, I have
1 Orange Spot Filefish Male
2 Helfrichi Firefish
2 Hector's Gobies
5 Red Spot Glass Cardinals
1 Aurora goby
1 Whip Fin Fairy Wrasse

What I'm planning
More NPS/LPS
1 Hawaiian Halrequin Shrimp
1 Harlequin Shrimp
1 Red Banded Pistol Shrimp
2 Rainford's Goby
1 Black Ice Clownfish
1 McCosker's Flasher Wrasse
1 Blue Flasher Wrasse
1 Angulatus Flasher Wrasse
1 Filimented Flasher Wrasse X Yellow Fin Flasher Wrasse hybrid
1 Red Finned Flasher Wrasse
1 Moorish Idol (this is not a long term purchase, getting the smallest possible one and growing it out)
And I may take back the Whip Fin Fairy Wrasse depending on his behavior with the Flasher Wrasse

[Fishfirst]

Funlad, yeah I know that pretty much 50% of everything in this tank is difficult or nearly impossible to keep or was that way only a year ago.
I also have a Flame Scallop that I forgot to mention... has been living in the tank almost 6 months and growing significantly

[Mr. fish]

Nice little corner tank you got there bud. Cant wait to see how this thing turns out once the coral starts filling in more.

[lohachata]

geeez ff.....you must be nuts goin to a smaller place.....great to see you back guy.....would like to see you around more often....
is the shop yours or are you just working there ?
the tank and it's inhabitants are gorgeous.....the wife was drooling all over the place looking at them.....going to have to check in with you when she sets up her salt tank....

[Fishfirst]

I've been checking in... just not posting a whole lot. Been busy with many fascets of life. With a divorce comes many life changes loha... I've been getting into shape, running marathons and going for a tough mudder here in september. More money to spend on myself works wonders for some of the crazy stuff I've been getting. Plus now I have a phone camera so posting pictures is a lot easier. I've pretty much given up on women, so my tank and my own body has become my obsession. Thus the challenge I've taken up on both ends! In the end the move was a good one. More pay, more power, more social life down here in madison. This tank pretty much needs to keep me in the forefront of the hobby though since I'm not dealing with nearly as many rare and hard to keep specimens at the store.

[TheOldSalt]

Divorce? Aw, man, that sucks. You were practically still a newlywed.
Nice Cardinals!

[Mr. fish]

Divorces always suck... thats why I say forget getting married.

Only advice I recommend is what you already are doing, work out, enjoy your hobby, make money and get out there and live life.. never let a female bring you down, NO MATTER WHAT.