Waiting, waiting, waiting......
I've got 3 shipments coming in today. First, I've ordered a bunch of amphipods, snails, bacteria, sargassum and clams from IPSF. IPSF is my very favorite place for helping develop an active and healthy sandbed. I put this order in on Sunday thinking I would get it on Wednesday. Second shipment is from Ocean Rider. I've got 3 horses, Vibrance (food enrichment) and Red Shrimp ordered from them. I put in the order with Ocean Rider and I was hoping I would get the horses next Wednesday or Thursday. The third order is from Tampa Bay Saltwater. I've ordered from Richard before and I know it usually takes a couple weeks with him because he's got to get his boat out, diving gear, drive out to the farm... Everything is coming in today. After freaking out all day yesterday, I've gotten a few things ready. Oy.
IPSF: The IPSF order is pretty easy because it's mostly sandbed stuff. The sargassum and a few snails are for my dwarf tank so I'll set that up in a 5 gallon bucket with a heater and nano koralia 'till the dwarf tank is done cycling. I got a double order of amphipods. One order is going into an amphipod farm (aka: 5 gallon bucket) the other order is going into my bow along with the bacteria and the clams.
Ocean Rider: This order is very, very special to me. When I lost my favorite pony, Pegasus over the summer I decided I would get rid of all my H. erectus and just get H. reidi. I gave my ponies to a friend except my one reidi, Phoenix and then moved him into the bow. He was looking very lonely and I was desperately searching for a reidi girl for him. Seahorse Source only has h. ingens and h abdominalus (wow was I tempted) they didn't even have h. erectus. Ocean Rider only has h. erectus right now. There is a lot of controversy about mixing horse species in the same tank. My opinion is generally that it shouldn't be done as most horses have different needs. The h. erectus and the h. reidi are both Atlantic species with overlapping territories. Phoenix last mate was Pegs who was an h.erectus and since I couldn't find any reidi anywhere I decided to go with h. erectus. I've got 3 ordered a mated pair that is black and one yellow female. The yellow will probably change to black once I get her in the bow because it has a black background but that's ok. I love their personalities not their looks so much. The other thing coming from Ocean Rider is their red shrimp. I have been wanting to farm their red shrimp for a year or so and they are sooooo expensive I've always put it off. I've got 25 coming in. For them, I've got a 10 gallon set up with some rock and sand that I've been cycling since June. Salinity is 1.014, temp 78. I really hope I can keep these bugs alive and get them breeding! I'll be paying a lot of attention to that tank. I'm thinking about getting another Deco just for them. I also debated a long time as to whether I should QT my new erectus or just put them in my bow. I decided to QT. I have a 5 gallon bucket with a heater and an airstone, some sand and a bunch of plastic plants I got from my husband and daughter when they first gave me my bow. They were still in their plastic packages, ha. Anyway, I added them so they will have something to 'hitch' on to. I'll put in some amphipods and maybe a couple red shrimp when they get here.
Lastly, Tampa Bay Saltwater: I am totally NOT ready for this shipment! I've got a bunch of gorgs and sponges ordered. My plan was to clean all the red slime and aiptasia out of my 55 and put them in there so I could frag them for my bow and the Deco Dwarf tank. The 55 has not been cleaned out yet and I don't want to put anything in there. I think I'll try to fit as many of the sponges into my bow as I can and put the gorgs in some buckets 'till I can clean out the 55, which will be Sunday as I've got performances all day tomorrow. Richard claims his stuff will stay alive as packed for a few days but I don't want to keep them in there any longer than I have to. Gosh, I'm gonna have buckets all over the place!
Took all this time to type this and the FedEx guy STILL isn't here :( Wish me luck!
C
