~LaMarcianA's Aquariums~  

My Tanks 1

My Tanks 2

My Tanks 3

My Tanks 4

My Tanks 5

My Tanks 6

My Tanks 7


My Tanks 8
My Tanks 9

My Tanks 10

My Tanks 11

My Tanks 12 

These two electric eels were a mere 3 and 4 inches long when I bought them. In 4 years they have grown to some 15 and 18 inches in length. They swim forwards and backwards in a wave-like motion that makes their black and yellow color very attractive. I feed the eels as I do all my marine creatures, frozen M.Y.S.I.S. I occasionally add vibrance or vibrance II to the M.Y.S.I.S. prior to feeding them. The vibrance helps them maintain a healthy and beautiful color. The eels are very mild in nature and can live with most marine creatures. They are kept in 55 gallon aquarium along with a large crab, sea urchin, and small damsels.

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In this tank I use a combination of live sand and live rock along with a mixture of live and fake corals and a few fake plants. The live rock and live sand provide extra nutrients and microorganisms for feeding in a more natural way for the eels, fish, crab, and especially the sea urchin. The crab here is similar to a hermit crab in appearance. The crab also changes shells as he grows in the same fashion as the hermit crab. The damsels here are the same as the very familiar 'Dorie' from the animated movie, "Finding Nemo". I have some nemo's as well in another tank!

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The fish you see is from the Gobi species and is called 'the pineapple Gobi'. He is given such name for his pineapple color, which he uses to blend in with the corals in his environment. He is very hard to find in a tank and even harder to capture on video. He lives in a 45 gallon hexagon tank along with a few other Gobi species, starfish, and various shrimp species. The one species of shrimp videoed here is called 'the coral banded shrimp'. The shrimp reminds me more of a candy cane and its name is easily confused with the name of another species of shrimp called 'the peppermint shrimp'. I have videoed my peppermint shrimp and you can view that species a little further down.

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This is a not-so-good video of some male seahorses from the species 'hipocampus erectus' and known as 'the Mustangs'. These males have fallen in love with the purple plants and use them for hiding and attaching themselves to rather than for feeding. The main diet of my seahorses is the frozen M.Y.S.I.S. Video further down will show their feeding time and you can hear the famous smacking sound they make when they are eating! The male seahorses have a pouch that can be seen as the darker colored area noticeable on the underside of their bodies. This ouch is for carrying the young, as the male seahorse gives birth rather than the female!!

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Here is just a few scattered video clippings of varied species. Highlighted, though, is the female Mustang. Her primary color seems to be the black with gray stripes. I have noticed her turn to a light gray solid color almost appearing ghostly-white during a mating dance that seahorses do prior to mating. I don't currently have any videos of the mating dance, but I'm hoping to be able to video this in the near future. The female and male seahorses alike are very aware of their surroundings and can be seen watching you from within the tank. They both have eyes resembling a female with long eyelashes and mascara to highlight them.

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This video is to give you a closer look at the male seahorse's pouch and his eyes. Notice the darker color that I mentioned before. During a mating dance, the female seahorse deposits several hundred eggs into the males pouch. The eggs then hatch while inside the pouch, and the young continue inside the pouch until they have grown enough for birthing. The male then opens his pouch and, in several thrust, pushes put the tiny seahorses; ready to live own their own. The two type of shrimp here is the coral banded shrimp along with the peppermint shrimp. Both types of shrimp are good choices to keep the bottom of your tank clean as well as the seahorses! The seahorses have been noted to sit still while these shrimp pick algae off their bodies! The shrimp get something to eat, and the seahorses get a nice cleaning!

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This is a short clipping of my juvenile seahorse. Seahorses that are older than a few weeks but not quite adults yet are termed 'juveniles'. They behave much like teenagers and are very active. They tend to spend most of their time swimming around in the tank with no particular purpose. They love eating and will go after the M.Y.S.I.S. very eagerly. This particular seahorse is about 3 inches in length. Depending on the species, seahorses can reach 12-15 inches with their tails straightened. It's always hard to see their true length because they keep the tails curled or latched onto plants or rocks most of the time. In fact, if seahorses were not able to latch onto plants, rocks, etc., they would swim themselves to death; literally!!

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Sea urchins are small, spiny sea creatures of the class Echinoidea found in oceans all over the world. There are more than 5 species of sea urchins. At first glance, a sea urchin often appears to be an inanimate object, or one that is incapable of moving. The most visible sign of life is the spines, which are attached at their bases to ball-and-socket joints and can be pointed in any direction. This is a very young pencil sea urchin,(Eucidaris tribuloides), that I was lucky to find in an aquarium store. Their average size reaches 2-3 inches in diameter, and their spines extending possibly twice that distance! These spines are used primarily for camouflage, locomotion, and defensive purposes. The sea urchin feeds on sea grasses, algae, and decaying organic matter. Sea urchins are very good additions to the marine aquarium since they feed off of the undesirable waste in the tank. You can see their close relationship to the sand dollar and starfish by looking closely at their underside, near the middle, where the familiar 5 pointed star pattern can be found.

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Here I have a pretty good close captured video of my saltwater hermit crab. I've had this guy for about 8 or 9 yrs. I've had to supply him with numerous shells because he has grown so much. I was able to capture him eating off the bottom of the tank. These guys are excellent for keeping the substrate of your tank clean. Found in nearly all marine environments, these crabs can range from less than an inch to over 12 inches in diameter. They are scavengers of any type of edible matter they find, providing an invaluable "cleaner" function for your saltwater aquarium. They are often termed, "clean-up crew". You have to be careful, though. While most may not harm corals, they can do great damage to other sessile invertebrates that give meaning to the word "reef". Such crabs, when small juveniles seem to help out by picking at algae, and they, like many other inverts start out life as mostly herbivores. But once they gain any size, they soon graduate to more meatier items on the menu.

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Videos 10 through 12 are of both the reef and reef worms; specifically of the sipunculid family I think lol. Sipunculids- aka Peanut Worm s feed on detritus, microscopic organisms and organics they extract from the sand and/or live rock. The peanut worm burrows into soft rocks and crevices often hiding during the day and coming out at night to feed. They reproduce sexually, and, given the right conditions, can become quite abundant. I have recently discovered a few in my tank and had a rare opportunity to photo and film them. 

Feather dusters are one of those groups of animals that come both as hitch hikers, and as animals we buy to add to the tank. The difference is relative size. A tank can be crowded with hundreds of individuals of some smaller species of feather dusters that build mud like tubes. These tend to stay relatively small, but may bloom into huge population sizes as the tank progresses and matures. As available nutrients decline, the population of these worms generally decline as well. No action needs to be taken to remove them.

Other species of feather dusters may make their home in the rockwork, and may not be as numerous as other forms. All feather dusters are filter feeders, and trap small particles in the fine "feathers" of their tentacles. I have a few of the feather duster worms in my tank, but have been unable to get any close-up views of them. I am hoping to get a good view of them at some point. In the mean time, here's a photo that another marine hobbyist has captured: