"Rare to You" Frag Swap

Today I attended the "Rare to You" Frag Swap. How this frag swap works is that the first participant will make a request for a coral that is considered "rare" to him/her. In order to join in the swap, anyone who is able to fulfill that request is eligible. The next participant will then make a request for a "rare" coral of their own and this goes on in the chain until it reaches the maximum number of participants. The last person in the chain will have to pick from a list of corals from the first participant, however he/she will get the first pick in the swap. Each participant is to bring two frags of the requested coral and another "rare" coral of their choice. At the swap, one requested frag will be given to the requester and the other two frags will go into the swap. Each person is guaranteed to take home 3 frags for their participation. In total, there are 14 participants including me. Apart from that, the participants can arrange for side trades with each other as well. The event was held at a fish store called Ocean Treasures in San Francisco.



All these frags are going to the swap.

These are the frags I pickup from the swap and the side trades.

Chalice and Micromussa.

Zoa and Palys.

Dipping sps in Tropic Marine Pro-Cure.

SPS frags acclimating in my tank after dipping.

Armor of God.

Superman Monti.

Fire Engine Monti.

Oregon Tort and Ultimate Blue Stag.

Pink Chalice.

I'm the second person to pick, so I choose this Darklord's Burning Star Micromussa.

Ocean Treasures offered a 20% discount for all participants. Taking advantage of the discount, I bought this ORA Roscoe's Acro frag.

Here are the list of corals I pickup today.

1. LE Ponape Torch Stag
   
2. Darklord's Burning Star Micro
3. LE Flower Petal Monti Cap
   
4. Oregon Tort
5. LE Ultimate Blue Stag
6. Jesus's Pink with Blue-Tip Prostrata
7. Superman Monti
8. Rainbow Monti
9. Fire Engine Monti
10. Atlantis Shades of Fall Acro Nasuta
11. Atlantis Lemon-Tip Pink Birdnest
12. Tubs Birdnest
13. Pink Chalice
14. LE Alien Eye Chalice
15. LE Aquascene Golden Eye Chalice
16. LE Volcano Chalice
    
17. LE Armor of God Paly
    
18. Armageddon Paly
    
19. Blue Halos Zoas
    

Zoamania...

Yes, these are the collection of beautiful zoas and palys that I once have in my tank. I've since lost about 90% of them due to the tank leakage incident. My plan was to create a "Zoas Mountain" by dedicating the right-section of the tank to zoas and palys only.

Daylight Shots:

Actinic Shots:

Tank Inhabitants...

Fish:

King of the tank...the Red Sea Purple Tang. This fish is about 5" in length and has been a resident in this tank for almost a year now. It was about 2" when I acquired him. He is the most aggressive fish in the tank and also the most shy among all the fish.

This is a Lavender Tang, one of the very first fish I acquired when I upgraded from my old 20G tank.

Carbon-Striped Cardinals. I bought a group of eight to form a schools, after about one year I'm left with only a single fish. :-(

Amphiprion Nigripes also known as the Black-Footed Clown fish. Not a common clown fish that you can find in the store, she is the second aggresive fish in the tank after the Purple Tang. Due to limited tank's space, I've to sold the two Rose Bubble-Tip anemone which she housed. She is always defending her territory from other fish which trespass into her area.

Orange-Spotted Goby. This guy has make his home in a hole underneath the rock work. He can always be seen at the front of his home and occasionally venturing out to the open space.

Bangaii Cardinalfish, this is only surviving of the two baby Bangaii that I acquired from a local reefer. This spectacular Cardinalfish is only found in the Bangaii Island, off Sulawesi.

This is one of the four female Lyretail Anthias from the harem that I have which consists of another male.

Spotted Mandarin. He has finally started eating frozen mini-mysis shrimp. Even though I know that my tank would have enough pods for him to survive, now that he is eating frozen prepared food, I'm sure there are enough food now to fulfill his appetite.

These Candy Cane Wrasses are my latest addition into the tank. This is the first time I saw them available at the fish store and I couldn't resist myself from buying two of them. Their coloration is pretty stunning, just like the candy cane sweets we have during Christmas. Like most wrasses, they bury themselves under the sand bed.

Tridacnid Clams:

Tridacna Crocea.

Blue-Rimmed Tridacna Derasa, this clam has grown to about 5" from a mere 2" when I first acquired it.

One of my favorite, this is a Tridacna Maxima. This is the most expensive clam among the four clams that I have.

Lastly, another beautiful Tridacna Maxima. This is my latest addition (4/21/07), this clam is about 5" in length. Acquired it at a bargain price too. :-)

Invertebrates:

Dr. Cleaner Shrimp. This is one of the two shrimp that I've managed to pair them. Occasionally, you can see them carrying eggs underneath. They are active cleaners that perform their cleaning duties on the fishes.