Blatantly Complacency
I had a slight mishap recently with the tank.
The clown goby was just starting to eat (hallelujah) but I got too complacent with the fact that it liked to stay in one place on the substrate. I removed the lid, thinking I was safe. Low and behold, it jumped out and became fish jerky. I was annoyed at the situation and annoyed at myself because it was totally avoidable.
So I took another break from adding anything to adsorb the lessons learnt. The tank continued to flourish but I couldn't help feeling it was incomplete.
Nothing but a pipe dream
I decided to take a trip to Advanced Aquarium Consultancy with
@shangman to patch the void. I have to say, the crew in there always give stellar customer service and a great chinwag.
I went there primarily in search of Blue Striped Pipefish. I've wanted them for a long time and I'd heard they were one of the easiest Pipefish to feed frozen food. Well I wasn't disappointed...
I picked up a pair (male and female) which are not only inseparable, but are active and already eating frozen food! They've been picking pods and brine shrimp since the moment they landed in the tank. I hope to keep these guys happy and healthy and now I have a LID. It's an ADA + cling film combo. Not the most ideal but it works.
I also added a nice bright red fire shrimp. I've heard they hide most of the time but so far you can almost always see it. The Pipefish and the shrimp are wary of each other, having mini stand offs when either one gets close but they ultimately leave each other alone.
Lastly, I added a little lemon feather duster to add to my worm collection! My plan is to get a cluster (social feather duster) to finish it off.
Admittedly I haven't done a solid water change in over a month but it still looks pristine, water quality is where it should be and everything is happy and healthy. All in all the tank is going really well.