Hi from Auz guys.
The aquaruim club has had some top free diving adventures over the years with in the clubs organised field trips and has been doing these fields trips for both freshwater species and reef life since 1927 from when the club was first formed.
As most here know we are only marine/reef keepers these days, though a few of us keep fresh water as well and over recent years the trips have become totally directed at enjoying the marine diversity that is achieved by the rare convergence of both tropical and temperate marine life forms here allowing us to get our own, sometimes a little unique marine life for the hobby of reef keeping.
This is a little more of what we do on organised club trips.
The south east sites we go to normally have some friendly stone fish to greet us on trips.
One of the many varied zoanthids seen and collected,some of the guys like to keep them in the display tanks.
This year will be called a year of copper bands-chelmon rostratus, they seem to be everywhere from this breeding season.
Of course the global warming temps these days around the south east are contributing to the enormity of marine aquarium life over recent years,unlike the past
From low tide rock pool club trips and some times at free dive trips, there are always heaps of lawn mower blennies-istiblennius meleagris around to choose that particular one or three for the tank to help with clean up, they are good workers!
Literally millions of yellow claw clean up crew hermits at a particular spot,at the rock pools.
One of us collecting some clean up crew.
The last season and this one has proliferated the coast with black lion fish-pterois volitans, they are everywhere!
Two of the club members have predator tanks, so we got some for them.
A mantis seen on one of the open ocean trips, cocky little guy this one!
The next trip two of the club members were interested in keeping one or two so a peacock mantis was spotted, as usual, and after some careful collection,lol and some loud clicking,lol,it went home with us.
You have to be careful of a sizable mantis like this, they are a small creature, but can cause some nasty harm being the most efficient killer on the planet!
There are some areas up the coast where we find some nice morphs,two of the guys love these as tank additions.
The last season dispersed millions of blue tangs in the south east, they have nearly been found everywhere we go to!
Some nice anemones we see and some of the guys collect some for their aquarium, to me they are more so a pest in the tank, amphiprions do not need them in a display tank.
A nasty looking little guy this one,part of the scorpion family,it can give you a painful sting as a lion fish can,not fatal,unless you are susceptible to marine Neuro toxins,then the pterois antennatta can be fatal as well.
Many box fish around as usual, we all have at least one in the reef tanks.
This pearl scale mimic,this one is not quite as common this season as the heraldi and the flavissimus mimics, but still a welcome site, a good catch and new tank addition for one of the club members, a top fish in a reef or standard marine aquarium.
I have had mine for nearly a year now from the last season, the third one over the last 30 years.
The aquaruim club has had some top free diving adventures over the years with in the clubs organised field trips and has been doing these fields trips for both freshwater species and reef life since 1927 from when the club was first formed.
As most here know we are only marine/reef keepers these days, though a few of us keep fresh water as well and over recent years the trips have become totally directed at enjoying the marine diversity that is achieved by the rare convergence of both tropical and temperate marine life forms here allowing us to get our own, sometimes a little unique marine life for the hobby of reef keeping.
This is a little more of what we do on organised club trips.
The south east sites we go to normally have some friendly stone fish to greet us on trips.
One of the many varied zoanthids seen and collected,some of the guys like to keep them in the display tanks.
This year will be called a year of copper bands-chelmon rostratus, they seem to be everywhere from this breeding season.
Of course the global warming temps these days around the south east are contributing to the enormity of marine aquarium life over recent years,unlike the past
From low tide rock pool club trips and some times at free dive trips, there are always heaps of lawn mower blennies-istiblennius meleagris around to choose that particular one or three for the tank to help with clean up, they are good workers!
Literally millions of yellow claw clean up crew hermits at a particular spot,at the rock pools.
One of us collecting some clean up crew.
The last season and this one has proliferated the coast with black lion fish-pterois volitans, they are everywhere!
Two of the club members have predator tanks, so we got some for them.
A mantis seen on one of the open ocean trips, cocky little guy this one!
The next trip two of the club members were interested in keeping one or two so a peacock mantis was spotted, as usual, and after some careful collection,lol and some loud clicking,lol,it went home with us.
You have to be careful of a sizable mantis like this, they are a small creature, but can cause some nasty harm being the most efficient killer on the planet!
There are some areas up the coast where we find some nice morphs,two of the guys love these as tank additions.
The last season dispersed millions of blue tangs in the south east, they have nearly been found everywhere we go to!
Some nice anemones we see and some of the guys collect some for their aquarium, to me they are more so a pest in the tank, amphiprions do not need them in a display tank.
A nasty looking little guy this one,part of the scorpion family,it can give you a painful sting as a lion fish can,not fatal,unless you are susceptible to marine Neuro toxins,then the pterois antennatta can be fatal as well.
Many box fish around as usual, we all have at least one in the reef tanks.
This pearl scale mimic,this one is not quite as common this season as the heraldi and the flavissimus mimics, but still a welcome site, a good catch and new tank addition for one of the club members, a top fish in a reef or standard marine aquarium.
I have had mine for nearly a year now from the last season, the third one over the last 30 years.
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