Tank turned 49 this year
- Thread starter Paul B
- Start date
Paul B
Well-Known Member
I got to admit (and brag a little) my tank has been around a long time but I think it looks better than it ever has. I really have to many fish and corals but I really like the way everything is and for the first time in, I can't remember. I don't want to stick my hand in there and change anything. I had to remove some rock and bottles to fit the corals, and some of the corals are killing parts of neighboring corals but that is a good thing and supposed to happen. I got another staghorn coral yesterday (not in this picture) so I moved some things around. There isn't a spot on any fish, not even a scale out of place but that is normal and comes from their diet. Jenny Craig. I can't do my normal maintenance of stirring up the gravel because of the pipefish. They don't live through typhoons and I can't catch them so I will see how long I can go with no maintenance. The bluestripe pipefish have a short lifespan of only a few years so I will do the typhoon after they are gone. If I had time I would raise some of the fry as many of the fish are spawning. Of course, I don't know how I would collect the fry but I am sure I would figure out something. My book is coming out well and I am having fun writing it. I need a photographer for the cover so I am working on that.
Paul B
Well-Known Member
I got to admit (and brag a little) my tank has been around a long time but I think it looks better than it ever has. I really have to many fish and corals but I really like the way everything is and for the first time in, I can't remember. I don't want to stick my hand in there and change anything. I had to remove some rock and bottles to fit the corals, and some of the corals are killing parts of neighboring corals but that is a good thing and supposed to happen. I got another staghorn coral yesterday (not in this picture) so I moved some things around. There isn't a spot on any fish, not even a scale out of place but that is normal and comes from their diet. Jenny Craig. I can't do my normal maintenance of stirring up the gravel because of the pipefish. They don't live through typhoons and I can't catch them so I will see how long I can go with no maintenance. The bluestripe pipefish have a short lifespan of only a few years so I will do the typhoon after they are gone. If I had time I would raise some of the fry as many of the fish are spawning. Of course, I don't know how I would collect the fry but I am sure I would figure out something. My book is coming out well and I am having fun writing it. I need a photographer for the cover so I am working on that.
Paul B
Well-Known Member
Just got in from Key Largo early this morning. Our Closest friends bought a home there on the water so we spent much of the time on their boat. I love mangrove islands and they are one of my favorite dive and snorkel spots. I am always surprised at the lack of life in the sand in the tropics as compared to northern waters. If you lift a rock there, you usually find absolutely nothing, not even in a tide pool. But here in New York, even now covered in ice, if I lift a rock, there will be dozens of life forms. Worms, crabs, amphipods, stars, but in the tropics, nothing. That is one reason I put mud in my tank. For the life. I realize many of us view northern waters as polluted but they are not polluted, that is life and life needs something to eat. The reason all the great fisheries in the world are in northern waters is because of the nutrients.
I even brought my swing arm hydrometer out on the sea to calibrate it. I found out that the sea has perfect salinity so we don't have to change it.
I even brought my swing arm hydrometer out on the sea to calibrate it. I found out that the sea has perfect salinity so we don't have to change it.
Paul B
Well-Known Member
We came home from Key largo 2 weeks ago and I couldn't find my male blue striped pipefish. They usually don't survive when I go away as I need to feed them every day. Even though I made an automatic brine shrimp hatchery and feeder. I started to doubt my feeder design and figure it really doesn't work while I am away. Then yesterday I saw my pair of pipefish together. The male is pregnant so I assume he likes his privacy in the back of the rocks. So I was happy to see him. My pair of ruby red dragonettes are also hanging out together so I hope they will spawn soon. They seem a little young yet so I am not sure when that will happen but those two are my only paired fish that are not spawning.
Paul B
Well-Known Member
I also have a leather coral that is so old I can't even imagine when I got it. It is not looking to good and is kind of leaning over. I am not concerned about this because this is normal coral wars and they come in cycles. Something in the tank is exuding a substance that the leather coral does not like. The other corals including the LPS and SPS seem very healthy and healthy corals hate other corals, especially corals of a different family. When a coral dies and we don't know the cause we usually blame water parameters, temperature, Lady GaGa, Rap music, global warming, the hole in the Ozone layer or Al Gore. I think it is a combination of all of those things including coral wars. Having a coral war is kind of a good thing because only healthy corals can start a war.
It's like when we see algae. Many people, especially Noobs will say OMG what can I add, how much water should I change, what type of snail should I put in or what is the best church to go to and what is the most potent prayer I can say to eliminate it. Experienced aquarists realize algae is a good thing (in moderation) and grows on every healthy reef in the sea. It probably grows on those under ice seas on the moons of Jupiter but I am speculation and would have to ask Al Gore.
It's like when we see algae. Many people, especially Noobs will say OMG what can I add, how much water should I change, what type of snail should I put in or what is the best church to go to and what is the most potent prayer I can say to eliminate it. Experienced aquarists realize algae is a good thing (in moderation) and grows on every healthy reef in the sea. It probably grows on those under ice seas on the moons of Jupiter but I am speculation and would have to ask Al Gore.
Paul, I agree your tank looks wonderful these days. Not that I didn't admire it before, just that it seems more vibrant as of late.
Put those bottles up on a shelf as decoration! Very interesting the round bottom one.
Here in the south I see people hang them from trees for some reason. Never thought to ask why though. ... just another mystery for this Yankee to figure out I guess.
I do have humming birds here in my yard a lot and thought the bottles would be a way to draw them in more and feed them.
Put those bottles up on a shelf as decoration! Very interesting the round bottom one.
Here in the south I see people hang them from trees for some reason. Never thought to ask why though. ... just another mystery for this Yankee to figure out I guess.
I do have humming birds here in my yard a lot and thought the bottles would be a way to draw them in more and feed them.
Paul B
Well-Known Member
These razor shrimpfish I added are extreamly cool but I doubt they will live long. They eat very well but only live new born brine shrimp and for the last two months there has been a problem with brine shrimp eggs. They are very hard to find and the ones I have have a very low hatch rate so I am using 4 or 5 times more than normal and still can't get a good hatch of shrimp. I also have a few pipefish, mandarins and ruby red dragonettes that rely on shrimp so this may be a problem. I even ordered them on line a wek ago and they are not supposed to get here for 2 more weeks. My selection of fish depends on new born brine shrimp but there must be a problem with them at the collection site.
Paul B
Well-Known Member
I got these two shrimpfish last week and they are very cool. One of them is not so well as he stopped eating and is covered in parasites. He was damaged when I got him with a broken "tail", which is more like a spear, and rotted fins, clowdy eyes etc. The other one is fine and eats all the baby brine shrimp I could hatch. (you can see the3 broken tail on the one on the left)
The lights didn't come on yet so I am not sure if the sick one is alive, if he is I may try to remove him and cure him, but I don't think I could catch him. If he dies, I will replace him as I think the LFS has two more. I didn't look at this one when the guy in the store put him in the bag. That was a mistake as I usually scrutinize fish very well before I take them. If I could catch him, I can cure him in a couple of days but I have to go through setting up a tank, and all that. They are an interesting loking fish but eat a lot and are so skinny (which is why they are called Razor fish) that they need to eat at least 3 times a day. I have been having a hard time getting good brine shrimp eggs and have 3 vials of them that hardly hatch. I received new eggs yesterday so Ihopefully I will have better luck. I have been hatching shrimp for probably fifty years on and off but constantly, every day for the last 10 or 15 years. I ususlly hatch them twice a day because of all the shrimp eaters I have
The lights didn't come on yet so I am not sure if the sick one is alive, if he is I may try to remove him and cure him, but I don't think I could catch him. If he dies, I will replace him as I think the LFS has two more. I didn't look at this one when the guy in the store put him in the bag. That was a mistake as I usually scrutinize fish very well before I take them. If I could catch him, I can cure him in a couple of days but I have to go through setting up a tank, and all that. They are an interesting loking fish but eat a lot and are so skinny (which is why they are called Razor fish) that they need to eat at least 3 times a day. I have been having a hard time getting good brine shrimp eggs and have 3 vials of them that hardly hatch. I received new eggs yesterday so Ihopefully I will have better luck. I have been hatching shrimp for probably fifty years on and off but constantly, every day for the last 10 or 15 years. I ususlly hatch them twice a day because of all the shrimp eaters I have
Paul B
Well-Known Member
This week I was asked to help some engineering students to design machine to connect to subway trains in Manhattan to pick up garbage on the tracks. These students are supposed to be in an advanced class for gifted engineering students so I was honored to be asked to help them. They have a $10,000.00 budget and already spent half of that on failed prototypes, I hope I can help them.
Pat24601
Well-Known Member
Sounds fun! Keep us up to speed on what you come up with.
Paul B
Well-Known Member
I eat fish almost every day but they are dead before I eat them. I talk to them about my old girlfriends and bore them to death. Then I eat them. But the fish in my tank live long and prosper and are very lucky because almost all of them are spawning. So my fish know life's pleasures while I am slaving and driving through snow to get them worms for dinner. I just got them lunch and took this picture of my house just before I parked. By the way, on my way home from the LFS on the highway. The Jiboni in front of me in a silly car without 4 wheel drive spins out of control right in front of me and stops facing me on the road. This is what I go through for my fish
I just took this picture of my house.
I just took this picture of my house.
