The next few sets of pictures are the things that we had bought. As I sit here and look at all the things I think how lucky we were to not have experienced mass losses. It is unbelievable the corals we had that we should not have and how we would usually find out and luckily be able to pass it on to someone else before it would die.
You can see our cleaner shrimp, Shrimpie, which gave us quite a laugh the first time he molted. I had been sitting in my chair perched in front of the tank watching him wander around when I saw another set of antennas behind the rock. I called Jack over show him the new shrimp I found that must have come in on a rock. We both stood there peering through the rock and Jack put a pinch of food in the tank to try to coax him out. Well, everything came out except our new found inhabitant. After another attempt Jack reaches in and touches his antennas. There was with no response so he reaches back in and picks the thing up while I am sitting there saying, honey, he can’t breathe. :duh: Oh yeah, shrimp molt!
Another picture is our scooter blenny, Benny. He is difficult to see in this picture, but if you look at the mushrooms (in the center) and look up and to the left a bit you will see him perched there planning his next route. I loved this fish. We both thought it was the coolest fish in the world. 90% of the time I was watching Benny. I loved watching him hop from rock to rock, swim to the top and just kind of drift down. The rock in the right back corner of the tank was one of his favorite places, Jack called this rock the sea tree and Benny would often climb to the top and hop his way back down. When you would hear one of us say “wheeee” you knew Benny was jumping from the tree. Benny was a pod eater and was eventually one of our losses.
The little mushrooms were also a first and are still among the tank inhabitants today. I didn’t care too much for the rics and mushrooms at first, but as time went by they became one of my favorites and am always on the look out for unusual colored rics.