Project 58!! (Image intense)

[Gina]

Maxx,
That is an awesome looking fish! Can't wait for you to get him!!

[Maxx]

Originally posted by Brucey Lou and Drew are fab matey. He's growing SO quick. 5 months old now. Wedding a mere 10 weeks away. How are your plans going ???

We dont have any kids.......yet...but a friend of ours does. Sophia will be one year old on Saturday Jan 22, 2005. I cannot believe she has grown so fast. I can only imagine what your amazing lil monkey will be doing in the next few months. Hope you're already saving for college, cause you've only got a few weeks before he's asking to borrow the R-1 and graduating with a degree!
Our plans are coming along. I wish we had been able to just run off to Mexico like we had initially planned....but unfortunately some folks we would really like to have come to the wedding couldnt make it if we did. So we're just gonna honeymoon in Mexico! (Always have a plan B!) Thanks for the info on your experiances with the Tomini. Hopefully mine will come in as small as yours.

Originally posted by Tarasco Are you worried about any sort of aggression between the Royal Gramma and Blackcap? I've heard of people keeping both, but usually in bigger tanks.

Nah...I've done this before in a 30 gallon. The trick is to make sure to get two of the smallest individuals possible, and introduce them at the same time. No dominance, no turf wars, no problem. Of course, I've now just jinxed myself something fierce.....but I'm honestly not expecting any real issues.
I will definately post up pics of the Tomini when it is acclimated.

Originally posted by Gina That is an awesome looking fish! Can't wait for you to get him!!

I cant wait either Gina. Been thinking about it all night!
Just hafta wait another 24 hours. It should be getting shipped out today, and arriving sometime early Saturday. The only thing I'm worried about is whether or not it was caugth with cyanide. Tomini's come from around the philipines and that still goes on from time to time. I dont think it will have been as LiveAquaria has a good reputation, but its still in the back of my mind....I'll find out soon.

Nick

[mps9506]

Originally Posted by Maxx

Just hafta wait another 24 hours. It should be getting shipped out today, and arriving sometime early Saturday. The only thing I'm worried about is whether or not it was caugth with cyanide. Tomini's come from around the philipines and that still goes on from time to time. I dont think it will have been as LiveAquaria has a good reputation, but its still in the back of my mind....I'll find out soon.

Nick

Unfortunately LOTS of fish in the phillipines are still cyanide captured.
It is out of liveaquaria's control, out of everyone's control in the US until fish from that area are not allowed in the country and we pressure the country to place regulations on the use of cyanide in capturing marine fish.

That being said, every tomini I have ever had com through my store was healthy. This is because they come from Bali and Sulawesi (Indonesia), Solomon Islands, and Palau. Last week I had one come in from Palau and it looked great.

[addict]

Wow, Nick!

Sorry I missed this thread right when you were doing it all up... but I must say that things are looking great!

Your ocean's motions device has me looking into a cls now myself.

That looks like a pretty cool little tang too... hope you're able to find one.

Now I'll be impatiently waiting for your next installment.

Once again, nice job!

[Maxx]

LiveAquaria just sent me an email saying the tang just shipped out. Should be here sometime tomorrow. Fed-Ex doesnt have their website updated yet to show the package. Its been pretty cold here lately, and the delivery promptness and accuracy of Fed-Ex is legendary here in STL, so I'm having to ship to the nearest Fed-Ex station and I'll pick it up there. Hopefully noon-ish.
Nick

[mojoreef]

Thats a great addition Nick, good for you. They are tireless pickers, I have see two tanks that actually had schools of them. neat little tangs.


Mike

[addict]

Sounds cool.

Can't wait to see pix.

[Maxx]

Well after an annoying experiance with Fed-Ex, I got the tang back home.

Heres a summary from Fed-Ex:


Jan 21, 2005.......2:16 pm Picked up by FedEx in HAWTHORNE CA
Jan 21, 2005.......6:28 pm Left FedEx Origin Location in HAWTHORNE CA
Jan 21, 2005.......7:40 pm Arrived at FedEx Sort Facility in LOS ANGELES CA
Jan 21, 2005.......7:45 pm Left Sort Facility in LOS ANGELES CA

Jan 22, 2005.......1:26 am Arrived at Sort Facility in MEMPHIS TN
Jan 22, 2005.......4:07 am Left FedEx Sort Facility in MEMPHIS TN
Jan 22, 2005.......5:52 am Arrived at FedEx Ramp BERKELEY MO
Jan 22, 2005.......7:30 am Held at FedEx location for recipient pickup in ST. LOUIS MO
Jan 22, 2005....... 7:36 am Arrived at FedEx Destination Location in ST. LOUIS MO
Jan 22, 2005.......8:16 am Held at FedEx location for recipient pickup in ST. LOUIS MO
Jan 22, 2005....... 9:01 am- Delivered


Looks pretty simple and straightforward huh?, Not so much....

I knew I was going to be working Thursday and Friday so I requested that the fish be kept at a Fed-Ex station for holding so I could pick it up. This way it wouldnt be out in the cold bouncing around in a truck for umteen bazillion hours until the driver found my house. I had had previous problems with Fed-Ex where some of my dry goods (ordered overnight-express-be-there-the-very-next-damn-day-pay-more-for-shipping-service) and gotten them 2 days later, and in one case it was delivered to a house on the OTHER FREAKIN END OF THE BLOCK!!! HELLO!!!! THIS IS WHY PEOPLE PUT NUMBERS IN FRONT OF THEIR HOUSES!!! ITS CALLED AN ADDRESS!!! (Thank God he didnt need an Oceans Motions 4 way unit...although he did wonder what the heck it was...I told him it was a morphine pump and let him wonder.) So, rather than hope the Fed-Ex driver was on the right combination of medication this week, I decided to have it held at a local Fed-Ex facility so I could pick it up when it arrived. This should have been fairly simple.

I got home from work this morning at 6:45 am, and immediately looked on the website to see if my fish had arrived. The web site stated that it had arrived at 5:52 am, at the airport which is 30 minutes away. I was excited at getting the fish, and since it had been in a bag since noon-ish the day before, I didnt mind driving out to the Airport to go get it. So I started to look for a phone number for the Fed-Ex facility at the Airport. I figured I'd give em a call, see if they could locate it fairly quickly, and go get it. This would be better for the fish since it would be starting to acclimate instead of sitting in a cold warehouse, and I might be able to get some sleep today. (My day was already planned out by my fiance....we had an appointment with a bakery to check out wedding cakes, and a close friend was hosting their daughters 1st birthday in the afternoon...so the sooner I could get this done, the sooner I could get some sleep...like maybe 3 hours. Not every one can live like Craig Manukian and survive on 3 hours a week and still be friendly. I was going to be required to be polite to people this afternoon. I needed some sleep!)

Unfortunately, I wasnt able to find a number for Fed-Ex......anywhere. Evidently they have a new policy. No phone numbers. Period. If you think I'm joking try and find a phone number. I did a google search. Found the Fed-Ex website...no number. Did a Yahoo search. Same results.
So I checked the Phone book. I figured it was pretty stupid not to have your phone numbers listed on a website, but hey, I'm a big boy and I remember how life was before the internet.
So I dug out the Phone book........no dice. 15 minutes later, I was cussing up a storm. Rocio woke up and was wondering what the heck was going on. I apologized for waking her up, and explained what was going on. Bless her heart, she tried to help. She couldnt find it either. She said she was tired and went back to bed.
I gave up and called information. I hate spending money for some one to give me a phone number that I should be able to find on my own. Its only a buck or two, but its the principle of the thing.
So Information gave me 1-800-463-3339. I called...got some annoying long convoluted automated directory...and finally got to speak to a human. All I wanted to do was to make sure the fish was still there. The site where the fish was originally scheduled to get picked up by me was closer to my house, (about 10 minutes if I caught every light wrong), and I didnt want to go to the Airport and find out the fish was waiting for me at the facility by my house. I got a representative on the phone who said they didnt even know if the fish had arrived yet. For all they knew it could still be in LA. I explained that the package was listed on the website as having landed in St Louis, and asked for the phone number for the Airport location of Fed-Ex so I could call and avoid passing it in transit. He told me that Fed-Ex no longer gave out phone numbers for their facilities, they ran everything through Call Centers like the one he was in...in Canada. I asked if there was a way to contact the Airport Facility and have them tell me if it was there or not. He said he would send them an email (WTF!!!!!) and make sure they called me when they got a chance. He said this was the way the company did things now and everything would be fine. Then he hung up. I waited for about 20 minutes. (I've mentioned I'm not real good at this patience thing.......right?) And then I called again. I got a woman this time who got a little hostile. (Keep in mind that Customer Service Reps often get kicked and spit on verbally by the people they talk to on the phones) So I took a step back...tried to calm down, and start over. I explained I hadnt had any sleep and what I was trying to find out...etc.....she also said there was no way I could get a phone number, and she would also email them.
Yay for my side. It was now about 7:30 and I was getting baffled by Fed-Ex's refusal to give out phone numbers for their facilities. I could understand if I was trying to get their home phone numbers, but just a freakin business contact number????
More time went on......

I got more psychotic and was getting convinced that Fed-Ex was the Anti-Christ...or at least really, really evil.

At 8:10 am, I called a third time, and finaly spoke to some one with a soul. This very polite man told me that the fish was at the city location near my house and I could go get it. He was very helpful and polite. I'm definately going to send his boss a letter, (or maybe an email. I dont know if they will give out a physical mailing addresses any more either.) telling him how helpful this guy was during all of this. Rocio is a customer service representative for a big health insurance company and works from home. I have heard some amazingly rude people on the phone with her, so I know how little appreciation or positive recognition these folks get.
I raced to the city location of Fed-Ex just wanting to get the fish, get it acclimated, and go to bed. I got there at 8:32 am. I know this becuase the guy behind the counter wouldnt open the door until 9 am....which is when they were regularly scheduled to open. Why didnt any of the 3 people I spoke with on the phone tell me this wasnt a 24 hour facility??? I wound up sitting in the parking lot of Fed-Ex for 30 minutes waiting for them to open.....and putting a curse on all Fed-Ex employees that causes it to burn when they pee.
At 9:00, they opened, I went in and picked up the fish. 20 minutes later it was floating in the bag in my tank.
THE MORAL OF ALL OF THIS IS:
If you elect to have an animal or any other perishable item held for you to pick up at a facility of any sort, Fed-Ex or not, MAKE SURE ITS OPEN 24 HOURS OR LEARN WHAT THE HOURS OF OPERATION ARE!!

I'm going to be thinking long and hard about using Fed-Ex ever again.

I was hoping for a small tang. IME, smaller, (Juvenile), fish adapt better to captivity than the larger ,(adults). And I had heard that Live Aquaria usually shipped these fish slightly larger than the advertised 2-1/2" to 3-1/2" in size.
What I got was roughly the size of a quarter, with fins!! This little critter was swimming along just fine. I floated it the bag in the tank for about 20 minutes. Then I poured it into a pitcher, and placed the pitcher in my sump. This would keep the fish away from curious dogs, and keep the temp relatively stable. I used some airline tubing, tied two knots in it to slow the water flow through to a couple drips a second and chilled out for about half an hour. At 9:50 am I removed about half the water in the pitcher and discarded it. At 10:25 I did it again. At 10:45 I was amazingly tired, (been up since 11:30 am the day before) and pulled the tang out of the sump. I discarded 3/4 of the water in the pitcher and poured the rest of it, and the tang, into the tank. Then I went to bed.

I'll spare everyone the horrific details of the wedding cake tasting and selection, (Just in case anyone was wondering....if your fiance ever asks what kind of cake you want for the wedding, she really doesnt care what you want. She's just being polite. Its also not funny to anyone but you, if you answer that question with:
"Whatever is big enough for a stripper to pop out of."

I told her the little voice that was sposed to keep that thought inside was still sleeping....but I dont think she bought it.)

Nick

[Maxx]

Here are the pics of the Tiny Tomini Tang:









I know it looks like I have the worlds largest Loc-Line segments in my tank, but I swear they are only 3/4 of an inch in diameter.

BTW he's already picking on the algea and rocks. I can see several spots he's completely cleaned out on the cutting board bottom. It kinda looks like a shotgun went off in those areas....little round BB sized mouth prints.

I gotta say...it was worth it and I would order from Live Aquaria again. But Fed-Ex.......
Well......
I still hope it burns when they pee.

Nick

[Gina]

Nick,
I have to say, you are truly one of the best story tellers I have ever come upon! I still remember the squirrel story!
I can only imagine just how pi$$ed you must have been! Good story though, I was laughing so hard. I especially liked the pacing cat!!

I also don't understand how a business the size of Fed-Ex would not have phone numbers available to the public anymore...what the heck is that?
I'm glad that he arrived ok! I started to get worried that you would end up finding him floating!

He is so cute! How's he holding up with your flow?

Happy all worked out well in the end for the fish and yourself!
Keep us posted on how he does!

[mps9506]

Maxx,
Sorry bout your experience with fed ex. Last time I got my livestock shipped I did the same thing, but the company I got my livestock from sent me the phone number and address of the fed ex holding station. Maybe Live Aquaria could have let you know (I know this is advice a little too late )
We don't have 24 hour facilities of any type around here at all. MY stores fish shipments sometimes arrive on a plane at midnight and we can't pick em up until 9 am the next day when airports cargo pickup opens. They are only open 9-5. Same with Fed ex here, most of the good online dealers can time their shipments so it arrives early morning and your livestock isn't sitting around longer than it needs to.

I can't believe how tiny that tang is. Good luck with it, hope it isn't too small to acclimate to capivity well.

[Maxx]

Mike, Thanks for the info. I'm currently looking for a good snail cleanup crew to aid my tang in his duties....And Fed-Ex seems to be the shipper of choice, so I might be forced to use them again. Sigh...I will look and see if they have a 24 hour facility in the area.
Yeah, it is a tiny tang, but it's already chowing down on the algae. I dont think it will have any trouble acclimating to captivity. IME the smaller/younger fish generally do better than larger/older fish.

I wish I had a better camera, its got small orange "freckles" on the face and head. They stop just at the gill plate

I got some chaeto from a local reefer here.....hopefully will have pods and other bugs starting a population here soon.

Nick

[mps9506]

True most fish adapt to captivity better at a smaller size, but many small fish have trouble overcoming the stresses of capture and shipping. Angels are a great example. You don't want to purchase an adult centropyge angel, but at teh same time you don't want to purchase a tiny one as they are fairly fragile.
I don't know a great deal about the Tomini's, the one I got in two weeks ago was about 3 inches long.

[mps9506]

BTW, It seems everyone that ships livestock agrees that fedex seems to be a better choice than UPS or USPS.
If you got a reef club in your area you might want to see about doing a group order. I've been spliting orders with the local reef club from Keys Critters. They have a $100 min order but give pretty much same prices or better than wholesale.

[Maxx]

Yeah, Keys Critters does have the best prices, but in order to get a 100$ order I have to order 16 times what I need. Its too bad ya cant just freeze snails and thaw em out when ya need em.
Nick