Tank Thread Tank reached 38 years old...in 2009!

[Paul B]

Feeder video. Notice how pregnant the pipefish is.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wis...tbzmszow1hiv04&google_view_type#gpluscomments

 

[Paul B]

Just after Thanksgiving I had a hand operation. If you worked construction for 40 years and your joints still work, you didn't work hard enough. One finger (the one I use to point at Supermodels) was becoming stuck in the bent position so I went in to have it fixed. They "fixed" my knee at the same time. Well, the knee surgery didn't do anything and neither did the hand surgery. If I see a Supermodel now, I will have to point with my foot or chin.
The surgeon sent me for hand therapy and all that. Even the Supermodel in the therapists office massaging my hand couldn't fix it so I went in today to see a "different" surgeon. This guy only does hands. The other guy did arms, legs, ears, teeth and anything that ails you so I figure I would go to a guy who only does hands.
The nurse comes in and asks me all the silly questions, things like "Do you use your right hand much?" and "what do you use it mostly for?" "how soon would you like it fixed?". I said, "I don't have to comb my hair but if someone was hitting you in the face with a hammer, would you like him to slow down, or stop?".
Then she takes me for an X Ray. The Doctor comes in and he is a little older than my Grand Son. He bends my finger around a little asking me if this hurts and if that hurts. Now there isn't any part of my hand that doesn't hurt.
He says, We have three options. I can give you a cortisone shot in the finger. I ask, "does that ever work?" He says, "No". Then he says "We can try putting me on steroids for two weeks" I ask, "Does that ever work?" He says "Usually not, but it may make me fat" So another surgery it is. This time they are not going to knock me out so they can ask me stupid things while they cut open my hand, maybe tell some knock knock jokes.
This week I need to work on my boat outdrives to get them ready because I won't be able to use my right hand for a few weeks so if I need to pick my nose, I will have to use my toe.

 

[Paul B]

In a few weeks my boat will be in the water and it will be amphipod hunting season. The early summer is when they are free swimming and possibly breeding but I really don't know. I do know that there are so many of them at that time that all I have to do is put my arm in the water (in a tide pool at low tide) and I am covered in them. If I anchor my boat, the anchor line is full of them. I normally hang a frayed rope off my dock and it becomes filled with amphipods. To me, this is very important as is all live foods. Not just for the obvious health benefit of feeding live food, but more importantly for the living (wild) bacteria in their guts. I feel this is the main reason my fish seem to be immune from everything so far so I will keep collecting and feeding live foods. Of course I still feed live blackworms and earthworms for the same reason.

 

[DSNYshellback]

Best of luck with the surgery Paul!! Supermodels don't like it when you point with your chin One day I'm going to have to go find a dock for the amphipods.

 

[Paul B]

Where you live, you can go down to the Jetty at Fort Totten at low tide. You can probably find some there

 

[DSNYshellback]

Where you live, you can go down to the Jetty at Fort Totten at low tide. You can probably find some there

Forgot to update that. I'm in Oceanside now. I'm sure there's a place nearby with all the canals or even in long Beach. Just not sure if I trust the water enough.

 

[Paul B]

You won't find any on the south shore. You need to go to the north shore, like Bar Beach. If you don't trust the water, Who can you trust? :biggrin:

 

[Paul B]

A fishes Lateral Line system. (By me)
http://www.saltwatersmarts.com/wish-were-fish-with-lateral-line-system-6482/

 

[Paul B]

I had my second hand surgery yesterday because I guess the first one was only practice. Now they tell me they have it down to a science. My right hand is bandaged from my knuckles almost to my elbow. It is amazing how many times you need your right hand during the day. Luckily I am used to this from my last hand surgery 3 months ago. If this works, I will be as good as new. Not as good as I was 30 years ago, but good enough. It's a good thing that I don't have to comb my hair but holding a tooth brush is a little of a challenge, but nothing I can't manage. I just put the brush in the vise, bite on it and move my face back and forth. Today I cleaned the glass on my tank and noticed that everything is still alive. I saw some fish I thought were gone as that seems to happen a lot lately. I am not sure if I am just senile and the fish have always been there or they go into another dimension for a while. But they are all back and eating all the clams and worms I can buy. I can't open clams for a while so they will have to live on Mysis and worms for a couple of weeks.
My algae scrubber keeps getting full of slimy algae but I cleaned it the day before surgery so I am good for a couple of weeks.
I have a speaking engagement in September that I am excited about because it is in Boston and we have friends there that we will visit.
This is in the mangrove roots on Key Largo.

 

[Paul B]

I have been experimenting with this little anemone crab for a couple of months by giving him a live blackworm every day. At first he just looked at me like I was crazy and continued filter feeding. But now he comes out for the worm as soon as he sees the feeder and grabs the worm. He also gave up living on corals and prefers to stay in this spot on the rock. He doesn't seem to filter feed any more which is good because these crabs don't usually live long in a tank. I assume they don't usually get enough food. But I will see how long he will live on worms. I want to get a few more of them so they will mate.

This is him when I got him.

 

[Paul B]

Taking pictures.

It's almost impossible to get a picture of this guy
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[fritz]

Nice Paul, I haven't been on since 2009! Nice to see this still going and going and going.

 

[Paul B]

Thank you Fritz. Nice to see you.

Andy, what is that red fish, I keep forgetting.

 

[LongIslandAndy]

Thank you Fritz. Nice to see you.

Andy, what is that red fish, I keep forgetting.

Hi Paul, he is Geometric Pygmy Hawkfish. It's latin name is Plectranthias inermis. He is a perchlet and is closer to being an anthias than a hawkfish

 

[Paul B]

OK, a perchlet. Never heard of it. But it is very cool and as you know, I only buy cool fish.

 

[Paul B]

That little orange pygmy hawkfish comes out "near" the front now. I am not sure why he is getting over his fear of other company as he is not bad looking. My male bluestripe disappears for a week at a time and I always think I lost him, but again, today he came out in the front, smiling and pregnant as always. For a few days I couldn't find one of my bangai cardinals or my clingfish. I really don't know where these fish go and why they go there. But today after a nice meal of clams and blackworms, they all showed up. It looks like my bangai has a mouth full of eggs which is why he can stay hidden as he doesn't have to eat. My tank is not that big but it is 6' long and built into a wall under a staircase so about 3/4s of the back of the tank I don't have access to and never know what goes on back there. They may be having a Hoedown or flea market but whatever they do, they stay there for a week at a time. There is food everywhere in my tank because I don't believe in sterility. I am also not one to worry if I dump things in from the sea as I don't have to quarantine because I keep my fish immune. (Yes I realize many people think I am lucky, it is what it is) But having a little mulm and algae in some places in the tank goes a long way in keeping fish healthy. Especially if you want to keep mandarins, bleenies and pipefish. That stuff you buy commercially to feed them once a day is often not enough so it is nice to have someplace for them to hunt and maybe find a snack. I also realize many of us worry about nitrates and such. I think we should get over that if we want healthy fish. Deal with nitrates separately if you care about that, but don't starve your fish as most fish in captivity are starving. Like I always say, healthy fish are spawning fish as fish in the sea "always" spawn. I mean constantly. And if they are not in spawning condition, they are not very healthy as that is a totally un natural condition for any fish to be in. Unless of course it is a male. Then he should be chasing girls. :teeth:

 

[Paul B]

My Bangai cardinals are full size. Actually a little larger than what their adult size of 3" is supposed to be according to Wikipedia encyclopedia. His dorsal streamer that goes off the picture is about 3" long. These fish are about as healthy as they can be in a tank. I can determine that by the fact that they are spawning, they are immune and they are old. These fish do look a lot better when they are young because their fins are longer. As they grow, their bodies grow faster than their fins. They are a very nice fish and about as peaceful a fish as you can get. I wish they would breed more of them commercially because they are so easy to breed and even the babies are very easy to grow. Probably the easiest fish to propagate sort of like guppies.
They do require a lot of meaty food and it is hard to feed them correctly in a tank with coral because of this fact. Their huge mouth can fit large pieces of clam which is what I normally feed them but they will eat anything meaty. They are a very slow fish and you really should put their food right near their face. I also think this one may be getting cataracts or the fish equivalent. This happens to a lot of fish with big eyes in a tank. Squirrelfish and puffers are susceptible as they age too because in the sea they spend most of their time under overhangs. (Squirrelfish are almost always under something) If you keep them in a dimmer tank for a while it seems to clear up. I Don't think it is severe and I can't catch these fish so I will just let them live out their life as they are. I am not sure how long they live but I would imagine (and this is just a very wild guess) 8 or 9 years for a cardinal this size. If someone has them for a long time I would like to know as I can't find that out. have had these types of cardinals since they were discovered but I don't keep records and the fishes memory is probably better than mine.

 

[Paul B]

My arrow crab has a little nose cyano problem.

 

[Paul B]

Fireclowns spawned again last night. I think they spawn every month or five weeks.
I don't get to excited when clowns spawn because they will spawn by eating cardboard as long as you put a picture of a worm on it.
I am a little excited that he is about 25 years old and she is about 17 or so. I really don't know how long they live but it's probably around 30 years.

 

[Paul B]

I designed a slightly different venture valve for my DIY skimmer than the one I was using. My existing one used a neoprene washer inside and after many years it rotted. This one has a better design inside and has a smooth bore and a better method of producing small bubbles. I know it works better because as soon as I turned it on, my skimmer overflowed all over the place. It cost about a buck.