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

[rhdoug]

Wow I wish I was closer to you, my harlequin shrimp ate all of mine and are hungry!

 

[Paul B]

I could have given you a few hundred.

 

[Paul B]

I just looked up UG filters for 125 gallon tanks and they are getting hard to find. I need one for my move and I don't have time to build one. I am sure they still make them, I just need a little more time to search.
I will also get a 125 gallon tank. Initially I will use my water cooled LED lights but I may have to add another string of LEDs to light the thing properly.

My 3 powerheads will be fine at first and I hope to bring all my rocks and corals but I am sure I will lose quite a few corals especially the montiora's because they are so delicate I broke most of them already and thy are laying all over the place. They grow fast so I am not concerned.

I will also have to make a list of my fish so I don't miss any. Most of them are small and hide all over the place, I may even find some under the UG filter that I haven't seen in years. That would be cool.

 

[Paul B]

I got another one of these guys to help my other one eat asternia starfish. I have not seen either of them. I think they are in the back "Mushing it up" as my Mother called it. But I need them eating not "Mushing it up".
If they wanted to do that, they should have stayed in the store.



I haven't seen these guys in a few months but this week I see them. They got much bigger so they shed. They love eating new born brine shrimp and do this little macarana dance when I squirt some near them. They also love a live worm every day for dessert.



This guy also loves baby shrimp but after the shrimp are gone he trys to eat anything that is floating by which is mainly bubbles. He has been catching bubbles for months. I would imagine that would be a good way for us to lose weight.


This guy colored up nicely in the few months I have him




As did this guy who I am very partial to.



These guys spawn like every three and a half minutes. It's unbelievable. They don't even have to spawn because the female is always so full, that she "Leaks" eggs all over the place.




This guy loves to eat pieces of clam. I never told him he is a vegetarian. I got him as a tiny baby but I don't remember where or when. (That was a song title)
I am sure it was many years ago because I don't remember not having him. But I don't remember much

 

[Paul B]

Speaking of eating: I remember some guys in Viet Nam tried the Beatles, but I passed on that because C Rations were so delicious. Guys in the Army do all sorts of stupid things. In training for Gas warfare they gave us this really big hypodermic needle that we were supposed to stick in our leg when they yelled "GAS".

It wasn't really gas (i know that because the drill instructors didn't have gas masks on) and since I went to high school and everything, I knew that. So they yelled "GAS" and everybody dropped to the ground and stuck this ice pick looking thing into their leg. Everybody except me of course because of that high school thing. I made sure I was near a tree when they yelled "GAS" so I was able to stick the thing into the tree and break the needle off, then I put it on my leg like it was stuck there and I screamed in pain. (I am a good actor)

No one found out. Like I can't believe there are so many people stupid enough to fall for that.

It's like when I got certified for SCUBA diving. We were in this very muddy lagoon here in NY. It was about 20' deep with zero viability. We were supposed to swim around the boat four times and every time we passed the instructor we had to show him the handful of bottom mud that we just swam down to the scurvy bottom to get.
Everyone, except me of course, swam down to the bottom 4 times to get mud. I just carried the same mud that I grabbed on my first dive and kept swimming around. High school paid off.

 

[Paul B]

Yesterday we had a house guest overnight. One of my wife's friends that she knows all her life. We also invited 2other people and I made a fantastic meal of stuffed calamari, Cippilini (Italian onions pronounced Choopalines)
Grilled eggplant (sliced as thin as potato chips with a garlic balsamic reduction) risotto and a big pot of Manhattan Clam Chowder. (my specialty) with fresh clams and some fresh Italian bread with great wines.
To make this about my tank, my fish got some extra clam and squid pieces, but not much. They were still hungry so I let them eat cake.

 

[Paul B]

I have so many whiteworms I don't know what to do with all of them. They really seem to like grain bread much better than regular whole wheat or rye. I got 1,675,327 worms and thats just the adults. I have twice that many youngsters and I have no idea how many babies. My mandarin thinks he died and went to fish heaven. And I accidentally dropped some in my container with about 200 asternia stars and they are still alive 4 days later.
I am not sure how long they live in seawater but maybe they live forever.
We had our last open house today and got three great offers so it looks like tomorrow we will pick the highest one and sell the house.

 

[Paul B]

So one more person was coming to the house today with a real estate broker to see if they want to buy the place.

So as I am waiting for them my wife and I are doing last minute straightening out although my house is so clean you could do an appendectomy on my floor. Anyway they were arriving any minute.
We have a very nice finished basement here where my tank is, my workshop, the boiler room, wash room etc and I like to show it off.
(I built part of the ceiling with aluminum slats from the World Trade Center because I worked on the construction of it in the 70s.

Anyway, I see the people park outside and they start walking up my walkway. I figured I would go downstairs to put the lights on because the real estate agent always tells me to put all the lights on.
The people ring the bell as I try to go downstairs, I reach for the door knob and it turns, BUT THE DOOR WONT OPEN. OMG!!!!. I yell for my wife to TAKE THEN UPSTAIRS. As they go up the stairs I get a knife and try to open the door.

It won't open. Usually you can push in the striker on a door and it will open. But Nope, It won't budge.....OMG again. I yell up to tell my wife to tell the people about the central vacuum system.
My tools are in my workshop downstairs, and I CANT get downstairs. The knife isn't working. I yell up to tell my wife to EXPLAIN THE BACK DECK TO THEM....
I run outside to my garage to get a big screwdriver, as I come in, I yell for my wife to SHOW THEM THE STORAGE SPACES......AAAAAAHhhhhhhh!!!!!

I hear their footsteps coming down the stairs, My wife ran out of things to show them, my hands are shaking,,,,,I am sweating,,,,,,,OMG,,OMG,, they get to the bottom of the stairs,,,,, and just as they were about to turn their heads in my direction, the door pops open.

I quickly hide the screwdriver behind my back while being careful not to close the door. They go downstairs and OOh and AAH about the fish tank, new boiler, solar panels, and every thing else.

We have lived here almost 40 years, that door never had a problem and I practically live down there. What are the chances a real estate agent would show up at the exact moment the door breaks. I didn't have half a second to spare.

 

[Paul B]

If I was not home and they went downstairs, they would have been stuck there because from that side, there is no way to open the door without smashing it, and people buying a house frown on that sort of thing. :wacko:?

 

[Paul B]

I am so happy, Cono on here picked up my Christmas Decorations. Now they can live on.

 

[albano]

Did you lock him in the basement till he agreed to take them?

 

[cono]

Hey held me for a bit but then the supermodel showed up and he asked if I could leave ....lolol

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[Paul B]

She hates it when I lock people in the basement.

 

[Paul B]

OMG something happened that I have not seen in decades. A dead fish inside the tank. I normally find them on the floor. It was the female stripped cardinal.
It was hanging, stuck on a thread from a spaghetti worm. How appropriate as I love spaghetti.

Yesterday she was eating and spawning, or trying to spawn anyway. She constantly spawns and the male never leaves her alone.
I removed her to do an autopsy because she looked very healthy and not hardly old enough to die of old age. The only thing about her was that she was filled with eggs. A little to much I thought.
The autopsy revealed perfectly clear gills, no internal problems, no cuts, bruises or infections but she was egg bound. That is what killed her and for some reason that has happened a few times in my tank. I lost 2 female mandarins that were egg bound.

I don't know if it has to do with the fact that fish in a confined tank are just constantly harassed by males and they can't get away or they spawn to much because of the constant harassment.
I never read anything on why some fish become egg bound in a tank but if the fish can't lay the eggs, they start to rot and expand causing the internal organs to become compressed.

I think thats a flaw in the design of all fish due to the enormous amount of eggs they carry and I assume sometimes they either form more eggs than can fit or one or more eggs die and start to decompose infecting the rest of them.
At least it is interesting and gives me something to research. I will not replace her now because I am moving and will probably lost a lot or everything soon.

 

[4Fish]

Have faith. I moved my tank 4 years ago, and lost nothing. Even my sponges survived by carefully placing live rock in crates ensuring they were submerged in water at all times. I must admit, I will never, ever, ever, ever do that again.....

 

[Paul B]

I have faith, I am not sure the real estate who is selling my house has faith so I may be in limbo for a few weeks.

 

[Paul B]

I am going to take down my worm tank because of the move. I have so many white worms now that I can use them for a while. I will set up the black worms in the new place if I have a reliable source for them. I wil also make another white worm tank as they grow very fast and are easier to take care of at least until I re build my workshop which will probably take a year or two.
I ordered red wood for my new stand. Redwood warps the least out of the lumber except for cedar which is very weak. The legs will be pressure treated 4X4s.

 

[Paul B]

New
My wife is great. I see a lot of posts where men have trouble buying things because their wife has other plans, but so far, in 45 or so years, my wife has never said anything about what I spend on the tank or even my collection of Speedo's.

She even bought me many of the fish, pumps, ozonizers and other things and her Mother (rest in peace) bought me the tank. Of course we are moving soon and need to rent a tractor trailer to move her shoes.
Maybe she has a boy friend :scratch:

 

[Koyfam16]

Paul, I?m in the same boat. My wife and I bought enjoy the hobby. She does a little more than I do at times.
If she had her way, we would have a 500 gallon tank in our basement!


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[Paul B]

Thats a great wife. My wife will sometimes ask me if "that" fish is new. And I will say, "No" it's been in there for 10 years.

The beginnings of my Industrial/Steam Punk King size bed for my new home. It still needs stain, more wheels, a middle, other side, etc. The wall behind the bed will be barn wood from a barn and I am building a barn door in the center. This will be finished like that. I already beat up the wood. I think it will look very cool.
With the mattress on all you will see is 4" of those 4X6 lumber on the sides and ends.
It will look like a giant, industrial dolly with steel wheels.