New Aquarium Setup

We've had a small 300mm cube tank setup now for several weeks. In the last couple of weeks, there has been a persistent green algae bloom that didn't want to back down. Cloudy green water... There was also a strain of green string algae that I could barely control. I had two sword plants in the tank and the string algae would colonize on the leaves of the sword plant, then I would have to cut the swamped leaves off. Needless to say, not a very attractive tank setup. Yesterday I decided it was time to start over. Well, the starting over part turned out to be more than just wholesale cleaning the tank. The plants came out. I replaced the gravel. Scraped the inner walls. Changed out the entire filter (not just the pad). And perhaps the biggest change, there are now neon artificial plants in the tank. In all my years of keeping fish (on and off since high school) I have never had tanks that did not try to replicate natural scenes. I went as cheesy as I could get. La even commented that it was inevitable looking at the trends - inflatable SUPs, boogie boards, thinning down stuff - we've changed our view on life and we have gotten less serious and less conscientious about "stuff". I didn't think our new chapter in life would open up with the regeneration of a small fish tank.

Project Sunday - The Dirty Work

Water and filter change on the aquarium. Not one of those things I look forward to - but the kids like doing it. I'll have to appoint them the official water changers next time.

Sucker Puffer

We went to Biloxi for the day to run errands and the Fish Shop in Keesler had to be stopped in.

We had been talking to the shop guy for sometime now about getting a small porcupine puffer, but everytime we've stopped by, they didn;t have any. Well this time they did.

We weren't planning to get another one (we got one when the last batch of fish came in - the Humuhumunukunukuapua'a, the three stripe damsels and a medium sized puffer), but since our current one was being ultra shy and not eating, and since the kids were cooing over it soooooo much, what's another $29.99????

Well, this one is eating like a pig and has even managed to draw out the first one (albeit still reclusive).

We ate lunch at one of the seafood joints along 90 on the beach - been there done that and won't be going back (I could have cooked that food with both my hands tied behind my back - not impressive at all).

Another good fishy day!

Crustacean Parole

There is a 125 gallon saltwater tank at the breakroom at my office. When the crew goes on training dives, sometimes they bring back some denizens of the deep and they get temporarily holed up.

This guy has been in the tank for almost 6 months. He's molted 3 times but hasn't grown much. We don't do nearly the amount of water changes that we should (or chemical additions) to sustain a spiny lobster. He's slowly been losing his dark coloring (lack of some minerals that he would normally pull from the water).

SO, today I fished him out of the tank and set him FREE!!! Sting would be so proud (free, free, set them free).

Aloha spiny lobster dude! Next time I see you, you better run!

Procreating

Not me - my mated pair of Solomon Islands Gold-Striped Maroon Clownfish (Premnas biaculatus) also known as the Spine-Cheeked Clownfish.

In the middle of the picture is their 7th clutch of eggs. Every two weeks these two have gotten it on and the result is about 150-200 offspring. They hatch out about 1.5 weeks later (only to become fish food - aaaahhhh the food chain is such an unmerciful force).

The other picture is my prized Giant Clam (Tridacna deresa). The one in the foreground has grown double it's size from when I first brought it home from a shop in Torrance (south LA). The one in the background has almost tripled it's size (it's a green-lipped variant with gray eyespots, while the former is a purple lipped/striped one). Everything but two hard corals have been doing extremely well this past month.

Just wanted to share the "love"

Aloha