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

[Paul B]

Thank you Koyfarm. I appreciate it. My SCUBA buddy and best friend was just here and said the same thing. He said the tank looks so healthy since he saw it a couple of weeks ago. For some unknown reason everything is growing like crazy and 3 or 4 pairs of fish are spawning.

I had to break some SPS and LPS last week because they are getting to close to the glass and I can't clean it. It's a good problem.

 

[Timbo]

Apparently they got on board quick with the white worm diet...

 

[Paul B]

I have so many white worms I may start to eat them myself. I have been feeding them a dry cat food and although they don't spit up hairballs, they grow very large very quick. My fish are all doing the macarana.

 

[Paul B]

Good Morning. I just came back from my hour walk on a quiet country road and absolutely nothing happened except the sun came up. I saw a couple of deer and Muskrat Sally's but thats it. I walk with one of my wife's aluminum walking sticks for protection. We don't have bears or lions here so I keep it with me in case I run into one of those wild, Hummingbirds. You never know what those things are going to do with all that Humming and what not.

 

[LongIslandAndy]

If this was a British TV show you would be found beaten to death with the walking stink and some detective would take an hour to determine that you were killed by a neighbor who was sick of your white worm culture

 

[Paul B]

Andy, what are you doing up?

 

[Paul B]

This Tuesday is our 47th Wedding Anniversary and I just received a gift from our Daughter. Three bottles and one is my favorite.

 

[Paul B]

Unfortunately my wife isn't doing to good today. Yesterday she had a flu shot and now we get the Super Geezer shot. You kids still get the Sissy shot but us "Mature" people get the Super shot which is a double dose and they mix it with Tequila and not the Girly stuff. The "Man" stuff with the worm in it.

That shot kind of gives her a sort of Flu and makes her sick. I guess it doesn't mix well with her other Meds.

 

[Timbo]

Congrats on 47 years married!!
Your daughter has good choice in gifts.
I am more a whiskey and beer guy but I can indulge in margarita on ice with a side car of grand marnier.

 

[Paul B]

My tank seems to be in a growth spurt. I don't know why. I also can't keep enough Alk in there and I may have to do it intravenously. Yesterday I made a mistake and thought I was dosing Alk, But I put in 4 times the dose of calcium.
I figured the water would turn into blackboard chalk, but nothing happened.

My invading, engulfing blue sponge is not encrusting over everything as fast but the encrusting gorgonians, green star polyps, mushrooms and zoa's are blooming all over the place. My anemone which was pinkie nail size a couple of years ago split into 3 anemones and each one is about 10" wide which is scaring me and if I could get two of them out, I would give them away. I try not to get any food near them for fear they will take over my Man Cave.

I think my 6 line wrasses are spawning as they both disappear behind the rocks together and come out smiling. One of them is new.
My two new ruby red dragonettes still ignore each other but they are still teenagers and to young.

My Rainsford gobies rarely come out as I think all they do is spawn and of course the fireclowns are just disgusting with all their spawning.

I can't yet tell if my new hawkfish is spawning with the old guy. Of course none of my fish have ever been drugged or quarantined so none of them will ever get sick.

You can tell when fish are in spawning condition because their colors get so much brighter and most of them get a "fluorescent tinge" on the edges of their fins. You rarely see this on captive fish but you see it on fish in the sea.
That is a sign of true health but you have to look closely. The fish also have a rounded appearance, they are curious and are not dead.

Drugged fish won't show that nor will most quarantined fish as their immune system is veclumpt, or gone.
I also never have to coax new fish to eat. A natural tank has that effect and they will eat Chinese Take Our if they had thumbs to sign the credit card receipt.



View attachment 1816218

 

[Paul B]

Today is my 47th wedding anniversary to my starter wife.

 

[Rebels23]

Unfortunately my wife isn't doing to good today. Yesterday she had a flu shot and now we get the Super Geezer shot. You kids still get the Sissy shot but us "Mature" people get the Super shot which is a double dose and they mix it with Tequila and not the Girly stuff. The "Man" stuff with the worm in it.

That shot kind of gives her a sort of Flu and makes her sick. I guess it doesn't mix well with her other Meds.

Congrats! Happy wife, happy life! I hope she feels better soon

 

[Paul B]

As I am waiting to go out I started to look at my tank and I couldn't find my pair of Rainsford gobies that I thought were spawning. I grabbed a flashlight and snuck around behind my tank. It's a little dark there and as I was looking through the rocks, I noticed something on my gravel.
Thousands, or maybe millions (I didn't count all of them) of worms. I don't know what kind of worms but they are not bristle worms. I got thousands of them also and know very well what they look like.

These guys are smaller, grey and don't move much. It seems only the front half of them moves, or thats all that I see move and they don't move much.

They seem to be doing the Michael Jackson robot dance as they move in jerky "twitches". Looking at them with a jewelers loupe (yes I am weird) I didn't notice a feathery plume so I don't think they are tiny feather dusters and I have no idea what they are.

They seem to shun light as none of them are in the light and I assume they are filter feeders and they live all through my gravel over my reverse undergravel filter.
I also notice back there that my gravel is "awash" in copepods which is good.
I am going to research these things but I am all excited about them as I get excited whenever I find something new.
On a day that it is not my anniversary I am going to try to remove some to put under a microscope. For now I took some pictures which wasn't easy as I had to hold the camera and a flashlight and take the pictures from an inch away.
If anyone knows what they are, let me know.

PS I did see my Rainsford Gobies.

 

[Paul B]

I have this Hair Drier from 1923. No! It was not mine but if I was alive then, I would probably have had hair.
It says the price was $12.50 which was a fortune then. It also still works.

The instruction reads:
Girls are no longer inviting colds and poor completions by sitting in front of open windows. That is the wrong way to try and dry your tresses.

 

[Paul B]

It shouldn't be long now. These two just found each other.

 

[LongIslandAndy]

It shouldn't be long now. These two just found each other.

View attachment 287623

They may have to adopt it looks like 2 chicks

 

[Paul B]

Andy, you are old and probably can't tell the difference any more between boys and girls.

 

[Paul B]

Watchmans spawned again.

 

[Paul B]

These "guys" should be spawning any day now. I had one for a few years and just added another one a couple of weeks ago. Now one of them looks like this, smiles a lot and has really long eyelasyhes.

 

[Paul B]

Today, the day after Election Day I got up at 4:00 to watch the news and maybe see who won the election. At that time there was no clear winner so I waited an hour and a little after 5:00 am I decided to go for a walk in the dark.

I walked and walked, maybe a mile and a half and it was in a different direction of where I usually walk. I walked past the locked door that goes down the 176 steps to the beach.



I thought about going down to the beach just to chill out. (And it was chilly so it wouldn't be a hard thing to do) But I didn't bring the beach key with me.
I noticed that the door was propped open. I figured I would check it out and I was going to go through. Then I remembered you also need a key to get back out so if I was down there and someone closed the door, I would have to take a very long, cold walk along the beach to get out.

I looked at the lock and it was missing, just a hole in the door so there was no way to lock me in.

Before the steps go down there is about a 75 yard wooden walkway. I was a little tired from already walking but I was tense and wanted to relax so I started to walk to the beach.

Half way in on the wooden walk way I see something. There are tall bushes all along the sides of the walkway and it was still kind of dark so I couldn't make it out.

It moved....... I watch the show "Ancient Aliens" and I believe that stuff, so I figured I was about to be abducted and beamed up to an Alien space craft where they would do questionable experiments on me while they flashed pictures of Supermodels on the blackboard in front of me.
(Or maybe they just wanted to know how to install a reverse undergravel filter)

This thought kind of intrigued me so I was focusing my mind toward the object trying to do a sort of mind meld with the Aliens.

I slowly walked toward the object and it moved again....Now I don't consider myself a Snowflake but I also wasn't going to charge this thing because in case it wasn't an Alien it could be a Grisly Bear or woodchuck. I am not sure if there are any Grisly Bears on Long Island but in the Bronx Zoo I know there is a Polar bear and that is only less than 100 miles away so he could have gotten here.

By this time It was getting a little lighter and I noticed it was antlers. Big antlers like a Moose would have. OK, maybe not a moose but it was a deer.
A big buck with two of his main squeezes. I don't think he took kindly to me as he kept starring with a mean look in his eyes.

I tried not to look to amorously at the females as I didn't want him to think I was any competition and I prefer my Ladies to have two legs.

We stood and looked at each other for what seemed like an eternity, but it was probably 10 seconds and neither one of us flinched.
I was getting cold so I slapped my hand down on the wooden railing and yelled

( HEY YOU BIG DEER, GET OUT OF MY WAY)

I must have intimidated the to females and they ran away. The Buck just stood there defying me and giving me the evil eye.

I am a city boy and I have no idea how to fight a deer. Do I just grab his antlers or kick him in his shins?
I don't know.
Luckily for him (OK me) he decided to turn and walk toward his harem.

I made it down the beach and it was a beautiful sunrise.