Croaking Copper

There is something to be said about buying your own fish and being able to observe them in the tank prior to purchase. The Copperband arrived looking good but acting strange. He scratched against rock, and "flitted" around the tank.....looks like he ate a bunch of aiptasia though.....but he just doesn't behave like I think he should. I think J&L chooses the best fish to send when you order but I think sometimes you should be there to check them out. If this one doesn't make it we will definately have another...but will hand pick it. Let's hope it makes it.....Zach calls it the "happy fish"

Copper Rabbits

Now that's catchy! ha ha. We got our Orange-spot Rabbit fish and our Copperbanded Butterfly today. We need a crew to clean up some of the nasties in this tank (still waiting on the Coral Rabbitfish for the hex but it proves to be very very fast.....) like Aiptasia and algae, algae, algae...of every make and model. They arrived looking good...bigger than expected but look great...acclimated and ...walla here they are! Oh yah, the Copperband is picking at all the stuff on the rock except the "free" corals, and the Rabbit who is a little more scared started to pick at the algae in the tank after a few hours. He was not impressed when I was taking pics (too soon I'm sure and was a bit spooked) but the Copperband was more than happy to have it's picture taken!

And another makes 3

We put the large Saddleback clown into the tank tonight....we'll see what happens..hopefully we WON'T have to "fish" him (soon to be her I'm sure)out....

Later that night.....all is well in clowntown! All 3 hang out together in the anemone (which I might add looks GREAT!) and swim around together quite a bit...it's very cool to see. The little black ones venture far from the anemone but not the brown one much...unless he/she follows them out...seems like she is only brave when they are with her...funny!

Carpets and Clowns

Sounds like a bad horror movie.....here is the happy trio. Anemone ate like crazy today...very sticky....has seemed to have settled in this spot on the right side of the tank...been there for a couple of days now, seems to FINALLY have planted his foot. YAY. Let's hope for the best as we were just discussing how we added our anemone 48 weeks earlier than recommended.

To add a clownfish or two

Anemone doing good...eating well....settled into a nice spot and now...clowns! Went to Ken and Linny's (Aquareef Aquarium Design) to pick up a pair they have been holding for a few weeks....they are listed as Black Perculas but don't fit the profile. Oh well, Ken has looked it up...maybe when we get them home we'll post it on rareclownfish.com and Reefcentral.com and see what they have to say. Acclimated the clowns (they are so damn cute!) and in they go....kind of swam around a bit...spotted the anemone and bingo in they went! Hosting away. YAY. Have eaten and are looking good...can't say the same for the Chromis but.....oops.

Carpets do NOT belong in powerheads!

Bit of an issue with our carpet in the tank we were holding it in until this tank was ready (I know too soon to add an anemone but what else could we do?!) has 2 powerheads in it...and what does he decide to do?....how about powerhead surfing...it doesn't work. It was a scary day....we turned off the powerhead...a fair bit of him was in there through the screen and let him deal with getting out...every now and then we would baste some water over him to help and keep muck off him...and after 9 hours he was out....WHEW! So at this point we run to get long round sponges to cover the screens with so this doesn't happen again and then make a decision....there is not enough light in this tank so maybe that is why he was going to the top...who knows. His clownfish is in the sump (female died on the drive home...there should have been WAY more water in her bag but Patrick didn't think about it...almost lost the male but after some dicey time and lots of prime and o2 put in he pulled through). We were going to wait for quite a long time to transfer him to the new tank as the recommendation is not to put an anemone into a newer tank (recommended that the tank be mature ie. 12 months or older) but after the powerhead incident and not enough light we made the decision to move him .... take our chances...here we go...how do you move a nasty sticky anemone? Ask Larry how they feel attached to your arm?! Sandwich baggies on and here we go....long acclimation to be sure of no shock as he has had enough...and in he is. We'll update as it happens!

Pufferfish anyone?!

The chromis...although insane...has a friend now! We figured after testing water again that the levels were all zero so lets put in another fish...the puffer needs more room (ok not really but he would look good in there and enjoy it) so after an exhausting time of catching him .... they can move really fast when they want to....we acclimated him and put him in. He looks pretty happy. Picks at all the liverock. Seems to be doing well! The liverock looks really good. It has a ton of sponges, encrusting Montipora, mushrooms, some cool zoos, feather dusters galore, and what looks like Christmas tree worms. Very pretty...and not too much die off which is good. Pretty good deal for an average of $3.30 per lb. Not bad at all!