I'm like a bird...I'll only fly away....

Late at night..house is a bit spooky, Larry is away for the night...."Doriss" barked quite oddly after a strange noise in the kitchen (I'm on the computer) I quickly check the kitchen and make sure nothing is out of place...nothing is. About 45 min later I hear a noise AGAIN in the kitchen but "Doriss" doesn't hear it. I go in and hear a "snapping" or "clicking" noise.....looking around and go over to the tank...nothing in front...oh but look on the side OVER THE HEAT VENT that would be one dried puffer snapping his teeth. AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH I freak out. Larry usually catches the jumpers or saves the fish in trouble....so I search frantically for a net...find one...scoop him up...ok ya gotta remember that puffers don't do well out of water...once they hit water again they puff up and don't usually unpuff. ACK, here I go, scoop, put in water, he puffs then he lets it all out!!!! I held him in place with the net and then he swims out....and is just fine. Breathing a bit quickly, bit of "Doriss" hair but seems OK!!!! Whew...next time "Doriss" barks at a noise I will be more thorough.

NOTE; I examined the floor, walls, lid, back etc of the entire surrounding area of the tank and there was no water ANYWHERE! AND..if you think about it, he was in the middle of the side of the tank, even if he went over the back end as it has the only opening in the cap, he would have to have travelled at least 10+ inches along the back of the tank, then up the side of the tank another 18+ inches....figure it out...it DOESN'T make sense!

Meet "Bumper"

We really really wanted one of these....but weren't really sure that it was a good idea....they are slow, eat alot, poop alot, hmmmm why not?!

So at Safari, he was lookin at me, I was lookin at him...and he came home....We asked Zach what his name was and he told us "Bumper" so it stuck. He is (of course) eating well, a bit shy as there are fast fish in the tank, and we do have to specialize his feeding a bit so he gets some but he is well! The Rabbit fish and he...well the Rabbit doesn't like him...tried to take a few tastes at first but "Bumper" is no worse for wear. He is very inactive during the day, but evening and night he is busy! When we first put him in the tank I think all the hermits and snails had a heart attack as they were all picked up and tasted then spit back out....no cleanup crew will survive for long but that's ok.....here he is his glory!

"Bumper" the Porcupine Puffer!

Copperband Butterfly

I am addicted to this fish! I love them. It comes over to greet you when you come to the tank....stares at you when you are close to the glass, is very active and eats like a pig! I think this is a successful CBB ownership! YAY as the first one was very upsetting!

"Ghetto" frag tank

All the zoos that survived the mass slaughter were tossed into the sump "until further notice".....figuring they weren't getting enough light down there we set up a frag tank...and it is ghetto! An aquaclear mini with a foamy and some reef charcoal for flow and help clean it...1 rock for "fun" and another that I thought all the zoos from OA had been eaten off of...but it has a few survivors!!! and then a couple frags from Christy and a couple from Zach (Patwa). Going to move a couple of frags from the hex that are laying on the bottom of the tank ... as they have no where to go and put them up here...but am going to "dip" them first as I seem to be losing some of the zoos down there...who knows who might be snacking...and I don't want to pack any hitchikers!

NO NETS!

We have eurobracing on our tank...so in other words it has an overhang of glass on the top to brace the tank instead of a centre brace. We (OK I) have a really bad habit of using the brace for, well equipment collection. I put the tongs, nets, turkey baster and just about everything else I use frequently on this brace...which is only about 2 inches wide......Yay..DON'T do that. My small net fell into the tank at some point and the Rabbit decided to check it out...I don't know how long it had been trapped but couldn't have been too long...other than the net being ripped....so in I come...have a look at the tank and FREAK! The Rabbit is upside down at the bottom of the tank completely STUCK in the net! Edele goes running for Larry who comes upstairs quickly as he knows that my fish are important....and sees our dilema. The thing to remember here is that Rabbitfish are venomous...they have spines all along the top of their body which will deliver a painful sting. Larry gets the fish out of the net and it sinks to the bottom, hides in a corner and is breathing really really fast. OH NO!

Couple hours later (and me sweating like a fiend as I would be very upset if I lost "Big fish" as Zach named it) it is still hiding but breathing better...then in we toss a clam and it gets a bit excited and then jumps in with the rest of them for a nice light snack!

Lucky? Hell yeh!

Ich....

Looks like we may have beaten it.....lots of garlic, vitamins, variety of diet, water changes...AND...barely any spots for several days now...lets hope! We still want to add the UV sterilizer to the tank as you never know when you may need it...and if we get another tank down the road we have one that will fit all the tanks! All fish are eating very very well, and so are both of the carpet anemones. I think a green carpet and maybe a purple would look very very cool in this tank! We'll see what happens in the next several months!

Sumpy is OK...but may need some further solitary confinement

"Sumpy" looks better now with a few easy meals and a ton of space to swim in..but her attitude is still a bit "off". No, the Coris Wrasse is not something to chase like a toy...he will get big and grouchier than you so watch it! Stay tuned for more "Sumpy" tales!

Those silly fuzzy sticks!

I couldn't figure why anyone would want to have SPS corals...now I GET IT! They are so tempting sitting in the frag tanks at OA...they were calling out to me...buy me buy me...so we did buy some easy ones! A Green Montipora Digitata and a Brown plus a beautiful blasto frag....some blue zoos...hmmmm....oh and we picked up a Red Carpet Anemone and a Pink Cap from Hidden Reef. Now lets see if we can keep them alive!

How bout a little clam?

No thanks for me...but you should see the frenzy when we put in a live clam popped open...WAHOO! They go to town. The Copperband eats like crazy (when it can get it's snout past the Rabbit and Triggers!) but then again he eats everything we put in the tank now...no more turkey basting Mysis in front of his face... Thank GOD! That was tiresome. But now he eats like it's going out of style...very very cool fish!

Sumpy the clown fish...

The grouchy female brown Saddleback clown has been "allowed" back into the tank. She is looking pretty "rough around the edges"...ok she looks like SHIT...but we'll see how she fairs after her banishment to the sump for chasing each and every fish around except the rabbit and triggers...and of course the Copperband as no one really pays attention to her....maybe she will be a better fish for it...ha ha ha. It does seem to perk up the blue carpet with her in the tank as she really hangs out with that anemone.