Paul B's thread

[Joe Rice]

... I want to get another pair of something but I can't decide what that will be. I don't do tangs and angels because I want something interesting, odd, unusual, rare and cool. I also want something that can spawn in a tank.
If you have any ideas, let me know.

I really love my yellow banded possum wrasse - very mellow "zen-like" fish. I added a second though and the first totally lost its zen and almost killed the new one before I managed to get it out of the tank. I'm going to try using an acclimation box to let them get to know each other a bit before attempting to reintroduce the new guy.

 

[CAPSLOCK]

I agree on the possum wrasse - really unique personality / style.

 

[Paul B]

I already have a possum wrasse. Yes they are very cool.

 

[Paul B]

New



Today I changed 20 gallons of water as it was due. I filled my 20 gallon pail with water, added salt and went out for a few hours. When I came back, I had water all over the place. Luckily it was in my workshop so no harm was done except to my feelings. Years ago in that pail I added a water tap near the bottom. I would put the pail on a stand and mix up the water then I could use the valve to let the water out into smaller buckets that I could carry to the tank. That ended up being to slow so I never use the valve. But after a long time, the large iron washer I had on the outside of the bucket rotted. It almost completely disappeared and started to leak.
I need to get a couple of big stainless steel washers and put a gasket in between them so the thing won't leak. That can be tomorrow's project.

 

[CAPSLOCK]

Ugh, 20g is a whole lot on the floor. Even in a room that there is no damage, that's a lot to sop back up.

 

[Paul B]

Only a gallon or so leaked out, if it was all 20 gallons I would be writing this from my back yard.

 

[Paul B]

I got another one of these guys today, but they only had one. Now I have three of them all living on the same piece of montipora. I want 5 more of them but for some reason I can't get to many of them at once.

 

[Paul B]

Fireclowns spawning again. You would think at 25 years old, they would give up. He is so old he has bags under his eyes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BS6c9sFV0X8&feature=youtu.be

 

[Paul B]

I got another one of these yesterday from my favorite LFS in Westbury. But for some reason they only get one at a time so I have to go back all the time to get more

(Andy get me more. I want more)

I want about ten or fifteen of them because they are just so cool and I want them to spawn, not that I think I can raise them. They are mostly filter feeders but they will munch on a tiny piece of clam when they can get it so I squirt them some every meal. Their claws are lousy at holding anything so it takes some time for them to actually grab something.

 

[dilligaf29]

awsome little guys i have 2 of them .they hang out in my nems all day

 

[Paul B]

I just bought a garden eel because I don't remember ever having one. I vaguely remember having one many many years ago but It could have been a garter snake a piece of rope or a dream.

The thing is about a foot long and a quarter inch wide. I am not sure if I should go by that 2" of fish for every five gallons of water which means I would have to throw out all the rest of my fish or just tie it in a couple of knots and measure it that way to make it shorter.

I was bringing it up my driveway I had thoughts of just saving time and throwing it on the ground there or waiting for it to climb out of my tank where I won't be able to find it until it finds it's way to my wife's underwear drawer, which would not end up well with me.

So I acclimated it while I was having dinner and picked him up with my hand and placed him in the center of tank. He immediately found a place in the far corner under a powerhead. I am quite sure that is the last time I will see that fish.

Make believe there is a picture of it here --------------------------->

 

[Paul B]

OMG I accidently came down and glanced at the tank. My garden eel came to the front of the tank and started to dig down into the gravel. He assumed the gravel was a foot deep but boy was he disappointed. He just discovered what an Under Gravel filter plate is and I don't think he is happy. His head and tail are under the gravel but about 11" of him is waving in the current. I am sorry for him that I don't have a bigger tank but he will have to get over it because fish are not allowed to die in my tank. I hope he just figures out how to deal with this situation.




Tonight we have a house guest. She is actually a Supermodel. Her Mother and my Wife's Mother were best friends from when they were babies so my wife knows her all her life. We made linguini and crabs (I caught the crabs) which she loved because, like us, she is Italian and will eat anything from the sea. (I also made Tapioca, not the instant garbage either)

She is sleeping here and I have her room decorated in Steam Punk, but she loves it and is one of the few people that knows even what it is.

 

[s_kelley]

An Italian supermodel who's into steampunk? Pics or it didn't happen! Lol
On another note, would the garden eel be happy with a pvc tube partially buried or one of this cool bottles you have in there?

 

[Paul B]

I only have pictures of the steampunk as it wouldn't be prudent to ask her if I could take her picture. Her and my wife are eating the breakfast I slaved over baking this morning. I made blueberry corn muffins. Yes, I am not just a pretty face.

As for the eel, there are a few pieces of PVC in my tank because over many years I have had plenty of eel looking things that wanted to live in them. They are probably filled with bristle worms but that would be the eel's problem as I have not removed those pipes since Ford was President. (he was after Lincoln and before Oldsmobile)

For a couple of days I could only find two of my four porcelain crabs. Yesterday, right at the front of the tank, I see my big hermit crab munching on my smallest porcelain crab. He was pulling off the arms, sucking on the legs and cleaning his teeth with the antenna. I know what people will say, it is his cast off shell.

Well in that position in the jaws of a large hermit, it is very hard to tell.

So early this morning, before the lights came on, I counted them. One, Two, Three and yes, four. It is lucky for the hermit crab that he was just munching on an empty shell or I would have had to put him in time out.

The little crab now has a nice new, and larger shell so he can go and try to impress his three older cousins. I love those things.

Both these very cool Steampunk lights go on when you turn the water valve. The top one also makes bubbles, The Supermodel loves them and wants me to build her some. It's not gonna happen as us "famous" artists only work when something moves us. Supermodels normally move me so we shall see

 

[CAPSLOCK]

I love reading your posts Paul...

 

[Paul B]

I love writing them.

 

[Jim Tansey]

Paul on your lamp is the green oxide a paint or do you do a acid type wash, it looks so real.

Jim

 

[cilyjr]

I have changed the name of this thread to not be confused with future meetings.....

Please continue to use it...

 

[Paul B]

Jim, I think I did a pretty good job with that "Green Oxide". It is forest green and titanium white acrylic paint. Remember the top light is white PVC and the bottom one was a red, aluminum fire extingisher so acid wash wouldn't work.
Under construction.

 

[Paul B]

Busy morning like many people had. After we came back from breakfast I decided to do a little maintenance. For some reason I got ambitious. I had to put air in my car tires and add some oil and wiper washer fluid. Normal things that we don't want to do in the winter, but it is fairly warm today.

Then I saw my tank and figured I was in a maintenance mood so I better do this today. One of my gorgonians touched a sponge and the sponge started to grow up one of the stems. So I now have a very long, skinny sponge connected to a purple gorg. An encrusting gorg drifted against another purple gorg and started to grow over that so I also have two types of gorgs growing together on the same stem. Two corals fell or were pushed down by the big hermit crabs and were turned over on the gravel. The hermit crabs didn't seem to care and were wiping their "feet" on it.

I have a powerhead laying behind the rocks blowing water over the top of the center of the reef. At least that is what it was supposed to do but it wasn't doing anything for a while. I really didn't want to remove it because the cord was running behind the structure and I had to move large rocks to get it out. I cleaned it and noticed that it stopped because, as always happened with these after many years, the hole in the center of the magnet gets worn and enlarges, usually in an egg shaped fashion. When that happens the magnet hits the sides of the hole and eventually wears through which isn't good if you don't like getting shocked.

You can of course buy a new rotor, but anyone can do that. I take a piece of shrink tubing and put it over the shaft which enlarges it. If the hole in the magnet is misshapen or not large enough, I drill it out. Now the thing will run another year or two when I can do it again. Most of my powerheads are "fixed" in that fashion.

I also noticed that my algae scrubber was growing lettuce so my porcelain crabs could open up a produce stand so I had to take that apart and clean it.

All normal maintenance like everyone does.