Since I'm only a month into the saltwater hobby, I figured I'd ask if anyone had any funny stories to share during their experience with the hobby.
For me, when I first got my corals, fish, inverts, and shrimp, my partner and I were putting them all in the tank one at a time. Lastly, before we put in the corals, we put in the fire dart fish, Phoenix. Well, since my partner had helped a bunch in setting up the tank, I thought I'd be self sufficient and put Phoenix in myself. I didn't grab him the right way and he wriggled right out of my hand and straight into the sump!
I started to freak out and cry since I'm so new to the hobby that I didn't know the sump wasn't bad for him to be in (for reference, I have an Innovative Marine 15 gal tank where the sump is directly behind the tank). After my 15 minute breakdown, my partner and I proceeded to try to get Phoenix out of the sump because it wouldn't be that hard, right? WRONG!
Phoenix was extremely smart and slippery. We were both surprised he managed to outsmart two engineering students! The net was super bulky and the sump was super dark, so not only could we not see him, I could barely move around the net to even get him before he darted away! This little bugger made us take out 2 WHOLE GALLONS of water until he had barely any room left to swim in the sump. Mind you, the siphon we used wasn't of the best quality either, and my partner struggled to get it started a few times as well as got some salt and fish poop in his mouth
We FINALLY got him into the tank with a swift motion of the net and all was well! He looked super happy after we put him in. As he was smiling up at me, I flipped him off and cursed at him a bit because I was so worried about him
Gosh, I love Phoenix so much and would do anything for him, but he was such a little pain the day that we got him. It makes me think that this is what having kids is like.
Anyone else have similar stories of their saltwater escapades?
For me, when I first got my corals, fish, inverts, and shrimp, my partner and I were putting them all in the tank one at a time. Lastly, before we put in the corals, we put in the fire dart fish, Phoenix. Well, since my partner had helped a bunch in setting up the tank, I thought I'd be self sufficient and put Phoenix in myself. I didn't grab him the right way and he wriggled right out of my hand and straight into the sump!
I started to freak out and cry since I'm so new to the hobby that I didn't know the sump wasn't bad for him to be in (for reference, I have an Innovative Marine 15 gal tank where the sump is directly behind the tank). After my 15 minute breakdown, my partner and I proceeded to try to get Phoenix out of the sump because it wouldn't be that hard, right? WRONG!
Phoenix was extremely smart and slippery. We were both surprised he managed to outsmart two engineering students! The net was super bulky and the sump was super dark, so not only could we not see him, I could barely move around the net to even get him before he darted away! This little bugger made us take out 2 WHOLE GALLONS of water until he had barely any room left to swim in the sump. Mind you, the siphon we used wasn't of the best quality either, and my partner struggled to get it started a few times as well as got some salt and fish poop in his mouth
We FINALLY got him into the tank with a swift motion of the net and all was well! He looked super happy after we put him in. As he was smiling up at me, I flipped him off and cursed at him a bit because I was so worried about him
Gosh, I love Phoenix so much and would do anything for him, but he was such a little pain the day that we got him. It makes me think that this is what having kids is like.
Anyone else have similar stories of their saltwater escapades?
