Tank birthday, 47+ years

[Paul B]

Todvod, it sounds like you are doing everything correct. Feed those worms, live I hope. Put in any fish you like and if it gets some spots, just ride it out. If it gets bad, take it out and treat it. But that is the only way to get the tank immune.

 

[Todvod]

Todvod, it sounds like you are doing everything correct. Feed those worms, live I hope. Put in any fish you like and if it gets some spots, just ride it out. If it gets bad, take it out and treat it. But that is the only way to get the tank immune.

Thanks Paul. Yes they’re live worms(mostly ). Was wondering if I should avoid captive bred fish for future selections.
Thanks.

 

[Janci]

Fin, yes I remember that. So far no one has ever touched my car, boat, house or refrigerator. I never hire anyone and never will but computers in cars is a horror. My two cars are supposed to do everything and make breakfast for you. You can talk to it to change the radio station, tell how much air is in the tires or predict the next election winner. I don't know how to use any of those functions so even though I paid for them, they are a waste. The lights on my tank are programable, I bought them, they lit up and I never touched them again. Programmable lights are stupid. My fish live forever so apparently they don't care about dimming lights. I am sure if I programmed them, I could not get them to light. The thermostat in my home is programmable. I hit heat or cool and that's it, I won't even try to figure out how to program it because it wouldn't work.

I just spent a week trying to get a drug approval for my wife who has MS. To use the "Simple, Government website" you have to be Houdini and he is dead. I finally got someone on the phone after waiting an hour on hold and he said no one can figure it out. Like Duh. That is because they hire young college graduates to make these sites. They should use old, retired construction workers.

The site should go something like this:
Name, Are you a Snowflake, Sissy or Girly Man? Do you live in America? What medication do you want?
Then it can show you two boxes, one with a picture of Christie Brinkley and one with a picture of a Duck Billed Platypus. It says: Which box has the Supermodel in it?

OK, you are approved and your medication will be in the mail in 5 minutes with a thank you note from Christie.

But the real Govt site asks you things like: Go and find form 314.748-110/A from 1983. Look on line 37 and add that amount to the number on line 15, then deduct 6 and put that number here on this line backwards. Add the address your parents lived at near the end of WW2 and the maiden name of your second cousin three times removed.
Answer 3 of these questions.
1-What is the name of your favorite teachers pet turtle
2- What year did Ford make Edsel.
3-

OK that's it. Your application will be considered 15 days after Easter.

No really. When my Mother N Law went in to a nursing home we contacted the Govt. because her husband was a wounded Veteran and she was entitled to a certain benefit. The Govt. sent back a letter saying we will hear from them in 14 months to see if she was entitled to this benefit.
14 months to tell you if you can even apply. I mean, like REALLY! Is it me?

I had to search on Google for Duck Billed Platypus and Christie Brinkley, but I guess I would have passed the test.

If you are living in America or elsewhere, and not be a Snowflake, Sissy or Girly Man, any possible future invention or change will not be beneficial as it will take away a little of your freedom and make you again a little dumber.

 

[Paul B]

Todvod, I don't think it would matter. There aren't that many captive bred fish anyway.

Janci, I get a little dumber every day anyway.

 

[Brew12]

Janci, I get a little dumber every day anyway.

I wonder, do we get dumber as we get older?

Or are we getting smarter which allows us to truly understand just how much we don't know?

 

[Paul B]

I think we get smarter, it just takes longer to remember that stuff so It is hard to win an argument unless the Snowflake talks very slow.

 

[norfolkgarden]

Most of the regular fish are now captive bred.

Lol, orchid and neon dottybacks are $30 to $40 instead of $200 because they are captive bred.

Some are still larval captures and tank raised.

There are approximately 50 species available including snails.

The rarer (currently) fish are not captive bred yet but the more we learn in general about tiny foods and general husbandry the closer we are.
The substantial cost of raising some of them is the primary barrier to making them commercial species.

If bans become even more common in the next 20 years and captive bred is the only option, I picture cooperatives of fish owners loaning fish to breeding facilities just to keep the lines going.
(Unfortunately it's not that far fetched.)

 

[Paul B]

Tomorrow afternoon at about 6:00 I am speaking at the Chocolate Factory in Riverhead Long Island. Not about fish, it will be about Viet Nam so if anyone wants to be put to sleep, go there.

 

[Todvod]

Tomorrow afternoon at about 6:00 I am speaking at the Chocolate Factory in Riverhead Long Island. Not about fish, it will be about Viet Nam so if anyone wants to be put to sleep, go there.

I would if local. I was sharing with my wife that you were going to be speaking at a library with another author who wrote a book about a particular battle that you were a part of with lots of hand to hand combat. she said "road trip!"

 

[Paul B]

Come on down. I didn't get top billing, I am behind a few people from a Moose Lodge.
https://allevents.in/new york/veterans-tribute-at-north-fork-chocolate-company/20002541806184

 

[Victoria M]

Tomorrow afternoon at about 6:00 I am speaking at the Chocolate Factory in Riverhead Long Island. Not about fish, it will be about Viet Nam so if anyone wants to be put to sleep, go there.

I would if I could.

 

[Paul B]

I just got back. I think I will get a Pulitzer for my speech. OK, maybe not.

 

[Paul B]

I am cleaning out my computer and I found this, it is probably 10 years old.

Old fish. What is an old fish? I am not sure but I do know that some fish live a really long time. How long? Real long, like over 20 years. I think most larger fish can live much longer than that but the small fish we normally keep seem to have a much shorter lifespan. From my experience tangs can live well into their twenties but I have never kept one longer than about 14 years. After that they seem to have accidents. Even percula clowns live over 20 years. Some types of fish have very short lifespans like seahorses and pipefish. I can not keep seahorses more then about 3 years. Of course they are probably a couple of years old when I collect them so I am not sure of their lifespan. Pipefish also, just a few years although the bluestripe I have now is about 3 or 4.

Why am I thinking about this?

I think about all sorts of useless things and I just came back from a nice day on the water on my boat and as I was watching the bunker (menhaden) jump all around the boat, the thought hit me. How long do these things live?

As I look at my tank I have a watchman gobi about 5" long. He is about 12 or 13 years old and was part of a breeding pair. I got the pair when they were very young and after countless spawnings the female disappeared. I am assuming old age but fish get heart attacks, strokes, cancer and a bunch of other things. I am going with old age. I have no Idea how long watchman gobies are supposed to live but people are supposed to live to about 78 years or so. We all know that some of us die much younger and so do fish. My remaining watchman gobi is showing his age. He was very active for most of his life, scouring the bottom for food at night and coming to the glass in the daytime at feeding time. Now he kind of lays around waiting for me to squirt some food at him. When he grabs it, it is not with the same vigor that I am accustomed to seeing. He also chews for a long time before he takes another bite. Just like old people. He is clearly old and even has lines on his face. No really. I have noticed this twice before on two different fish. One was a 14 year old percula clown that was one of my first fish in the 70s and one was a 13 year old figure eight puffer that was my very first saltwater fish. He was actually bought in fresh water and then my tank was converted to brackish and then salt.

I once had a brutlyd or cusk eel who lived to 18 before I killed him in an accident. I don't remember if he had any lines but maybe his lifespan was 30 or 40 years, I don't know.

The watchman gobi is still very healthy and his blue spots seem like neon lights. Thats one way to tell a healthy fish, their colors seem irridescent and not dull.

My 17 year old fireclown does not seem to be showing his age as much but I can start to see the slight lines in his face and he is slowing down a bit. I also have a much younger fireclown and you can easily tell from their faces that this one is only half the age of the other one.

Now I know that fish do not age like us and they have much different skin so don't think I rub Oil of Oley on their faces but you cna definately tell an old fish from their face.

OK stop laughing, it's true.

 

[atoll]

I am cleaning out my computer and I found this, it is probably 10 years old.

Old fish. What is an old fish? I am not sure but I do know that some fish live a really long time. How long? Real long, like over 20 years. I think most larger fish can live much longer than that but the small fish we normally keep seem to have a much shorter lifespan. From my experience tangs can live well into their twenties but I have never kept one longer than about 14 years. After that they seem to have accidents. Even percula clowns live over 20 years. Some types of fish have very short lifespans like seahorses and pipefish. I can not keep seahorses more then about 3 years. Of course they are probably a couple of years old when I collect them so I am not sure of their lifespan. Pipefish also, just a few years although the bluestripe I have now is about 3 or 4.

Why am I thinking about this?

I think about all sorts of useless things and I just came back from a nice day on the water on my boat and as I was watching the bunker (menhaden) jump all around the boat, the thought hit me. How long do these things live?

As I look at my tank I have a watchman gobi about 5" long. He is about 12 or 13 years old and was part of a breeding pair. I got the pair when they were very young and after countless spawnings the female disappeared. I am assuming old age but fish get heart attacks, strokes, cancer and a bunch of other things. I am going with old age. I have no Idea how long watchman gobies are supposed to live but people are supposed to live to about 78 years or so. We all know that some of us die much younger and so do fish. My remaining watchman gobi is showing his age. He was very active for most of his life, scouring the bottom for food at night and coming to the glass in the daytime at feeding time. Now he kind of lays around waiting for me to squirt some food at him. When he grabs it, it is not with the same vigor that I am accustomed to seeing. He also chews for a long time before he takes another bite. Just like old people. He is clearly old and even has lines on his face. No really. I have noticed this twice before on two different fish. One was a 14 year old percula clown that was one of my first fish in the 70s and one was a 13 year old figure eight puffer that was my very first saltwater fish. He was actually bought in fresh water and then my tank was converted to brackish and then salt.

I once had a brutlyd or cusk eel who lived to 18 before I killed him in an accident. I don't remember if he had any lines but maybe his lifespan was 30 or 40 years, I don't know.

The watchman gobi is still very healthy and his blue spots seem like neon lights. Thats one way to tell a healthy fish, their colors seem irridescent and not dull.

My 17 year old fireclown does not seem to be showing his age as much but I can start to see the slight lines in his face and he is slowing down a bit. I also have a much younger fireclown and you can easily tell from their faces that this one is only half the age of the other one.

Now I know that fish do not age like us and they have much different skin so don't think I rub Oil of Oley on their faces but you cna definately tell an old fish from their face.

OK stop laughing, it's true.

You could always drop in a zimmer frame from a small doll into your tank however you might have to modify it a little to go under their pectoral fins. There is unfair discrimination with fish as they have no old age pension to help sustain them and they must rely on hangouts. They get very little for service rendered.

On a slightly different matter if we asked our fish what they wanted and they could answer I wonder if they would prefer to stay in our tanks where they get regular meals and there are no predictors or back on the reef and take their chances?
I think it might depend on the tank and system they are housed in. I always believed my fish woukd opt for my tank with the conditions I provide for them but who knows for sure. [emoji848]

 

[Paul B]

Very hard to film a very pregnant bluestripe pipefish because in that condition they stay in the rocks. But I tried. These guys are always pregnant.

 

[Paul B]

I took a video.

 

[pshootr]

Very nice tank, I love the bottles LOL

Surely you didn't mean to say 47 years old?

Apparently so. The title and the video reflect this. Holy cow now that is an accomplished tank! Congrats on the tanks anniversary [emoji106]

Your tank is the same age as me..

 

[User1]

It is always nice to see the possum wrasse. Such a nice little fish.

 

[Scubabeth]

I took a video.

Love it, Paul! ...and the music, too!

 

[atoll]

Hey Paul, While having a clear out and good old rummage as I will be moving house in the new year I found my old reef tank log of over 30 years go. This tank was set running on the 7th February 1987. I have taken a photo of the first page of the log but it might not show so well.