Tank birthday, 47+ years

Paul B · Apr 26, 2019

I just discovered 6 or 7 tiny creatures about 4 or 5 times the size of a new born brine shrimp on one of my powerheads. They were running all over the place so I caught one and put him under my microscope.
I am not sure what they are but they are not fish and probably not Godzilla larvae so some type of invert. The only inverts I have now that could spawn are my hermit crabs so they may be them. (but I doubt it)
I didn't add anything from the sea since last summer except NSW but I diatomed that because it was green so I am not sure what these things are. I don't have time to seperate them and see if they grow because we are babysitting this weekend but if I can catch some next week, I will try to do that.

tony'stank · Apr 28, 2019

Hi Paul
It’s Tony. I have finished reading your entire post. Like I said before we have many similarities.
I’m 72 . I know I’m old because young girly supermodels open the door for me and call me sir. ( They probably call me smelly old fart behind my back). When I go on a cruise they won’t let me take the snorkeling excursions because I am too old.
I have been married to the same wife for 49 years.
All my power tools are Dewalt. I went up to a bunch of construction contractors at Home Depot and asked what power tools they liked. To a man, they said Dewalt.
After I retired I tried to volunteer at the Belle Isle Aquarium here in Detroit. It is the oldest public aquarium in the USA. Unfortunately the dufoss in charge of volunteers had no concept of what aquarium skills and knowledge was. They kept asking me to work the pancake breakfasts and other silly stuff. In 6 months I never got close to the aquarium, so I left.
Like you I believe nutrition is a huge part of keeping successful reefs. I also think consistency and stability are hugely important. I never chase “numbers”. I rarely do tests. I look at my tank, smell the water, and watch the behavior of the inhabitants. After 39 years I can actually tell when my nitrates are high by how the water feels when I put my hand in it.
I was not as smart as you about working. For almost all of my working years I worked 60-80 hours a week. I simply could not have a tank that required a lot of maintainence. So I designed my tank and chose my inhabitants to be low maintainence. I rarely change water. My fish and corals live for years. In almost 40 years I have never had a tank crash or wipeout. I still work part time and get tired a lot easier so a low maintainence tank is a must. For 9 years I lived in the rural AZ desert. My nearest LFS were in Las Vegas, 90 miles away or Phoenix 41/2 hours away. A trip to the LFS required weeks of planning and was usually done in 115 degree heat.
Like you I love this hobby and learning new things all the time. I will keep doing it as long as I can.

Paul B · Apr 28, 2019

Hi Tony. You do seem to do most things a lot like me and you are married longer, I am at 44 or 45 years. But you are also 2 years older.

Low maintenance tanks are the way to go.
I really don't like to volunteer at the Long Island Aquarium for the same reason. I am surprised they don't make me mop the floors.

The guy who takes care of the tanks knows me but I never see him when I am there so I didn't get to work on the tanks, but next week or two is boating season so I won't have time to go there anyway even though my boat is docked behind the place.

I became an electrician because at the time I didn't have to go to college which was a great decision but now they make you go. I also had a definite retirement day and I kept to it to the minute. I counted down for about 30 years just like I did in Viet Nam.

To me if you retire before you die, you won, if you die first, you lost. That's just my theory on life. Also if you can stay happily married like you and me are, you really won.

Paul B · Apr 28, 2019

So I had this knee replaced over 4 months ago and if Christie Brinkley was 20' from me giving out free frags, I would not be able to beat a two year old with diaper rash to get over there.

The Doc says I have a neuroma. That's great and just what I wanted. I don't think I will be able to SCUBA in a few weeks when I go to the Caribbean, Not that I like diving there anyway, but I figure if I am there anyway, I would at least get wet.

We are Babysitting our 5 and 6 year old this weekend and my knee aged 10 years in 10 hours. I took them down to a pond to look for tadpoles (I know they are not there as it is too cold but I am looking for anything to occupy them). They started to fight so I had to carry one 100 yards back to my house while I pushed the other one on a rusty tricycle and at about 50 yards I almost had to call a helocopter with 6 paramedics (four men and two females) to air lift me to a hospital.

But I made it back alive....Barely.

I have these small, very manly stress cracks in my spine from all the real man work I did all my life and crashing in two helicopters probably didn't help. These things rarely affect me but like ich occasionally flair up. If you get to my age and nothing hurts, you probably had a Girly, sissy man job where you moved some papers around or typed something once in a while as you looked out the window at the pretty birds saying Doot do do, Doot da do and humming the theme song from The Sound of Music. The play, not the movie.

tony'stank · Apr 28, 2019

Paul
I’m sorry you are having so much trouble with your knee. I envy you with your grandchildren. My sons and daughter-in-laws are in their mid to late forties. It doesn’t look like grandchildren are in out future. Should you consider eating out one or two of yours

Paul B · Apr 29, 2019

So you want me to eat one of them!!! Which one?

Awesome Dennis · Apr 29, 2019

City kids are to chewy...

tony'stank · Apr 29, 2019

Sorry Poor typing and autocorrect. I was asking if you would rent one of the to me. They are too cute

Michael Biando · Apr 29, 2019

That is awesome!!

Jekyl · Apr 29, 2019

Awesome Dennis said:
City kids are to chewy...

Doing my best to keep my 6 year old from ending up "chewy". Was embarrassed a little the other day. He passed his Tae Kwon Do test and after shook the hands of all of his teachers while given his new belt. Instantly realized it was time to teach him to shake a hand properly. Gave lessons on it as soon as he got home. Nothing creeps me out faster than the weak handshakes given these days. I've worked construction and remodeling for 15 years now. I hope he ends up in a cushier field but doesn't lose the things I try to pass down from my father and grandfather. Still the 2 toughest people I've met.

Paul B · Apr 30, 2019

My Daughter may rent them out, I am not sure.

Michael Biando said:
That is awesome!!

What is?

Jekyl said:
Nothing creeps me out faster than the weak handshakes given these days. I've worked construction and remodeling for 15 years now. I hope he ends up in a cushier field but doesn't lose the things I try to pass down from my father and grandfather.

I know what you mean. I worked commercial construction for 40 years and I hate it when someone offers you their hand and it feels like a nudibranch.

Unless of course it's a Supermodel.

I also don't want someone to break my hand so there is a right way to do it.

I teach my Grand Son Teddy the Man Song and we sing it all the time. MEN, MEN,MEN,MEN...…...MEN, MEN, MEN, MEN while you hit your fist into the table.

Greta is a Girly Girl, but she likes bugs.

Vanquishxxx · Apr 30, 2019

Love your thread!

Paul B · Apr 30, 2019

Thank you, I am going to read it some day

tony'stank · Apr 30, 2019

Hi Paul,
I hope your knee feels better. I also hope that your wife feels well and the new place doesn’t overwhelm her.
Today I visited one of my LFS and bought a new fish, a matted Filefish. I think he’s your kind of fish. Not very pretty but very unusual and unique. He should be happy in my tank because I have a lot of aiptasia for him to eat. If your theory is correct (and I believe it is) he should be the healthiest fish in the tank with all the live food. Like you my fish rarely die and live a long time. So I’m very careful what I add to the tank because I don’t want to disturb stable compatibility I have now

Paul B · Apr 30, 2019

I do like those matted filefish and had a few, I am not sure if they were matted or not. Filefish get a little too large for my tank as I have grown to like smaller and smaller fish. If the trend keeps up I will be just keeping pods in the future.

I go for the smaller gobies, bleenies, pipes, wrasses, clingfish, possum wrasses and other oddballs.

I used to pick out my girlfriends like that also which was good because no one wants a girl with two heads and 3 arms.

Paul B · May 2, 2019

Last night I was feeding my tank, (and sipping some Grand Marnier) and I saw this huge claw sticking out under a coral. I thought to myself, then I said it out loud OMG, what is that? At first I thought a Godzilla Larvae somehow survived my very strict quarantine routine (NOT)
I looked closer and saw that it is a porcelain crab.
One of these. But they usually don't get more than about an inch. I figure this one, from his claw is more like 2".
I have, or had 5 of these guys in there but I didn't see any for months and thought they all went to crab Heaven, but I thought wrong.
They are filter feeders and I am very happy he is still with me.

Their claws are just for trimming their toe nails.

I just hope he doesn't change into one of these.

Paul B · May 3, 2019

While I am waiting for my wife to get up so we can go to breakfast I figured I would ramble, or waste time because there are no new posts that I am interested in or should comment on for fear that I would be banned for my "Avant Garde" procedures. I have been up since 1:00, not on purpose but that is for another post. If you Google "Lousy nights sleep, you see me". Uh Uh she just got up and I was going to say something so Earth shattering that you have no idea. Neither do I.

I was looking at my tank last night in the dark with a little Grand Marnier and I thought, OMG, I have too many fish. I have a lot of hiders so at first you don't see half of them. (kind of like Supermodels on a bad hair day) I like the hiders best because they, kind of like me are loners. (but I have a ton of friends, some with hair)

The hiders I have are a Janss pipefish, possum wrasse 2 Gecko Gobies (I really love them but never saw an entire fish as they really hide) mandarins, but they do what they do, scooter bleeny (which are not really bleenies) and 3 or 4 other fish that are so secretive that I forgot what they are but are very cool. (I think one is a basselet, or maybe stripped bass).

Speaking of loners, even though I have a lot of very close friends on many occasions, especially when I was young 87 years ago I always did better on my own. In those days real Men, like me spent our time searching for girls. (no I was not a Perv, that's what all Real Men did)

These were just singers at a Veterans event.

If I wanted to have luck at that I would go off on my own. (We didn't have web sites then as the only webs were made by spiders) I would go to a beach or park, find one hitch hiking etc. and have a nice date on a beach and maybe we would make a connection and I found a girlfriend.
I could talk the chrome off of a 1957 Chevy bumper.

I didn't look like Brad Pitt but not Tim Conway (like I do now) either. But many men didn't know how to do it and they went around in mobs, loud mobs. I tried to be a little more sophisticated and it seemed to work out.

My own BFF who I married 45 years ago (and stopped searching for girls) I met at a wedding. She was too young for me but I dated her older cousin.

I even air brushed her picture in Vargas style when she was 18

OK time to go out. Sorry for the rambling, I will try to think of some fish stuff to post.

Jekyl · May 3, 2019

Paul B said:
While I am waiting for my wife to get up so we can go to breakfast I figured I would ramble, or waste time because there are no new posts that I am interested in or should comment on for fear that I would be banned for my "Avant Garde" procedures. I have been up since 1:00, not on purpose but that is for another post. If you Google "Lousy nights sleep, you see me". Uh Uh she just got up and I was going to say something so Earth shattering that you have no idea. Neither do I.

I was looking at my tank last night in the dark with a little Grand Marnier and I thought, OMG, I have too many fish. I have a lot of hiders so at first you don't see half of them. (kind of like Supermodels on a bad hair day) I like the hiders best because they, kind of like me are loners. (but I have a ton of friends, some with hair)

The hiders I have are a Janss pipefish, possum wrasse 2 Gecko Gobies (I really love them but never saw an entire fish as they really hide) mandarins, but they do what they do, scooter bleeny (which are not really bleenies) and 3 or 4 other fish that are so secretive that I forgot what they are but are very cool. (I think one is a basselet, or maybe stripped bass).

Speaking of loners, even though I have a lot of very close friends on many occasions, especially when I was young 87 years ago I always did better on my own. In those days real Men, like me spent our time searching for girls. (no I was not a Perv, that's what all Real Men did)

These were just singers at a Veterans event.

If I wanted to have luck at that I would go off on my own. (We didn't have web sites then as the only webs were made by spiders) I would go to a beach or park, find one hitch hiking etc. and have a nice date on a beach and maybe we would make a connection and I found a girlfriend.
I could talk the chrome off of a 1957 Chevy bumper.

I didn't look like Brad Pitt but not Tim Conway (like I do now) either. But many men didn't know how to do it and they went around in mobs, loud mobs. I tried to be a little more sophisticated and it seemed to work out.

My own BFF who I married 45 years ago (and stopped searching for girls) I met at a wedding. She was too young for me but I dated her older cousin.

I even air brushed her picture in Vargas style when she was 18

OK time to go out. Sorry for the rambling, I will try to think of some fish stuff to post.

Not a perv. I've been with my wife for 10 years now. She's the mother of my child, best friend and love of my life. I would never stray. That being said I'll always reminisce about the thrill of the hunt. Meeting new people and the challenge of it all. I think it's just the hunter in all of us