Tank birthday, 47+ years

[Paul B]

Hi Paul, 22 degrees celcius is 71.6 degrees in your money. That was at 2am here. It was warmer outside the house. Your jeep snowplough would be permanently unemployed here!

GB yes it would, but I could use it to go hunting for Duck Billed Platypuses. I was in Australia 1971 on R&R from Nam. Loved the place except for the British architecture in Sydney at the time. I stayed in Kings Cross which was a good place then. I also did my first SCUBA dive there. They were building the Sydney Opera house at the time and I met this girl Christine that took me diving and out to dinner, every night. She also bought me civilian clothes and when I got back to Nam, she sent me a package of food. I almost didn't make it back to New York as it was very tempting to stay there.
But Sydney is a small town, or it was then and when I got out of Sydney, I didn't find many places to go.
But I did really like it there.

WE are going to dinner but it is going to be 6 degrees F tonight. :eek:

 

[Paul B]

My tank seems to be doing well except I keep breaking the montipora's. It doesn't matter because I doubt they will survive the move because they are so delicate.
I still have all my fish and I will try to name them. No, not like Bob, Harry and Penelope.

1 Copperband
2 mandarins
3 striped cardinals
1 Possum Wrasse
2 Fireclowns
1 Leopard Wrasse
1 Perchlet looking thing
2 Queen Anthias
1 Blue Striped pipefish
1 Janss Pipefish
1 Bleeny

Thats all I see right now so if anything else is in the back, I forgot about it.
I won't buy anything until after I move.
I don't see my yellow clown goby but he must have croaked from old age as he was very old and spawned every few days so that has to take a toll on you. I doubt they have a lifespan more than 8 or 9 years old anyway. My male bluestripe pipefish was also very old for a pipefish but he was also almost bitten half by the Janss Pipefish who has no sense of humor. My Bangai's both died of old age as did my pair of watchman gobi's.
All those fish spawned their entire life.

 

[USMC 4 LIFE]

Hey Paul.

Do your fish become overly aggressive after spawning by chasing off anyone that gets too close to their eggs? If so, any ideas of how to combat this aggression?
Does each species of fish lay eggs in the same place?

I had to remove my Maroon clowns due to aggression after laying eggs. My blue reef chromis are now spawning and becoming defensive with anyone coming close to their eggs which wasn’t a problem until they decided to spawn everywhere. I guess fishes can become a lot like their owners.

 

[Paul B]

Marine, the clowns spawn in 2 places and have been doing that in the same places for many years. This video is them spawning in a Grand Marnier bottle.
The clown gobies spawned on the same acropora every week which is why they killed it and the mandarins kind of ascend to the top to let their eggs go so they get blown all over the place.
The Blue Stripe pipefish have live young but always at night so I don't see them but they must be very tiny. Most of the things that spawn in my tan are so small I doubt the fish even see them except the bangai cardinals. Their young are huge so I am sure they got eaten instantly.
I never had a problem but the fish get nasty just before they spawn especially the clowns, but they are nasty all the time.
I invented this thing that is a tube where the end of it sits on the eggs and as soon as they hatch, the fry get sucked into a container. I used that for the clown gobies.


Thats how I got this picture of a new born clown gobi fry through my antique microscope.

 

[Zack K]

I see a sequel to your book coming. “Paul’s Platypus Fetish” just a compilation of all the platypus thoughts that go through your head.

No clingfish still? Must have croaked. “Clinging” on for dear life down by his new neighbors, the bristle worms.

 

[85173]

Hey Paul, Kings Cross in the seventies was the organised crime headquarters for Sydney! But I guess by comparison to firefights in Viet Nam that's a nice place.o_O Sydney has changed a heap since you were there. Part of why I don't live there anymore. Too big and busy now.

Watch out when you hunt those platypus, the males have a venomous spine on the hind legs! Oh and the government will take a dim view of that.;) Platypus are usually found in tiger snake territory too!:eek: Tiger snakes are one of the top ten most venomous land snakes in the world with the personality of a tomato clownfish. Very territorial, definitely going to chase you down to bite you!;Nailbiting

6 degrees F, wow I only feel that if I open my freezer door!

I'll tell you a story about my trip to work a couple of weeks ago. I stepped out the front door. (like you opening your oven door.) and looked on the ground to see a few dead mouse spiders (they are poisonous but not very aggressive). I looked up at the eves of the house to see the rest had come out of the gaps between the bricks and the eves of the house. (Too hot for them.) They were all gasping their last as well. Jumped in the car and burnt my hands on the steering wheel. Off I go to work. My car has an outside thermometer, on the way to work it reached 47 degrees celcius. (116.6 degrees in your money.) But by the time I got to work closer to the coast it was a more comfortable 40 degrees celcius! (104 degrees in your money.) Thanks to that day I can put off spraying the spiders for a while.:p

Hope your better half is doing well. All the best.

Mick.

 

[SpartaReef]

I'll take -15 any day over 104...

 

[Paul B]

The 104 wouldn't bother me to much because in Nam it was 104 and raining. :eek:

I remember getting off the plane in Sydney and it was like stepping into an oven. I think I was there in December.
It is 6 degrees here now and we still have 2' of snow outside which will stay there for quite a while because it is not going above freezing until Tuesday. It will melt a little then get very cold turning it into solid ice which you can't move. But us New Yorkers are used to that and it makes the place "interesting" :rolleyes:.
NY is one of the few places in the world where the temperature changes 100 degrees between summer and winter. I have seen 106 here and 7 below zero. We stock a lot of clothes.
Hawaii is my favorite for temperature with about 74 degrees all the time.
I also like Tahiti. :D

 

[Paul B]

When I was looking for my hotel in Sydney I was studying a map as I was standing at an intersection. These two guys come up to me and one of them says" Hey %$#(*@#./)&%# you,,, walk,,,,, man over.//;.
In other words, I couldn't understand him and had no idea what he was talking about. You people talk funny.
Then I realized he wanted me to help this blind gentleman across the street. He leaves me with the guy and he goes off. There were no traffic lights in Sydney that I could tell so I couldn't cross the street either. It's like Italy.

So i am standing there with this blind guy and he says to me. Hey Bloke, what are we waiting for! I said, I can't cross, there are too many cars.
He says, Oh don't worry, and he steps into the street pulling me along. I put my hand over my eyes and the cars coming right at us stopped, the rest of them went around us on the sidewalk.
We got to the other side and he thanked me and walked away.

Then I again studied my map when another blind guy wants me to take him back across the street to where I just was.
The same thing happened and I realized I was standing in front of some kind of building for the blind.
Now I had to wait for another blind guy to take me back across the street. :eek:

Then I had to take a bus. It was a double decker bus and I got on the top. A guy comes up to me and says, Hey Bloke, How do you like our Birds?
I looked out the window up at the sky and I said, I don't see no Birds. He says Birds, you know Birds. I look again and say, I still don't see no birds. He then says, the Ladies man, the Ladies. Who knew!

 

[85173]

You sure they were blind and weren't just pullin' your leg Paul?;)

You mean you don't call sheilas birds? Well strike me pink!;Jawdrop

 

[Paul B]

We don't have Sheilas unless their name is actually Sheila. And our birds eat worms. :eek:

 

[85173]

Our birds won't eat worms. They've read your thread and worry it will make them spawn like your fish.:p

 

[Paul B]

I just cleaned my algae scrubber. What a disgusting mess of purple matted gunk grows on that thing. I am not sure it is algae or some type of Bubonic Plague residue. Really horrible stuff that clogs my drain. But it is better in my drain than in my tank.
I also cleaned my skimmer top then I add a little Clorox to the thing. My skimmer drains into a 5 gallon bucket which I empty maybe once a month. The bleach keeps the bottom of the cup and hose that goes to the bucket clean.
There is a plastic "pan" under my water cooled copper lighting system that I also cleaned because it gets salt spray all over it and cuts the lights way down. It is 4 degrees here today and I already went to my favorite LFS to talk fish to my friends there so It is too cold out to do anything else. He told me he would help me with my tank move. One of the hardest things will be to rinse out all my gravel in the ocean.
I will use ocean water and keep dumping it on the dry sand so none of my livestock like my Godzilla Larvae grows in the sea and takes over the world. I know many people are worried about that.

I remember another Australia story and there are parts of it that I can talk about here.
I met a girl there named Christine. Oh wait, that is her real name, I will call her Mary to protect her identity.
Anyway her Dad had this huge boat and she took me out on it with all the SCUBA gear. We anchored near this tiny Island or atoll, I forget and she showed me how to SCUBA. That was my first dive.
Then we went to this restaurant where they give you the gear and you use it to catch your dinner. We came to the surface and she had a few of these fish that I think she called red fish. (it was 50 years ago so my memory is a little foggy)

I got an enemic looking lobster. Swimming back I heard gun shots, or rather machine gun shots. Trust me I know what that sounds like. I said, what is that? She said that sometimes a large shark gets tangled in this net and they have to shoot it so it doesn't destroy the net. I am not sure if she was kidding or not.
I looked at her and remembered all the bloody dead fish she had hanging on her and got out of there like a torpedo.

I don't remember what part of Australia that was but it couldn't have been to far from Sydney.
Do you know of such a place? :)

 

[Sea MunnKey]

Hey Paul ... do you still keep in touch with Christine ... eeerr "Mary"? ;Smuggrin

 

[Paul B]

Actually, no. But when I got back to Nam she sent me a nice package of food, candy and cookies. A very nice girl and if I ever get back there (not likely) I would like to look her up. She was 24 and I was 20.
She took me to a bar called "Texas Tavern". I asked her what she would like to drink and she said "A Harvey Wallbanger". In 1970 I never heard of that drink and I figured it was a joke and they were all going to laugh at me. But of course there is a Harvey Wallbanger and it has become one of my favorite drinks :p

 

[Chasmodes]

No clingfish still? Must have croaked. “Clinging” on for dear life down by his new neighbors, the bristle worms.

I was wondering the same thing. Maybe you'll discover him when you break the tank down to move. Wouldn't that be a pleasant surprise?

 

[Paul B]

I went to a Doctor today with my wife because she needed some tests done and I needed a Doctor to fill out my papers to renew my Coast Guard Captains License.

The doctor was in my Union Hall.
So we get there and they call me to see the doctor. The Doctor was a thin older woman with long blond hair. She was very nice and we talked a while and she asked about all the diseases that I don't have and never want. I am pretty healthy.
So after a while she hands me this small paper "gown" which looked more like a see through napkin and tells me to take off all my clothes. I said, wait a minute, I just would like you to fill out these medical forms, and besides, I just met you.
She said, I can't fill out the forms until I examine you.

So I figured she wanted to listen to my heart, blood pressure, lungs and all that.
So I am laying on the examining bed thing wearing this piece of paper and I see her lift her skinny arms up in the air while she put on these blue examining gloves.

I said, Wait a minute! "what do you need those for?"

As she walked over to me she lifted the napkin I was wearing and said, "Don't you want me to test your prostate? ". Like, "NO"!!!! I really don't. Most parts of me function fine and that is one of them.

She said, "It's really no problem". I said for you maybe, I just had that done last Tuesday thank you very much.

She did "need" to examine "other " parts of me and I couldn't wait to get out of there as I never had a woman doctor need to examine me so thoroughly, especially to fill out a form.

So I ran, I mean, I got out of there and took my wife for lunch.

 

[SpartaReef]

Lol! Oh my!

 

[Brew12]

I went to a Doctor today with my wife because she needed some tests done and I needed a Doctor to fill out my papers to renew my Coast Guard Captains License.

The doctor was in my Union Hall.
So we get there and they call me to see the doctor. The Doctor was a thin older woman with long blond hair. She was very nice and we talked a while and she asked about all the diseases that I don't have and never want. I am pretty healthy.
So after a while she hands me this small paper "gown" which looked more like a see through napkin and tells me to take off all my clothes. I said, wait a minute, I just would like you to fill out these medical forms, and besides, I just met you.
She said, I can't fill out the forms until I examine you.

So I figured she wanted to listen to my heart, blood pressure, lungs and all that.
So I am laying on the examining bed thing wearing this piece of paper and I see her lift her skinny arms up in the air while she put on these blue examining gloves.

I said, Wait a minute! "what do you need those for?"

As she walked over to me she lifted the napkin I was wearing and said, "Don't you want me to test your prostate? ". Like, "NO"!!!! I really don't. Most parts of me function fine and that is one of them.

She said, "It's really no problem". I said for you maybe, I just had that done last Tuesday thank you very much.

She did "need" to examine "other " parts of me and I couldn't wait to get out of there as I never had a woman doctor need to examine me so thoroughly, especially to fill out a form.

So I ran, I mean, I got out of there and took my wife for lunch.

She must get to charge your insurance company a ton for that colon exam! :p

 

[Chasmodes]

You didn't know the new NYC law? To get that Captain's license, you need to make sure that prostate is in good shape, even if it was a week ago! ;):D

Good thing you weren't applying for a fishing license!