Tank birthday, 55+ years

[Paul B]

These guys also "may" be spawning, but I can't find their nest. Or maybe they are just trying to see who has the best stripe.. :cool:

These guys are also pretty old as one of them is from my last house and I have lived here for 6 years so one may be 10 or 12.



By the way, when they are young, they have more stripes as this is the same fish

 

[vcnt]

By the way, when they are young, they have more stripes as this is the same fish

What fish is this? They are very cool looking.

 

[Paul B]

Possum Wrasses. They are much better looking when young.

 

[vcnt]

Possum Wrasses. They are much better looking when young.

Thank you, I currently dont have any wrasse but I have been looking into adding a melanarus to my list of stock

 

[Paul B]

I'm going to try to list my fish, mostly for my benefit but I don't know what many of them are.

2 Fireclowns
3 Red Waspfish
7, 9 or 10 clown gobies, different colors. Green, Black, blue, yellow and gray
2 six line wrasses
2 Possum Wrasses.
1 some kind of red fish, maybe a cardinal, I have no idea and don't remember buying it
1 Hippo Tang
1 Other tang, it will come to me. Tamini, or something like that.
1 Chalk Bass
2 Bangai Cardinals
2 Sunburst Anthius
3 Neon Gobies
3 Hectors gobies
1 Black something
1 Filefish
2 Blue stripe pipefish
2 Watchman Gobies
2 Mandarins
1 Red Scooter Dragonette
1 Perchlet
2-3- or 4 small bleenies
2 Possum Wrasses
1 Long Nose Hawkfish
1 Ruby Red dragonette

So about 50 fish. I'm sure I missed one of two.

 

[Paul B]

I think they are still spawning

 

[Paul B]

Yesterday we took out yearly trip about 77 miles to Arthur Ave. In the Bronx. It is the only Italian neighborhood left in New York and maybe the east coast.

Our Daughter used to go to Fordham University which is walking distance from there so we used to go often.

We went with 8 friends and ate the best food you can get in the US. (If you like real Italian food) There are oyster bars on the sidewalk which of course I couldn't pass up. The markets make olive oil so you can get real olive oil, something that you really can't get anywhere in the US. The stuff we can buy here, ever at fifty bucks a gallon is cut with a lot of cheap oils. Maybe Sunoco oil. :LOL:


There is a huge difference and if you have ever been to Italy you can tell right away.

The Barrotta, buffalo mozzarella is made with whipped cream, right out of a cow and set to mingle for a week. The olive oil you put on bread had 7 vegetables in it plus a little honey.

I had the best linguine and clams I have had since last year when I went there, even better than my own because I can't get the ingredients here. Not even in Little Italy in Manhattan any more. We started with octopus salad and pizza that most Americans would not recognize as pizza. The stuff we buy here is not made in Italy. We get American Pizza here just like our Chinese food would not be recognized in China.

It's also topped with meats that I can't spell in English. :anguished-face:

I bought some $15.00 cigars that the guy who has been there for 40 years makes in front of you. He doesn't speak a word of English. He has barrels of tobacco leaves and a huge press. I myself don't smoke them but many years ago I did. I give them to friends who do.

I bought 6 pounds of home made pasta that they make while you wait. We will give much of it to friends.

We also stocked up on home made sausage, hot and sweet along with brasiole and other Italian meats.

We also never pass up Madonia bakery and stocked up on olive bread. It's only baked there and you can't get anything similar here. We will have it for breakfast today after I come back from my walk.

I really love that place, as you may be able to tell. :p

 

[Rybren]

I grew up in Toronto's Little Italy. Not a lot of seafood except for dried salted cod, live eels, and wicker baskets full of snails (not seafood, I know) There were loads of meat markets and bakeries and great restaurants. None of the shop keepers spoke English (most had come to Canada in the late 40s and early 50s) and all of the signs were in Italian. My grandparents came over from the hills of Puglia in 1910.
Your story brought back so many great memories.

 

[Paul B]

Rybren. How the heck are you?

My both Grand parents came here from the same small fishing village in Sicily (Sciacca) in about 1900 and all had seafood markets. My Dad had a seafood market and was born in 1910.
This is my Dad on the left when he was 17 years old in 1927. His Dad, my Grand Father is on the right)
This is my Grand Fathers seafood market.



My Father used to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge twice a day with a Buschel or fish on his back until he could afford a push cart, then he pushed that across the bridge.

I grew up in a seafood market. :beaming-face-with-smiling-eyes:

We went to Ellis Island and saw their signatures on the ships manifest from 1900.

My wife and I live on seafood and of course Italian food but much of it is a lost art and can't be bought any longer in the states. I miss real Italian seafood so we go there as often as we can.

 

[Lowell Lemon]

Just like a trip to the Amalfi coast! Love that part of our trip last year.

 

[Rybren]

I'm still on the right side of the grass
:cool:

How is Dale doing these days?

 

[mmw64]

Rybren. How the heck are you?

My both Grand parents came here from the same small fishing village in Sicily (Sciacca) in about 1900 and all had seafood markets. My Dad had a seafood market and was born in 1910.
This is my Dad on the left when he was 17 years old in 1927. His Dad, my Grand Father is on the right)
This is my Grand Fathers seafood market.



My Father used to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge twice a day with a Buschel or fish on his back until he could afford a push cart, then he pushed that across the bridge.

I grew up in a seafood market. :beaming-face-with-smiling-eyes:

We went to Ellis Island and saw their signatures on the ships manifest from 1900.

My wife and I live on seafood and of course Italian food but much of it is a lost art and can't be bought any longer in the states. I miss real Italian seafood so we go there as often as we can.

Thanks Paul, for the travel log. Since we are "older than dirt" it's the only way we travel! Good to hear from you! Love your stories.

 

[Paul B]

How is Dale doing these days?

Not real good I am sorry to say. MS doesn't get any better with time.

 

[Rybren]

Not real good I am sorry to say. MS doesn't get any better with time.

I am so sorry to hear that Paul. MS is a horrible illness.

 

[Cthulukelele]

I'm going to try to list my fish, mostly for my benefit but I don't know what many of them are.

2 Fireclowns
3 Red Waspfish
7, 9 or 10 clown gobies, different colors. Green, Black, blue, yellow and gray
2 six line wrasses
2 Possum Wrasses.
1 some kind of red fish, maybe a cardinal, I have no idea and don't remember buying it
1 Hippo Tang
1 Other tang, it will come to me. Tamini, or something like that.
1 Chalk Bass
2 Bangai Cardinals
2 Sunburst Anthius
3 Neon Gobies
3 Hectors gobies
1 Black something
1 Filefish
2 Blue stripe pipefish
2 Watchman Gobies
2 Mandarins
1 Red Scooter Dragonette
1 Perchlet
2-3- or 4 small bleenies
2 Possum Wrasses
1 Long Nose Hawkfish
1 Ruby Red dragonette

So about 50 fish. I'm sure I missed one of two.

Clown gobies are such delightful chill long lived fish with fun to watch behaviors

 

[Paul B]

I agree, a very nice, colorful, peaceful, easy to care for and easy to spawn fish. :beaming-face-with-smiling-eyes:

 

[Paul B]

Just like a trip to the Amalfi coast! Love that part of our trip last year.

Good Morning Lowell. We have never been to Amalfi but it was supposed to be our next trip. It is very hard to travel due to my wife's MS. We have been to Sicily where my family came from and many other places including Tahiti. We were divers so always went to a place we could dive.

My new knee and shoulder don't like to SCUBA so we don't do that any more. I sold my boat and gave away all my SCUBA equipment but have I think over 300 dives.

I was trying to book a river boat cruise on the Mississippi for our 51st anniversary next week but they are booked up until next October. :anguished-face:

We did go on a river boat cruise on the Danube in Europe a few years ago and walking on those cobble stone streets in Europe were not easy for her, but she is worse now.

 

[Paul B]

My tank is doing very well except for the produce store hair algae that is growing. All of my fish that can spawn are spawning and doing very well. My corals are growing pretty fast and soon will be back to the way they were before I severely trimmed them to remove invasive sponge. All is as it should be. :beaming-face-with-smiling-eyes:

 

[Nano_Man]

Great photos Paul

 

[Paul B]

Right now I am using my DIY diatom filter to clean out the gravel over my reverse Undergravel filter and blow out detritus in rock. The fish are loving it.