Hello, my name is Jeff and I have recently set up a Waterbox 25 gallon mini peninsula aio tank at my house in Central Florida. I have numerous tanks set up ranging from 10 to 50 gallons and from a mixed reef to setups mainly showcasing cool fish and inverts. Of course, my plan is to get a larger system(48”x48”x24” preferably) once I’m settled into a permanent home but I will always keep a small or mid size tank going as well.
I grew up scuba and free diving with my dad and brothers off of Palm Beach, FL where I was born(1984)and raised. We would spearfish, harvest lobster, fish with hook and line, and surf all hours of the day and night year around. It was a way of life for my dad since he was a child and he was the equivalent of a 10th degree black belt at these things. He flew for the Army in Vietnam and then was a private jet pilot so he had plenty of time off to be on and in the ocean. We were lucky to be born into the position to learn from the best and partake in these things from a very young age.
We also would usually have aquariums set up and only housed animals we collected ourselves. We had special nets we made ourselves which we chased fish into. The nets had a clear vinyl top portion and a plastic jar sewn into the middle section which was made of mesh. We had a few different versions depending on what we were going after. Since we were making so many dives we could hold out for quality over quantity on what we kept. I was a nerd for species identification, distribution, and behaviors so I studied the Paul Humann Caribbean reef fish book like the gospel and knew pretty much every animal I would see out there and all their characteristics. Some of our favorites were Juvenile Spotted Drum, Yellwohead Jawfish(FL version much better than the Caribbean Pearly’s,) Red Spotted Hawkfish, Wrasse Bass, Neon Gobies, Caribbean Sailfin Blennies, juvenile Lightning Wrasse, and Cherub Pygmy Angels to name a few. We also would usually have a mated pair of Cleaner shrimp and/or Golden Coral Banded and some other nice inverts. Sometimes we’d have a separate tank set up for a cool predator like an Octopus, Frogfish, or rare Reef Lobster/Axiid Shrimp. I loved it. But as an adult I moved around and got away from it. Until I got out of the military and settled in central FL where I got into reef tanks 2 and 1/2 years ago.
My fiancé and I are moving to a temporary house and I’m just gonna keep this 25 peninsula going for now. I will move some of my cool nano fish and favorite corals into it. I already placed a rock from my mixed reef tank inside and some new corals. I will post some pics of my current tanks and I’ll follow up with the new setup in the near future.
To the few who end up checking this out: preciate it!
I grew up scuba and free diving with my dad and brothers off of Palm Beach, FL where I was born(1984)and raised. We would spearfish, harvest lobster, fish with hook and line, and surf all hours of the day and night year around. It was a way of life for my dad since he was a child and he was the equivalent of a 10th degree black belt at these things. He flew for the Army in Vietnam and then was a private jet pilot so he had plenty of time off to be on and in the ocean. We were lucky to be born into the position to learn from the best and partake in these things from a very young age.
We also would usually have aquariums set up and only housed animals we collected ourselves. We had special nets we made ourselves which we chased fish into. The nets had a clear vinyl top portion and a plastic jar sewn into the middle section which was made of mesh. We had a few different versions depending on what we were going after. Since we were making so many dives we could hold out for quality over quantity on what we kept. I was a nerd for species identification, distribution, and behaviors so I studied the Paul Humann Caribbean reef fish book like the gospel and knew pretty much every animal I would see out there and all their characteristics. Some of our favorites were Juvenile Spotted Drum, Yellwohead Jawfish(FL version much better than the Caribbean Pearly’s,) Red Spotted Hawkfish, Wrasse Bass, Neon Gobies, Caribbean Sailfin Blennies, juvenile Lightning Wrasse, and Cherub Pygmy Angels to name a few. We also would usually have a mated pair of Cleaner shrimp and/or Golden Coral Banded and some other nice inverts. Sometimes we’d have a separate tank set up for a cool predator like an Octopus, Frogfish, or rare Reef Lobster/Axiid Shrimp. I loved it. But as an adult I moved around and got away from it. Until I got out of the military and settled in central FL where I got into reef tanks 2 and 1/2 years ago.
My fiancé and I are moving to a temporary house and I’m just gonna keep this 25 peninsula going for now. I will move some of my cool nano fish and favorite corals into it. I already placed a rock from my mixed reef tank inside and some new corals. I will post some pics of my current tanks and I’ll follow up with the new setup in the near future.
To the few who end up checking this out: preciate it!
