The struggles and triumphs of my small slice of the ocean. *Still under construction*

Thursday, March 13, 2008

3 of my favorite fish.




The lineatus wrasse, the purple firefish, and the radiant wrasse are three of my favorite fish in the tank. They each add a lot of color and splash. I especially like the firefish and the radiant as they are always out in the open swimming around. The lineatus being a deep water fish is a lil more reclusive when the midday lights are beating down!

Free frag!




This is a frag I got from the February frag meeting. It was labeled as a pokerstar monti but it turned out to be a superman. No worries here as I actually really like the coloration in this particular specimen.

The coral in the background is another wild superman monti that has too many polyps close together for my taste.

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Clear Full Tank Shot



Alex finally came over and took some shots of the tank. It turned out much nicer than it would have on my crappy point and shoot. Unfortunately, something was wrong with my tank when these pics were taken. I'm not sure what it is but my Fiji leather was sullen all day and my clams were closed up. Some of my acros wouldn't extend their polyps either... Clearly something was wrong and you can see it in the pics.

I decided to do a water change and hope for the best. As of tonight the clams have opened again and the Fiji has filled up. I'm not sure what was wrong. The only thing I did was dose some phyto in the morning. Perhaps the phyto was bad? I dunno... just to be safe I'm throwing it out.

Hopefully, I can get Alex to take some more pics when the corals and clams don't look like they're dying!

Monday, February 18, 2008

Fuzzy FTS



Rawn was kind enough to take pics on the tour of tanks. Here's a full tank shot. Unfortunately it came out kinda fuzzy :). Hopefully, Alex can take some more pics of the tank soon. I'm pretty much done adding corals/fish to the tank. Its kinda wierd to think that I'm almost "done" with the tank. Its always been a work in progress... Well I hope I can enjoy simply watching things grow as much as I enjoyed adding new things to my collection!

Friday, February 15, 2008

My saga with the Radiant Wrasse.



One of my absolute favorite fish of all time is the simple lil Radiant Wrasse, Halichores iradius. I find its color contrast to be stunning, and it is simply a joy to watch.

This is my third and likely final try at the Radiant Wrasse... I feel horrible that two other of these beautiful fish came half way around the world only to die abruptly in my tank. The first one was sick when I got it and died during the night. It wouldn't eat, it wouldn't burrow, it wouldn't even swim... The next one developed an infection and died within a week of getting sick. I tried desperately to catch it so I could treat it, but to no avail.

My wife suggested that I give up trying to have one of these beautiful fish in my tank. I agreed... This was six months ago or so. For Valentine's day she surprised me by ordering another Radiant Wrasse. This time from the diver's den on Live Aquaria. Sure it is much more expensive than any other site and even some LFS, but the fish in the den are top notch and certified healthy to some degree. I hope this one makes it as it is a stunning specimen.

Friday, February 1, 2008

New Fairy Wrasse



This is a Condei Wrasse also known as the Black-fin Flame Wrasse. They are a newly imported species and as you can see they are absolutely stunning.

Wow, I forgot about my blog!

Well its been almost half a year since I last updated this thing. Many things have changed, the reef has grown in size and stature, and I am slowly transitioning to more of an SPS tank. It will never be completely SPS as I will always have my RBTA and LPS and a few other colorful softies.

More updates to follow shortly with pics!