Attempt at a video of my H. magnifica

[Delphinus]

Wow, I truly suck at this. Oh well, I'm sharing this anyhow. Hope you can forgive the crude attempt at a video, apparently I have no talent for composition, editing, or post-processing. :lol: Watch and suffer at your own risk. :)
http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn239/delphinus_photos/th_a33c89c5.jpg (http://s305.photobucket.com/albums/nn239/delphinus_photos/?action=view&current=a33c89c5.pbr)

[Sebae again]

That looks cool but I was wondering if you had any clown fish in there?

[banditpowdercoat]

Looks like good flow :D

[Delphinus]

For now there are no clownfish in there. I did have a pair living in it at one time (they live in a carpet in a different tank now). The effect was exactly the same as what you see here (ie., you find yourself asking, "are there clownfish in there?"). Clownfish are .. well, I think they are somewhat dumb and uninteresting fish on the whole. They just hid in the anemone so well that you never saw them.

It's the same story with them in the carpet. When the carpet was smaller, you'd see them. E.g.,
http://members.shaw.ca/hobiesailor/aquaria/anemones/greencarpetandfriends.jpg

That was two years ago when the carpet was about 6". Now that it's more like 15", this is about as lucky as I can get to see the fish (this shot required a lot of patience, as the female will only peek out for about a half-second. The shutter lag on the camera in itself was enough for me to miss most of my attempts to capture her on camera):
http://members.shaw.ca/hobiesailor/aquaria/anemones/20070831/peekaboo1.jpg

The male is even worse, he barely even comes out for food. It's kind of too bad, they're really cute fish, but you just never see them.

My long-range plans for the ritteri however are to try a pair or a trio of skunk clowns. They seem to be a bit bolder in personality and more out in the open as compared to ocellaris. Failing that, maybe some onyx or black perculas and hope that perculas or at least whatever ones I find will hopefully be a little less shy.

For flow the sump return is a Rio32HF and then there are also two Maxijet upgrades on there (makes them like mini-Seios or mini-Tunzes - best $20 you'll ever spend if you have Maxijets kicking around). :)

[michika]

Very cool video! I love that cube tank!

[christyf5]

Great video Tony, I can't believe the flow action in there, that anemone just loves it :biggrin:

[digital-audiophile]

That video makes it look small when IRL that thing is a monster!

[untamed]

You can improve your videos by getting a cheap tripod....

[Delphinus]

Oh, thanks a lot. :lol: So basically on top of the crappy brightness, contrast, saturation, composition, complete lack of a soundtrack, and horrid pixelation, you're telling me my video is shaky??? Ummm... "oh." :lol:

(I honestly thought the shakiness was the least of the worst attributes of this ... oh well. I guess I'll just humbly .. um.. humbly not post any more videos. :p )...

I guess I'll try a tripod, I have one, I just thought maybe a video would work better than a picture because it's an insanely hard tank to get a good photo of. Chronically you end up with underexposed photos but with overexposed hotspots. Yesterday I noticed all the fish were out putting on a show so I thought maybe I'd try a video.

It was my first real attempt at it, oh well, I just suck at stuff, so .. don't get your hopes too high. :p

[Jason McK]

Sweet video. Nice to see the Monster has his own 110G home. Makes the tank look like a Nano. :)


J

[untamed]

You can improve your videos by getting a cheap tripod....

When I typed this, I was thinking..."I hope he doesn't think I'm insulting his video..." It's not THAT bad...

It sounded like you were sort of asking for tips, so I provided one. Don't give up though. That video is certainly more descriptive than a still photo would have been.

[Delphinus]

No worries !! I just thought it was kind of funny the way it came out. "Have you thought about using a tripod?" Sort of like "Have you thought about... having someone else try photographing your tank?" :lol: I was laughing, really :)

I did mean it as a sort of learning experiment though, although so far I've learnt that I think I need to buy some video editing software. And then learn how to do it. :lol:

Another challenge is that with the front glass being so tall (30"), if I sit in front of the tank and take a picture (or video), the reflection of me holding the camera is pretty bad. Problem is I can't exactly turn the room lights off ... they're off already, the ambient light is coming from 3 other reef tanks :neutral:

I'm half debating tearing the cube tank down and amalgating the livestock (anemone included) into my 280g. The nice thing is the 6' tank will have a wavebox and I think the wave effect will be pretty keen to see on the anemone. I've tried all kinds of flow patterns and ideas in the cube and haven't really been able to replicate the "undulating wash" effect that I've always wanted to see on this anemone.

[wickedfrags]

Great looking tank. Like the still image also. May have some Stichodactyla gigantea shortly that will blow your mind!!!

[Delphinus]

Oh dude don't tempt me. :) I have two already and they've outgrown their current abode (40g semi-cube, 24x24x12). The green carpet has already caused me 3 headaches in the last 2 weeks by completely enveloping the overflow for that tank and causing massive overflows. Luckily it doesn't take a whole lot of water on the floor to trip my GFCI's but still I lost 12 gallons in the last spill. The weird thing I only could recover about 2g with the shop vac, and none of it actually made it into the floor drain (you could see where the puddle stopped, about 6" shy of the floor drain). I guess the rest just seeps into the concrete or the cracks in the floor... weird.

I've been thinking I may need to address the need for a bigger tank for the carpets sooner than finishing off my 280g. I kind of don't want to show any current pictures of the 40g because I'm a bit ashamed at how crowded it has become with two 15"-18" diameter anemones in a 24x24 footprint.

This is a picture from 2006 when both carpets were more like 10"-12" in diameter.
http://members.shaw.ca/hobiesailor/aquaria/tankshots/20070831/40g_fts.jpg (http://members.shaw.ca/hobiesailor/aquaria/tankshots/20070831/40g_fts.jpg)

Currently what's happening is the green carpet has moved slightly towards the back of the tank, and can lift the eggcrate cover over the overflow (it's pretty ghetto - I know - it's just sitting on top of the overflow). I put a pretty hefty weight over the eggcrate and it can still lift it right up off the glass.