Quite a fishy story

[fishspun]

I have been reading this forum for the past two years and I have always enjoyed a good fish story. Well, here’s my kick at a good story. It’s a story I’m thinking everyone can relate to as it story of hardship and happiness in our hobby. This is a 3-part story.

Part 1 – The Knee-Jerk Reaction

As the clock struck 9am this morning, I quickly jumped to my feet for the daily routine and the daily grind. Luckily, its Sunday morning so there’s no work and I can enjoy a freshly brewed cup of coffee. It just happens that I certainly need the coffee since I had a terrible sleep the previous night. On the previous night I happened to add a coral given to me at 11pm from a relative. By the time I got home I just dropped it into my mantis shrimp tank without acclimatizing the colony of zoanthids first. Once again…I had a terrible sleep.

One of my daily routines include a morning stop off into my fish room to enjoy the actinic lights in the morning where I can see the many different colours that show up (imagine glow bowling or glow in the dark golf for those who have never seen actinic in action). Anyhow, as I browse at my new zoanthids, I see these orange triangular patches covering parts of the rock. What a mistake adding it directly to the tank! Well, imagine a fire bell had just gone off in my house and I was the fireman jumping into action. I quickly ran for a bucket to setup a freshwater coral dip. In goes the flatworm exit, ph up, lugols iodine and into fungus meds. I feverishly attacked the flatworms looking like a madman spinning, twisting and turning my coral upside down in the bucket. After five minutes and a good workout…all was well once again and I returned back to my coffee and neon coloured corals under the blue lights.

Part 2 - Panic!

The hour has quickly passed and gone by with the soothing sounds of the protein skimmer and the high-powered powerheads. In fact, it was so soothing I just about fell back asleep. Drip…drip…drip… As the saying goes…when it rains, it pours! My mantis shrimp tank was certainly raining. I wasn’t sure if it was my mantis cracking my tank or if the silicone came loose, but I knew it wasn’t good and I needed to act within the next few hours. The drips from the tank were not severe, but annoying and no band-aid solution would solve this problem in the long run. At first, I wanted to buy a new tank (don’t we all?), however, I thought better about that idea as many people in my family would not be impressed by adding another larger fish tank. I finally decide to tear down my mantis tank and move him into my large sump.

Sploosh! Splash! It has been 4 hours and I was still working on the move. The sump had to be readied for a mantis shrimp. Water level raised…check, skimmer adjusted…check, heater guard installed…check, protective layer of plastic and egg crate…check…etc. It was finally time to make the move. I began by moving out my corals from my mantis tank and next I moved the live rock. My mantis is very protective of his space…as are people of their homes and cars. Thump! Thump! Oww! My mantis (a smasher type) tried to take my finger off…it’s a good thing I had thick pond gloves on. At this point, I finish removing all the live rock and begin to catch the mantis. I don’t use nets and these can hurt them, so I decide to use a Styrofoam bucket and gloves. Tick…tock…tick…tock. I thought back in the FW days catching a zebra danio was hard…imagine a super sized zebra danio with attitude that hits back at you at up to a speed of a car and also jumps! I finally get him (Mr. Peacock…my mantis shrimp) and he does not look happy. In fact, every time I look down at him in the bucket, he looks back up at me with this evil glare! After 15 minutes of acclimatizing, I finally put him in…but not before he gives me one last kick…almost like telling me never to do it again! And that is how my sump got converted into Mr. Peacocks brand new home. I bet my fish will be happy… it puts an end to my dump freshwater and add salt in the sump method of mixing with the pumps on!

Part 3 – Rebirth

I finally sit back in my sofa to relax. The day has been extremely taxing as this ordeal has lasted the duration of the day with a few breaks for food and phone calls. As you probably would have guessed, dinner was the best meal I have ever had (same feeling when you go camping). The serenity and calmness of my fish room after I cleaned everything up was unreal. Who needs psychologists when there’s a fish tank around the corner?

As I look at my corals to look for growth, I notice my coral beauty getting beat up. It was quite an odd site…two tiny little clown fish attacking a fish 10 times its size. I guess it was gang mentality (its 2007 after all). I look closer and right before my eyes and to my amazement…eggs! Yes clownfish eggs! They have finally spawned after 2 years of being together.

The joy I felt out of seeing my two little clownfish protect their eggs and take turns fanning was amazing. I quickly ran to grab the camera and actually slipped on one step I was running so fast (I think my family has finally decided I am nuts after today).

Looking back, I guess my day wasn’t so bad after all. I am willing to bet my mantis shrimp had something to do with the spawning, as I had to change a lot of water today and also add volume. I guess the lesson here is for every bad day, there’s always a good day and if you are lucky enough, both will happen on the same day! However…there’s also the saying of be careful of what you wish for!

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I hope everyone has enjoyed the story. Thank you to the canreef community for all the knowledge and advice that we share in this hobby we all so enjoy.

[Captainhemo]

Start passing out the cigars

[Zylumn]

Great story and well told. Action, suspense, romance,
2 fins up.
Kevin

[Jenndarlin]

do u have pics of the eggs???

i love those days!!!!

[fishspun]

I took about 20 pictures and a video under actinics as I left them on all night. I will upload them tomorrow and post them.