Coral BEAUTY
Been awhile since posting... much has happened. Went to the Big Island (Hawaii itself) twice and took so many pictures I don't know what to do with them all. Have color corrected and posted some of them here:
kate.munat.com
The snorkeling there kicks Oahu's butt for coral, it's everywhere except where the freshwater springs kill it and even then there is a lot. Says a lot for the hardiness of porites and pocillopora. Fish were amazing, and finally saw schools of yellow tangs, groups of turtles, butterflies and puffers and everything you can imagine. Electric green zoanthids in 90+ degree tidepools full of garbage with freshwater leaching in. Zoas are hardier than I thought too! Some are out of the water part of the day. Even found a 4 inch peacock flounder, which is kinda hard to see.
I missed Ilham which makes me sad but I never really did coordinate that properly. My apologies, would have loved to meet your girlfriend!
Jay was wanting some pictures of my FOWLR tank which is probably so he can laugh at the fake coral and sadness of it all compared to the tanks I had. So here are a few shots.
First off the green carpet eel blenny, which is technically a dottyback. 14" male. He was going to be tossed in the harbor by a person who shall remain anonymous so I took him (major bad idea, fish is illegal) if anyone wants him bad enough I will send him to the mainland. Eats fish and can be mean. Usually if another fish nips him he will gently take the fish in his mouth and push it away without biting but lately he has no patience and chases. What would be dumb enough to bite a fish 6 times it's size? Filefish... I have a divider in the tank now.
You can breed these fish and raise the young on BBS... Pods til settlement along with bbs. They are too big for rotifers. Don't know where to find a female though. He is really bright green. Also a pic of his victim, the hawkfish. The hawkfish looked better with the fringes on his dorsal. Again I suspect the filefish. Tomorrow we will release the file when snorkeling and watch him swim away.
Kate