Tank turned 41 years old

[Paul B]

I have not updated the thread in a while and since it went through some large changes I figured I would show it.
The original thread was getting too long

You will notice almost a total lack of corals except for a few gorgonians and the addition of more than 20 gobies.
The loss of corals was due to two accidents last year while I was away for a family emergency. My Mother (who is 97) was found unconcious and we had to stay with her 24/7 for two weeks in a Hospice. I also had a problem when my town added zinc orthophosphate to my water in a large dose exhausted my DI resins.
Anyway, thats another story.
I always wanted this tank to be filled with smaller unusual gobies that would breed and just be interesting. Over the years I have kept just about all the fish that are for sale and it was time to go for something else. The problem was that I kind of like hippo tangs, moorish Idols, and copperbands so I never had the room to do this. The only larger fish I have is one hippo, a pair of Bangai cardinals and an old fire clown.
With all these smaller gobies I still have to hatch brine shrimp every day and I still also feed live blackworms almost every day.
The cardinals are breeding as are a pair of gobies. Unfortunately they do it under a rock in a part of the tank where I can't see.
Everything seems fat and healthy, the nitrates are still about zero, I still only change 20% of the water about five times a year and everything else is the same except I retired and started a part time business in December.
Have a great day.
Paul

 

[Paul B]

THat first picture of that little yellow fish , I have no idea what it is or where it came from. It is not a clown gobi. The picture is up side down as it usually stays like that in a cave. I rarely see it and can't get a better picture.

 

[matts125]

looks great!
lets see a full tank shot...

Matt

 

[Scooterman]

I guess we have a good idea on how long a well made tank will last

 

[plack]

I'll make a second request for 1 full tank shot !!

Also congrats on 38 years !!!!



Paul

 

[Curtswearing]

happy birthday tank.

Congrats Paul

 

[Paul B]

This is as close I have to a full tank. I guess I have to get the camera out.

 

[Paul B]

OK I took another one

 

[NaH2O]

Happy Birthday tank! Wow, its getting up there!

 

[balogh03]

Very cool man, i remember the 35yr thread . Sorry for your losses but it still looks great.

Good luck for the next 30

-Augustus

 

[trillyen]

surely none of your fish have been with u the hole 38 have they. I don't think they live that long to they??

 

[Paul B]

No none of the fish are 38. There was an 18 year old brutilyd or cusk eel but I accidently killed it in an accident. The fire clown is about 13 or 14.

 

[Paul B]

I was able to get a blurry picture of this guy

 

[CarlaW]

Tip a cold one Paul, you are the man!!!!

 

[Paul B]

Charlie, I'll take it

 

[Paul B]

Some more pictures

 

[Paul B]

Here are the amphipods that I collect to dump in there every few weeks in the summer.

 

[Paul B]

I just picked up another blue stripped pipefish, I believe it's another female. It is not hard to tell but this one is only about an inch and a half long and being a pipefish, very skinny. They never stop swimming either so it was even harder to tell. I bought it right out of his shipping container even before it went into the LFS tanks which is the way I prefer to buy fish. There were three of them in there and the other two looked like males. I have a breeding pair so I can't introduce another male and my eyes are not like they were 20 years ago so it is hard to tell the difference at that size especially.
I am very happy with the way the tank has evolved in the last few years which is very different from it has usually been. It is full of very small fish as opposed to tangs, angels etc.
There is still a Hippo, Bangai Cardinal and a couple of fire clowns but all the rest of them are gobies, bleenies or pipefish.
I have always wanted a tank full of fifty small fish instead of 10 larger fish. I go for the unusual and some of my fish I have no idea what they are as I never say them before.
The pipes, Bangai's and 4 gobies are spawning. Another pair of tiny clown gobies appear to want to spawn but they look to be a little stupid or maybe naive so I may have to introduce a little fish porn
I think they will get the hang of it.
I don't raise them anymore as I used to because they need more attention than I can give them right now and you are not going to find baby bluestripe pipefish in a 6' long tank. The babies are like new born brine shrimp only skinnier.
I removed a lot of rocks and it is much more "airy" looking. All the rockwork is raised and very open. For some reason there was no green algae growing at all for a few months but now I see some green on the gravel. I can't wait to see what the next phase will be.
I also built a new live blackworm keeper because as I have been saying for 50 years, if you want your fish to be as healthy as they can be and spawn, they really should have live blackworms.
Not bloodworms. A few worms a day is all it takes.
I have induced many fish to spawn with this method including gobies, bangai cardinals, blue devils and clowns.
Unfortunately pipefish and seahorses don't eat them.

Tending some eggs. These hatched about 2 weeks ago and they are nesting again.

 

[Paul B]

I just found something wierd in my tank, a little wierder than the wierd things I usually find. I say a gobi biting this tiny thing and it looked like one of those tiny astria starfish that I have hundreds but on closer inspection it is something different and it almost floats.
I sucked it up and put it in a small container. The thing is less than 1/4" long and is sphirical. It is composed of four polyps, one on each side. I don't have any corals that look like it and I have never seen it before. It was just a fluke that I saw the thing. It is now in a seperate container in the tank and I want to see if I can identify it.

 

[burning2nd]

damn i remmember when your tank turned 37.... and i think 36

nice job paul....

hows that coke can doing? no pepsi?..... pepsi can