This week I am going to Montauk which is the most eastern part of NY and it sticks out in the Atlantic. There is nothing near there and no industry for many miles so the water is very clean. I am not going there for water especially but I will collect 15 gallons while I am there. I am going there to go crabbing and claming. Blue claw crabs make a great linguini sauce and my wife loves to suck every bit of meat from the tiny legs and claws. to much trouble for me. But the clams are my favorite food, I can eat them from the sea like M&Ms.
Besides water, clams and crabs there is codium seaweed all over the place there and I will most likely pick up some of that. It looks nice in a tank and lives a few months.
Hopefully I will be able to collect some amphipods and maybe even some interesting fish and crabs. Almost whatever I find that is small enough I put in my tank unless it is a baby of something that will get 9' long.
I was always under the impression that these infusions from the sea greatly benefit a captive reef. Even if I didn't have a tank I would go just for the scenery and crabs.
My tank is doing very well and I am now again able to get blackworms. My newest longnose hawkfish didn't jump out yet but he probably will, they always do. I almost added a purple firefish today but they jump even faster than hawkfish. I never lost any of them any other way. I never lose any fish unless they jump out.
You can tell healthy fish easily just by looking at them and the fish that jump out may even be among the healthiest fish. Jumping doesn't mean they are sick or there is anything wrong with your water, it just means, they got scared or figured out that they are held prisoner. I would jump also.
Healthy fish also don't have any scales out of place, have clear eyes and are interested in their surroundings and not just to try to escape. They actively hunt and many fish, especially damsels or bottom dwelling fish are always looking for love. It is what fish do.
I am also totally amazed at the amount of brittle stars in this tank. I don't remember putting birth hormones in the tank but these things are in every cranny. There is one like every inch or more. I also don't know what they are eating as they are particle eaters and I don't think they get any nutrition from the water itself, they may be sending out for pizza because I don't overfeed that much and what they do get fed is live worms, mysis and clam. No little particles like you would get from flakes or pellets.
I think I am going to try to build a brittle star trap just to see if I can. I don't want to remove them, I kind of like them.
