The big move is complete...(no, not a new house) we moved my saltwater fish tank from my mom's house over to our apartment on the other side of town. I ignored the directions of Kwesi the fish guru, and opted not to disassemble "Bluefish's" habitat. I just took out about 2 gallons of water, leaving the tank half full, the corals covered with water, and reducing just enough weight for Chad to awkwardly carry it. I didn't see the point of moving all the rock, animals, and 5 or so gallons of water into a 5 gallon bucket, when the tank was only 6 gallons to begin with. Granted, the bucket would have had a handle, but I think that would have stressed out the critters a lot more. And it would have taken me at least 20 minutes to get Bluefish out. He has learned, that whenever I open the lid and the light is still on, it means feeding time...but when I turn the light off, it means I'm going to reach my arm in the tank to fix something or try to catch him...and he immediately darts under the rocks. He is so funny, I never knew fish could express such personality...but when he is hungry (which seems to be all the time) he will swim right in my line of sight...so that I have no view whatever else I'm trying to see in the tank. It's like a puppy that won't stop jumping around your ankles and trips you with every step.
Magellan (my brittle star...see photo) managed to get into the filter area of the tank again. This is a real pain, because there are three compartments back there, as deep as the tank, and barely wide enough for my hand to fit. Forget about having any kind of control over the motor functions of your fingers. All the filtering media makes it easy for him to squeeze to the bottom, ensuring that i can't reach him. I finally got him out by pulling all the bioballs and carbon bags out, and using a chopstick and my hand to nab him...all the while holding a mini-maglight in my teeth, so I could see.
I bought some new coral frags and introduced them after the move...I made out like a bandit at the fish store. I asked about a large piece of rock that had one purple mushroom on it, and was slightly outside the "$10 frags" line drawn on the tank glass...they guy said "well, if that's the only thing on it...then I'll do $10 for you." (which it was) With the price of rock...that should have cost way more...and the piece is nice with beautiful purple algae all over it...and some seaweed growing on it, which my hermit crab is happy about. I then asked him if a certain mushroom and some clove or star polyps were one piece or two since they were practically on top of each other...he picked them up and they came apart...but he said "lets call them one piece." Then I asked for one more mushroom, and he threw in a little rock frag with some tiny button polyps on it. :o) Made my day!
So I have all the new things in, and the water is clear, and everything is doing really well, and seems happy. I'm only having a problem with one mushroom that doesn't seem to want to attach itself to anything. Since the flow in the tank is so strong it kind of tumbles around, and I'm worried about that. I've been wanting to take some pictures...so I will try to do that of my tank (the photo below is not mine). Sorry about the long fish post...but that's really the most exciting thing going on right now.