It is with a great deal of saddness that I put this note in here....I just realized last evening that I didn't see my beloved Dash, the Orange Firefish...I realize these aren't considered the coolest fish in the hobby, but Dash was the second fish I got when starting back into the hobby a year and a half ago...

I searched the area inside my fully enclosed hood, and stopped the return pump so I could check the overflow box real well...nothing....I had some really warm days last week and I figure those may have taken him out...or he may have found some way out of the tank and canopy and became a tender vittle for one of the cats....I lean toward the latter, as the parameters are unaffected....

Either way, I gotta say that this little guy had a lot of personality, the only fish I ever had that I actually had to push out of the way to reach around in the tank...always there to say "Hello" and ALWAYS visible up in the water column...

Bye Dash....RIP....

I love the way things are growing and coloring up in my tank, but incase anybody didn't notice, I'm having a battle with this nasty Maroon Carpet algae....

I got it from two little pieces of Fiji rock that I threw in when I was setting up my 29, which became the basis for my 75....I got two little tennis ball sized pieces of rock, just to add the biodiversity of Fiji rock to my tank made up of Florida aquaculture, Marshall, Tonga and Tonga fusion rock...well, the two little rocks had a covering of this maron turf that I expected to just die off...

As many things go awry, so did this and now it pretty much covers all the lighted surfaces of my rock....It seems to be subsiding some just now, but I just don't get it...My parameters are all where they should be...from what I've read over on RC, this stuff seems to get WORSE in extremely low Nitrates!

Anyway, what I'm trying now is varied algae munchers...John at ReefCleaners is helping me find the right critter, and over the last week I've thrown in a bunch of Keyhole Limpets and a few Wooly Chitons...the chitons aren't real intersted yet, but they don't seem offended by it...The Limpets seem like they don't even like to touch the stuff...to the point of letting go and just flopping over on their backs, and a bunch have even climbed up on the Chitons' backs...Most recently, just last evening I added two Pacific Turbos and one Mexican Turbo....they also don't seem too interested...I know theyall need time to decide whether or not to chow on the stuff...

So for now, I am still working the mystery....I'm fixing up my water change water just now...Hopefully I might be able to break the secret of this Maroon Devil...

I have had some real nice growth and color lately. I also am just amazed with the pictures I have been getting with my new camera, so I decided to pop a few pictures that I think are pretty nice. So, I present a few of my "Happy Corals"....

This is my "Juice's Flashlight Acropora chesterfieldensis":


A few nice Whammin Watermellons:


My ORA Chip's Acropora, growing out really nice:


My Tabling Acropora, Juice says it's a tabled out Chip's colony:

notice the Metallic Green on the left and the Deep Blue to Purple on the right...those are all one colony, just different ages of growth....

This is a totally colored down deepwater Acropora lokani which will be amazingly colored before you know it...I just got it yesterday:


Here is the Quadricolor Acropora I got yesterday, this will be amazing with Purple, Blue and Pink flesh, all sheening a deep green and possibly neon yellow polyps. It's a truly phenomenal coral:


I decided to take a few frags off my Aussie Duncanopsammia, here are a couple of frags:



I also chopped up my "Happy Coral's Schizo Red and Green Blastomussa wellsi".
Here is Mom and one of the frags, they need to heal a week or two before there will be any discussion of sales:




Please be aware that these were taken just an hour and a half after putting the new ones into my tank, and just about 3 hours after chopping those two LPS's into pieces, so those are some Hacked-Off Corals....but they will soon be Happy Corals again....they are all directly out of the camera with the ONLY modification being cropping and adjusting Exposure....my camera is a Canon SX100is on "P" mode, Vivid color, 250 MH already timed off, 150 still on (above the soft corals side of the tank) and the Actinics on. No pumps were stopped, the tank was rolling at over 55 turnovers per hour.

Mitch

I am a bit concerned that Mommy Blasto may not make it...I noticed some tissue slough from her skirt last might so she got a good iodine dip...I will keep an eye on her, but she may be a fatality....If so, then I guess I will just have like 3 nice multi-head frags when the sellin begins....

This is a most amazing Blastomussa, with WorldWide Corals selling them for $100 per head!

I swapped a frag with a member of my club today, and have a beautiful new Deepwater Acropora....I'm not sure just what species it is, but I'm leaning toward A. suharsonoi...see what y'all think:


I just got it today, it should color nicely based upon what I'm seeing so far....

Here is a sweet shot of it that my Foxface helped me with:


Here's a new, cut day before yesterday, frag of my Happy Corals' Schizo Red and Green Blastomussa:


Just some pretty shots, of Happy Corals....

Enjoy,
Mitch

Nice new stuff Mitch!

Looks good mitch!

Thanks Christel, I really love my new camera....I am shooting on "P" mode with no flash, "vivid" color and "Macro" setting as necessary....some are taken with MH, others with just T5's... I LOVE my new Canon!

Okay, so Jon Kunzman (JKUNZ) asked what all I scored this weekend for the tank....I did a bit of Power Shopping with a friend who aquacultures exotics...traded a couple of things to him, and bought a couple things....for "my" price....

I got a beautiful frag of Quadricolor Acropora....it's not Tri-Color, it will color up to Deep Blue, Purple and Pink flesh, with a rich Green sheen....and if I'm lucky and my tank makes it COMPLETELY Happy, it may get neon Yellow Polyps....This is about a 2 inch tall frag:


I also got a little (bout 1 inch tall, and wide) colored-down frag of an amazing Acropora lokani, this one should become Lavendar purple with tips becoming so pale a blue it's nearly white, and with a cool green sheen....This pic was on Saturday, just after acclimating....


I now have the major score, one that I have been waiting for a while to get....It's the real deal "Steve Palleta Blue" Purple Haze encrusting Montipora....It's a little frag, but it came at a price....grow baby grow....


I also had the opportunity to turn a little trade too....A friend from my Club had his eye on one of my pieces and we originally had a swap worked out for a different coral, but he advertised on our club forum, I shot him a message and ended up with this instead...It's some sort of deepwater Acropora...I think either a Caroliniana or I believe a Suharsonoi....about a 2 inch wide frag...



I would also like to take a bit of bandwidth for a few other cool new pics....

The Dos Amigos...My Priolepis ascensionis, Ascension goby...Dizzy....he's the upside-down guy, and his buddy, one of the Porcelain Crabs....


16 Stony Corals in one picture....


The Pink and Green Acropora millepora, but it's mostly Pink just now....It will Green back up soon I believe....Look at the growth, that's nearly 5 inches tall....


Momma Blasto took a couple of skirt hits in the fragging process...She will heal, it will just take longer....


This one took a hit too, but look at the 3 babies lined up under her....She will heal up too...


I cut up my Duncans, and my Blastomussa too...
This frag is JKUNZ'....It's a pretty little double....


This is his Blasto frag too....3 heads...."Happy Corals Schizo Red and Green Blastos"....WAY Limited Edition...look at those tiny Midnight Blue specks of growth....these things are electric!!!


I have a few other frags of those two pieces, but they will need to heal before any of them are going anywhere....If anybody is interested, drop me a note...I'm not going to go through a whole big sale thing....these are limited....

Mitch

Awesome new stuff!!! I'm jealous!

By the way....party foul on the full name call out.

I can't wait now for your stuff to grow too so we can swap...my newbies will be here in a week. You know me and my delivery schedules!!!

Your tank is so amazing and is looking AWESOME. I can't believe how pink the green and pink milli is your tank mine is starting to get pink!

Thanks for the props...I just try to keep it nice...I will have to start pulling stuff out to make room soon....well, actually I already have....notice, no huge Orange cap....that one had to go!!!! Just too big....now I just have my little original orange cap again....

Ya...you pink and green is very pink!!! Mine's starting to brighten up, but not like that. Bummer on the giganto cap...good thing they grow like weeds.

No bummer about the Cap...I wanted to get rid of it...too much real estate tied up under it....The thing was over 10 inches wide at one point, I cut that down and only kept like a 3 1/2 inch wide piece, which PROMPTLY grew out to 6 X 6, with a couple of whorls starting....I decided to send that one on to another home...now I have my pretty little, original, colony which is numerous small blades and whorls, mostly Pinkish orange in color...and reasonable size...so far....

As for the Pink mille....be patient and keep on top of the parameters...it will color up...just takes time....I've had that one for a long time....I'm waiting for the green to come back to it....

Okay, so I am really impressed with how the new corals I got on New Years have colored up in just 2 weeks....

The first one is a little frag of what I've been calling Purple Haze encrusting Montipora, but have been corrected by my supplier to calling it Mike Paletta Blue encrusting Montipora (an even nicer strain)...it is coloring up real well and one cut side has encrusted already...enough of my BS...here's the coral...


The next one is the Quadricolor Acropora...if you notice, the new growth at the base is turning Pink, the branches are deep Blue, Purple tips, and unfortunately the camera doesn't pick up the Green sheen....


My final show off piece is the deepwater Acropora suharsonoi...this thing is BEAUTIFUL....the shaded tissue is purple and the lighted parts are this evil green...truly amazing how it is coloring up....


And just as a teaser, I'm going to post a couple of teaser shots of some of my Blasto frags...these are already both spoken for, but I have one more that is available....




Hopefully on Saturday I will be picking up my frag of Tyree LE Bubblegum Monster Chalice....I have a frag with a second eye just starting to form....it's an item I'm trading a piece for....not a bad swap...it's got really neat lineage too....I will put up a pic when I get it....

Oh, and sorry about the smudgy glass...I just never seem to clean it well before photo ops

Awesome!!! I'm excited for that blasto! and for summer when you're ready to frag swap!

I am going to record my voice saying "grow...grow....grow...grow..." and play it real low and see if I can get the subliminal thing to happen!!!!

I think these will grow real well, just based upon how healthy they are all starting out....

Ok , so I just gased up my truck and am hitting the road. Pm me your location in Florida and I will be by to pick up my Blastos in ohhh I'd say 4-5 days tops !! Wow !!!! Those are heaven . Mitch as a fellow reefer. Please buy a sweet camera to (showcase) the beauty that is in your glass box. I need a new background pic for my computer.

Smitty, You are too kind....I appreciate your props....I just got a new camera, and am quite pleased with it, I just really need to clean my glass before I take pics in the future....

As for the Blastos, if you truly want a frag, let me know and we can see about it...I still have a frag healing and unclaimed...I have some other stuff to help lighten the shipping sting....Seriously...I am willing to ship, and am pretty good at it too....

Looking good there mitch!

Preciate it....just doing the best I can....once again, the corals do all the work, I just try to give them a decent place to work....

Tomorrow I get my LE Bubblegum Monster chalice frag....I'm so very excited....Now, that's the one I want to see GROW!!!!!!

Okay, So my bride Laurie's daughter Allison said the true exotics, both corals and fish are "like a cult" .... I had to realize that with my newest addition, that I have a "Cult Coral"...I got my frag of Tyree Limited Edition Bubblegum Monster chalice today....

This piece has an interesting lineage. Steve Tyree got his original Bubblegum Monster from Joe Casas in California....well, Joe got his from Victor at WorldWideCorals in Orlando....It seems that when Joe first called Victor to talk about the BGM, that Juice of Juicy Corals was standing there already holding his colony....well, I didn't get mine from Juice, but Mike Brown did, and mine came from Mike....sooooo, I effectively have a piece the same generation as Tyree would cut from his own mother....

Pretty cool, but here's the frag...and it's a tiny one....but it will grow....


I promise not to sell all my worldly goods or shave my head....and there's NO WAY IN HE[[ I'm dancing around in Granny's bedspread...even if I am part of a cult!!!

Mitch

nice bgm mitch. i read an article that victor wrote about the lineage in reefhobbyistmagazine. I'll add that he drove to tampa to get the mother colony from a hobbyist that was selling it. it was already pending but after some bargining jpe got it. I'd love to go to wwc to see the mother colony and buy some nice coralz. my dad said he take me when i got some more $$. Maybe then we could swap mitch so we wouldn't need to ship.

Oh yeah dude....It will either be like that or if we come south to dive I will drop off on the way and pick up on the way back...We can't waste our resources on shipping for a swap....besides I would love to see your tank....Or I would be pleased for you to see mine!

A couple of hours have gone by now, since I put the BGM in my tank, it has puffed up some and is getting Happy....here's a shot to show the difference....


(if you didn't notice, I actually cleaned the glass this time!!!)

wow i love the tank.and that BGM is going to look amazing then it grow out[it already looks amazing].

Dibs on frag!!!

Serious, this tank is amazing!!!
Great work bro!

Thanks a lot folks...I just try to do justice by the creatures....they work hard to be so amazing, I just hope to showcase them adequately....

Yes!!! You got the BGM!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just add a frag to my tab....I'll wait the six months.

Tank looks awesome as always Mitch! Thanks for the heads up about the newbie, now I'm the one that's jealous! Once my 135 is operational, it'll be perfect time for me to get a lil chunk of that guy and your other new stuff.

WOW your tank is AMAZING Mitch.
great lookin BGM that thing is gonna be coool

Thanks Tank, and JKUNZ...you're on the list...as a matter of fact you're first on my list...

Wow....that's respect. It's well worth the wait.

I know there is very little difference in this little frag over the past few days, but I gotta show what I was told to watch...I think it's getting a second eye....the little bright green "daisy" looking area just below and right of the eye is what my guy said will be a second eye...probably within a couple of weeks...

This was just snapped a few minutes ago...the edges are flaring out nice too....

A friend came by tonight with a little swap item...I traded a couple little frags of some sweet acros for a nice little encrusted frag of a really neat new Chalice...Not any kind of bubblegum-watermelon-alien-swampgas-monster or anything...I don't think....But I will be interested to see what it grows and colors into....



Enjoy,
Mitch

can i be on the list to PLEZZZ.

Is that the BGM list? It may be a few months for it to bust out but I really will let people know when I frag it, if y'all want me to.....I know that JKUNZ is totally serious, so I truly consider the first frag sold to him...we have done a few transactions, and he makes it clear that he loves my "Happy Corals"....I would be happy to send some your way too...I don't have a lot of stuff fragged now, but I have a couple of things if you want to know what's ready I will send you a PM....Just let me know....

Mitch

Oh, and speaking of the BGM...I fed it a mysis shrimp last night and today when I was looking at it (with my HIGH POWER magnifying glass) I am SURE it is getting a baby....It's that same spot, below and to the right of the eye that is there...see what y'all think....

yes i meant your BGM list and i am serious i can wait that not a problem.i would rather wait for a frag from you then buy it online.you seam to be a very nice and generous reefer and i would rather give you the money then some online business.but if you don't want to i well unstained.

Absolutely mnherper....you are formally on the list....as soon as this thing takes off a little I will see what kind of frag pack....I mean frag assortment we can get together (no frag packs allowed here on N-R) we can get together and make this thing happen...or, of course, if you just want the BGM that will be able to happen too.... grow....grow....grow.....

I only came back the way I did because I AM willing to "wait list" folks who are serious...with pleasure....but just want to make sure before I get a huge list together and find out people are tire kickers....

And....thanks a million for your kind words....

I'm still waiting to find out an ID on my new chalice too...it puffed up nicely after just it's first night in the tank...here;s yesterday's pic:

Mitch,

Terrific tank.

I have been staring at the BGM on the cover of Reef Hobbyist Magazine for the last few weeks. It is a stunning coral.

Could I be placed on the list for yours?

I would really appreciate it.

thanks

You're there...I got JKUNZ, MnHerper and Jasong...Now I just need the little freak to get busy growing!!! And, Hey, Jason, where are you located? It's not on your profile....

So anyway, Anybody know what that red chalice is called...other than Echinopora sp. I already know that part....

thank you for putting me on the list. and a frag assortment would be great.check out my 75g and tell me if there something you like maybe we can swap frag or something[when ever you are ready].

Nice.

Thanks Pismo...it's got some serious growing to do, but it's a sweet piece....

Your tank looks awesome. those chalice corals are amazing.

Thanks Carter....I have no money but I have made some great swaps lately....

No real change, just wanted to snap a few random coral pics tonight....

Starting to grow vertical


Both heads splitting


Mike Palleta Blue almost fully healed over the original tile cut


My Pinks are about my healthiest zoas...in the shade...


Random area shot...I count 17 different corals


ORA Blue mille grabbing the adjacent rock


The big one was a hitchhiker on some free LR


My Rainbow has some sweet polyp colors


Another area shot...I only count 12 different corals on this one


Actinic shot of JKUNZ's Blasto frag


I have somewhere around 80 or 85 different coral varieties in my 75....

Enjoy,
Mitch

I want you to put me on the list brother I really do, but you know Cash rules everything around me. So I will drool from a distance. If you want I can join your Mantra though. Grow Grow Grow lol.
Love your tank as always Mitch

brilliant work mitch I am quite impressed carry on.