Caesar777's "REEFING SUX III" Bowfront

[Caesar777]

Well, I do take A LOT of pics of the exact same thing, same position, same lighting, then alter it slightly, and cull most of them. I've had a tough time with it, but it gets great macros. (Flower button) Add the "magnifying glass" setting and you're golden....as long as you can keep your hands still. (Tripod? Huh? )

[ram man]

Thanks, been useing the macro and magnifying glass, every so often I get an ok shot, but nothing amazing.

[Caesar777]

Some things to take into account:

 

* The angle of the camera in reference to the light. Try simply tilting or shifting the camera's position slightly (left, right, up, down, item still in the shot), and note the difference in light effects.

 

* White balance; I've tried a few different ones, and haven't been able to put my finger on the best one yet. Haven't had the camera long.

 

* Focus: Seems obvious, yes, but try lightly holding the shot button without actually taking a photo, to manually adjust the focus on different things. You can not only change the focus, but sharpen it. Also look in the menu for focus type: center, multi, or another option.

 

Sometimes you have to go into Photoshop (or, like me, Microsoft's Office program, Photo Editor) to adjust the blue there, as well as sharpening or softening detail. Keep in mind the difference between FIXING a photo and... "fixing"....a photo, however. You want it to look as it does when you look at the tank with your own eyes, not an idealized, upped-saturation version of it.

 

 

Okay, I'm admittedly bowled over by the cuteness of the clown hosting. Goddammit, and I was planning to take them back to work. They're good buddies, act all funny and make me smile (or resent them for no reason), but they're just...so....Lame. They've only just now started to pair up; for months on end they lived together in my tank and wouldn't fight but wouldn't hang out, either, only occasionally crossing paths without any interaction. Now she's bullying him, and he's desperately running back to her after she viciously attacks him for no reason (omg beaten wife? "But he loves me!"), and now she's starting to host stuff.....ARGH. I guess I'll have to hold onto them unless I get a pair of crazy aberrant percs or occs.

[Caesar777]

Came home two days after getting Conan to the clowns and blenny excitedly swimming around, but no Conan. Very unusual. Found him dead behind the rocks. He'd been eating mysis, swimming around heartily, water conditions excellent (phos 0.2, nitrate 0), even the night before. Came home from work to a dead, gnawed-on butterfly. Lame. I'm holding off on any more fish for awhile. Need to get rid of these b!tch pistols, and clear my head of the sadness of the loss of these fish.

[Caesar777]

Life with a reef tank is a rollercoaster ride of heartbreak and misery, it seems. GOD THINKS IT'S FUNNY. I don't think so.

 

So I get home today at about 8:40 or so (went to work on my day off to help out with a giant shipment) to walk in and not see the usual blue beam of light under the door. I open the door, hit the light switch just to double-check, and yup, power's out. Then I hear the garage try to open a couple of times. Turns out it's just my room--something hit the breaker. Landlord is upstairs, I tell him what's up and he shows me the control panel so that I can fix the problem if it happens again. Must have overloaded it, easy in this newer house, but I'm not sure how. (I'm suspecting--worrying--that it's the heater, ugh @ mysterious metals released into water + melted plastic, but no surface rainbows.)

 

The power is fixed with the flip of a switch, so I go to turn on the halide (that was my first guess--I'd be p!$$ed, as it's a brand-new f--in' ballast, bulb, and reflector!), and it works fine. I inspect the tank, seeing that it's at 70 degrees and everything is unhappy. I stoop down to see if the pistols are alive, and see no movement...then spot some bright red-orange. It's Greasy, the Griessingeri goby that I took home when it was sent with a shipment to the store at 1/4" in size and there was nowhere else for him to go (how the hell can we keep something like that in a store without it getting lost?!). I peered closer, as he never comes fully out, his fins were all fully splayed, and there was a large amphipod sitting beside him. His mouth was agape, his tiny gills too small to see any movement, or lack thereof. I reach in, and yes, he's gone.

 

Greasy, griessingeri goby, victim #1. R.I.P.

 

As my arm displaces water, it stirs up the mystery wrasse, a terrified one-eyed fellow, also rescued, found in the sump with the realization that we hadn't had any mystery wrasses in stock for two months, thus deducing that he'd been in there that long, living amongst bio-balls. He was found with one other (?!?!?! btw!), and both looked disheveled but okay. Within a week, both had developed severe eye infections and each lost their respective eyes. Such inquisitive, vision-conscious fish are lost with just one eye (those crazy chameleon eyes that peer around independently, and spin around to focus on you even if you're standing behind or below them--true all-around view, beyond 360!). The first was put in the middle reef system, and disappeared. I didn't think he'd survive the night, just lying there on the bottom against the wall, frightened and disoriented. The boss swore he'd seen him over the next few days, but I never took him seriously. (Who does? Heh.) Finally I did see him, but in the next tank over, a week later. His side was badly bruised--apparently from an attack by a large sixline wrasse in the other tank--but he was alive. He'd lie on the bottom, along the side, just as in the other tank, and catch drifting mysis as it came by. He did well for several days there, until we got in a gorgeous, large crosshatch trigger. It's a reef-safe fish, and originally he was too afraid to eat anything larger than mysis--a fish as large as a trout you could fillet!--although now he's eating human fingers. Doesn't bother coral or small fish, but devours sand shrimp, mysis, entire Formula cubes, etc. His name is Flappy. Anyway, he terrified the poor mystery wrasse, who already felt extremely vulnerable with the missing eye, and I asked to take him home. The boss agreed. That was a good month or more ago, and he was still frightened, always hiding behind the skimmer prefilter box, but coming up to me when given eye contact, and eating mysis, live ghost shrimp, and collected amphipods. The pistols never left him alone, chasing him about and assuring that he'd never feel safe in the tank. That was to be his demise, I assumed, but he kept holding on, still in the unstable phase but able to go either way, success or sad failure.

 

He was floating, side-up, dead.

 

Snoopy, mystery wrasse, victim #2. R.I.P.

 

(The second mystery to be put in the coral system, by the way, died within two days. So unfortunate, such rare and beautiful wrasses.)

 

At this point I no longer cared, or so I thought. All the corals looked fine, but all my efforts to rehabilitate this wrasse, who had even learned to trust me when he feared everything else, had failed, and it was not the failure itself that bothered me much, but the death of an innocent animal at my hands. I was heartbroken. I'm tearing up. He had so much spirit. I thought he could make it--and he could have, were the power not out for who-knows how long. I've been housesitting for my parents, and have only stopped by my house to to water changes and feed, pick up what I need, then go to their house to feed the cats and dog and, I guess, guard it.

 

Then I saw another. How could it be? I shouted. The midas blenny! He was obviously dead, his black-spotted white belly and gorgeous yellow body lying beneath a rock, right up front. He hadn't been there before, as I was spying Greasy. This fish's name was String Cheese II, after another named by a maintenance customer's child, his beautiful cobalt-blue eyes shining bright from the day I got him, even when his coloration had started out only mediocre at best. He colored up after a good two months, turned that lovely orange-yellow I loved so much. I had originally picked him out only because of his unusually small size, ideal for my tank. He was always thin, because I never had any algae and only fed pellets every few days, but he and the clownfish subsisted just fine. Once Snoopy was on the scene, SC fattened up quickly. He'd nibble my arm, classic of blennies, and his favorite place to hide was an old coco worm tube. Any time he was spooked, he'd invariably run to it and back in quickly, his cute, round face and shining eyes peeking up shyly. I'd once scared him away from the Duncan, as he liked to steal food from it, and quickly blocked the coco worm tube, and he just didn't know what to do--kept trying to go at it, forgetting that my hand was there, unable to consider any other option since it was his only hiding place. Sweet thing. He wasn't expensive, but that's not what matters.

 

String Cheese II, midas blenny, victim #3. R.I.P.

 

At this point I was just disgusted. Only my Yasa Hashe, black ocellaris, and pipefish were left, and the yasa and clown looked like heck, the pipefish of course in hiding. Then, as I searched for the pistols, which of course are still alive, I saw the pipefish, never named formally by biologists or familiarly by me, dead on the sand. A beautiful pipefish, he was like an African bluestripe (D. excisus), but instead of matte coloration of dull blue and yellow, he had deep, cobalt-blue, literally sparkling like glitter, with a nice orange-yellow stripe on his belly and a stark-white line along his back. Always curious, he knew my hands were safe except when holding the fragging shears or siphon tube, and he loved eye contact like Snoopy did, his large, individually-focusing eyes turning together to look right at me, and scooting closer to get a better look, hoping to find something to clean. (I saw him clean the blenny once, very cute. Natural behavior for this group of pipefish.) I'd been keeping an eye out for months, hoping to find him a mate, which I thought would make him so happy. Now he's in the refrigerator with the others, his tail eaten by a scarlet hermit or nassarius snail.

 

Unnamed African pipefish, victim #4. R.I.P.

 

All are in perfect condition, meaning they died very recently. I don't know what happened. I did a 2-gallon water change via gravel-vaccing the sand to pull the pile of dead amphipods (a half-dozen or so) that had gathered next to Greasy, and to see if any other particulate had collected within the past night or two. There was some, but not much. Lots of dead pods, though, and mini-brittle-starfish everywhere, which returned to hiding as the light returned. I did a water test, knowing that there's little that would kill fish but not invertebrates, short of lack of oxygen from NO POWER, which would get the former far before the latter, and found 3ppm of nitrite! NITRITE! I NEVER have nitrite (umm because it means something's BAD), and 0-5 nitrate, and this is very high. Well, fairly high. Hgh enough to kill some fish, obviously. All but two. I pulled another ten gallons of water to remove that nitrite, and will bring home more water tomorrow for another, which will most likely be needed.

 

Life is harsh. My clown looks cold, listless; the Yasa Hashe goby outright ill. No marks--yet. I'd made myself a promise not to buy any new fish until the pistols were out--made quite the effort a couple nights ago, to no avail--so neither introducing disease nor hurting new fish are not an issue.

 

I had made a big effort to catch the pistols a couple of nights ago. I was using my long biopsy forceps to try to outright snap them in half, but they're just too quick. Removed the corals from the top and bottom of the tank, but the rock is an immovable game of Jenga, all the pieces balanced upon each other, the only way to do it in such a narrow, tall tank. Removing the pistols would mean COMPLETELY EMPTYING the tank, which would be an impossible endeavor, considering the rock structure and that the corals have grown onto the various rocks, connecting them loosely. I have no choice. It's a pistol-and-coral tank, and if my last two fish live, then they're my fish. I might just bring them to work tomorrow, but I don't want to get anyone else sick. We'll see. For now I need to go make sure that my parents' cats and my dog are alright, and we'll go from there. Sad day.

 

Tapped the hedgehog cage, heard her hiss and click. And least she's still okay.

[cmador]

Wow - that's terrible. So sorry. Friday the 13th. Did you get the pistols?

[Caesar777]

Nope, took quite the endeavor to catch or kill them a few days ago, but to no avail. Nor did that power outage and subsequent nitrite spike harm them at all.

 

Hey, it did happen on Friday. Wtf. ...Chilling.

 

Edit: Okay, Thursday. Still just as sh!#ty, though.

[BigByrd]

sorry to hear about all that, that really sucks

 

on the plus side, you could write a book about it....youre an awesome writer

[Caesar777]

Haha, thanks.

 

Hey, your black clown is a weird misbar like mine. His white markings are closer together, though. He and the Yasa Hashe made it, though the latter still looks as though he might go either way, but who knows. The Griessingeri goby is preserved in formaldehyde in a tiny bead jar. He fits within it perfectly, fins no longer as nice of a display because his two days in the fridge let his cells break down and tight connections loosen. Color is still holding, but it's only been 24 hours or so since I put him in the solution. We'll see; I know it will fade. At least now I can photograph him in detail... :/

 

I thought it would be funny to dry out the pipefish and bring him to work, and light it up in front of my coworkers, just to throw them off. While they're out on smoke break. (I don't smoke.)

[the_anti_honda]

Dude,

 

Flonk I totally hate your life! You got my pendents before me WTF!!! Yea well I'm getting two so HAH!

[Caesar777]

HA! I couldn't fit two of these pendants over my tank. It's almost as wide front-to-back and 2/3 the length of the tank. HUGE but very nice, that stylish square thing going.

 

Heh, Flonk.

[travisurfer]

If you get rid of the pistols just replace them with a cleaner or peppermint shrimp. They'll keep the back clean without all the stupidity.

[Caesar777]

I don't like Lysmata species shrimp, just because they steal food from corals. If I get rid of the pistol shrimp, I won't be adding any others of any kind. I've thought about the cute, tiny Randall's pistols, for my Yasa Hashe, but the noise is too annoying.

[Caesar777]

Hmm, was brushing my hair and remembering my post and thinking about my just-woke-up, half-asleep post, and wondered, "Hmm, did I say 'IF' I catch the pistol shrimp, or 'WHEN'?" Kind of a glass half-empty kind of thing with the IF. Heh. Frankly, they're good cleaner-uppers, just fish-killers, but at this point, I don't want any more fish. Lost 4 of 6, yet lost no corals from the incident. Granted, the mystery wrasse was on shaky ground already, but nevertheless, I can't take those odds. We'll see how it plays out, but for now, no messing with the tank (as far as big moves like trying to catch the shrimp again) because my back hurts so damn much, and NO NEW FISH. Heck, might just bring my fish back. Maybe the yasa. The clown hangs out in the water column, away from the pistols' snappy reach.

 

Oh, they do kill the little Nassarius vibex snails. That's pretty annoying. And they snatch frags that fall off the rocks and bring them to the back of the tank, under and behind all the rock. LAME. Oh, and they wake me up at night. Hmm...The list grows.

[aparker]

That really sucks about your fish. I wonder if it was nitrite or lack of O2 that did them in. Curious that none of the corals were affected (lower metabolic rate w/lights off, so perhaps more tolerance for low O2?). Wonder if anyone makes an inexpensive widget that will ring your cell phone when your pad loses power...

 

 

Haha, thanks.

 

I thought it would be funny to dry out the pipefish and bring him to work, and light it up in front of my coworkers, just to throw them off. While they're out on smoke break. (I don't smoke.)

 

Do it - just try to resist inhaling(!).

[Caesar777]

Well, I think the power went out, the oxygen levels dropped quickly (warm, stuffy room, tall tank, no water movement or protein skimming), caused something to die, that created ammonia, which killed more of the fish, and which cycled to the point of nitrite when I got there. And while I was worried about the rest of the reef, I know from experience that corals can tolerate dropped oxygen levels, as well as elevated ammonia/nitrogen levels, than fish can....especially LPS, and softies like my zoas.

 

There were quite a few dead amphipods (maybe a dozen that I saw, four or five hanging out next to the Griessingeri goby and the rest pulled from the sand via gravel vac), and I think thusly that it may have been some small critters like them (like hiding sponge, worms, or something) which died first and created the ammonia spike that killed the fish. Or maybe the dropped oxygen levels killed the fish, and that created the ammonia. I don't know. There's really no way to know.

[Caesar777]

Oh, just for your knowledge, aparker, I did take an evening to try to get the pistols. I was able to move only a few of the rocks; the live rock structure in my tank, because of the dimensions (tall, narrow tank), is all interlaced together, and the corals have all grown onto the rocks, so I'd have to take EVERYTHING out and redo it all to get the pistols. But I spent several hours taking out what I could, trying to just grab/chop them with the biopsy forceps, trying the big siphon (but couldn't remove enough rock), trying the trap (but they avoided getting too near it, as always), and I drained half the tank in the process. I tried, I did. I figure that now that I'm taking a break from fish, I don't really have much concern as far as removing them anyway. I'll try the trap periodically, I suppose.

[cmador]

Have you tried that trap that some folks use to catch crabs - where they cut a plastic soda bottle in half and invert the top half and place it in the bottom half and bait the trap with a piece of food? I looked for a thread with pics - couldn't find any though.

[Caesar777]

Yes, I've tried the trap, but even if it sits in the tank for days, they won't go in it. (Used to always catch the pipefish, even though the bait was always krill or sand eels. He was just so curious. ) I've tried the big siphon, but it's too large to get into the rocks and drains the tank in literally a minute or two.

[jimbro]

Could you borrow a small triggerfish from work? If it were me I'd have taken that tank down months ago and caught the little bastards.

[Caesar777]

Well, I was going to borrow this small Harlequin tusk we have, but I tried him with a small purple lobster (claws removed) and he's afraid of it. Dummy. Marine bettas, too, safe with small fish and corals but shrimp-eaters, are fine with shrimp if the latter are in there first, and they don't go for the big, crazy shrimp.

 

Originally my fear was that any shrimp-eating fish would also enjoy eating my tiny Griessingeri goby and pipefish, but now that they're gone, the only risk is the corals. Would try a hawkfish, but ime, they've been known to be pretty good with even large cleaners and fires (though I have seen them tear apart a large Lysmata) and these pistols are GIANT (size of my thumb and size of my ring finger, respectively) and very burly for shrimp. Thick exoskeleton, and insanely surly attitude. They're really more like smallish reef-lobsters.

 

Anyone have suggestions on a good shrimp-eating fish that'd avoid my corals? AND can fit in a 26, even temporarily?

[firstimereefer]

I was going to say hawkfish, but i guess not.

[jimbro]

What about an undulated trigger? Not sure what it might do to the corals, but it would prob make short work of the pistols.

[cmador]

Posted by rdmpe on 04/02/2006 12:43 PM:

 

I finally caught one of the sally lightfoots crabs! I think there is another one in there though, will have to watch for it...

 

I just used a big zip lock bag. I turned the opening edge inside-out so that it would stay open. I tied a string to the edge that would be against the sand, and the string went through a hole in the upper edge. So when I pulled the string it would pull the bag up vertical and close it at the same time. Then I rubberbanded some silverside chunks to a small rock and sat it just inside the bag. After about an hour the sally finally decided to go have a bite. I pulled the string and that was that!

 

I found that when I put the baited rock in the back of the bag, it didn't seem quite tempting enough for the crab, but when it was closer to the opening, he just couldn't resist.

 

 

^^^^From a really long thread on RC, so I just just took this bit out for ya. Have you ever heard of folks trapping fish with saran wrap? A lot of folks seem to use this method. Just never heard of it and I've been keeping fish since '90. Here's the post:

 

 

Posted by Early Kyler on 06/15/2006 08:17 PM:

 

Where the capture of fishes are concerned, try Saran Wrap. Simply drape a large sheet over the opening in your rockwork that the offending fish(es) will be chased through. Provided they are the type that darts through rocks when frightened (and lets face it, most of them are, fresh or salt) and voila! Ensnared in plastic sheeting. Easy, and effective.

[seahorsejl]

I just used a big zip lock bag. I turned the opening edge inside-out so that it would stay open. I tied a string to the edge that would be against the sand, and the string went through a hole in the upper edge. So when I pulled the string it would pull the bag up vertical and close it at the same time. Then I rubberbanded some silverside chunks to a small rock and sat it just inside the bag. After about an hour the sally finally decided to go have a bite. I pulled the string and that was that!

 

I found that when I put the baited rock in the back of the bag, it didn't seem quite tempting enough for the crab, but when it was closer to the opening, he just couldn't resist.

 

Hmm.. never thought about that ... I have been trying to catch a sally light foot on my tank, might just work! (And might work for your pistols too). The comment about the rock being too far back makes sense ... the shrimp/crab might not enter it if it doesn't feel like it can get good footing.