Sublunary's 12 Gallons

[sublunary]

I went to my favorite LFS today because they posted last week they got in a shipment of little gobies. I thought maybe I'd replace the ones I lost. They did indeed have a bunch of T. cana, a few T. rubromaculatus, and even 3 T. tevegae (which I have been looking everywhere for)! Unfortunately, pretty much everything in the tank was dead. At least I know the T. tevegae sometimes make it to the east coast...

 

While I was there I got to see the two white cap gobies they had. Way too pricey for me, but they are pretty little fish. Their pectoral fins are very lacy. They look nicer in person than some of the pictures I've seen.

 

And i didn't leave empty handed. I got a nice little frog spawn frag, which will eventually get attached to the back rock. And a Periclimenes sp. anemone shrimp. It tried to fight my porcelain crab for a spot in the mushrooms, but lost, so now it's staking out the torch. I think the cleaner shrimp freaked it out by investigating a little too vigorously, but they seem to be getting along now.

 

I'm not sure what species it is. It looks a bit like the clown anemone shrimp, but doesn't have the big white spot on its head. Whatever it is, it's cool.

 

 

[weeber]

the tank is looking great. how much were those white cap gobies because the are pretty rare.

[pismo_reefer]

Periclimenes brevicarpalis are awesome shrimp!

 

They loooooove ricordea's.

[sublunary]

I have never been so utterly heartbroken.

 

With all the talk of the hurricane, I planned to come home early on Saturday, and be ready with flashlight, extra watter, battery operated air pump and cache of D batteries, in case of power outage. Instead, when I got there, my mother told me we were under a mandatory evacuation order and I had to grab clothes and leave NOW.

 

By the time my boyfriend and I waded through the waist-deep water in front of my house on Sunday, it was too late. I lost the flaming prawn gobies. If fish can be in love these were. They died next to each other, one's head on top of the other. I lost my brand new bimac blenny. My two cleaner shrimp. The anemone shrimp had already died when our AC went out earlier this summer.

 

Corals were almost as bad. I lost the gorgeous torch and acans I got from Mark. The favites and candy canes I got from OneTimer. The monti I won in the NJReefers raffle. The brand new acro frag. Some mushrooms and a bunch of palys.

 

After 24 hours or so of manual aerating and using the battery-pump, I was able to set up emergency tanks at my grandmother's house, since she has power. I scrapped the rock and sand and scooped out everything that looked savable. I was able to save the two black clown gobies that I was sent instead of the whitelined gobies I actually ordered. I'm keeping them now. They're with my porcelain crab, two hermit crabs, a couple of snails and the half-inch hitchhiker crab I've had since the beginning. Oh and my clam. I almost can't believe it, but the clam looks like it will survive.

 

For corals, I think the gorgonian will survive. My purple and green favia is pretty bad looking, but I think it will live. I have several mushrooms, a yuma and a florida ric. I saved frags of each type of paly I had, and my zoas look like they might make it.

 

It bugs me that the tanks are set up all wrong - no rock, no cycling, hob filters, conditioned tap water, silly aquarium decorations so the fish have somewhere to hide. But it's what we could do with the time we had. I still can't believe the fish and inverts survived overnight in a tupperware container with an air pump while we waited for the coral tank water to clear.

 

So that's it. Something I loved for over 2 years, put tons of time effort and money into, is reduced into random bits. I keep having to force myself not to cry.

 

Aside from the tank we lost everything in the basement - including brand new AC unit, brand new dryer, washing machine, freezer, water heater, furnace, and tons of clothes, toys and other stuff. And the carpet and furniture in our den. It's going to be a long, expensive recovery. School starts today for me and my sister, so we aren't going to be home to help clean up as much. And there's no telling when we'll get power back.

 

Anyway, I hope everyone reading this got through it better than I did. Stay tuned, there will be a new thread once I get back into my house and my tank is started over fresh.

[Rehype]

Wow thats one of the saddest things i ever read.. Im really really sorry to hear that sub. I cant believe how hard our town got hit. If i can help in any way let me know.

[Trogdor447]

If it is the least I can do to help - PLEASE - DO NOT refund my purchase money for the Paly's Its yours.. I would be devastated as well, I am now up to 3 tanks.

[bwoodward0012]

damn, im sorry to hear that. my tank made it through the storm but my heater crapped out the day after and temp dropped 12 degrees. at least i could save mine, i really feel for ya. we got all the wind but only minor flooding, yall got shafted. hope the rest of your belongings/ family are in tact/ safe.

 

edit: wow, i just read back a little and now i really feel bad. good luck with cleanup and recovery and hopefully it doesn't take too long for everything to be fixed and back to normal.

[sublunary]

Thanks for the kind words everyone. It's nice to hear from people who understand. My non-reefer friends don't get that it's not "just some fish".

 

Trogdor - I did miss your post before I sent the refunds, but thank you for the thought.

 

And now I need to get offline or I'm just going to start crying again.

[Paigee]

Wow I'm very sorry to hear that That's terrible!

[weeber]

sorry to hear about that. one of the saddest things i have read. it sound like the storm was a lot worse than i thought and that the water levels reached a lot higher than i had heard. i wish you the best of luck with your remaining livestock and the repair of your house.

[sublunary]

sorry to hear about that. one of the saddest things i have read. it sound like the storm was a lot worse than i thought and that the water levels reached a lot higher than i had heard. i wish you the best of luck with your remaining livestock and the repair of your house.

 

 

Thanks Weeber! it's good to see you back online, I haven't noticed you around in a while.

 

So far the house is cleaned out and repairs are going ok. We got power back yesterday, which is weeks sooner than we expected! The livestock I saved is doing pretty well in the emergency tanks. I did end up losing the favia, but everything else looks like it will make it. I'm just going to keep doing obsessive water changes until things get back together.

 

I'm starting to get over the sadness and the panic and look forward to picking out rocks and designing a new 'scape. At least I know I can make this reincarnation of the tank better than the last one.

[animalmaster6]

Very, very sorry to hear my friend

[weeber]

Thanks Weeber! it's good to see you back online, I haven't noticed you around in a while.

yah i have been lurking awhile and saw your story and just felt inclined to post because it was so sad. at least you found the bright side to this disaster. good luck with starting up the new tank.

[sublunary]

In case anyone's interested: I'm starting a new thread for the reboot - http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=281332

[land shark]

Hey sublunary, I know its been a while since this tank was up and running but I was hoping you could help me out. I recently got a tank started up(its been a while for me as well) and got a Flamming Praw for it. The tanks main purpose was for a pair of these. I have been looking like crazy for imformation on how to sex these guys. I have found little to no difinative information. I read your thread(very tragic) and saw that you had a breading pair. Do you recall any differences between them? What about the third that was bullied? Could you see any patters on the caudal fin that two of the gobies had and one did not? Any info would be greakly appreciated. Here is my progress on another forum link. I go by Spikefin there. Also, sorry for bringing up an old,sad thread.