Beach Run for Tank Setup

[Johnny Max]

Heading to the beach tomorrow, from High Island to Port Bolivar, East of the Galveston Ferry. Not a great day for it, high tide and a strong South wind, 18 mph and gusting. I may not collect much surf side, but it shoud be great inside the jetties. With the strong south wind and high tide the water will be pushed in from offshore. I am collecting 15 gallons of live seawater. I will collect 2 gallons of live sand inside the jetty, north of the ferry landing. What I am most excited about is the plankton net I am making. I need to finish it tomorrow. It will be made from a 75 micron mesh filter bag. I  should be able to harvest plenty of plankton, hoping anyway. Then I can start the setup of my reef tank. I will try to remember to take pics. I normally forget.

[Tired]

Nice! Got anything like a magnifying glass or microscope to have a look at what you get? 

[Johnny Max]

Report:

Fieldtrip to the beach was ok, Wind blowing 20 gusting 35. Tide was high, but I did find a bunch of rock on the beach in High Island. They have a lot of holes in them. I think most of it is fossilized coral. Not sure. Any input welcomed on what it is. I did pick up some average size shell pieces that were very old and full of holes. Hoping coraline traced may be on or in them.

I did not see any shells with signs of coraline. I am hoping there is some on something to seed the tank, but I doubt it.

Any who, here are pics from yesterday of rocks and starting tank setup.

 

Rocks:

 

 

 

 

Layer of Live silty sand I collected on the bottom:

 

River Sand from the 3 dump truck loads I bought. I was surprised it was still white after it was wet.

 

Rest of the pictures. Tank is half full still. About to add more water.

 

 

[NanoGrant]

Looks like you got a great haul, some great shapes and look great in the tank. 

[Johnny Max]

I added more water and marine life. Shrimp, Hermit Crabs, Snails, Small Fish I do not recognize and some Macro Algae that floated up on the beach. Tide was too high and the rocks were under water.

Update on the tank.

It is a Galveston Jetty Biotope. I am curious to see if any nasties grow out of the rocks.

 

Here are updated pictures.

 

 

 

 

[Tired]

Oo, you got some good rocks! Probably a mix of fossilized coral and just regular coral skeletons. One of those macroalgaes looks like ulva, which will be very swiftly eaten if you don't put it out of reach.

 

Watch out with the hermits. Those are probably thin-striped hermits, which grow quite large. You'd do best with maybe one in that tank. Assuming this tank hasn't had anything wet in it from anywhere else, you can release the spares back where you found 'em.

 

Any fish pics? You probably got killifish and maybe some mollies, if I had to guess.

[Johnny Max]

I finally gave up trying to get pictures of the fish. They would not be still. I bet I snapped 50 pictures trying. All blurry or just out of focus. They were too small for the camera to focus on. I think most may be killifish. But not sure. I thought I had one Sailfin Molly, but I don't see it. 

[Johnny Max]

This is not my pictures, but I believe they may be Diamond Killifish

 

[Tired]

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=1557&taxon_id=47178&view=species

This should be a reasonably accurate list of the fish in the area. Diamond killifish are certainly possible, but seem less likely.

[Johnny Max]

12 hours ago, Tired said:

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=1557&taxon_id=47178&view=species

This should be a reasonably accurate list of the fish in the area. Diamond killifish are certainly possible, but seem less likely.

great  link! Thanks!

I was able to look at them closely after looking up the Diamond Killifish pictures.

I am positive they are diamond Killifish. I have 8 of them. Very small.

The fin locations and shape and stripes are identical.

[Tired]

Very nice! Those are the extra-pretty ones. 

[Johnny Max]

They have color some time, but not when I try to take a picture. LOL

Finally got a picture of one!