Blog Comments

ROTFL!!!

"the tanks that are fooled with the most, have the most problems" I couldn't agree more, that is what I have observed by following some other old folk over here where I live. The older folk just wait, take a calm approach, and things seem to fall into place.

I've got to post some FTS of my tank, it is getting older and stabler. Some things don't go as I planned (that rebel anemone...), but, considering the amount of time I invest the tank is pretty stable and looking good.

Congrats Paul, and thank you for sharing your experience!

Great post.You can't argue with results like that.Well done sir!

Paul I love your blogs! I was laughing so loud about the firefish all my coworkers were looking at me like I was crazy. They didnt really get it even after I explained to them about fish behavior....

I was going to buy a garden eel this week but I figured I didn't want to slime up my floor by throwing it there so I will let it jump out in the dealers tanks.

LOL I like your solution to Firefish jumpers.

You'd think after all these years, you'd finally know how to take care of your tank.

Last night I was cowering in bed under the covers as I heard this huge fight coming from the tank. There was water splashing, bottles breaking, chains swinging and curses flying. I was afraid to look, as I knew there was bloodshed.
But this morning as I peered in with my little critter light, I didn't see much blood but I did notice my striped gobi, the cute one, laying in his tunnel with the shrimp, I could tell he was knocked out as he was sweating profusely. The bully was no where to be found and may have left town. I may have more information when the lights come on. If they still work.
This is one of the bullys when he is not picking on someone smaller than he is. I am not sure if this is the guy that evicted them the second time as there are some in there that I don't even know where they came from and just crashed my tank.

No, this is him, I am sure of it. Now I also have to worry about that other guy. Maybe I should buy 10 shrimps

Oh No. Now the other gobi stole the shrimp from right under the 2 gobi's noses.
So now I ordered "another" shrimp.
I may have to get a separate shrimp for every fish in the tank.

Speaking of awesome things in this hobby, I loved what was captured in this video. It was recently shared on Facebook by Blue Life USA.

Paul, thanks for sharing. I'm going to edit your post to put some blank lines in there just so it is easier to read and view.

I've never seen anyone use Matzoh for their tanks. That's a first.

Melev, edit all you want, I tend to stray

Super interesting post!! I had never thought about why fish never hit the aquaruim glass walls, but if you think it is impressive for they can't see it! They had to have some way of knowing the glass was there.

Thank you for your thoughts Paul. I went ahead and edited it to make it easier to read. We need a black worms vendor to join fray, since we don't all have access to them.

Mmmm. Peanut butter.

I am glad you thought it was interesting, this is part 2 if you are still interested.

Most of us are so different from fish that there are only a few similarities even though they are our distant cousin. Of course not all fish are the same and the oldest fish are not truely fish, True fish have bones somewhat like us, but not exactly. All of our bones are connected together by cartilidge but in fish, the fins are not connected to anything but muscle. The tail is connected to the spine but not any of the other fins. Sharks and rays have no bones, only cartilage. Their internal structures are also different as is their immune system and lack of a swim bladder. The swim bladder in most fish (but not all) allows the fish to maintain neutral buoyancy or it's ability to stay in one place in the water without sinking.
Sharks and rays have a large liver filled with oil that helps them but they do sink if they stop swimming. Fish like lungfish and betta's have a swim bladder that is connected to their mouth so they can and do use it for breathing as they come from muddy, low oxygen water. Some other bony fish that don't have swim bladders are tuna and makeral. They swim so fast that they don't need one as their fins are shaped to guide the fish where they want to go and there is no need for them to float as they never stop swimming.
The vast majority of fish have no direct control over their swim bladder and the air in it is controlled by the air that is disolved in the fishes bloodstream and is exuded into the bladder.
I talk a lot about the fishes immune system. It is my favorite topic and I feel it is vastly overlooked in our hobby. A fishes immune system is more complicated than ours. A fish makes macrophages (that attack bacteria, viruses and paracites) in a few different places. They use their spleen, (as we do) but they also use their kidneys, gills, skin, guts and gonads. Remember a fish is bathed in disease laden water and bacteria, paracites and viruses can swim better then they can fly.
Fish do not have sweat glands but they do have mucous glands. Mucous is secreted by all fish it is part of their immune system. Remember paracites attach to the fishes skin and gills so fish have evolved to manufacture macrophages right in their mucous. Our skin is mostly dead cells that we shed all the time, but a fishes skin is all alive, all the way through. It is protected in most fish by scales, or body armor. Fishes skin is clear, but containes chromatophores that allow the animal to change color.If anyone is still interested here are some fish things I have learned over my life. I am not a fish doctor but I have operated on a number of them. They all made it and sent me thank you cards.
I will add to this at another time as most (if not all) of you will find it boring. If a fish dies, I usually dissect it to see what killed it. It is not easy with a 1/2" fish. So if you are not interested in fish biology, skip over this and go and eat a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

Thanks Paul, that was very interesting. The fishes' lateral line sensor allows them to school together with great precision.

Thanks for sharing, Paul.

Yes it would, if I started it in the South Pacific it would be a typhoon, thank you for correcting me.

So wouldn't this be a hurricane instead of a Typhoon?

Well my tank was started with water from the Atlantic ocean so I guess it is an Atlantic tank