" LET THERE BE LIGHT!!!!"

Our light is here! Yay! Arrived by UPS today. Very heavy. Set it all up and wow the anemones came alive. They were HUGE trying to absorb all the light that they could. Pretty cool. The coral was huge too...first time it has been so extended. Obviously they needed it to be happy and healthy. Now, we're in business. I think this qualifies us a real marine hobbiest...or real stupid. Who knows! Now lets see what grows from our live rock!

Anemone home?

False Clown Fish, Red Bulb Anemone

1 down

Well, 1 clownfish down. The one we called big lips.....dead. You should have seen us trying to fish it out...of course it couldn't have died in the front of the tank. It had to die in the middle of the very inaccessible rock pile in the very centre. CRAP...try fishing that out. No really "fishing"?! ha ha. So Larry and I disturb the entire setup to grab this dead body. Ugh. No hard feelings seen by the anemones, coral, or feather dusters... So, we "fish" him out. And *sigh* flush him down the toilet...ok we didn't quite flush him yet...we left him beside Edeles note that she could only find 3 Nemo's not 4. A bit sick...ok yah maybe. But FUNNY??? Hell ya! The rest aren't really eating well. One is but the other 2 nope. Keep watching for more fishing posts. Lets hope not though. They are really neat. And I would hate to lose them all. If we do, no more fish for this year. Wait until next year and refresh. All the levels in the tank ie Ammonia/Nitrate/Nitrite are all perfect. pH is a bit on the lower side but not critical. hmmmmmmm Keep watchin!

"Nemo", yah "Nemo", ok yah "Nemo" alright already....."Nemo"!

Rick and Jen came to town....and they brought.....4, 4 I say, False Clownfish. Yay, and another Red Bulb Anemone. It is soooo very cool. They have set themselves up in the new anemone...the old one is a bit reclusive yet...as he isn't getting enough light. They aren't overly interested in eating yet but there is a fair bit of stuff in the water that they can chow on. They are sooo cute! We told Cora we wanted some small ones.....and they are a really nice size! Much larger than our first clownfish. Lets hope they all make it.

Our light is supposed to be here on the 29th. I'd say the health and welfare of our anemones depends on it. Lots of cords when it arrives but wahoo will it be worth it! It is the king of saltwater lighting! And it will be ours...oh yes it will. (If it ever makes it here!)

"Jacques" is dead?????????????

Headin up the stairs....Larry is checkin out the tank...and announces... "Jacques" is DEAD. I go rushin down....oh no...we've done so well so far and now our poor poor shrimp? I go to have a look at the carcas....get ready to pull his poor lifeless body from the deep....and send him to Porcelain Heaven....when Larry starts to laugh....yah "Jacques" is not dead. He has shed his skin! Looks just like a tiny dead "Jacques" perfect in all ways except no dead body~! That means that we must be doing ok. YAY for us! We're hopin to get him a buddy...not really a buddy but a fellow shrimp. We need a Peppermint shrimp to deal with the Aiptasia anemone. We have a couple of the nasties so hope to pick up a shrimp soon. MUST be a true Peppermint shrimp and not the shrimp that is sometimes labeled as such but isn't. If we get the wrong one....it may be bad for the reef....UCK! Lets hope to get the right one!

A OK

Just an update on the newest members of the salty one. They're all eating, pooping and doing really well so far. "Jacques" and the anemone eat pieces of Krill out of a tongs set that I have. That's pretty cool! Both of the feather dusters come out regularly. It's cool! And we have a TON more little feather dusters in the rock from Cora. Nice rock Cora!!!! So the tank is looking a bit more busy. Next we hope to replace "Nemo" with some more....let's hope they don't end up in porcelain heaven too.

Rocks, worms, slugs and shrimp....what a delicious combination!

Trip again to Victoria. Need more activity in the salty one. 1 Feather Duster and 1 Frogspawn coral don't make too much exciting activity! So off we go. We set a limit this time to how much to spend .... did it work???

Off to Safari first as we told Japarto that we would be in to pick up some more rock. Said he'd give us a good deal on some live rock since we were driving down to pick it up from him. Hmmmm...guess he forgot to mention that he wouldn't be in....and the rest of the staff??? Holy do they need some good manners lessons! So we left there a bit cheezed off and a whole lot disappointed!

Off to Hillside to see Cora. I bet she has some cool stuff....and her staff is all really good! Just her and Gordon. In we go, no one there .... but of course as soon as we show up so do the hordes! Gave us lots of time to look around. K, some really really cool slugs! They call them Sea Hares but basically they're slugs that eat algae and look like cows in a way...I think so at least. So we are in there for quite some time. Cora was as always very helpful but it's funny, the other people that shop at Hillside will talk to you about what works for them and what they have in their tanks. I start to chat to a guy about the slugs....he reassures me that they are very easy to keep and stuff. I decide I want one (there are only 2) and I will only take the big one. At the same time there are 2 others that want a slug. I got first dibs from Cora! Yay. So we got the slug. And we also picked up a skunk shrimp or cleaner shrimp, another Feather Duster but a different color, and an anemone. Yah we're pushing our luck but hey...you gotta try it! We also bought another 25lbs of rock. Looks like good rock too! Off we go home.

Put them all in our tank....built up the rock. Looks kindof neat in there now. Not so empty. "Jacques" the shrimp has set up his territory. "Bessie" the slug is doing her job...and pooping, and pooping and pooping. K, someone could have told us that they poop ALL the time! Oh well. See what happens cuz she is really cute! The anemone set himself up under a rock (of course not where we wanted him to be but..they do have a mind of their own!), set up the feather duster and there we go! Lets hope all do well. The coral and the 1st duster did really well...so here goes!

"Nemo" has gone to Porcelain Heaven!

Oh no. Couldn't find "Nemo" today. Mom, Edele and I looked everywhere. Finally found him....in the filter. No fish could survive that (except some cheap ol guppies from the freshwater setup of course!). And he didn't survive. It is a sad day in Salty land. Our first fish, and he's dead already. Will take him back to Jay as he was not doing what normal clowns do so maybe that was part of his problem. Boo hoo. Say a little something for "Nemo" tonight....

Found "Nemo"

Today, we found "Nemo". Actually we have added a false clownsfish (Amphiprion Ocellaris) to our tank. All of our tank levels eg. Nitrite, Nitrate, Ammonia etc are at acceptable to perfect levels. He is doing OK, but not thriving as we think he should. Hopefully this won't go to porcelain heaven but....it is still a really new setup. Will keep you posted on Nemo and his life of the rich and famous since his movie. We also have a new "organism" in the tank. Looks kind of like a tubeworm but very very small. OOOh lets hope its a tubeworm. When Mom I shone the flashlight on him he poked his head back in the rock. Looks like a fan on a stick that waves with the water current. COOL! We also have another thing....it may be Aiptasia...lets hope not. It does move around on the rocks quite a bit but hasn't looked like there are more in the tank yet...ugh hope not. If so though we could get a Blue Dorid Nudibranch which would be too cool....but it only eats Aiptasia so once its gone...you have to place your Nudi else where. They only eat the pesty Aiptasia. Its a NASTY anemone.