Tank birthday and I'm a Geezer

[Paul B]

Yesterday I was looking at my tank which I sometimes do. And I couldn't find my pair of bluestriped pipefish. OMG. So I figured the Janss pipefish killed them like he did to my last ones and I figured maybe some babies escaped from this horrible demise. I got my magnifying glasses on and searched the tank, mostly on the gravel which is hard to see through al the flatworms that are sunning themselves. None of them have tan lines by the way.
But in between the flatworms I can see so much movement. Copepods. There are so many pods that they can't even do the macarana because there isn't enough room to swing their arms. No wonder my mandarin is overweight and constantly passing gas. There are exactly three pods on every grain of gravel and in between them is a brittle starfish arm. (By the way, I volunteer at the Long Island Aquarium and we are not allowed to call them starfish as they are not fish. I guess it is not politically correct and their feelings are hurt, so we have to call them "Sea Stars". Everyone has an issue) I am sure female watchman gobies will be the next to protest.
Anyway, I didn't find any pipefish fry but as I was looking for them, I found the pair of pipefish and the male is still very pregnant. The female pipefish is hanging around the much bigger Janss pipefish while her mate watches from afar. But she is twirling around him and making a complete pig of herself the little Hussy.
But being there are just a hoard of pods I bought a couple of fish. Another Queen Anthius and a scooter bleeny.
I am very surprised that after just a little over 3 months of this tank being here and me washing most of the gravel in fresh water, there is so much life. There is no quarter of an inch where I can't find something. I really love it because life, especially an abundance of microscope life equals health.
(unless of course we are talking about snowflakes, wasps, vampires etc.)

 

[Paul B]

I have a few fish that I have never seen the entire fish at one time. I once had a brutela or cusk eel for 18 years and only saw it maybe three times and that's when I looked at the tank in the middle of the night with a flashlight. I killed it by accident when I removed the rock and didn't even know he was in there. But anyway, I want fifty more of these Gumdrop Gobies as they are very cool and my kind of fish. Virtually everyone has tangs, angels, wrasses, butterflies, manta rays, etc, but not many people have gumdrop gobies. I searched for them and see that a few people have had them but I never heard of them. I could have had 20 of them and forgot but I forgot.

I took a picture of him in the container which probably didn't come out well and soon I will download it to see if it came out.
The fish is sitting in the coral head where he landed and looks extremely cool.
I also have two Gecko Gobies that I occasionally see a small part of their tail as they shoot out faster than the eye can follow to grab a piece of food and go back into hiding. I know two of them are still alive but I couldn't even tell you what color they are or if they are actually fish.

I realize most people, OK no one wants fish you can't see but I like those as I can lie and tell people they are bright electric purple with neon lights sticking out of their ears and they can do math. ​

 

[Paul B]

I would like to get another circulation pump because this tank is bigger than my last one but I don't like what I see. I really don't like Korilia's because they are really cheaply made and get covered in growth to fast. I like the Gyre's but they are all programmable and I don't want to or have no idea why you would want to program a pump. I want to plug it in and it goes on and lasts for 25 years with no maintenance so I can leave it alone and go to the Caribbean or Tahiti and not think about it. My original pumps were like that and were not made in China. I have 4 or 5 Korilias and I am tired of cleaning them. I only have 2 of my original pumps still working and I think they still sell them so I may get another but I would like more flow.

I think I will have to look into antiques some place to get what I want.

This one connected to my vintage surface skimmer is probably over 30 years old and after running 24/7 all those years still works flawlessly.

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[Paul B]

I just spent a week trying to get a drug approval for my wife who has MS. To use the "Simple, Government website" you have to be Houdini and he is dead. I finally got someone on the phone after waiting an hour on hold and he said no one can figure it out. Like Duh. That is because they hire young college graduates to make these sites. They should use old, retired construction workers.

The site should go something like this:
Name, Are you a Snowflake, Sissy or Girly Man? Do you live in America? What medication do you want?
Then it can show you two boxes, one with a picture of Christie Brinkley and one with a picture of a Duck Billed Platypus. It says: Which box has the Supermodel in it?

OK, you are approved and your medication will be in the mail in 5 minutes with a thank you note from Christie.

But the real Govt site asks you things like: Go and find form 314.748-110/A from 1983. Look on line 37 and add that amount to the number on line 15, then deduct 6 and put that number here on this line backwards. Add the address your parents lived at near the end of WW2 and the maiden name of your second cousin three times removed.
Answer 3 of these questions.
1-What is the name of your favorite teachers pet turtle
2- What year did Ford make Edsel.
3-

OK that's it. Your application will be considered 15 days after Easter.

No really. When my Mother N Law went in to a nursing home we contacted the Govt. because her husband was a wounded Veteran and she was entitled to a certain benefit. The Govt. sent back a letter saying we will hear from them in 14 months to see if she was entitled to this benefit.
14 months to tell you if you can even apply. I mean, like REALLY! Is it me?

 

[Paul B]

Tomorrow about 6:00 I will be speaking at the Chocolate Factory in Riverhead on 58. It is going to be about Viet Nam, not fish which is my favorite topic. But I was asked to speak about this so if anyone wants to go to sleep, come by.

I didn't get top billing, I am behind a few people from a Moose Lodge.

https://allevents.in/new%20york/vete...20002541806184

 

[Paul B]

Very hard to film a very pregnant bluestripe pipefish because in that condition they stay in the rocks. But I tried. These guys are always pregnant.

 

[Paul B]

I took a video.

 

[Paul B]

This week I added a purple dottyback, Coral croucher gobi, queen anthius, yellow wrasse and female mandarin. I only want one more fish, a dragon faced pipefish then my tank will be at capacity. It's actually over capacity now but almost all my fish are very small and that yellow wrasse will probably jump out as they normally do.

I think now I have, besides those fish:
Copperband
2 fireclowns
mandarin
2 Gecko Gobies
2 bluestripe pipefish (they had babies two days ago)
Janss pipefish
perchlet
2 unknown red fish
algae bleeny
some other kind of bleeny
2 queen anthius
scooter bleeny
possum wrasse
watchman gobi

I think that's it but I probably forgot one or two because the majority of my fish are hiders and I almost never see them. People that want their fish to be seen get tangs, angels and manta rays. My tank is not meant to be a thing of beauty, it is an experiment to see how healthy and how long I can keep a particular fish. I can't remember the last time I lost a fish to disease but it was probably in the 80s.
Every one of my fish was put into my tank with no quarantine and no observation tank. Every one of them ate right away. The ones that I can see anyway.
In a natural tank where the fish are not quarantined, fed correctly and are immune
feel at home and don't have any problems. They are also not Sissy fish or Snowflakes that have to be coddled. A natural, not very sterile tank fed food with bacteria in it make the fish bulletproof. I have shot some of them with a 45 and it just wounded them.

This is my wifes computer and I can't put up pictures. My computer crashed and I have another one in a box sitting on the counter. I brought it to the Geek Squad and they said I needed to make an appointment. I am not good with appointments so I just bought another one. Computers are very cheap now and they give you one free if you buy a box of pretzels. I remember when computers were as big as a school bus and made of wood and you had to mortgage your home to get one, and all they did was add and subtract.
If you got a really expensive one there would be a picture of Myley Cyrus wearing her Mickey Mouse Ears. She was in the Mickey Mouse Club then.

 

[Paul B]

Here is me speaking at that Veterans talk. The guy in the foreground, Phil Keith, wrote the book about Fire Support Base Illingworth. The battle I was in and why they asked me to speak.
He was in the Air Force and was shot down and had a bullet go right through his chest. He received a Silver Star for that and in my mind, a Hero.

 

[Paul B]

I am very happy to say that the Magic Juice that I kind of invented for my wife is still working much better than medication and has no side effects. With MS she used to have terrible pains all over mostly at night. Those pains come from inflammation and the juice which is mostly made from fresh beets and berries seems to have completely eliminated them. She still has all sorts of other issues such as electric shocks but maybe that has to do with her being married to an electrician.
I wish I could help with those but unfortunately I can't. I think we are going to try Gamma Knife or anti inflammatory shots in her spine which is dangerous but there doesn't seem to be a choice.
(My wife named it the Magic Juice, she drinks a shot 3 times a day)

To make this about fish, my favorite LFS got in a few Dragon faced pipefish and I will pick them up in a few days (if they are still alive) I love those guys

 

[diana a]

Glad to read that the juice is helping!

i have never seen a Dragon faced pipefish. Do they have a special diet or have to be feed a certain way?

 

[Paul B]

Diana, Dragon faced pipefish need way more pods or new born shrimp them a mandarin and are not easy to keep fed long term. My tank now, after my move is loaded with pods for some reason and dragonfaces hunt all over the bottom unless they see baby shrimp in the water, then they will eat them off the surface.

 

[Paul B]

Vermont was fun but cold. They have a huge fireplace there and unlimited wood. The only thing in the tiny town is a fair held in the school, I think everyone in the area from miles around goes there because it is the only thing that ever happens there. I don't think I could ever get used to living in such a small, rural town. They don't even have a restaurant.
This is the view from the window.

Today I finished my Christmas lights and installed a central vacuum cleaning system. We had one in our last house and my wife, who is a cleaning fanatic loves them so I installed one here. The thing is so powerful it will suck the ear wax from your head from across the street.
You get this 30' hose which is very light that reaches all over the house. The hose has electric in it so it also runs the brush over any carpets you have but you can also brush your teeth with it.
In this new condo I only needed one outlet in the center of the place and it reaches everywhere.
On a fishy note, my male bluestripe pipefish will probably die. He has something that is very common in pipefish and seahorses. Sometimes when they get very pregnant, one or more of the babies die and gets infected killing the rest of the fry. They decompose and form gas pockets which eventually kills the fish. It's a mechanical thing with these fish because males were never designed to give birth and they can't expel the dead fish.
If I could catch him I would do a C Section, or in a pipefish a P Section and clean out the pouch. But unfortunate, he is not a fish that is catchable. I have performed that operation a few times on seahorses when their insurance paid for it and never lost a patient. It's a shame as these two are really into each other. She had a brief fling with the Janss pipefish but I think that is over.

 

[diana a]

I was wondering if he had the babies yet. Very sad about your male pipefish and the babies. Never new that about pipefish and seahorses while pregnant.

 

[Paul B]

It is quite common but many people don't see it because their fish never spawn. Pipefish like all fish should be constantly pregnant. Pipefish and seahorses don't quite have this reproducing thing down pat yet as many of their offspring have issues like conjoined twins that don't live very long.

 

[diana a]

Is this vintage skimmer something you created years ago? Where is the collection cup?

 

[Paul B]

That is my very cool surface skimmer. The pump feeds water to my skimmer. I no longer use it but I need to build another one. I don't like those silly comb things people use for surface skimmers because my pipefish would go in there and they don't skim well. This thing just skimmer the very thin surface film off the water. The floats kept it right at the surface.

I am so excited. I went to Home Depot where I am 4 or 5 times a day and I needed some tools. I have all DeWalt tools and when I got them they were American. Then they went to China which I have a very hard time even looking at. But my friend talked me into buying a couple of Ryobi tools which are all made in China and I cringe when I use them.
But now DeWalt tools are made in America so I can get rid of my Ryobi stuff and again get American tools. I also got a battery that I can use on my older DeWalt tools.
I also went for boots last week and figured I would buy Timberland which also used to be made in America. Nope, no more, all Chinese so I will have to walk around barefoot.

 

[Paul B]

Yesterday my good friend gave me 2 dragon faced pipefish. (OK, my very Best friend, He reads this thread and I don't want to dent his feelings) I have had them before and really love them because they look kind of like me. (Hello Andy)
But they are much bigger than any dragon pipefish that I have ever seen and they are hungry. Of course they don't eat anything I have on hand so I started hatching brine shrimp again, something I have not done since I moved here. These pipes are much to big and I know I won't be able to supply enough food for them and I should have only taken one. I really have way to many fish and will have to start thinking of better ways to keep the water fairly clean because I have to feed so much. In a couple of weeks I will be getting my knee replaced so I won't be able to collect water. I also don't want my new knee getting rusty in the sea. I opted for a cheap knee made of cast iron.
My elevator is coming today so I won't have time for a while to collect water and the surf is high now, not that I am a snowflake but if I backed my car up to the sea, it would get washed away.

 

[Paul B]

I am going to try to collect some water before this surgery but I am not sure I can find the time. My elevator is going in next week, my wife has a bunch of doctors appointments and I want to exfoliate.

I collect right near here but am very busy. I only changed some water once and my tank is very overcrowded. I also went away for a few days and left someone to feed them so the food wasn't rinsed and when I get my new knee I will be screaming too much for a couple of days to get down to them so my wife will just throw a T Bone steak in there and I would like to change some water. The water is very cold now and it will take a day to warm up and I have to filter it to get out any penguins or Walrus fur.

This is where I collect so I may need to call the Coast Guard to bring an ice breaker to cut me a path.

​

 

[Paul B]