Roatan,Honduras

click here for information on Roatan

This well healed traveler is my dad.

As you can see he makes his own path in fashion and decorum while travelling . A brisk walk on the ships deck can only be accentuated properly, by and with , the best attire .

He chose the AC/DC t-shirt I got him for his birthday.

Scaring the old folks one t-shirt at a time..my Pops...





I must say there were a few set backs on the trip. My mom, the catalyst for the trip,fell ill a few days in. The one person who knew the most about where we were going and what we where seeing and experiencing did not get to fully enjoy it. It sucked.

Also , in the first few days our sailing,the warm tropical sun did not grace our presence. In fact our snorkeling trip in Mexico ,,,

here's a map..


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was down right bone chilling at times. The beauty of the reef and its inhabitants did much to inspire our spirit of discovery...still.. the sky's drizzled. The fish, corals and invertebrates we encountered in abundance did not seem to mind at all. Awesome!!!

Belize will have to wait for my arrival on another trip. The high waves made a safe journey to the port by tender dangerous, and the Captain of the Maasdam canceled our visit.

As usual my brother and I managed to make everyone remember why are dad's sense of humor is not something that should have seen another generation,,the ladies shopped..the men had a few drinks...and all in all..

It was good.....very good......

and when I was at work today...I wished I was in a bar in Mexico..

Welcome to The Least accessed BLOG on the Internet!!

Been in a better mood recently, up'ed my caffeine intake in the morning. This remedy seems to make the time go by quicker, and helps me to maintain a more user friendly demeanor...

Looking forward to a brief respite from my drudgery..and a few days of ocean air to clear my head and re-bond with family I've not been close to in a while..

Still, I'm not a huge fan of the human race, or my less than stellar personal contribution to it.



Then again...who is?

Oh yea..I forgot....

Most people are quite sure "the other people" in their world , are the problem...

I will not be attending

The BARS meeting in a few hours. I have to work. This happens very rarely, but it does happen. I have been waiting and looking forward to this get together for a month. It will not be.

Duty calls.

Put some money in the raffle and clog up Mr. Bojangles toilet for me.....

I wish I could....alas..it's not to be...

Thanksgiving

I had great time at Mom and dad's for Thanksgiving holiday.

The food as usual was awesome, and , as usual my consumption of the delectables was huge . I arrived hungry and left wondering if anymore food could possibly fit into my body. The table was set with the best of everything(almost everything) Mom had in her war chest of fine dining.

Another wonderfully prepared meal, served with a certain panache that I can neither fully appreciate or ever hope to emulate on my own.

I only made one or two references in conversation during this upscale meal that could have been considered in bad taste.

This has become something of a mission of mine.

I find it amusing.

It pleases me.

I did not have the skills or courage to create such havoc and consternation at the dinner table when I was 13 years old.

Nine Busch lite brews before such an event can embolden a person to find humor in the things others do not appreciate as funny or appropriate at the dinner table.

Good times....

Delivered!

As they have done while I was in attendance twice in the past, my favorite band was righteously

AWESOME !!


I could have done without the other 18,000 other folks who showed up, but I had a great time!

Here's how (from some dude's cell phone) it started..



Good Time's!

AC/DC

Please forgive me.

My normal evening of drinking Earl Gray tea and discussing the more opaque and inconsequential aspects of early Renaissance Art will be interrupted this evening.

 The greatest rock and roll band of all time will be gracing a local venue.

I will be in attendance.

Leavin' the salt mine early....Ready to ROCK!!

My newest fishes: Boulengerochromis microlepis - Giant Tanganyika Cichlid

5 Fish X Two inches of nuthin' but mean..

My most colorful addition to the Fish Room this Week

Nimbochromis fuscotaeniatus

Ornate Bicher, cool gift from a friend

A few Pic's of one of my C. Frontosa

Saturday night is "puntius denisonii night" around here.

Luciosoma spilopleura

Chalceus erythrurus

Hypselecara temporalis

Spirodela polyrhiza

Tropheus moorii

Labidochromis caeruleus

Geophagus surinamensis

Big Fish On the telly

It seems of late , that the cable channels have a predilection to air shows about large freshwater fish that eat people.

Crocodiles,alligators and Bull sharks eat people.

Not catfish, Gar , Boney tonques, or Pirahna .

That is unless you are dead and bloated and they get to you before the worms and crabs get a chance.

The fish "You Sold Me " is DEAD

Well quit frankly, "the Fish You Bought Is Dead".

Buying a saltwater water fish is , at best, a roll of the dice. The outcome is never a predetermined one. Will the fish succumb to disease, aggression, bad water quality or mishandling? Or will the fish adapt well and give the costumer years of enjoyment?

When a shop purchases an invertebrate or fish, there is rarely any sort of guarantee. Occasionally , if the animal arrives dead, a credit will be applied to the next purchase from the vendor. That is it. That's all there is.

I had a costumer buy a yellow tang the other day. We had the yellow tang for about a weeks time. He bought it and took it home, and killed it within a week.

Here are some of his plea's as to why we should replace the fish or refund his money:

You guys tested my water and said it was fine,

You told me it would get along fine with my other fish,

I acclimated it like you told me too,

I'm a man who lives a christian life, and would not lie to you..

You promised me, with guarantee of monetary remitince or replacement, that if the yellow tang died, You would personally see to it that I would get my money back or recieve a new fish of greater value..( He did not actually say this, but this was later implied.)

My response?

Talk to the owner,

His response?

All sales final!

We are actually going to give the guy a discount on the next fish he buys. Did I mention we tested the guys water for free and spend about 45 minutes with him every time he buys a fish? A cheap fish ,I might add.

He works at a bank. I wonder if I can get a low interest rate on my next loan. Somehow I don't think he is going to hook me up. Even if I throw in my new found love for the Omniscient Being , overseer and ruler of the heavens.

Red Lobophyllia

Convict worm Blenny/Engineer goby
T.moorii fry

Mom(top) and Pop(bottom)
The eye's have it!(next day)

Larvae with eyes

A.Percula eggs

.

Red Mushrooms

candy cane

Golden polyps

Nemo's touching it

Stare at an aquarium for too long , and strange things happen.

Reef Tank, 6.14.09

Pangasius sanitwongsei

Cyprichromis leptosoma

Two fishes gifted to me ,I truly appreciate.

Lake Tanganyika shell dwellers. Small but cool.

Tropheus moorii "moliro" Fry

I have at least 40 of these. Make me an offer. Pick up only.

The Guarantee..

The shop I work at does not guarantee saltwater fish, inverts or coral at all.

 No successful shop is inclined to do so. We do guarantee freshwater fish for 24 hours, with a separate water sample,the fish, and a receipt. 

A young couple who bought freshwater fish Monday came into the shop today(Wednesday) carrying a bag of dead fish.  I have dealt with these two before.  They had three tanks worth of water to be tested.  The first with the dead fish, the second with fish that have not died, and the third with a new tank.

The young couple said that two of the fish they had purchased the day before ( I knew it was monday) had died and wanted to know what I was going to do about it.

I began to test the water and quickly realised the water from the tank that the two dead fish were in was not just toxic, but friggin' deadly. The water quality of the second tank with no dead fish in it was also abismal.

I told them "this water kills fish" as I showed them the results next to the color charts used to confirm the tests. High ammonia and nitrite brought these fish lives to a quick rendezvous with destiny.

(2ppm ammonia, 1 ppm nitrite, 5.oo PH)

"What are you going to do about the $15 dollars of fish we bought?" They queried.

My response " throw them in the garbage"

I attempted several times to explain the Nitrogen cycle and its importance, to no avail.

Repeated comments from the "magnificent duo" of  "we will never buy fish again" were made.

That's fine with me.

I did not realise until I was tossing the melted fish soup of Bala sharks in the dumpster , that  they brought the dead fish back in a Petco bag...

Le cichlidés L'extraordinaire en chocolat

click on pic

click on pic

                                                      Albino ancistrus 

 

Big tank? So What?

  Pops on the keyboard!

      

My dad playing Thelonious monk's "So What" while some of my fish's go about their evening.

If in comparison you chose jazz,aquariums or blogging. My Pops  is a more accomplished  musician  than I will ever be as an aquarist or blogger.  Mastering  jazz is an even more life consuming habit than either of my current endeavors. It requires actual inate talent, determination and practice.

More power to him.

Once you dig in

I made this video a couple of years ago. The fish have all doubled or tripled in size. I still like it though...

Stupid

A young woman enters the shop,my domain as it is, and while I'm in the process of gathering goods for sale for two other customers she asks the question" what be this fish" I am not kidding. I respond that I will be happy to help her after I'm through with the folks I'm currently assisting. 

I finish with the two customers and go back to the young lady , who is impatiently waiting on me in the back.  " how much are these?" she asks.

"The Blue Reef Chromis are $5.99 and the Neon Green Chromis are $3.99" I reply.  Both prices are clearly listed on the tanks by the way.

Her response:What kind of filter they need?

My response: Do you have a saltwater tank?

"Miss's I'm only here because Subway is next store", responded with this gem: "NO"

In the end I realised that we displayed the chromis price effectively, they are the cheapest fish in the shop. They are very pretty fish for the budget minded salt water aquarist.

She however, was not leaving without burning up some money. 

So, I sold her a Betta splendens, and some food for it.

Bluefin killie surpise!

My friend Bob gifted my planted tanks some variety  a while back,both Brazilian moneywort and Giant duckweed were offered.  A  month and a half later this dude showed up..

click to enlarge

NICE!!

Walmart has better Pay and Benefits

OK, here is a retail dilemma.

And how I dealt with it.

  A guy comes in today who typically spends $5 or less every month. The guy has two filters on his tank that he does not know the names of, he needs the strainers that go on the intake of the filter tube that extends into his tank from the filter.  The guy does not know what filter brand  he has and therefore, I cannot assist him right on the spot. Under my instruction he says he will call me later with the exact name of the filter and I tell him that if I can obtain the parts he needs I will order them for him.

He calls sometime later, he has two Regent filters on his tank. Regent is Walmart's knock off brand of Marineland's Bio-wheel filter, San's the bio-wheel. The  Regent filters are cheaper, they are Marineland's big F'U to the independent LFS.  While they may not have the Bio-Wheel on them they still will take the same filters and parts that Marineland's 350,250,100 etc. filters will take.

As I have mentioned These filters  parts and filters are almost interchangeable. I have never been interested enough to figure out which of  Marineland's Bio-wheel filter  parts and accessories go to which  Regent filter .

Buy it at Walmart?,  go figure it out at Walmart!.

If I was so inclined I would have to go through the trouble of determining which filter this guy had, (did I mention his room temperature IQ?) Which filter strainer(Regent) he had purchased that would match up to one those that we sell(Marineland). Which part number and the retail price of said product,choosing between two wholesalers, and retrieved the item within an acceptable time frame.(He wanted the parts within the week).   

Actually, this is an easy fix,

I tell the guy to go to Walmart and look for parts there.

Yes, the shop lost a $1.49 sale.

Yet again. I will not be employee of the month..(sigh)..

Walmart does not carry spare parts. Part of me says he should buy 2 new filters from his favorite retail outlet,  cut out the strainers from each of the boxes bag with a razor blade, and then return the boxes for a refund. Do the folks at customer service really check those things?

Does anyone really care?

The early demise of a great fish

Yes, my female lamarck angel and my orange fin tang did this fish in.  Sad to see. They cornered it and had their way with it. Lodged in the rocks, it did not stand a chance. I might add some more corals eventually. However, there will be no more fish for my Reef tank. I made this short video when there was still hope.

One of my favorite fish. Click on the picture for a better view.

Scarlet Badis badis