A cool red macro algae that showed up...

 So I made a video...

Heard the noise of freedom last night....

Fireworks..not guns...


So I grabbed my camera...and realized I had not researched a tutorial on photographing fireworks on YouTube...

It sucked...


this is all I could come up with...

the struggle continues...

Looked at my 30 gallon cube planted tank tonight, and for some reason thought it worthy of a picture...so here ya go...

lilies.. rosette sword..amazon sword...HY511tetras.,..
and a lot of love.......and some co2...

June is "Pickerel Rush" month on my blog..

I must paraphrase  the chant the recruits in the movie "Full Metal Jacket" repeated over an over again...

This is my pickerel rush!...there are many like them, but this one is mine!

A cool piece of macro algae appeared from a frag of blue mushrooms...

so I took a photo.. 

More of the HY511 Tetras,,in my planted tank....

This evening's transgressions..

against all that is holy and righteous in aquarium photographic form and practice...

Frogspawn

Pavona

Acanthastrea

Newest addition to the freshwater planted tank, HY511...I Like'em!!

Another Black and white... Following an unintentional series of presentations........ Tropheus duboisi fry...

This juvenile was one of the three fry I have been able to collect from my colony of T.duboisi(seven males one female)...It has taken about two years to make this happen...

Nandopsis tetracanthus

One of  my Cuban cichlids...

as juveniles they seem to be bold, yet cryptic....

For Fish base Info click HERE

Red Hooks gettin' busy..

Not much out on the web about Red hook spawning....   

thus a video was in order...

Erin and Emily,,,,,read a book mom sent them...,,

click on the picture for a funny video,,,




My Mom has ulterior motives,other than entertainment for the babes.


Amazon.com Review
Tana Hoban has created an elegant solution for those who want to initiate children into the infinite wonders of reading. This picture book compels parents to talk to their babies as they share the wordless pages with their little ones. Black illustrations on a white background provide high contrast for infants' underdeveloped eyes. Soothingly familiar, silhouetted shapes--a leaf, a key ring, a bib, an elephant--will be recognized by the very young, and through these simple pictures, aspiring readers will begin to identify the link between the objects they see and the words their caregivers say.




I've read a lot of fishbooks...over 250 in the inventory...


not done me much good...

A couple more hermit crabs...

Hawaiian Zebra Hermit

Blue Knuckle Hermit

This Months BARS contest contribution...

"Full Tank Shot"  

                                                               My $.02

The BREVARD AREA REEF SOCIETY held a Meeting..

last weekend. I ,of course, attended said meeting. I won this coral in the raffle.
I hate the raffle,I must say.." I alone" hate the raffle.

Why,,,,we did not need this sideshow to attract members in the past,,,why do we need it now?

Why?...because winning is everything...

Anywhoo...

Here's my acanthastrea,,

very cool...

Why I like fish,,.,,or at least one of the reasons,,,

I went out to give the fish room one of my late night visits to feed....

I do this often,,,

I Was going through the motions..yes .."lots of food for you"...."a smidgen  for you",...and "just enough,,,, so you don't kill each other for you"....

and then..

 I noticed little yellow blobs on the back glass glass of a tank,where none had been before..

OK, Here is the "back story"...

I purchased three "Buffalo head" cichlids ( as I have always referred to them)..over a year ago....I put the three in a 10 gallon tank by themselves . Unfortunately one of the fish met an early demise..
it happens..

The two that were left seemed to fight constantly. They chased each other, yet no severe harm seemed to come to either of them ,at any time.

I left the two  in the tank and fed them copious amounts of high protein flake food.

Several months ago I threw in a layer of giant duckweed that shaded the tank from the 15 watt bulb over it.

many water changes, and many months later......


Tonight I found these,,,

After I obtained a better view by displacing a box filter blocking my  line of sight,,the larger of the "pair" hurriedly  removed any encroaching snail from the egg mass..busily protecting the spawn..


While not a new or extraordinary feat in the hobby I pursue,,,it is still a neat experience for me...

The fate of the fry?:
IF the eggs are fertile.
IF the parents don't eat them
IF the water parameters are correct
IF the foods I initially  introduce are sufficient ...

I may obtain a few survivors..

and they are commonly called "lion heads" or Block heads"...

                                           FISH BASE: Lionhead Cichlid

Plucked the Philippine Red leg hermit crab..

From his reef inspired domicile this evening. He had acquired a branch of Kenya tree coral on his back, and was carrying it around like a prize.  I tried to capture both him and his prize, a prize won by inactivity I suppose, without success. In the process I  broke a piece of pavona coral ,and knocked the Kenya tree off his shell..

Good times...

I then discovered, to my dismay, that the Philippine Red Leg hermit crab is a very patient creature....not gracing me with his presence often or with great vigor.

He, she, it...is a pain in the ass.

click to enlarge...

Gold Red Spotted Severum.....

                                                  Heros efasciatus

Perhaps the most uniquely colored of the Severums. Bold red markings on a gold body makes this fish stand out in the freshwater aquarium hobby.  I bought six from a trusted wholesaler .  The fish arrived with Ich.  lets just say the Ich arrived...and then the fish.

The parasites where soon dismissed. With extreme prejudice.  All  of the six fish survived.

....And so the angriest one was subjected to the camera.

                                                                       

Killin' time..

The critter above is a type of red leg hermit crab from the  Philippines, I believe he has monkey blood in him...or has had some sort of commando training....he can climb anything...hanging upside down or not,....

This is a single polyp of teal ring zoanthids.. 

I haven't Played "Tropheus Paparazzi" in a long time..

So here we go....click on pics to enlarge..

Mouth of a hairy green mushroom..

This is picture I submitted for the photo contest...

It's not a question of losing,,,,it's how bad I get beat...

I did learn an interesting trick, I may or may not be able to replicate in future, on posting photo's on the BARS forum itself.  Therefor, it was worth it.

I needed to update the crew of inverts who keep my tank...

algae free....


Bought some "Mexican red leg " hermits....