Aquarium Update

                      Since "Our Aquarium in Progress" a few things have happened; 

   I was admiring our new friends in our aquarium when I noticed a few little "bugs" crawling on the rock. As I researched on line to try to identify them I found a site that I since have noted as quite misleading. It contained a list of "Common Hitchhikers on Live Rock" Since we are new to the aquarist hobby I have based my actions off my research. This site included sections on different types of hitchhikers along with their pros and cons, detailed with descriptions and pictures. I used all of this information to identify my creepy crawly friends as "Mantis Shrimp" and decided to take action as they are not nice animals to have in a community tank. I removed the live rock that had the majority of them and placed it in a different container else where. I began extracting the little fellows and placing them in a fish bowl that contained some live sand for them to hide in. (I also found two tiny starfish that I later found out are not Brittle Starfish but a smaller type that stays little tiny.)

       This little guy is "Dipper" I didn't get a pick of "Orion" before I reintroduced him to the tank..

   I took one little crawly fellows around to three pet store to confirm the identity as I am notably new at this so I did not want to make a mistake. I was told a great many things by each different person that I spoke with but determined that I could trust two that were very confident that he was a Copepod. A very harmless creature that I should welcome into my tank. Well I wasted quite some time with that venture but it is well worth it as I had a few nightmares that I woke up terrified that the "Mantis Shrimp" had eaten our Emeralds and our Sally light foots.

   I replaced the rocks and the Copepods back into the tank. We have also named the crabs; The largest Emerald that stays hidden is Lenny Crabits, The medium sized Emerald that seems unpredictable at times is Verde  Diamond, and the baby Emerald that is darker in color is Midnight. For the Sally Light Foots my man had suggested Sally, Nancy, and Martha. I said I would use Sally and Nancy if he liked but I wanted the third one to be Suzie (These three names were used by my grandparents for their girls so I thought it would be suiting that we both could agree on.) So the confident strong willed one that is not fearful is "Suzie", The shy and very moody one is "Sally", and the oldest of the three that desires to have her own space is "Nancy"

   In addition to the 3 Sally's, the 3 Emeralds, the 2 tiny Star Fish, and the Copepods we adopted 2 Maroon Clownfish yesterday that the kids named "Scarlet" and (You knew it was coming folks...) "Nemo"

                          Scarlet is on the left Nemo is on the lower right in the above picture.

                     In the picture below Nemo is in the front left with Scarlet in the back center.

  If you noticed that these two do not quite resemble Nemo's specific type of Clownfish you would be correct. These two are Maroon Clownfish; Nemo is an Ocellaris Clownfish. However the kids (and my man) believe that it would be wrong to have a pair of Clownfish and NOT name one Nemo! Who am I to argue with such an adorable crowd!?!

   Any suggestions on a good informational book to New Aquarist? I looked at a few yesterday at the local bookstore; Saltwater Aquariums for Dummies (ca $20), An Idiot's Guide to Saltwater Aquariums (ca $20).. (Both of which I would prefer not to support as I am neither an Idiot or a Dummy), The Complete Guide to Saltwater Fish (ca $30), and The Complete Guide to Saltwater Invertebrates (ca $30). I liked the Guides because it had detailed information on things that I have not been able to find on line such as the full grown size of certain friends I am interested in, but I am also interested on the precise ideas of how to build a community tank that will be able to grow together happily.. Any ideas?
 

Our Aquarium in Progress

   I previously wrote of our aquarium in "Our Fish Tank to be.." and decided to write an update today as we have made some progress. We have a 55 gallon aquarium in our living room that we recently began preparing for a marine community tank. A project that will take a considerable amount of time to build. We added the saltwater and live sand to get it started along with a filter and a heater.

It got so hazed over after we added the water and sand that you couldn't see an inch into the water. It stayed that way for a few days before clearing up.

   

 We then added a power head to create the waves that the fish are use to being in which made it foggy since we had stirred up some sand. Something caught my eye that was "swimming" through the water..

This little guy was swimming from one side of the tank to the other. A Plastic-Jellyfish that we named "Tupper". This was a little plastic cup that we had used to scoop some water that had been left behind. Ha Ha.

  Now yesterday is when we really started to get to make moves with it. We picked up two beautifully intriguing live rocks, three Emerald Crabs, and three Sally Foot crabs!

This is the baby Emerald Crab that is acclimating in the bag in the tank before we put them in.

This guy to the right is the social Sally Foot. He seems to like to be the first one spotted in the tank.

This is the Emerald Crab that usually hides under the live rock on the right side of the tank.

This is the Emerald that hides in the rock on the left side of the tank.

The shy Sally that hides under the rock on the right at the very back. She will run back to her cave if you move anywhere in the room.

The aquarium as it sits now. It may not seem like much so far but I am happy with it. Patience :)

I will post more as it gets built up.

Knob Noster State Park

   I took a trip with my sister and our combined total of four kids last year to Knob Noster State Park. We took a hike on this beautiful trail through the park taking in all the nature. These are some of the pictures that I took along with my main picture which my daughter took of me and the picture that I used as a background for my title.

We let the little ones run a wee bit ahead as we walked together and talked about this and that.

We stopped to inspect things as we made our way down the path. The flowers, wild mushrooms and berries all caught my eye as you can see.

As we headed back towards the entry area that had the picnic tables that we planned on enjoying lunch at we  stopped at the water to let the kids splash and play. Lil Man found this snail in the water and I had to snap a shot.