Weird Things In My Tank

Yellow Clown Gobys

2008-03-05T05:33:00.001-08:00

Yellow Clown Gobys

2008-03-05T05:30:00.001-08:00

Clown Goby

2007-08-26T11:02:00.000-07:00

Oz2 hanging out by the glass.

Jellyfish Vs. Copepod

2007-08-25T10:46:00.000-07:00

This will give you a size comparison

What does a Sea Urchin look like when he's eating?

2007-08-20T19:30:00.000-07:00

2007-08-20T05:04:00.000-07:00

Another shot of the Jellyfish, this time in the gravel. You can see polyps underneath (or on top depending on how you view what is right-side-up on this jelly), ready to pick food out of the water that happens to float by.

2007-08-20T04:48:00.000-07:00

Here's the best shot of a Bristle Worm to date, peeking out a hole at dinner time, hoping to find a scrap of food leftover. Despite a bad reputation and the fact that my wife hates them, they do a good job of cleaning the tank.

2007-08-20T04:44:00.000-07:00

This is about the only shot you will ever see of the Clown Goby, he rarely strays from this spot amongst the Gorgonian.

2007-08-18T10:01:00.000-07:00

This is our new Yellow Clown Goby Oz2 amongst our new Blueberry Gorgonian in the Pico-tank. We had an Oz1 but he took the leap of death from the tank and I think, became a snack for someone, because we haven't run into any carpet jerky.

Anyway, Oz2 seems happy hiding in plain sight in the Gorgonian, which supposedly they are wont to do.

2007-08-18T09:59:00.000-07:00

Scooter on Discosoma

2007-08-17T04:52:00.000-07:00

2007-08-15T22:02:00.000-07:00

2007-08-15T21:59:00.000-07:00

2007-08-15T21:58:00.000-07:00

2007-08-15T21:56:00.000-07:00

2007-08-15T21:54:00.000-07:00

2007-08-15T04:55:00.000-07:00

2007-08-12T17:01:00.000-07:00

Longfin Danio

2007-08-12T16:59:00.000-07:00

2007-08-12T16:56:00.000-07:00

Glowlight

2007-08-06T18:51:00.000-07:00

This is one of the Scyphozoan Jellyfish in our pico-tank that we found clinging to the glass. They seem to like to attach to the glass on their backs and only move like jelly's when they move from one location to another. The pico-tank has become more of a science experiment than an aquarium, since we are trying to keep these guys alive out of shear curiosity of how big they will get.

2007-07-31T19:06:00.001-07:00

One time my wife asked me "wouldn't it be cool if you could shrink yourself and swim in the aquarium?" Here's my answer: Absolutely not!!!

This critter came from our pico-tank, I haven't the slightest clue what it is. It was large enough that I couldn't see it all at once, hence the photo-merge.

2007-07-22T20:27:00.000-07:00

New Digs. Manny, Moe and Jack were getting a little big for the 10 Gal. tank, so they've move up to a 20 Gal.

2007-07-22T20:23:00.000-07:00

Manny (front) and Jack (rear)

An Aquarium Darkly

2007-07-22T10:09:00.000-07:00

2007-07-20T09:15:00.000-07:00

Our tank was getting a little too much algae, and the snails were exhausted, not to mention full, so we got this little guy, and I have to tell you, he not only eats the algae, but the rock is cleaner than when we purchased it! He's wiping out the coralline algae which is a shame, but he moves so slow it will probably grow back by the time he gets back to where he started.

2007-07-20T09:07:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately when we bought him, we didn't see that he had a ouchy. This is actually the bare skeleton (called the "test") showing where the epidermis is gone. This would be the equivalent of have some skin missing from your head and your skull showing through. Hopefully it will heal and not become infected (if it's not already).

2007-07-20T09:06:00.000-07:00

2007-07-20T09:03:00.000-07:00

Open Wide

2007-07-20T08:52:00.000-07:00

Close up of mouth with teeth retracted show what could be considered a tongue

Ostracod video

2007-06-19T04:04:00.001-07:00

Ostracods

2007-06-19T03:22:00.000-07:00

These were the critters that first prompted me to start this blog since we had no idea what they were. It's difficult to research something when you only have a photo unless you can post them on message boards, but at the time we didn't know of any so it took a lot of guess work to finally hit on the fact that these were freshwater Ostracods.

Fluke

2007-06-16T07:40:00.000-07:00

Flatworm Video

2007-06-09T08:24:00.000-07:00

This guy was pretty lively so I had a little trouble keeping up with him with the camera.

Sideview of copepod

2007-06-08T04:56:00.000-07:00

I'm never stepping in the ocean again

2007-06-04T15:56:00.000-07:00

I'm pretty sure this is a baby bristle worm, he's about the size of a small eyelash, but under the microscope he looks every bit like the adult version. When you watch the video you can see blood circulating though it's body

Hitchhikers galore

2007-06-03T10:58:00.000-07:00

Here's a video of another tiny creature that makes up the fauna of saltwater tanks. He doesn't look like a good swimmer but he was a little hard to catch with an eyedropper. I assumed he was either a shrimp or a copepod, but after seeing him under the microscope he is a different sort of pod. Click thumbnail to activate video.

A truly weird thing!

2007-05-31T21:36:00.000-07:00

[More videos from Sparky477]

I shot this Scyphozoan Jellyfish through the microscope after sucking him up with an eye dropper. He actually is swimming around in a drop of salt water if that is any indication of how big he is. Unfortunately I only have one objective lens in the scope and I could have done with a little wider shot, but you can get the idea of how this guy swims by watching the video.

2007-05-28T14:41:00.000-07:00

Ricordea

Scyphozoan Jellyfish

2007-05-28T13:50:00.000-07:00

This is a photo of a Scyphozoan Jellyfish that is another hitchhiker in our tank. He's visible to the naked eye and swims with a pulsing motion just like an adult jelly. I've read several different sites on Scyphozoan Jellyfish and they say this one could grow to adult size if fed properly, but I've never seen one in my tank grow any larger than the size of the letter O. The fish seem to ignore them and I suppose they are to small to be a pest, so at this stage I'm going to leave them alone (not that I can get rid of them since I don't know where they are breeding in my tank.

2007-05-28T13:49:00.000-07:00

2007-05-28T13:47:00.000-07:00

2007-05-28T13:46:00.000-07:00

Sun Coral / Orange Cup Coral

2007-05-28T09:31:00.000-07:00

Tubastraea Faulkneri

2007-05-28T09:30:00.000-07:00

Tubastraea Faulkneri

2007-05-28T09:28:00.000-07:00

Tubastraea Faulkneri

2007-05-28T09:24:00.000-07:00

Tubastraea Faulkneri

2007-05-27T12:31:00.000-07:00

Ricordea

2007-05-22T17:46:00.000-07:00

It's hard to get a really good photograph of the Recordea in our tank. It's just at the wrong angle to the acrylic making it slightly out of focus, but this is a pretty good photograph. For some reason Recordea looks like photographs taken with an electron microscope, but there was no special filter or lighting used, just electronic flash.

2007-05-22T17:40:00.000-07:00

Ricordea

2007-05-15T21:08:00.000-07:00

Rusty

2007-05-06T08:26:00.000-07:00

Tubastraea Faulkneri, or more commonly known as "Orange Cup or Sun Coral". These corals have no zooxanthellae so they rely totally on captured food for survival and are generally regarded as ahermatypic or non-reef building. These corals usually open at night in response to time when planktonic food sources are at their highest and are usually found upside-down at the entrance of caves or overhangs in nutrient rich water where food will be abundant.

2007-05-05T12:28:00.000-07:00

Humuhumu nuku nuku apua'a (Say that ten times fast!)

2007-05-05T12:16:00.000-07:00

Discosoma: Oil on Canvas

2007-05-05T11:45:00.000-07:00

Hard fish to photograph since they aren't as placid as they look here. By the time the camera is in focus they're gone, so it takes some patience to get a good photo.

2007-05-05T11:40:00.000-07:00

Jack

Twitchy

2007-05-03T19:51:00.000-07:00

Firefish Goby

2007-05-03T04:35:00.000-07:00

Xenia

Scooter Lips

2007-05-02T21:17:00.000-07:00

How could you not love a fish with lips like those.

2007-04-28T07:22:00.000-07:00

2007-04-28T07:09:00.000-07:00

2007-04-28T06:52:00.000-07:00

"I take your stinkin bullets"

2007-04-26T14:30:00.000-07:00

Logically I know his brain is not much larger than the letter "O" but I swear he watches me while I'm watching TV, secretly plotting my demise. If he could talk I would imagine he would sound like Al Pacino in Scarface.

2007-04-26T13:32:00.000-07:00

2007-04-24T22:03:00.000-07:00

Thanks to the folks at Aquarium Advice this guy has been identified as Stomatella Varia and is member of the Mollusca Phylum in the class of Gastropoda. We found him first on the live rock but had a hard time photographing him as he is small (about the size of a raisin), and well camouflaged. We didn't see him for a few days but then discovered him on a group of coral in the tank so I popped him is a small plastic tank to get a better photo. According to one article at Reefkeeping.com, because of Stomatella's lack of shell to hide in, it has developed a unique ability to "drop" it's hind quarter like a lizard while it scampers away.

2007-04-22T15:30:00.000-07:00

My wife got the trophy shot with this one. The acrylic glass makes it hard to get good shots sometimes, and Scooter Blennys aren't placid swimmers so this one was part skill and part luck. Click on the photo to enlarge the shot, it's pretty impressive.

2007-04-21T11:45:00.000-07:00

Tubastraea Faulkneri, or Sun Coral. We're in the process of trying to fatten these guys up.

2007-04-21T11:43:00.000-07:00

From Aquarium of the Pacific

2007-04-21T11:39:00.000-07:00

Manny then and now (3 months).

2007-04-21T11:35:00.000-07:00

Close up of our feather duster.

Firefish

2007-04-21T11:16:00.000-07:00

Our new member of the family. Apparently when growing up, someone accidentally poured a cup of coffee in his tank: he tried becoming carpet jerky while I was acclimating him to the tank, and then once when I was trying to feed a coral and unfortunately the lid was closed on the tank and he whacked his head on the cover to the lights. I'll try mixing some Prozac with his shrimp.

2007-04-21T10:55:00.000-07:00

Xenia Elongata which I think roughly translates to "Grows like a weed". Xenia is a part of a large group of fleshy, stalked, soft corals that are usually the first colonizers of a reef area, and they spread by attaching a stalk to a nearby rock and then detaching from that stalk. I started out with two small stalks, and now I have six.

2007-04-21T10:52:00.000-07:00

Close up shot of Xenia

Aquarium of th Pacific

2007-04-20T19:22:00.000-07:00

It's hard to tell but that's a fish in the middle of the photograph. Click photo to enlarge.

2007-04-20T19:16:00.000-07:00

2007-04-20T19:11:00.000-07:00

2007-04-19T04:56:00.000-07:00

We've had this tree coral for a while, but it's been notoriously hard to photograph, so it hasn't made the blog as much.

Another freebee

2007-04-18T04:48:00.000-07:00

Every once in a while you hear on the news that some undiscovered species has been found some where in the world that excites the scientific community. If you like that type of adventure, buy a saltwater aquarium. If you have the patients to sit and stare at a tank, you'll find yourself eventually saying "oh my God, what the heck is that!" This guy is really hard to see but I'm guessing it's some sort of limpet. It has a pseudo shell and it's has a body and antennae like a snail, and I assure you, I got it for free somewhere.

2007-04-16T20:13:00.000-07:00

OK, I said no more new corals but I figured it was small and insignificant (wait until a year goes by, then I'll be sorry.) I believe this one is called Ricordea Yuma and is a member of the Corallimorphs (mushroom coral) like the Discosoma. Originally it was in the Pico tank, but 5 gallons is just to small to deal with so we transferred him to the 24 gal tank.

The maximum size this type will grow to is about 2.5 inches (according to our book.)

2007-04-16T20:09:00.000-07:00

Fluorescing under actinic lighting gives it quite a different look

More Photos From Aquarium of the Pacific

2007-04-15T08:55:00.000-07:00

A Grouper I believe.

2007-04-15T08:53:00.000-07:00

2007-04-15T08:51:00.000-07:00

2007-04-15T08:48:00.000-07:00

Lion Fish

2007-04-15T07:47:00.000-07:00

All I've got to say is I'm never swimming in the ocean ever again; I think this is a baby bristle worm that is scootching across the glass of the pico tank. I found some other friends of the worm persuasion as well.

2007-04-14T10:38:00.000-07:00

Close up of Jack.

What the???

2007-04-07T11:30:00.000-07:00

I found this critter in the pico tank attached to the glass. About .5mm in size. According to different sources it is a jellyfish (Staurocladia oahuensis) and is a normal hitchhiker in new tanks.

2007-04-07T11:28:00.000-07:00

And yet another Weird Thing in our tank

2007-04-03T19:41:00.000-07:00

We found this guy crawling on the glass in our pico tank. He's about three time larger than a copepod which he is clearly not and crawls more like a flatworm.

A trip to the local Aquarium shop identified a photo as indeed being a flatworm and suggested a liquid phosphate remover which seems to have worked.

2007-04-03T19:37:00.000-07:00

2007-03-30T04:33:00.000-07:00

Scooter

2007-03-30T04:26:00.000-07:00

Scooter

2007-03-27T20:04:00.000-07:00

Elysia crispata (the lettuce sea slug) Another pseudo-impulse purchase in which again I asked "What does he eat, algae?" which the answer was "yes"; I even mentioned our bad luck with the Blue Dorid Nudibranch which we had to return, and I was told they don't carry animals that could possibly take down a tank. Yes he eats algae, but if you read the fine print, he only eats a particular type of algae, and wouldn't you know, it's not the type growing in our tank at the moment, so now we're on an algae hunt. On a positive note, he has a cute factor though, so we'll keep our fingers crossed and hope he doesn't foul the tank if he goes south. Also the only other tank mate is a feather duster, so the loss won't be as big as it would be if he were in the Aquapod.

2007-03-27T19:55:00.000-07:00

2007-03-26T05:15:00.000-07:00

Aquarium of the Pacific

2007-03-26T05:11:00.000-07:00

Aquarium of the Pacific

2007-03-24T09:38:00.000-07:00

Moon Jellys at the Aquarium of the Pacific.

I'm not diving in that tank

2007-03-24T09:35:00.000-07:00

And the award for the cutist fish goes too...

2007-03-24T08:01:00.000-07:00

This is a Grunt Sculpin or Grunt-fish (jeez even the name is cute) who inhabits the Pacific coast. Not much bigger than your thumb, it lives in areas of the continental shelf in deep water all the way up to tide pools along the shore. I love it's mating habits too, the female chases the male until he's cornered in a hole or crevasse, and forces him to stay there until she lays her eggs. What the marine biologists aren't telling you is, after the eggs are laid and fertilized, the female Sculpin divorces the male and gets the house, the kids, and a hefty sum of money every month. (photo taken at the Aquarium of the Pacific, Long Beach, CA.)

2007-03-22T22:57:00.000-07:00

Hypselodoris bullocki also known as a Blue Dorid nudibranch, although this is the common natural coloration (purplish), is a large nudibranch (about 2 inches), and was one of the newest members of our pico tank for about half an hour, until we found out that they are short lived (about two months), and further more, they are short lived because they starve to death as they only eat a particular type of sponge. Not wanting to watch him die of starvation, we did the only right thing we could do and returned him to the store so that they could watch him starve to death. The store originally told us they were filter feeders which I was a little suspect of, but we did some research at home on the Internet and the sad truth is unless you know exactly what they eat, you'll have an ex-nudibranch in a months time. Sorry little buddy :c