Paul B's thread

So I was looking in my tank and noticed all these tiny red things in the back at the bottom in the dark. I figured they were the fry of something and got a little excited. Then I remembered I only have a few paired fish and except for the fireclowns, none of them are red and clown fry don't lay around on the gravel waiting for the Good Humor man to come around, they kind of swim around trying to get eaten like most fry do.

I got my reading glasses and saw they were flatworms. Thousands of them just laying around thinking of what to do next.

I kind of like flatworms and think they are kind of cool. I also like their lifestyle just hanging out, checking things out and shooting the breeze.

In a few weeks they will be bored and disappear but if I was a Noob or if I was thinking inside the box or on LSD, Rogain or Rolaids, I would throw "Flatworm Exit" in there maybe with some Tree Stump Remover and insecticide to rush their exit.

I think of them as free invertebrates who can stay as long as they like as long as they don't cause havoc or start removing the paint on my Man Cave walls.
I put them under my microscope and they are certainly cool. I will ty to take a picture, but I am not sure I can get them to pose. :rolleyes:
 
I like your attitude. I have some flatworms that I used to freak out about, but now I feel they are not a real problem as long as they are not bothering the fish or the corals. I like having a lot of weird stuff growing in the tank. If I wanted a sterile looking tank, I would just hang a picture and it would be a lot less work.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Very True :cool:

If I had the time and ambition I would go and check out my tank now in the dark because it looked like my bluestripe pipefish should have given birth last night as he was really pregnant. They spawn all the time but I never caught sight of the fry which are born alive and must be about as big as
this --------> ' <--------

(an old picture and not from this pregnancy)
 
Yesterday I went to Home Depot with my friend and as we drove there I had to suddenly stop the car. There was a cow in the middle of the street.

A big cow. Now me living most of my life closer to New York City the only cows I saw were in a bun covered in pickles and onions with a side of fries so I don't know much about cows except for the picture of them on the side of a milk carton.



We looked around and saw another cow in an enclosure and being I went to High School and everything we put two and two together and figured the thing ran away.

So we got out and went up to the house where the other cow was and knocked on the door. No one was home. Just then a lady comes up the driveway all frantic looking. She probably thought we were there to steal the other cow.



We told her about the cow in the street and she said that is her Daughter's cow and didn't know what to do. I told her we were professional cow rustlers and would help her catch the cow in the street.

Now she was older than me and I am almost 70 waiting to have a knee replacement and a bad back and my friend is just a year younger than me so the three of us didn't exactly look like The Lone Ranger and Tonto.



We "run" up to the cow waving our arms and yelling at "Buttercup" to turn around and come with us but she really liked the neighbors grass and wouldn't come.



Just then 3 Police cars pull up because someone called them about this run away cow. One Cop asked me if it was a girl cow or a boy cow.
clear.png


I said it's a cow and although I am not a Pulitzer Prize winner I know they are all girls. Besides that it's name is Buttercup.



I mean thats like asking what do they call Watchman gobi girls. I almost told the cop that if his Mother didn't have any children, he also probably wouldn't have any.
clear.png


But I figured I shouldn't say that and the cops were real nice and helped us corral Buttercup.



So after 20 minutes we get Buttercup near the fence. My friend pulls out the pin in the fence to open that section, and about 50' of the fence falls flat on the ground.

Now the other cow (who was also a girl) starts t make a run for it. I get in front of her but didn't know her name so I said "Maam" please go back in the enclosure as I am too tired and old to chase you.

She didn't listen until I showed her a picture of a hamburger.



WE finally got Buttercup back where she belonged and went over to repair the fence which was falling apart. The woman thanked us and we continued on to Home Depot

That was my most exciting visit to that store.
clear.png




Here is the broken fence where Buttercup got out of. I was to busy to get a picture of her.



 
OMG, my brand new yellow clown gobi is covered in parasites. :confused: I have to turn in my Aquarist card. :eek:



I think I should have dipped him in stump remover, then spray painted him with prizapro while electroplating him with copper. I am so scared and don't know what to do. :(

Should I go bungee jumping with a rubber band or stick my head in a bucket of tar and feathers!!! I am such a Noob. AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH :rolleyes:



I think I am going to catch all my fish by removing everything in my tank including the tag that says where it was made then I will let it go fallow for 7 or 8 months, yes thats what I will do. Then I will treat him for flukes and flounders. ;Wideyed



 
The parasites already fell off the fish and they are running around now trying to infect the rest of my fish.
 
We are having some company tonight and I am making one of my favorite meals. Manhattan Clam Chowder. We live in New York so we don't make much New England Chowder which is actually a lot easier to make. We have to drive 20 minutes to find a good Italian market because regular supermarkets just won't do.
This chowder comes out so good that if you tilt your head, your brains will fall out. No really. It's really good.
I saved one clam for my fish :agree:
 
The herb is Dill. Two different clam juices because I had one and bought another one in a different store. It doesn't matter.
 
My bluestripe pipefish is more pregnant than I have ever seen a pipefish and I assume that either last night or tonight should be their birthday. I will look at the tank before the lights come on with a flashlight to see if I can find any fry.

The weird thing is the female bluestripe thinks she is mated with the much larger Janss pipefish as they spend all their time together while the poor pregnant male sulks in a hole waiting to give birth.

Here are the pipefish, the male is pregnant but this was a different pregnancy and he is much more pregnant now.


This is the Janss when I got him about a year ago. He looks sad. Now his colors are fluorescent looking and very bright and he has little protrusions on him like a sturgeon. A really nice looking fish which is probably why the female bluestripe dumped her old man.

 
My clown gobi is all healed, no spots, no rashes, no hives, nothing but bright yellow. And I didn't have to fresh water dip her, prixapro, chloriquin sulfate, or shut his lights off. He (or she) is fine and will live out her life for another 8 or 9 years in Bliss. :rolleyes:

Of course if I would have quarantined her, then put her in a hospital tank, the ich would have gotten worse, then I would have had to put her on life support and go on the disease forum (God forbid) then a few days later she would have croaked and I would have had to blame the store, wholesaler, shipper or the poor guy in the canoe who collected her. :eek:
 
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.)
 
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.
clear.png
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.

 
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?
 
Upcoming Events

April 21, 2024
Paul B
Club Meeting

Back
Top