So, today I took Callie to get a Pajama Cardinal (she'll post about that tomorrow - she appears to have broken her computer.....) And I made the mistake of bringing my wife, who up to now has been decidedly uninterested in aquatics, with me....
We went to Jay's Aquatics first and she really liked the Maroon Clowns, but more as a, "Maybe I could get one of those someday..."
Jay's didn't have any Pajama Cardinals, so we went down the street to Sea Creature Pet Center. Based on google reviews, I was expecting it to be really horrible. But, the salt water section is actually quite extensive, the tanks appear to be clean and the fish active. The staff (at least the two guys that handle the marine section) seems to be reasonably knowledgeable. So, we're walking down the aisle, looking at all the fish. Callie actually recognizes quite a few fish and coral now and she points them out to mom, who is being polite, but not really interested...
So, about 2/3rds of the way through, mom sees a Valentini Puffer fish and says, "I WANT ONE!! CAN I HAVE ONE? I WANT ONE!!!" And I explain to her that puffer fish are not really reef safe, and they're not really compatible with the other fish we have, and the Pajama Cardinal is already 1 fish more than I think we should have in the QT... But, after having been together for almost 15 years, it only takes about 15 seconds for me to realize that this is a "discussion" I'm not going to win.....
So... 10 minutes later, Callie is very excited with her Pajama Cardinal and mom is very happy with her Valentini Puffer.
At the moment they're ensconed in the QT with the pair of clownfish we have. However, I haven't quite decided what to do with the puffer for the longterm. It is only about 1" long now, but they're supposed to grow to 4-5" long which is larger than any other fish we're planning on. While it is small, could it be considered mostly reef safe? We have two peppermint shrimp which are about 1/2-3/4" long and some very small <1/4" nassarius snails. And I also understand that they can nip at coral if they're hungry.
I told my wife that the best place for it would be the sump, but she didn't find that very amusing..... She says we should setup another tank for it and then she can get a maroon clown.
I'm doomed! Doomed!
We went to Jay's Aquatics first and she really liked the Maroon Clowns, but more as a, "Maybe I could get one of those someday..."
Jay's didn't have any Pajama Cardinals, so we went down the street to Sea Creature Pet Center. Based on google reviews, I was expecting it to be really horrible. But, the salt water section is actually quite extensive, the tanks appear to be clean and the fish active. The staff (at least the two guys that handle the marine section) seems to be reasonably knowledgeable. So, we're walking down the aisle, looking at all the fish. Callie actually recognizes quite a few fish and coral now and she points them out to mom, who is being polite, but not really interested...
So, about 2/3rds of the way through, mom sees a Valentini Puffer fish and says, "I WANT ONE!! CAN I HAVE ONE? I WANT ONE!!!" And I explain to her that puffer fish are not really reef safe, and they're not really compatible with the other fish we have, and the Pajama Cardinal is already 1 fish more than I think we should have in the QT... But, after having been together for almost 15 years, it only takes about 15 seconds for me to realize that this is a "discussion" I'm not going to win.....
So... 10 minutes later, Callie is very excited with her Pajama Cardinal and mom is very happy with her Valentini Puffer.
At the moment they're ensconed in the QT with the pair of clownfish we have. However, I haven't quite decided what to do with the puffer for the longterm. It is only about 1" long now, but they're supposed to grow to 4-5" long which is larger than any other fish we're planning on. While it is small, could it be considered mostly reef safe? We have two peppermint shrimp which are about 1/2-3/4" long and some very small <1/4" nassarius snails. And I also understand that they can nip at coral if they're hungry.
I told my wife that the best place for it would be the sump, but she didn't find that very amusing..... She says we should setup another tank for it and then she can get a maroon clown.
I'm doomed! Doomed!