KarenM

He's doing great, and is very peaceful. He will still only eat frozen mysis (I feed mysis, krill, arctipods, Marine Cuisine, etc) but he really tears into the algae sheets. He's friendly and outgoing and always busy picking at the rocks. He swims all over, but doesn't swim the length of the tank. he's best friends with my Foxface Lo and they just cruise around together.

It's back up now.

I can babysit for you, too, if needed. I'm fairly new to saltwater and only have MH on one side (working on a retro setup for the other side), but I'd be more than happy to keep some more hardy things for you.

I wondered how he'd handle a new friend, since the other one was a tankmate at the LFS. He comes out and eats and seems fine, but he hides the rest of the time. I just don't have really good luck with fish bought from LFS.

Unfortunately one of them died. The other one seems kind of lonely now. I'm wondering if I should look into getting another one, or if this one will be fine by himself.

I stopped by a LFS store today and bought 2 scissortail gobies. They're an awesome powder blue in the lights. They were the last 2 in the tank. I was told that they're schooling fish, and there had been about a dozen, and he preferred to sell them in groups. Liveaquaria.com says they'll fight with their own kind unless they're a mated pair. Since mine never seem to be more than a couple of inches apart, is it possible that I have a mated pair?

Probably so. At your age you have tons of energy and few responsibilities. You have big dreams, but not enough experience to know how to reasonably go about them, and they change from day to day. It's not until you've lived half of your life that you realize what a minute part of the universe you are. Your true passions surface, and the things you'd like to change about yourself or the world. But by then you've got at least one job that requires a good 50 hours or so or your week, a family, financial responsibilities, and only a fraction of the energy you once had.

I don't eat vegetables (other than green beans, carrots, etc). Can't stand the taste, smell, or texture of them. I've fought this my entire life. What adult doesn't eat vegetables? it's ridiculous, but I'll literally gag if I try. I also don't eat any kind of seafood or salad dressing, no mayo type stuff, no sour cream, no cheesecake. I'll eat beef once in a blue moon, but would rather have chicken or turkey. I WANT to eat healthier and lose weight, but even moreso I want to eat the same things that the other people are eating when we go out. I love Subway, but I won't go there when it's crowded because I'm embarassed to order just turkey and lettuce in front of everyone. it's always a huge deal when I leave vegetables on my plate. I have older siblings that tease me to this day. My 12 yr old daughter teases me. Co-workers tease me.

I've tried everything from dieticians to having people sneak veggies into dishes they're serving. I even tried spraying Chloraseptic in my mouth so i couldn't feel or taste veggies, but I ended up biting my tongue and cheeks. A friend quit smoking using hypnosis and suggested I try it to encourage 'cravings' for vegetables. I'm not sure what my feelings are about hypnosis, but they lean more toward not believing in it.

Has anyone overcome these bad eating habits, or has anyone changed any bad habits with hypnosis?

Well, before I saw the responses I had to go to Walmart so I stopped in Home Depot and found it. I also got some 3/4" couplings to set it on and keep it up off the sump floor. Tomorrow, I'm going to organize my sump. (there's a sentence you don't hear often).

I looked and asked there once before with no luck. What dept? I think I looked in lighting.

OK, so after seeing Soonerfan's sump I've decided I need eggcrate so I can clean underneath the rocks (I've just GOT to quit checking out other peoples' sumps!). What exactly is this stuff really called, where can I get it, and how much does it cost?

Ah, OK. I'm only about 9 months into saltwater and I'm slowly putting my setup together. I started with a 40 gal, and upgraded to a used 120 setup in October with the help of Gabriel and Craig. I currently have the 250W MH retro that Entropy gave me and a 36" 4 bulb VHO retro set that I just bought a few weeks ago. I'm looking for another 250W MH retro and a couple of single 48" T5s so I can put one in front and one in back. I thought the VHOs would be a cheap temp setup, but they don't seem to be doing much good.

I'm also going to be upgrading my precision marine sump soon to a really nice one custom made by Craig, and eventually I'll upgrade my PM skimmer. My checkbook says I have to go slow and look for good deals.

If I'm burning both the VHOs and the one 250W MH, why would my corals shut down?

Actually I've never tested for those things. I'm not really into corals too much yet, I just have some mushrooms and a frogspawn so far. It's weird because I'm behind in my water changes. I guess this time it's a good thing.

But it's hard as heck to get off the glass! I don't mind it on the overflows, but I'd like to keep my glass clean. But at least my system seems to be OK.

Ever since I got the VHOs, I've noticed a huge increase in the coraline spots on the glass and overflows. Are the

VHOs causing it? They're really not ding much good right now, should I just turn them off and run the one 250 MH retro?

My overflows aren't removable, they're bult in as far as I know. And it's gunk at the bottom, probably some food that got in there or whatever, just brown gunk.

Merry Christmas to you, too! How's the little tomato clown doing?

My goodness that fish is huge! There's a large one at River City, too. I feel so sorry for him because he seems so unhappy. His eyes look sad.

Pics in the gallery.....excuse the lousy camera.

They were finally able to trap him last night and I picked him up earlier today. So far there's been no fighting, though I can't figure out if he and the foxface are going to be friends or enemies. The tomini picked the foxface's corner to hide in. If he's too low to the sand, the foxface headbutts him. And when he rises up a little in the water the foxface rises with him, staying right next to him. The coral beauty has checked him out and is disinterested now, but the dottyback hasn't spotted him yet. I'll post pics later when he's out of the corner.

Thanks, Troy, he's beautiful!

Here is the Marine Depot shipping policy..."We can pack up to 6 lamps per box. Since fluorescent bulbs require special handling and packaging, we will only ship fluorescent bulb and power compact bulb orders of four or more bulbs free of shipping cost. 46.5" and longer bulbs are shipped free only if 6 or more bulbs are ordered. All 46.5" lamps and longer ship as an oversize package (30 lbs package). 30-day warranty."

Sounds like if you order 4, you get free shipping. I think I paid $20 to ship all 4 of my 60"bulbs.

Hmmm. Looks like I'll be making a trip to Kingfish. Isn't that the one that doesn't have an actual store or something?

True, and you don't get a break on shipping bulbs, do you?

Thanks, James, I'll order online.

Before I order online I thought I'd check. I'm looking for a Coralvue SE 250W MH 14000, and two 36" Aquasun daylight bulbs.

Hey, Troy, have you been able to trap the fish yet?