332 replies to this topic

[Chasmodes]

I feel the same way about the one skilletfish in my tank, although it's still alive and seemingly OK.  It just doesn't eat that I can see.  Maybe it forages at other times, but he sure shuns the food that I put in the tank during feeding time.  I feed various types of frozen food that the other fish in the tank gobble up as fast as I can drop it in there.

 

I took a close up video last night of the blenny eggs.   They're probably going to hatch soon.  If you look closely in the video, you can see the eyes in each egg, at least the ones toward the front of the oyster shell.  I also like when the blenny returns to tend the eggs and hang out of the oyster shell.  You can really see the detail in the coloration and structure of his head.

 

[Chasmodes]

While searching for the anemone that I saw a few days ago, I found more anemones.  There are three small ones, as it turns out.  The first anemone must be buried.  In an earlier post, I thought that the blennies killed off the ghost anemones, but, apparently, the original two not only survived, but have reproduced.  I find that fascinating.

 

I took a video.  The first half of the video shows the three small anemones.  Then, I pan right to the jellyfish polyp colony.  I have since found another jellyfish polyp colony to the right of those.  

 

Again, I quote Ian Malcolm (of Jurassic Park) - "Life uh...finds a way..."

 

[Chasmodes]

This morning, I went down with my flashlight and magnifying glass to see what was active before the lights were on, looking for that first anemone.  I found it, plus the three in the video...but...there are actually four in the video!  And, I found another one on the other side of the tank, making it 6 anemones!  Man oh man, have they ever reproduced!

[Chasmodes]

Everyone's probably sick of my tank by now with all of my updates, but, I can't help it.  I love it and want to share it LOL.

 

The skilletfish that disappeared and then reappeared died.  I found the half eaten carcass floating at the surface.  The blennies and other skilletfish looked pretty fat!  They still ate like pigs when I fed them.  When it was alive, it had no signs of disease.  I just stopped eating.

 

Here's a video update.  The fish were a bit skittish this time, not sure why.

[Fleendar the Magnificent]

Not sick of it at all! Exciting!

[Chasmodes]

Thank you Chris!

[brackishdude]

I get tired of junking up your thread with "looking great!" comments, but that does not mean I am not thinking them or that I am not reading your every update.  Keep'm comin'!!

[Chasmodes]

Thanks Andy.  I probably should have worded my thoughts a little better.  What made me write it was more about my excitement for the tank.  Here's an example.  Last night, when I got home from work, I was dead tired.  I fell asleep for about two hours after dinner on the couch.  I woke up, groggy, watched a little TV, and promptly fell asleep again.  My intent was to go down, feed my fish, watch them, etc., like I always do.  But, after waking up late, it was 11 PM, and I figured that I'd just go down, feed the fish, and scoot outta there and off to bed.  I wound up going down there, feeding them, watching them until 12:30 AM, and lost most of the sleep that I made up earlier, LOL.  Time flies when you're having fun (watching the tank).

 

I guess when I'm away from it, it seems less important, but once I'm down there, I can't get enough of it.  Crazy, huh?

[Chasmodes]

The male striped blennies are very bold.  When I search the tank with my magnifying glass, the blenny that defends the left side of the tank often charges me, trying to scare me away from his territory.  I've always wanted to catch it on film.  Until last night, he was the only one that did it.

 

Last night, I was trying to zoom in and film the anemones in the sand at the front, center, of the tank near the glass.  The male blenny that guards the back/middle of the oyster reef charged out and tried to attack me and the camera!  I caught it on film, however, he was way out of focus and it looked like a big blur.  So, I focused the camera on him, and tried to coax him to do it again.  Only, this time, although he didn't charge all the way to the glass, it still turned out pretty cool.  This video captures that event.  This might be my favorite of the blenny videos that I made!

 

[Chasmodes]

Last night, I was able to catch some really cool spawning activity on the video.  One of male blennies was able to successfully herd the female blenny into a shell to spawn.  He worked hard to get her there, but, he did it.  The only problem was, it wasn't his favorite shell that he was hoping to herd her into.  Still, it was really cool watching how he did it, and, I captured it on film.  Also, to make this video even more interesting, another male blenny attacked the camera again, this time, an all out attack!  Yesterday's vid was my favorite, but this one blows it away.  I hope y'all like it!

 

[Chasmodes]

I've got three videos to share for this update:

 

This first one is only 16 seconds long, and shows three of the anemones that I've found recently in the tank.  Not long ago, I thought that all of the anemones died off.  When I first discovered that they survived and reproduced a few weeks ago, I counted six.  I counted a dozen last night.  They're small, so I had to zoom all the way in with my iPhone, which made the video a bit shaky.

 

This next video is about a minute long, and showcases the male skilletfish (Gobiesox strumosus).  This is the same male that was guarding eggs at the back of the tank in the previous video.  He's since moved to the front of the tank and has established this clam shell as his new territory.  

 

This last video showcases both naked gobies (Gobiosoma bosc) and skilletfish.  I wanted to show more of them since most of my recent videos focused on the blennies so much.  A blenny makes a cameo appearance at the end of the video.  The video pans back and forth between the two species, and starts out following a couple male naked gobies posturing for territorial dominance.  Later in the video, I captured the male skilletfish trying to coax the female skilletfish into his shell.  This takes place after feeding time, so the tank substrate is still a bit messy.  This vid is a little longer at 5 minutes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6mdXPeKhjI

 

I hope that y'all enjoy them. 

[Chasmodes]

I wasn't going to shoot a video last night, but, I couldn't help it.  I saw this male striped blenny (Chasmodes bosquianus) corral a female blenny into his shell.  I quickly grabbed my camera to see what happened next.  His attempts to keep her in there until he could squeeze in with her were fascinating.  After that, they attempted to lay eggs.  When it was all over, I'm not sure if they laid any or not, because there may have been eggs in there already.  It was a cool attempt though!  This is the first time that I've witnessed this stage of blennies spawning.  I've seen them corral a female into a shell, and I've seen them afterwards together in a shell, but, not this activity in between.   It's a longer video, but, for blenny addicts, it's interesting.  I hope you like it.

 

[Doug_Dame]

Great stuff. Blennies are such fun, great to see you having such success with them. And sharing !  

[Chasmodes]

Thank you Doug!

 

It's not a very good pic because of the angle that I had to shoot from, but, you can see the eggs that were laid during the filming of that last video.  Those eggs were laid in just 11 minutes (the length of the video).  I find that amazing.  There weren't any eggs on that shell prior to the video.

[mattknepley]

Great stuff, Kevin! 

 

Love those skillets!

 

Some blennies don't suffer paparazzi too willingly, huh?

[Chasmodes]

Hah!!!  Thank you Matt!  They like their privacy for sure!  The blenny that lives in the center/back of the tank, shoots out to attack my camera.  One of the videos above captures that.  So, for sure, that blenny hates the camera!!!

 

The male blenny that lives on the left side of the tank shoots out of his oyster shell in an attempt to attack me if I get too close to him, or when I look through my magnifying glass on his side of the tank.  The blenny that lives in an oyster shell at the right front of the tank could care less if I'm there or not, same with the female.  Neither of those male blennies care about the camera.  The one that attacks the camera, does not attempt to attack me or the magnifying glass.  It's a good thing that these fish aren't six feet long, or they'd eat people!

[keepnatives]

Love your videos fishy and artistic masterpieces as well.

[Chasmodes]

Thank you Mike!

 

Here's a quick peek at a male striped blenny (Chasmodes bosquianus) that comes out to attack the camera.  You can see some of the spawning coloration, such as the blue spot and yellow/orange streak on the dorsal fin, orange tail, orange trimmed over yellow pectoral fins, orange lips and the orange/peach patch on the operculum.

 

[Chasmodes]

Time for a video tank update, shot the other day after my "monthly" water change.  Monthly is in quotes, because that is what I've decided on for a schedule.  In practice, it's more like every third month, LOL.  The fish were all curious and poking their heads out.  I thought that the tank looked nice and bright, so, I took a video.  Hope y'all like it.

 

 

As far as news of the tank goes.  I saw blenny larvae the last few nights, so it's good to see the eggs hatching again.  Remember I found 3 or 4 anemones last week, then 20 a few days later?  Last night, I found 30 of them.  They are all in the sand bed, none stuck to the glass or oysters.  There are good many jellyfish polyps in the tank too.  The lone barnacle is still hanging in there.  And, I was worried about my large male skilletfish that wasn't eating.  Three of the last four feedings, he ate some.  He used to eat like a pig.  Now, he's picky.  I don't get it.  But, at least he's eating.

[brackishdude]

I went fishing at the mouth in the Mississippi last weekend, very muddy with all of the open spillways, and very poor fishing.  

But I also went collecting!  In general, the pickin's were slim, but, thanks to your advice, I pulled the net through shell debris on 1 of the barrier islands and brought home 4 or 5 baby skillet fish, 4 or 5 small naked gobies, and two baby code gobies, along with an assortment of grass and regular shrimp, a couple of live oysters, and some Widgeon grass.  Everyone else thought that the trip was a failure, but not me

I also brought home some loose oyster shells and did practice gluing them together with both gorilla glue and with an industrial strength hot glue gun.  I am eager to see how the 2 techniques compare in terms of strength and longevity.  I hope to create a work of art similar to yours eventually.

An oyster shell I had glued together last year fell apart soon thereafter, using gorilla glue.  To be fair, I had only glued it at the hinge point, and I have some rather large hermits that crawl across it.  I was very disappointed at how easily the retained glue could be picked off the shell, though.  It does not bode well for long-term results.  That oyster was amongst the ones I reglued yesterday, much more generous with the glue.