Pumpkin Stew

Had fun with the grandkids this weekend making pumpkin stew. Make a beef stew, then put it in a pumpkin and bake it! Yum-yum!

Here's granddaughter cleaning out the inside of her pumpkin.

Grandson washing the pumpkin seeds.

Pumpkin seeds ready for roasting.

Our favorite is to mix them with Worchestershire sauce and garlic powder.
(Pumpkin seeds are not part of the stew recipe, lol.)

Grandson dredging the beef in flour.

Granddaughter dropping the beef into the hot oil.

Brushing the pumpkin shells with vegetable oil.

Looks like the beef stew is done.

I used a very yummy recipe from Giada at the Food Network.

Rosemary, thyme, and garlic make a really flavorful broth.

You do need to simmer the stew in a pot for 1 hour or so,

whatever your recipe calls for, before putting it in the pumpkins.

Spooning the stew into the pumpkins.

Ready for the oven!

Bake 1-2 hours, till pumpkin meat is soft but skins are still firm.

P.S. Use the smaller, sweeter, pie pumpkins, not jack-o-lantern pumpkins.

The kids declared this a winner!

They enjoyed eating out of the pumpkins and scraping

the sides to make sure to get some pumpkin meat in each spoonful.

Awww.....

Ever since Spike II died, we've been holding out for a baby Foxface to arrive at the fish store. Today they had three babies! We selected the smallest of the bunch...he's barely over an inch long. What a cutie! (He's the yellow one in the photo. To the left you can see our orange Aussie Dendrophilia. The colors are much brighter...the camera flash doesn't do it justice.)

Spike III didn't take long to acclimate, and he seems happy, although Dory (the blue hippo tang) is picking on him a bit. For some reason he doesn't seem to mind. He's managed to find a hiding place if he needs to get away. One of the clowns also tried picking on him, but Spike III showed his spikes! Such a baby and yet he knows how to defend himself.
　
Oh, guess I didn't mention...we put Dory in the main tank a week ago. At the same time, we took the bully Flame Angel out and quarantined him. That was so Dory would have a chance to feel comfortable in the main tank without being picked on.
　
We're a little glad that Dory feels assertive enough to pick on someone. Perhaps she's ready for Flame to return to the main tank. We'll put Flame in a little later today. His presence might give Dory something else to think about besides picking on little Spike.

Another look at Spike III, along with Rebo and Zootie, the two clowns.

Here he is, schooling with the chromies (aka The Three Stooges) and showing his spikes.
OK, the right term is "shoaling." Here he is, shoaling with Larry, Mo, and Curly.

New Guy

Just picked up this pseudochromis porphyreus (the purple one in the photo). He's listed as "semi-aggressive," which is good for being such a little guy. Already he's held his own against the bully Flame Angel, so now Flame is leaving him alone.

Oh, and we named him Inigo. ("Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.") We chose that name cuz it sounds like indigo, which is kind of the color he is.

New Stuff!

The newest addition to our tank is this Aussie dendrophyllia. This was a gift from our daughter and son-in-law. Very pretty! These photos are from the Internet. Our new arrivals have just been acclimated, so they've closed up for now. These photos show how they'll look when they feel comfortable and open up. Here's a close-up shot.

We also picked up a star polyp, shown below. Ours isn't quite as big as this one in the photo, but it'll grow. I'll add photos of ours at a later date.

What the Heck?

More misery in the fish tank. Spike II died. For no apparent reason. Yesterday he was fine, behaving normally, showing good color, and eating well. This morning he was dead. We just had our water tested at the fish store, and it showed we had excellent quality. The only change was the addition of this powerhead to create more current.

Fish are supposed to love this. Our clowns and chromies have been riding the wave from the beginning. They seem to enjoy it. Maybe Spike didn't.

Oh well, now we can hold out for a cute little baby Foxface, when the store gets one in.

Meanwhile, the rest of the fish are doing well, as you can see from these photos. We had to remove Dory from the main tank due to a bout with ich, but she recovered very nicely in the QT and seems to be enjoying herself. When we think she's ready to go back to the main tank, we're going to remove the Flame Angel for a time. He's the reason she got ich...he picked on her terribly.

Dory's Loving It!

Dory has been removed from quarantine and placed in the main tank. She's lovin' it! She didn't even lie down and play dead under a rock like blue hippos are known to do. She was shy at first, but in just a few minutes she was out and about, getting to know her new surroundings and her new neighbors. And she started to eat right away, which is a great sign!

Here she is behind the mushroom forest.

The whole gang:

This tree-ish looking thing is a Cauliflower Colt (coral) that we picked up. It's only about 4 inches tall right now, but it's supposed to grow big and eventually take over that entire rock that's behind it.

Couldn't Resist

Well, we did it. We bought a blue hippo tang. After promising we wouldn't get any more tangs. Here she is. And yes, we named her Dory. She's just a little bitty baby.

The last time we bought a couple tangs, they brought ich with them and killed off our entire population. This time is different though. This hippo had been in the store for three weeks undergoing copper treatment. At this store, that's standard procedure for any wild-caught fish. The difference between this time and last time is that last time we bought the tangs just a day or two after they arrived at the store. They didn't have time to undergo the copper treatment and thus kill any ich that was on them.

Just goes to show you that you can't trust everything people tell you. One clerk said it would be good to buy them just as they arrive because then they won't have to undergo two or more acclimation procedures. So that's what we did with our previous tangs. Now we know it's better to wait and let the fish get treated first.

We have a quarantine tank set up now, and Dory is spending some time there. We'll have her under observation for several weeks to make sure no ich is present. She's been there almost two weeks and is doing very well. We'll probably wait two more weeks before introducing her to the main tank.

She loves this empty clam shell. It's where she goes to hide when she's spooked, and she also likes to sleep there at night. When we introduce her to the main tank, we'll put the shell in there too, so she can feel at home.

Flashy!

Several days after we bought Spike, we picked up this Flame Angel. Gorgeous! Since a tank can house only one Angelfish, we made sure to get the kind we really wanted. He's lots of fun to watch as he travels around the whole tank, picking algae off the rocks and glass. He'll sometimes hang upside-down to get the good bits from under the rock.

Here are some close-up shots. Sorry they're blurry...can't get the thing to hold still for his debut photos. Take note of the neon blue tips of his fins.

Spike's Back!

Well, a new Spike, anyway. Here he is, our new Foxface. Unlike Spike I, this one doesn't have the black spot on his posterior. He's also taking longer to acclimate. He doesn't often show his brightest yellow.

As you can see, he didn't like the change. We've been seeing this side of him pretty often. Hopefully he'll feel more at home soon. At least he's eating plenty.

We also picked up three blue-green Chromis. There's only three in the tank...the others that you see are just the reflection. These are very hardy fish and very inexpensive. And they like to school, which is why we bought three. They're in the quarantine tank for now, more for Spike's sake than for theirs. The camera flash made them appear more green than the blue-green that they truly are.

Fish Again!

We finally got a couple fish in the tank! It's been a long time since our ich disaster. We waited the full 10 weeks for the parasite to die off, but when our wait was over, the fish store didn't have the kind of fish we wanted. So we wound up waiting another couple weeks. The owners were in Fiji for several weeks, so a new order for fish didn't go in for some time. We stopped in today and learned they had gotten new fish in last Friday, but all the new fish were gone that same night. Seems everyone's been waiting long and were anxious to buy.

So we picked up these two darling Black & White Clownfish that they've had for some time, and that we've had our eye on. The price had come down, so that clinched it for us. We're naming them Rebo and Zootie, in memory of our last two Clownfish. Rebo is the one with the third white stripe at the base of the tail. Zootie has only two stripes.

Aren't they cute? I love their little orange faces. I think they'll lose the orange when they mature, though.

Marine Mayhem

It's been a sad several weeks at our house. We lost all our fish to ich. Apparently a few people in the reefing community had the same thing happen at the same time. Don't know why.

Ich is a parasite that lives on wild-caught fish. Usually the fish have a slime coat that protects them. But if they get stressed, they shed their slime coat, then the ich burrows in. When one fish gets it, the parasite will breed, the eggs will drop off, then the larvae will swim about and look for a host. Eventually all the fish will get it.

When we realized what was happening with the two tangs we had gotten (tangs are notorious for developing ich), we followed the advice given by the experts at the store, but nothing worked. One by one, the fish died off. Spike was the last to go, being the hardiest of the fish that we had. He hung on, suffering, for several days before he succumbed. He died on April 12.

Spike, Rebo, Zootie...farewell. You were our favorites.

The tank has had nothing but invertebrates since then. Just starfish, shrimp, snails, and feather dusters. The shrimp have been entertaining at times, which is nice. With no fish to clean, they eagerly jump on our hands.

We decided to wait the full 10 weeks of the ich life cycle before reintroducing fish to the tank. Some people wait as little as 4 weeks, but since we're not very experienced, we're going the full 10 weeks. Meanwhile, the wait is allowing us to build up a good population of pods for the Mandarin Dragonet that we'll be getting to replace the one we lost (below).

Good-bye, Gollum.

The good news is, we're getting close to the date when we can put fish back in the tank...Father's Day! We've been stopping in at the store regularly and being introduced to some new varieties that are good, hardy species for beginners. We've decided to stay away from tangs from now on!

So now we're excited about starting up again. And we've taken the best precaution against ich...we've set up a quarantine tank (QT). It's just a little 10-gallon used to house newly purchased fish for observation before putting them in the main tank. It will also be used to house fish that develop any illness in the main tank. Not only will that keep the illness from spreading, it will allow us to treat only the sick fish and not the whole tank. Some treatments are lethal for invertebrates, so quarantine is necessary.

We'll definitely be getting another Foxface and naming him Spike II. We'll also be getting clownfish, but we've seen many different varieties at the store and aren't sure which to get. We like them all!

Most importantly, we'll be sticking with species known to be hardy and ich-resistant. No more tangs! (Except...well...the store just got in all these really little blue hippo tangs [Dory from "Finding Nemo"] and they are SO CUTE! Picture the below only 2 inches long.)

No! Stop it! No tangs!

Red Starfish

Check out this strange phenomenon. Don't know what's happening to my red starfish. I'll have to ask my friends at The Seas forum.

ADDENDUM: Turns out no one at The Seas knew what was going on. One person thought the starfish was puking his guts out. That didn't seem to be it. It's been a week now and the little guy is doing just fine.

Our New Aquarium: Post #13

Here's a great shot of the mandarin goby. She's crazy with color! Green swirled with red, and blue on her fins. We haven't come up with a good name for her yet. NO, we will NOT name her Mandy. We're considering getting a male to keep her company. I've heard they'll mate in captivity. At the very least, they'll display toward one another. That could be fun.
I moved the coco worm and it's much happier now. Came right out and posed for this shot. It actually looks like it has two heads...see the two red blooms?

Our New Aquarium: Post #12

Lots of new fish to talk about, and all thanks to having added that eco-system (see my previous post). Here is a power brown tang, named Tango. He's picking on our new coco worm. The coco worm is red, but he's in his tube cuz he doesn't like being picked on.
The tang family of fish is identified by a sharp razor-like bit at the base of the tail. You can see it clearly on Tango, although not so well in this photo. It's surrounded by the yellow splotch just in front of his tail. Tangs will flick this at you if they feel threatened, and those razors can cut you!

Next is a sailfin tang. Due to the color of his "striped pajamas," we named him PJ. In this photo you can get an idea of his size. Tango is about the same size as well. It's nice to have several larger fish now.

We couldn't resist this cute little honey damsel. We named him Pinky cuz he's so tiny. Here's a closeup, then another photo for perspective.

The last of the new fish is a mandarin goby. She's actually quite beautiful, with red, green, and blue all swirled about. It's hard to see since she found this nice hiding place. Yes, I know for sure that she's a female. Mandarin gobies eat only "pods," or copepods, miniscule arachnids that live in the live rock. Just to make sure we had enough of a population of pods, we bought a jar full and dumped them in the eco-system below the tank, where they can live in the cheato and be fruitful and multiply.

In addition to the coco worm, we got these three feather dusters. We got three because they were all stuck together. I like that they're different shades of brown. See Angel and a fire shrimp in the background?

I think we're just about done with new additions. There's just one more fish that we have our eye on--a blue hippo tang. (Remember Dory from "Finding Nemo"?) We'll probably be picking one up at the end of the week.

Our New Aquarium: Post #11

We finally got our eco-system up and running. This is the high-falutin' filtration system, used by serious owners of saltwater tanks. The water flows out of the tank via this black overflow box, then is siphoned to the clear box on the back, and from there flows down a tube.
The tube takes it down to a tank under the aquarium. First it enters the section with the blue bio-balls. Those catch a lot of particles and need to be removed and cleaned on occasion. That might get to be old, so eventually we might replace them with live rock rubble.

The water then moves into the main chamber. This houses "miracle mud," live rock rubble, and an algae called cheato (CHAY-toe). Cheato looks and feels just like Easter grass.

Another cool thing about this system is that we can keep the heater down there, which you can see in the closeup below. It was so unsightly in the main tank.

The water continues into a third chamber, which you can't see--it's behind the center support beam. This section holds plain-old polyester fiberfill (quilt batting) and more bio-balls.
Lastly, the water goes into the fourth chamber, out to a pump, up a tube, and back into the aquarium. In the photo below, in the blurry darkness on the right, you can see a white pipe that comes up and around and connects to that bumpy black piece. Everything looks so calm and peaceful, you'd never know that the water is really rushing out of there.

The really amazing thing about this system is that the water travels at a rate of about 500 gallons PER HOUR! And it's only a 55-gallon tank!