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.