A little decorating in the fishcave, or...

[Keith Perkins]

So I did a little decorating, note the piece hanging above the tanks.



This is for Martha, she asked me to post a picture of myself well over a year ago.



A new pine shadow box, painted flat black, with a piece of what I'm told is commonly called Brain Coral. I found it on the beach on the windward side of Cozumel, Mexico while on my honeymoon about 8 years ago.



So if that was the whole story the title could have just been "A little decorating in the fishcave", but oh what happened along the way. I wanted to move the 26 over one position right, the 29 left of it over one spot to the right, and finally the 29 that's now on the far left out from where the 26 now is. Got all that? In football terms, I pulled the left guard and went left...
GO PACKERS!!!

So after draining the little ones tank to do a WC I slid it right maybe half and inch. Then I took the light off the 29 that was empty next to it and set it on top the 26. I pulled the 29 out and proceeded to clean the glass on the sides of the two adjacent tanks and the counter underneath. Somehow I pulled the cord of the 29s light and sent it over the back of the 26. So it's sort of stuck along with a heater package I had over an open slot on the 26 behind the tank. I finally get it out, plug it in, and check to make sure it's still working. Mind you the TV is on loud, but suddenly I'm hearing something odd.

I wonder if what I'm hearing is on the TV. I sort of walk over toward the TV and listen. The noise isn't coming from there, but from my left. I think I know what I'm hearing, look left, and see water spraying on the floor. Somehow when the light fell or I was pulling it out I bumped the switch and turned on my water pump whose hose was hanging on the back of the wall. I run to shut off the switch and come back to find water has been spraying down on the old chest freezer, and the floor, and a bathmat just inside the door, then started soaking into an area rug and also running to a floor drain. Oh, and into the fishcave. So I cleaned that all up and turned a fan on.

After that I got the coral hung and tanks rearranged without any real further incident, other than dumping a quarter drain hose of tank water on the floor. Then I did a WC on my 55 and when I had it about 85% filled up I noticed one of my year old mixed blue grow outs was down on it;s side. Stuck my finger in the water to check the temp, nope, not that. Then I reach in and stand up a spawning cone, and move my hand over to try to lift up the down fish. Now I really hadn't seen any problem with any fish so I was really confused. So I go right up to it's nose and it just doesn't move, just laying flat on the bottom. So I bump his nose and the fish doesn't move. I'm not saying he didn't try to get away or stand upright, I mean he literally doesn't budge. Here it had gotten stuck between the glass and the piece of slate on the bottom of the one piece of driftwood in the tank. Moved the driftwood back a little once I determined he was that stuck and away it swam, apparently no worse for wear.

Then the turq female who was making dry runs just before I did their WC started laying and the male ate the eggs as fast as she laid them. You can sort of see in the pic with me in it she is laying. I pulled the spawning cone and stuck in a piece of PVC instead to see if that change up might help, but either she was done of didn't like the switch out and quit laying.

So, you could call the thread "A little decorating in the fishcave, or It was a really interesting WC night in the fishcave."

[Melissa]

Holy frijole Keith! Lol it's just baaaaad luck lately with water on floors!
I'm so glad no fish were hurt, btw I'm jealous of your set up, i wish I had some kind of space to fit some breeding tanks in a row like that Hopefully your female Turq will lay again soon. I like the idea of using PVC but have never done it. I read somewhere that it can help improve the fertilization rate because it's not as wide as a cone, the male has an easier time covering all of the eggs.... Has this guy always been an egg eater? Or was he just in the mood for some caviar last night?


I like your decoration and the story behind it!! And it's great to put a face to your name amigo

[Keith Perkins]

He eats eggs most of the time, I've only gotten a couple of small batches of fry from the pair. I really need to move some fish around and stick them in a community tank for a while and see if I can't break him of that bad habit, or at least minimize it.

I didn't even realize what old t-shirt I had on last night until I was looking at the pictures later. Too bad, if I hadn't had my arms crossed you could have seen it said Cozumel on it. I might have looked a little better in the picture too if I hadn't drank that whole bottle of wine at an employees house warming the night before. Seemed like a good idea at the time.

[mmorris]

This is for Martha, she asked me to post a picture of myself well over a year ago.

Well alright Keith! Hot! Hot! Hot!

[Second Hand Pat]

Well Keith, nice to put a face to the name and glad no harm done to the wall, floor or fish. Goes to show that there should be no inebriated WC happening in the fish case. So I'm currently doing some inebriated posting but there is no water involved. Nice job on the coral and really like the bank of tanks.

[Keith Perkins]

I hadn't had anything to drink since the night before, maybe that was the problem.

[Second Hand Pat]

Oops, got the timeline wrong, missed "the night before". Warned ya, inebriated posting. Time for more wine.

[Keith Perkins]

With all the detail I had in the original post, you could have gotten lost without the wine.

[Second Hand Pat]

I did read it twice should have read it a third time and made notes.

[Keith Perkins]

On your cocktail napkin?

[Second Hand Pat]

On your cocktail napkin?

Not big enough...had to use some printer paper

[Jennie]

wow, what a night!

[mmorris]

[discuspaul]

Great story, Keith - One of these days the same kind of thing is going to happen to me ! Thank God it hasn't happened yet.
But you know what - wine or no wine - since you're not smiling in the pic, at first it looked to me like you were posing as a 'bad', tough guy, detective cop, like Dirty Harry, who's not getting the answers he's looking for, instead of the cool, nice guy you really are - LOL
Seriously, good to put a face to the name - haven't had a pic of me taken for many years (that I know of), but when that happens, maybe I'll post a pic too, to return the favor.
Always fun to read your anecdotes.

[Keith Perkins]

Given my Scandinavian background and the fact that picture was taken after this saga, that's about as good as it was going to get. The killer is I have a shut off valve at the end of my filler hose that I use to control flow when I have fry that could have prevented that little flood. Never thought about using it for that because normally that light switch is well tucked away. Just managed to hit the perfect storm; moving tanks, cleaning counter top, snagging electrical cord, knocking light and heater package over, etc. At least it was only reservoir water.