thejrc's blog

Been a while since check in here, but... eh I suppose I should at least update everyone.
On my attempt with the Salarias fasciatus....  second failure in the books... and heres where the whole world gets brighter despite the failure.  My wife caught the entire situation on video tape, so now I can review and find out exactly *what* went wrong.

Well I've managed to slink past one of the stumbling blocks in my attempts to breed the Algae blenny (Salarias fasciatas).

To be absolutely blunt to anyone out there that's wondering why I am attempting such a task I will state it now:

I am fully aware of the difficulties and my chances of success, I have accepted this and will forge on regardless.  New things arent found by doing everything the way everyone else does.

So I havent checkd in for a while... I suppose thats what separates people like me from those "career" bloggers out there (I've often thought it strange that blogging is now a career... ).  in any case lots has changed, lots has (and hasnt) happened... and here we sit on the day after independance day and I am revelling in my three day weekend with my early birthday present that my loving wife and family all chipped in to get!

So today I took the plunge and finally started my snail study in full throttle.  My plan is to monoculture two snails each in 8 separate culture jars, measure the shell growth over time and observe habits of feeding, breeding, and other life cycle aspects over time... should be a ton of work.

Well... so some new changes... dropped off the last of my available clownfish babies to the local shop Seascape Aquatics and picked up a pair of black Amphiprion ocellaris (known as darwin clowns due to the region).  Hoping I can get these two to start spawning soon but they appear to be juviniles still so now we play the waiting game... here they are (apologies for the poor shot) just after introduction into the tank

While driving today (tax day) my AM radio continuously spit reports of the variety of tea parties abound.  I rarely talk politics, in fact I avoid it!!  For various reasons but the main being that most people are so polarized to one side or another that true accomplishment and forward movement is stifled and anything that does get accomplished is often one sided (in both cases).

One of the most interesting things to see is the amount of argument and banter about the environment... To climate change or not to climate change that is the question.

Well, I'm behind....

After a few weeks of fighting with my water bath and trying to stabilize temperature and evaporation I think I have it down.  Unfortunately keeping it stable is going to be a pain.  This is alright I guess, as I dug this grave (lol)

I hope to add livestock for study this weekend...  not much else to update here other than to remind you all to watch the Marine Aquarium Society of Colorado this month for my article on breeding fundamentals.  www.marinecolorado.org

Nassarius sp. (cf pauper) Life cycle study # 2 (deep study)

March 28, 2010--

A water bath was set up utilizing a black plastic "concrete tub" filled with approximately 4 inches of tap water.  A 200 watt aquarium heater was added to maintain temp at 78.8*F and an airstone was added to normalize temperature through the bath.

Finally got around to chopping at the video I got a few weeks ago of my clownfish pair spawning.  Quite interesting!!  Note how the female's ovipositor is exposed, she is like this today which means they will be spawning soon!! 

 www.youtube.com/watch

This morning I set out quite early with a well defined task list.  After several hours of crunching out work despite the hundreds of interruptions I finally gave up.