Coelli
New member
Once upon a time, a reefkeeper attached a tiny green birdsnest frag to the top of her rock wall and it grew and grew.
One fine summer day, the reefkeeper went to Vivid Aquariums and bought a wild acropora colony. The colony had a small crab, but the crab had perished. The lovely people at Vivid took a crab from another colony, placed it in the acro, and the reefkeeper took them home, well pleased.
The reefkeeper placed the new acro on the sandbed in a corner of the tank and went to bed. In the morning, the crab was gone! "Oh no," thought the reefkeeper, "I hope the little crab is okay!"
No sign of the crab was seen until two days later when its tiny claws appeared, waving above the branches of the birdsnest in supplication at feeding time! He had made a great journey across the entire tank and scaled the rock wall to find his new home. Truly an impressive feat of bravery.
The reefkeeper was delighted and took great joy in hand-feeding mysis to the crab with tweezers almost every day. The little claws would wave at feeding time and take the food.
There was only one thing weighing on the reefkeeper... she knew that the birdsnest was getting too large and would one day have to be removed for the health of the tank's other livestock. She could not frag it any more to keep it from shading anything else, and it was encrusting all over the rock wall.
Instead of growing up, it was growing sideways across the tank and getting thicker and thicker.
The reefkeeper put off the removal because she was so fond of the crab. Where would he go? What if he moved into the wild valida colony, killing or displacing the small pair of crabs who made it their home? What if he was hurt or injured during the removal?
But the birdsnest must be vanquished, and with a heavy heart the reefkeeper proceeded. She broke off the main trunk, but the crab hid in one of the many remaining sections. Finally she was able to take a big piece intact with the crab still inside and placed it into the container with the rest of the rubble from his castle.
The reefkeeper knew she was not keeping the birdsnest, so she relocated the crab to his original acro colony. She wasn't sure he'd be happy there, but none of her other coral were large enough to house him. The coral wasn't doing well anyway and she hoped maybe he would help it.
She puttied and glued the biggest piece of birdsnest to a rock to heal. It was a magnificent piece, but still too large for her tank.
She went to bed, exhausted from her efforts and covered in Super Glue (she managed to knock a few things off the rock wall during the Great Fragging and spent a hectic time gluing, epoxying, and trying not to die of palytoxin poisoning). She was worried for the little crab.
The reefkeeper should not have worried, because true love will always prevail. When she woke in the morning, the little crab was hugging the big birdsnest. He didn't seem to care that it had turned from a castle into a tree overnight. He somehow made it down the rock wall and across the tank to the other side, dodging the fearsome anemone and its guardian crabs and insane clown jesters, surviving the Gorgonian Forest, avoiding the Emerald Crab guards, the Pom Pom wizards, the Duncan Desert with the Sexy Shrimp tribe, the Sally Lightfoot dragon, and all of the other dangers of a reef.
He was home... but only for now.
(Footnote: I think one of the smaller frags from the Great Fragging might be large enough for the crab yet compact enough to keep [it's quite cage-like]. The tree is too big for my tank, but I'll see if I can relocate the acro crab into the other frag before selling the big one. I don't know why I'm so attached to the little guy, but I'm definitely impressed with his dedication to being with his proper symbiont.
)
One fine summer day, the reefkeeper went to Vivid Aquariums and bought a wild acropora colony. The colony had a small crab, but the crab had perished. The lovely people at Vivid took a crab from another colony, placed it in the acro, and the reefkeeper took them home, well pleased.
The reefkeeper placed the new acro on the sandbed in a corner of the tank and went to bed. In the morning, the crab was gone! "Oh no," thought the reefkeeper, "I hope the little crab is okay!"
No sign of the crab was seen until two days later when its tiny claws appeared, waving above the branches of the birdsnest in supplication at feeding time! He had made a great journey across the entire tank and scaled the rock wall to find his new home. Truly an impressive feat of bravery.
The reefkeeper was delighted and took great joy in hand-feeding mysis to the crab with tweezers almost every day. The little claws would wave at feeding time and take the food.
There was only one thing weighing on the reefkeeper... she knew that the birdsnest was getting too large and would one day have to be removed for the health of the tank's other livestock. She could not frag it any more to keep it from shading anything else, and it was encrusting all over the rock wall.
Instead of growing up, it was growing sideways across the tank and getting thicker and thicker.
The reefkeeper put off the removal because she was so fond of the crab. Where would he go? What if he moved into the wild valida colony, killing or displacing the small pair of crabs who made it their home? What if he was hurt or injured during the removal?
But the birdsnest must be vanquished, and with a heavy heart the reefkeeper proceeded. She broke off the main trunk, but the crab hid in one of the many remaining sections. Finally she was able to take a big piece intact with the crab still inside and placed it into the container with the rest of the rubble from his castle.
The reefkeeper knew she was not keeping the birdsnest, so she relocated the crab to his original acro colony. She wasn't sure he'd be happy there, but none of her other coral were large enough to house him. The coral wasn't doing well anyway and she hoped maybe he would help it.
She puttied and glued the biggest piece of birdsnest to a rock to heal. It was a magnificent piece, but still too large for her tank.
She went to bed, exhausted from her efforts and covered in Super Glue (she managed to knock a few things off the rock wall during the Great Fragging and spent a hectic time gluing, epoxying, and trying not to die of palytoxin poisoning). She was worried for the little crab.
The reefkeeper should not have worried, because true love will always prevail. When she woke in the morning, the little crab was hugging the big birdsnest. He didn't seem to care that it had turned from a castle into a tree overnight. He somehow made it down the rock wall and across the tank to the other side, dodging the fearsome anemone and its guardian crabs and insane clown jesters, surviving the Gorgonian Forest, avoiding the Emerald Crab guards, the Pom Pom wizards, the Duncan Desert with the Sexy Shrimp tribe, the Sally Lightfoot dragon, and all of the other dangers of a reef.
He was home... but only for now.
(Footnote: I think one of the smaller frags from the Great Fragging might be large enough for the crab yet compact enough to keep [it's quite cage-like]. The tree is too big for my tank, but I'll see if I can relocate the acro crab into the other frag before selling the big one. I don't know why I'm so attached to the little guy, but I'm definitely impressed with his dedication to being with his proper symbiont.
)
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