Long story, because I like to tell about my oldest fish. Skip to the bottom for the short version of my question.
This is my Xanthurum. It's the boss in my aquarium. My other 4 tangs get along with it, as long as they completely submit. It eats out of my hand every every day. And only when it's done the others get to eat. I bought this beautiful creature in 2009 from a fellow hobbyist. The man was quitting the hobby and commented that he owned it for roughly 15 years! He had pictures to prove it too. That makes it 27 years old now. Google says they live up to around 25 to 30 years. It still seems very happy. It never stops looking around, playing, nipping at things that it finds. Although I can see his age now. The colors are faded a bit, sometimes it's all black, or with a white patch. But up until now recovery is always quick.
Anyway, few months back it gave me a scare. It was stuck to my Jebao SLW-30 streamer. I plucked it off and it swam away. Only to discover it sticking to it again a few hours later. Considering its age I thought that was it. But that's not a nice way to go, especially not after such a long and loyal service record. So to give the geriatric fish a safer environment to live out its last moments, I quickly fabricated a guard for the streamer out of very coarse black filter pad. A very ugly, not to mention dirty solution. It quickly fills up with junk and I have to clean it very often. But it worked. The Tang hasn't stuck to to the streamer again since then. And it hasn't had any other accidents. Now it's looking healthy again and continues to be the boss of my aquarium.
As I mentioned, the filter pad is a very ugly solution. Do any of you more creative people have any ideas for a better alternative for a guard for my Jebao SLW-30? I've searched for accessories for this pump online, but there seem to be none.
This is my Xanthurum. It's the boss in my aquarium. My other 4 tangs get along with it, as long as they completely submit. It eats out of my hand every every day. And only when it's done the others get to eat. I bought this beautiful creature in 2009 from a fellow hobbyist. The man was quitting the hobby and commented that he owned it for roughly 15 years! He had pictures to prove it too. That makes it 27 years old now. Google says they live up to around 25 to 30 years. It still seems very happy. It never stops looking around, playing, nipping at things that it finds. Although I can see his age now. The colors are faded a bit, sometimes it's all black, or with a white patch. But up until now recovery is always quick.
Anyway, few months back it gave me a scare. It was stuck to my Jebao SLW-30 streamer. I plucked it off and it swam away. Only to discover it sticking to it again a few hours later. Considering its age I thought that was it. But that's not a nice way to go, especially not after such a long and loyal service record. So to give the geriatric fish a safer environment to live out its last moments, I quickly fabricated a guard for the streamer out of very coarse black filter pad. A very ugly, not to mention dirty solution. It quickly fills up with junk and I have to clean it very often. But it worked. The Tang hasn't stuck to to the streamer again since then. And it hasn't had any other accidents. Now it's looking healthy again and continues to be the boss of my aquarium.
As I mentioned, the filter pad is a very ugly solution. Do any of you more creative people have any ideas for a better alternative for a guard for my Jebao SLW-30? I've searched for accessories for this pump online, but there seem to be none.
