Jealous!
Where are you going to put all those critters and fish?
Uhh, IN MY TANK!
just kidding lol
I didn't really prepare for bringing anything back form the beach, mainly because the wife said no new critters.. lol Had I known I would find all this cool stuff, I would've brought my inverter for the filter and heater in the bucket (as opposed to just the air stone for the car ride back), salt mix, hydrometer, 5 gal bucket, 2.5 gal glass tank, led light, and hob filter.
Had I been prepared.. I would've brought everything back even though I don't need 8 file fish, 3 puffers, another pistol shrimp, or 10 bait fish. lol
I'm aware the file fish, puffers, and pistol shrimp aren't compatible with what I've got going on, but I would be willing to risk it just because they're cool and I could always find them a new home.
That said, I brought back the 3 nems, 3 pansys, little shrimp, pistol shrimp, crabs, snails, and hermits. Unfortunately, only 4 hermits, one crab, two little clams, and a snail made the trip.
There was no room for the bucket since my in-laws brought their two dogs, so the bucket went in the back of the truck. It wasn't overly sunny and the bucket was partially shaded so I thought it was probably good enough.
What I didn't think of was that even though the bucket was out of the sun, the air pump was pumping hot air through the bucket which warmed the water a good bit. This combined with the extra 3 hours sitting in traffic (took 6 hours instead of 3 to get back) is what made things go bad. The nems all melted which nuked the bucket and I had no way to change the water for the next 4 days we were in NC. The crabs that lived were barely alive and just barely holding on. Now they are adjusting to the new environment and doing well.
SO, lessons learned.
1. Always be prepared, even if the wife says no. lol
2. Keep bucket inside vehicle for trip back.
3. Think everything through before you do it. (hot air pump oversight)
4. Have extra salt for water change if needed.
We got back to VA yesterday afternoon for the wife to go to work and I checked out the tank.
Went out of town for almost 2 weeks and came back to algae covered glass, some dead caulerpa behind the wall (landlord didn't realize there was a fill-to toothpick so the water level was a bit low) and a missing gbta. The bubble tip wasn't doing so great so I moved it next to the rbta to get more light a week before I left. It was looking better the day before leaving, but vanished while I was away..
Luckily, the landlord decided to leave the ac on in my house while we were gone or everything probably would've cooked!
For fun, today it is a sunny 87 degrees in Lynchburg.
My Kitchen - 84 degrees
My Bathroom - 84 degrees
My Bedroom - 81 degrees (a.k.a. My Fishroom)
This is with the bedroom window ac running on high and an exhaust window fan in the kitchen. I live in a 500sqft easy bake oven...
Did some cleaning and fragged a few things.
FTS
Little tiny clam
Fun fact - this is in no way a fact, but something I think I observed. lol
While looking for filefish in the surf, I spotted one under a floating stick and saw what I think was the file fish bite the bottom of the stick right before a small wave churned the water where it and the stick were. It appeared to bite the stick so they wouldn't get separated. I thought this was pretty cool!
