Your Best Aquarium Stories Featured Monthly!

[siptang]

You are absolutely right. We can't turn our backs for a second.
And what a great story flower. It made me laugh out aloud this morning.
I can just imagine a little boy covered in baby powder lol. I would have laughed too.

 

[siptang]

Alright, here is one more to get things going in this thread!
As many of you guys know from here.
I have a thing for a trigger fish. May it be the weird shape, looks, vibrant colors or it's unique personality, it's a great sturdy fish for any one in the hobby and I had my share of these awesome fish. Here is a story of my epic fail and how trigger saved me.
This is when I first moved into my house.
I had downsized my 72g bow front by giving away rocks left and right to make the move easier and also to give my big fish more room to swim. (I had an issue with over stuffing my tank) I left 3 big rocks and very small pieces and gave away all of my rocks. I only had like 4 or 5 fish at the time but BIG fish that always swam in front of you constantly begging for food. Any how, this was a time when I was still very diligent on up-keeping the tank and I decided to my rock cleaning. I got my center piece rock out which my wrasse and trigger constantly made mess of and I particularly love this rock because it looks a giant coral (had hard corals growing on it before it was cured and died off) and it has nooks and shelves like place where my emerald crab hides time to time. I took out the rock and put it on a little basin with very small water to just to wash off the debris off the tooth brush. As I was doing my center piece rock, my wife calls me and asks for a quick grocery trip and being a good... wait... let's rephrase, "smart" husband that I am, I gave her the final say in the matter which was "yes, ma'am" and left for the groceries to pick up whatever that she and the baby needed.
Fast forward close to 30 something minutes.
I come back home and head back to the tank, trying to finish what I started. I sit down and look at my tank and I notice something.
Something was missing... then it hit me.. my water puppy huma was gone! I looked at the two remaining rocks to see if she was hiding somewhere and couldn't find her.
Shifted the sand, fearing for the worst but nada. No trace of her.. Then something hit me and I went to the center piece rock that I was cleaning which was out of water for about 40 mins. and lo behold, there she was wedged in between the rock in between one of the shelf half dead. Panicking, I immediately put the center piece back in the tank. Pace around for a long time checking for her vitals every other mins. She didn't come out for several hours and I figured that I would have to take her out in the morning and give her porcelain burial but to my surprise and delight, she was out and swimming in the morning.
I was glad that my carelessness didn't kill the beautiful fish and people weren't kidding when they said if you kill a trigger due to a negligence you need to get out of the hobby.
She has been my longest surviving fish which lived through 2 ich out break, 1 month of static electricity running through the water, heater incident, bad batch of water and became part of my family. I was definitely a fan of this fish and would recommend to any one who has a fish only tank. (mind you, she will kill all inverts and create sand snow effect for you)

 

[siptang]

No more stories? I really enjoy reading about everyone's stories because it makes me feel like I'm not so dumb and alone in this hobby making so many mistakes lol.
I also enjoy reading stories because it makes me get to know the members here that I see almost everyday.
I will go ahead and put one more.
Little bit about my tank.
I have a 72g tank that's been running close to 7 years if not bit more with a 20g(?) sump.
Just few days ago, I have received my UV sterilizer fixture replacement and this one was a newer model that came with external pump. (How nice of them )
I hosed everything, installed and boom. kicked up all the sand and debris from my sump and trust me there was a ton of it and went straight into my main display tank which I recently cleaned, renovated and aquascaped. This was almost 2 in the morning... In my disgust, I threw my hands up in the air and went to sleep unhappy.
Next day at work, I get a complaint call from my Mrs. She was upset how uv destroyed my DT and made it look like an ocean floor that's about 10000 feet under. Dirt and dust caked on everything, corals unhappy and clam closed shut. After 12 1/2 hour shift, I went home, fed the fish and then started to do a major water change (mind you I did one two days prior) and clean the rocks with the power head and with a tooth brush. I finished around 2 am again I'm still exhausted.
I must be getting old.

Well, I'm tired but my tank is back looking perty and wife is happy and as old saying goes, happy wife, happy marriage which I agree completely.
I get a final say in everything though and I keep it simple.
"Yes, ma'am" and "Yes, dear"
you can read about it in live time as it happened here.
https://forums.saltwaterfish.com/t/390178/dirty-everywhere#post_3453673
Have a great day guys.

 

[markc212]

Since I won the story contest last month, I'm taking myself out of the running for this month. Please don't consider this a submission to the contest.
This just happened a couple of days ago, and I think I'm just ready to write about it now.
Noticed that Ms. Clown (polynmus/saddleback) had some funny white spots that didn't quite look like ich on its sides. I wasn't sure what it was, but I thought the best course of action would be to extract her and place her into the QT. Hmmm, how do you remove a single fish without clearing out 85 lbs of rock, various corals, and other fish? Hey! Maybe I'll feed the fish and lightning-quick scoop Ms. Clown out with a net. Brilliant!
Dropped the flake food in, poised with the net, go for the quick grab! Did I catch Ms. Clown? Of course not. Instead, she dove headfirst into my green carpet anemone. In fact, she dove so hard that she pushed her face past the side fins into the anemone mouth! She'll extract herself, right? Of course not. The anemone proceeds to tighten up. Any clownfish wiggles only resulted in digging in deeper. Imagine half a clown fish sticking out of the mouth of a closing anemone. My wife and kid both start screaming. What to do? Will the anemone spit her out? Can it figure out it's a clown and not a generic fish? Can clownfish wriggle backwards? If we pull, are we going to tear its sidefins off? Can Ms. Clown breathe in there? How long can a fish go without getting oxygen? Who knows? We emergency dial our expert LFS. They've never heard of such a thing but they're pretty sure the clown's gonna be a goner. Maybe try to pull the clownfish out by the tail. My wife reaches in and grabs as best she can. No luck. Pulling relatively hard, she only comes away with some burned skin from the struggle with the anemone. That tail isn't even wagging anymore. At this point, my son starts crying. I can only think "Mr. Clown is going to be so lonely without Ms. Clown.

"
We're resigned to the death of Ms. Clown. Mr. Clown is wondering what's going on. Sidles up to the protruding tail and gives it a hefty whip of the tail. Snap! Ms. Clown suddenly pops out and swims behind some rocks. How the hell did that happen? She was bruised and some scales were damaged, but after a couple of days, Ms. Clown was back to normal and hanging out in the anemone again.
We don't know how the extraction occurred, whether it was something Mr. Clown did, whether the anemone spit her out "intentionally", whether Ms. Clown gave it one last try, or what. We're just happy that she's ok. That was a rollercoaster of emotions contained within 5 minutes. Jeez. I'm pretty sure that this has nothing to do with it, but we're wondering if the time spent in the anemone mouth might've cured Ms. Clown of whatever was on her scales.
Always an adventure,
Mark

 

[mr. limpid]

I don't care what you say but that story is the winner for this month, I doesn't matter that you won last month, that is the best for this month.

 

[siptang]

I agree with Jack, it has everything that a good story needs and even with a happy ending!
Reminded a scene in the finding nemo. (first day of school! first day of schol!!)
Great story once again and keep them coming!

 

[lilclowns]

I gots a story for you.
This happened a while ago. I was doing my bi-weekly water change. My sand was looking awfully dirty so I decided to stir it up and clean it, now keep in mind during water changes all the
fish go to their hiding spots: clowns to the side, chromis behind heater, goby in shell (firefish goby). As I was stirring up the sand I accidentally got like a pound of sand in the gobys shell, I didn't think anything of it, and went on with my business. After the water change was complete and the lights came back on, goby did not come out like he usually does, so I got a little worried, but then I had to go somewhere I thought he would be out and about when I got home. I get home and he is not out, still thinking nothing of it. Then feeding time, his favorite, Brine shrimp, he doesn't come out to eat. I get worried like I suffocated the fish with sand or something. So I tip his shell so he comes out- he didn't come out, he darted! And how much sand came out? A little trickle, I swear I dropped a lot in there. Oh well alls well that ends well.

 

[snakeblitz33]

I just wanted to tell a story. This story isn't really about any incidence that has happened in my tank, but what has happened in my life through aquaria. When I was a little boy, the first time I saw a saltwater reef tank was in the lobby of a hospital as one of my family members was having surgery. I can't remember anything about the illness, but what I do remember is the beautiful saltwater reef tank with the anemones hosting a pair of clownfish and some other soft corals. I was amazed. I went home and I wanted to get a saltwater aquarium, but my family could never afford it. So, I experimented around on freshwater fish in a 55g aquarium, then it moved into planted aquariums. I loved it and still do - but I always remembered how beautiful that saltwater aquarium was. One day I went to see an acquaintance at his house and his father had seven saltwater aquariums. Each one was different and unique. He asked if I wanted to see his tube anemone feed. I watched in awe as a two foot long tube like creature wrapped its tentacles around a piece of shrimp and suck it'self into a tube with lighting quick reflexes. From then on, I was hooked. That acquaintance soon became my best friend, and he eventually introduced me to my wife, Heather. Soon, I set up a 20g aquarium and made all the rookie mistakes. Crushed coral substrate, not enough live rock, undersized filter and a Seaclone 100 protein skimmer with no powerheads and two PC bulbs. I thought I was rockin' and rollin. My girlfriend at the time, Heather, named my first fish - a pair of clowns, Johnny and June.
My hobby started to become my full blown addiction after I was well funded. I got my first good paying job when I was around 18, and I bought a 90g show tank. I made it into a full blown reef and the only filtration I had on it was a refugium style sump with chaeto and bi-yearly water changes. I saved up for awhile and bought six 55g aquariums for experiment tanks and that's when I really got into SPS corals. My addiction kept getting worse and worse, and eventually I started a live fish store when I was 20. I was a stupid kid that tried to start a luxury business in the middle of the worst recession seen in decades. I closed my live fish store down, and even though I was pennyless, my girlfriend stayed with me. Five months after closing, my girlfriend became my wife. She has stuck by me through thick and thin when most people would have probably ran for the hills. Although she doesn't share my addiction fully, she understands and promotes it.
Currently, I am the proud owner of a 20g SPS dominated reef tank, and through these online forums I have been given the opportunity to help many new hobbyists not make the mistakes that I have made in the past. I am also in the process of getting together a reef club in North Louisiana with the help of a few local reefers. Through this hobby, not only have I been able to help many new hobbyists, but I have also been able to gain friends and many acquaintances that I probably would have no other connection to. Without this hobby, I probably would have never met my real best friend, my wife, nor would I have a beautiful baby girl on the way.
Thank you for reading.

 

[mr. limpid]

Seth, I one thing to say love is blind and for most of us guys that's a good thing.

 

[mr. limpid]

My story for February.
Not really a story more like a back in the day to now, with moral at the end.
This is not the hobby for the weak wallet. When I started in this hobby the only difference from fresh water vs salt water was the cost of adding salt and the price difference of fish. You used the same equipment as fresh, but different substrate. Today there are so much more equipment needed to maintain your salt water tank that has turned into an expensive hobby. I determined that the only thing that has changed from then to now is the keeping of corals, back in the day there were no corals just fish. The addition of corals has added cost to our hobby, with the need of better lighting, better filtration and better salt mixes. So being the frugal guy that I am, I decided to keep fish only, and to go cheep. The only thing I did go extra on was to get a wet/dry system with a built in protein skimmer (bad idea), replacing the pump if the manufacture went out of business doesn’t work. Lighting is not a big requirement, so I went with the standard power compact fixture (2) 30” units. They last 4 years; I don’t think that was good, so I looked into alternative lighting. As I was walking through my local hardware store (as most home owners do every weekend) I noticed shop lights hanging from the ceiling and one unit had a blue glow to it. I was informed that this was a new style bulb by Sylvania, ski lite 8,000k bulb and the 4’ fixture was on sale, so I bought 2. After installing one fixture my wife said why you would want two, one looks fine, I agreed. The moral of this story is if you stay with someone long enough you will agree on something.

 

[gemmy]

When I first got into reef keeping, I started with a 16 gallon bow front. I overcrowded the tank too quick with corals and fish. I even had damsels in it. Well, I researched and came to the conclusion that I needed to upgrade. I made the upgrade and moved most of my livestock to the 55. I kept some live rock and damsels in the 16 gallon tank. I had the 55 gallon as a focal point in my living room and the 16 gallon in my bedroom.
Now, my family came to visit and saw the tanks for the first time. It was my sister, her husband, and my nieces/nephews (they were ages 20, 9, 4 and 9 months). Everyone was in awe of the two tanks. They loved everything about them. My nephew, Alex who was 4, was especially mesmerized and intrigued by the tanks. Alex wanted to help me with everything I had to do with the tanks while they were there and named all my fish.
One night, my sister needed me to run out and get something for her from the store. While I was out, Alex tried to be helpful and thought the damsels in the 16 gallon tank needed a bubble bath. He got his bubble bath and poured some into the tank (I have no clue how no one saw him do this, since there were 6 people in my apartment when he did this). I come home and Alex comes running over to me with the biggest smile on his face. He grabs my hand and shouts"come look at Bob and Fred. They got a bubble bath." My heart dropped. I did my best to keep my composure and went with Alex to look at the tank. The tank had foamy bubbles at the top and the water was cloudy. I look at Bob and Fred. They are breathing hard and not looking too hot. I sat in disbelief and looked at the tank in horror. Alex looks to me and asks "what's wrong?" I tell him fish don't like bubble baths and the bubbles can make them sick. Alex starts to cry and says "I'm sorry...Save Bob and Fred. You have to save them. Honestly, I wanted to just let them be and die, but I couldn't do that with Alex begging me to keep them alive. I dig out my net and save the damsels and reluctantly put them in the 55. Alex gave me a giant hug and said he was sorry. Alex sat at the tank for 2 hours keeping an eye on Bob and Fred. Finally, after two hours they became more lively and Alex was relieved. He has promised to never put anything in the tank unless I am with him and tell him he can.
Here is a pic of the oldest 3 (bubble bath offender is the little one):

 

[flower]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Gemmy http:///t/388649/your-best-aquarium-stories-featured-monthly/100#post_3454904
When I first got into reef keeping, I started with a 16 gallon bow front. I overcrowded the tank too quick with corals and fish. I even had damsels in it. Well, I researched and came to the conclusion that I needed to upgrade. I made the upgrade and moved most of my livestock to the 55. I kept some live rock and damsels in the 16 gallon tank. I had the 55 gallon as a focal point in my living room and the 16 gallon in my bedroom.
Now, my family came to visit and saw the tanks for the first time. It was my sister, her husband, and my nieces/nephews (they were ages 20, 9, 4 and 9 months). Everyone was in awe of the two tanks. They loved everything about them. My nephew, Alex who was 4, was especially mesmerized and intrigued by the tanks. Alex wanted to help me with everything I had to do with the tanks while they were there and named all my fish.
One night, my sister needed me to run out and get something for her from the store. While I was out, Alex tried to be helpful and thought the damsels in the 16 gallon tank needed a bubble bath. He got his bubble bath and poured some into the tank (I have no clue how no one saw him do this, since there were 6 people in my apartment when he did this). I come home and Alex comes running over to me with the biggest smile on his face. He grabs my hand and shouts"come look at Bob and Fred. They got a bubble bath." My heart dropped. I did my best to keep my composure and went with Alex to look at the tank. The tank had foamy bubbles at the top and the water was cloudy. I look at Bob and Fred. They are breathing hard and not looking too hot. I sat in disbelief and looked at the tank in horror. Alex looks to me and asks "what's wrong?" I tell him fish don't like bubble baths and the bubbles can make them sick. Alex starts to cry and says "I'm sorry...Save Bob and Fred. You have to save them. Honestly, I wanted to just let them be and die, but I couldn't do that with Alex begging me to keep them alive. I dig out my net and save the damsels and reluctantly put them in the 55. Alex gave me a giant hug and said he was sorry. Alex sat at the tank for 2 hours keeping an eye on Bob and Fred. Finally, after two hours they became more lively and Alex was relieved. He has promised to never put anything in the tank unless I am with him and tell him he can.
Here is a pic of the oldest 3 (bubble bath offender is the little one):

Wow..your a nice person...my grandson is a fish tank terror, I don't want him near my tanks. LOL...If that happened to my tank, instead of save Bob and Fred..little Alex's parents would be crying for me not to hurt little Alex, by reminding me he was just a child (I'm sure the cute factor would save him)....Then my rage and attention would be on the not so attentive adults.

 

[flower]

Okay...here is my story told through a poem I wrote. The entire story can be found by searching...Flowers sump/fuge build. Be prepared it is 95 pages long and reads like a book...it's a heart warming story, and IMO worth the read. I submit this for February. rememering this still brings tears of joy to my eyes. My nitrates are now 0, and I still open my stand and watch the sump do it's thing.
My Good Cyber Friends
Nitrates were everywhere giving me fright, water changes each day and into the night. But when you have friends who love saltwater fish, the worries turned into a sump/refugium wish.
Shawn got together all the smart ones online and decided to make me something divine. While Meowzer hunted down the perfect skimmer for me, Al&Burke started measures as swift as can be.. making sure it can fit in the cabinet you see.
Then others jumped in with opinions and thoughts. Post counts kept rising as help just poured in. To thank them all proper, where could I begin? Monsinour, U Mike, Posiden, Spanko and Gemmy. Even Beaslebob showed up 13 pages later…with all of that help, oh what could be greater?
To my amazement Corey stepped in, He created a gizmo and blocked it all in…… to sit on the tank perfect …an award he should win. He did all the plumbing and put it together, he made it so well it will last forever.
Desertdawg and 1snapple had questions to ask, and they got their answers we raised to the task.
Shawn with your cold, skinned knuckles a plenty, made the sump/refugium with help from so many. My friend posted pictures so all could see…the beautiful sump/fuge he created for me.
These folks didn’t know me, it’s all cyber space…I wish they could see this big grin on my face. I wrote you this poem, I want you to know…I will always cherish your friendship, my hearts all aglow. What a shame it belongs in the cabinet below.
The end…
I said it’s the end but the story kept going, and the list of sweet kind ones just keeps growing, now there is Sparty…059, Smartorl and Scott T, I have added these three. And here is the story of why it needs be.
le="font-size: 10pt">The boxes arrived on my door step one day, everyone was excited to see what I would say. Now we are upset by the UPS guy, before I could sign for it, he took off on the fly. After opening them up, now we know why….
The sump and refugium, Acrylics sweet works of art…. were pulled from the boxes all broken apart. We called UPS… expecting insurance money..the way they have handled the claim isn’t funny. We gave them our pictures, they even came to the house. In my story they are the bad guys, the villain and the louse. Lower than pond scum for what they have done, of the insurance money we have seen none.
The sump is now costing, it isn’t for free. The work and the time and materials you see. I thought it was lost, that it was all over…but because of all these people there is a makeover. Monsinour has offered to make a road trip, nobody is trusting my new sump to ship.
Then Slice stepped up full of confidence, making a road trip he said was just nonsense. I can make you a box, yes that was his boast. I make boxes for a living, and I’m better than most.
He asked for the sizes and what each would weigh, but before I go farther there is more to say….Al made the fuge and Acrylic the sump, don’t worry they told me..this is just a bump nothing is going to stop us from making this sump.
Well Slice made the boxes, he did them up right, then he added our logos, it was such a delight. They made it here safely… we sent them Fed X…and we still wait for money from UPS.
Now the hoses are hooked up, the water is running, the sump working like clockwork and the fuge is online. Everyone’s effort has made this come true, so I wrote this poem to thank each of you….

• 
  Acrrylic51
• 
  Al&Burke
• 
  2Quills
• 
  Slice
• 
  Meowzer
• 
  Monsinour
• 
  U Mike
• 
  Gemmy
  Poisden
  Spanko
  Beaslebob
  Desertdawg
  1Snapple
  Sparty59
  Scott T
  Smartorl

From the creator, to the box maker and everyone in between….Thank You

 

[siptang]

Wow, Mr. Limpid's revival came through!!! Great stories guys, keep it coming!
I will have to try really hard to come up with a story that will trump these lol.
I will post a really embarrassing story in a little bit. (I will think about it )

 

[tirtza]

I have to say that the 'Best Aquarium Stories' is by far my absolute FAVORITE!! I get super excited when I see new ones added
Mark that was a fantastic story! As I was reading it I imagined how much I would have been freaking out as well. What a scary experience, but I'm glad that it had a happy ending!
Quote:
I have a beautiful baby girl on the way.
Congratulations Seth! You'll soon have your own little mermaid I didn't know that you used to have an LFS. Sometimes when I'm at my LFS I wonder how hard it might be to work at one and have customers come in insisting on purchasing or setting up ridiculous things (for example, a customer insists on buying a goldfish bowl for a Koi?) How did you handle the crazies?? I'm sure you have some good 'customer' horror stories!
Quote:
back in the day there were no corals just fish
Mr. Limpid - How long ago was it that keeping corals became more common? I thought about keeping a FOWLR....but I couldn't resist coral. Valentines Day is coming up, I told my hubby to forget the roses and everything else... I'd much rather have coral. He didn't look at all surprised and said he will happily take me to pick it out...lol
Gemmy - I loved your story, you are such an understanding and patient aunt! I can sympathize with you a bit too. My first experience with fish was when I was about 8 or 9. I had a fish bowl with 3 neon tetras. My little sister (whom I shared a room with) got really angry with me and poured rubbing alcohol in the bowl. Of course there were no survivors (or evidence since rubbing alcohol is clear and just blended in with the water). Many years later though she confessed!
Flower - That story is truly heartwarming! You are an amazing person and have helped me too! I need to come up with a poem for you...

 

[siptang]

Wow, I'm out of words.
Thanks for sharing these awesome stories. I didn't know that seth owned a lfs either or flower had swf crew to custom make a sump, fuge and the setup. (or she wrote poems

)
And Jack telling us how lucky we are and how advanced technology has come so that we can enjoy what we have now.
Thank you again and keep them coming!
I will soon write an embarrassing story about myself...

 

[lilclowns]

I have another story if I may. It was a little 10 gallon tank, in the middle of cycling, 3 weeks in have you. I was around the house...cleaning up, and I saw a ball on the floor...a baseball. Stay with me folks. The container for the balls was place stupidely next to the tank, on the floor, in a bin. I decided to throw the ball into the bin, and OH MY GOSH, I freaking hit the tank, and cracked that junk. My beautiful tank, deceased. Water, rocks everywhere! Let's just be glad there were no fish in there. So my days of tossing balls are over(little pun for you)

 

[markc212]

Thanks for the compliments, tirtza, Limpid, and SipTang.
Regarding owning a LFS, I was just chatting with my local LFS a couple of days ago about running a store. I've been going to this LFS since my childhood (see my first story), and so we talked a little bit about the history of the store. He said that the store has been in operation for over 45 years, and that he inherited it from his father. Wow! That's a long time. He just recently cleaned out one of the back store rooms and found original advertisements for stainless steel tanks. Those are probably worth something. He was reminiscing that the layout of the store is pretty much the same, but so much about the industry has advanced way beyond what he ever imagined while working there as a teenager.
That night I was talking with my wife about what it must take to run a good LFS. Cash flow must be insane. I can't imagine keeping up with changes in technology, water chemistry understanding, new species, etc. Then you've got all this stock coming in from around the world, negotiating prices with vendors for both livestock and hard good, and dealing with increasing costs of shipping and the bad economy. I've always had respect for small business owners. The more I think about it, I'm glad this is a hobby and not a job I rely on for my livelihood. That said, I'm very appreciative of the folks who do have the passion to make this a reality for the rest of us.

Quote:
Originally Posted by tirtza http:///t/388649/your-best-aquarium-stories-featured-monthly/100#post_3455054
Mark that was a fantastic story! As I was reading it I imagined how much I would have been freaking out as well. What a scary experience, but I'm glad that it had a happy ending!
Congratulations Seth! You'll soon have your own little mermaid I didn't know that you used to have an LFS. Sometimes when I'm at my LFS I wonder how hard it might be to work at one and have customers come in insisting on purchasing or setting up ridiculous things (for example, a customer insists on buying a goldfish bowl for a Koi?) How did you handle the crazies?? I'm sure you have some good 'customer' horror stories!

 

[tirtza]

Quote:
I've always had respect for small business owners. The more I think about it, I'm glad this is a hobby and not a job I rely on for my livelihood. That said, I'm very appreciative of the folks who do have the passion to make this a reality for the rest of us.
I couldn't agree more!!

 

[travelerjp98]

DANG I missed a lot in this thread! Everyone's stories are really great, it'll definitely be tough to find a winner for this month!
I still have my gift certificate laying around. I have $250 worth of goods on back order that I've been waiting for them to come in stock for over like 2 months now.