Swimming With Fishes

2011-05-05T12:01:00.000-07:00

I went to Thailand, went snorkeling, had an amazing time.

After spending a pleasant 45 minutes on a long tail boat (on the right) we eventually arrived at the place we were going snorkeling, the water was only between 6 and 8 feet deep. I jumped into the water and I was immediately surrounded by thousands of black and silver striped fish, at first glance I thought they were convict tangs but when I took a closer look I realised they were Sergeant Major Damsels, thousands of them, literally 2 cm away from my face, amazing, I'm sure I felt them having a nibble at my legs.

I was in the water for less than a minute when I saw a fox face (Siganus vulpinus) all stretched out and hovering with it's dorsal fully expanded pointing upwards, it was being cleaned by a red and white cleaner wrasse, right there in front of me. I then looked to my right and saw a parrot fish, then an Emperor Angel and then some weird wrasse, there were loads of different types of wrasse, in fact every where I looked I saw more amazing fish and all within a ten foot radius. It was a sight to behold, fish heaven had just crept up and bit me in the arse. I was making my way back to the boat at one point and was stopped in my tracks, JESUS! it was only four feet away from me and it appeared from no where, it was the biggest shoal of fish I'd ever seen, a shoal of fox face's (Siganus vulpinus) easily the length of 3 large houses and about 5 foot deep and wide, I shit myself (Metaphorically speaking of coarse). I had to tread water for what seemed like a life time while the shoal swam past me, it was like waiting on a huge giant train to pass when your waiting to cross the tracks, only the fox face is venomous! you really don't want to get in the way of one of these dorsal spines.

Up until now everything was rosy, I was having a great time, so I got back on board the boat and had some lunch. After a bit of a rest and some lovely food I decided to have a second helping of fish heaven, I was more relaxed this time and was taking in even more of the scene in front of me, I even saw a pair of skunk clown fish messing around in their large anemone, I saw some sea urchins and all sorts of other things just buzzing around getting on with their sea life but then I realised that not all was what it should be, the reef was a complete and utter mess, broken coral every where you look, I reckon that 90 + % of the corals were dead, they were bleached, browned and broken, piles of broken coral everywhere, piles of it covering the sea bed, they were also being washed up onto the beach.

Every 4 feet stood a huge brain coral, were talking 4 or 5 foot wide and tall here, everywhere you looked and as far as you could see but even they were struggling to survive, they had big patches of dead bits on them where people had just been standing on them. I saw people use them as diving boards, just diving into the water from them, It was sad to see.
On a happier note (I think), when I got home from Thailand I treated myself to a Fox Face (below). I did this for a couple of reasons, one to remind me of an amazing holiday and two as a reminder of the state of the reefs and 3 well, because it's an amazing looking fish, I bought a Fox Face Magnifica, he/she seems to be settling in well. Here's a couple of links to people snorkeling in a similar area to where we were.
Someone swimming with Sergeant Major Damsels
Someone snorkeling in Thailand
A Fox Face Magnifica

Convict Tangs / Convict Surgeon Fish ( Acanthurus triostegus )

2011-02-18T12:01:00.000-08:00

I've been dieing to keep one of these guys for a while now - Convict Tangs, so called because of their vertical black stripes set against a round white body. They aggregate in large schools and spawn en masse, scattering clouds of eggs and sperm. They are found in Indian and West Pacific oceans. They grow to 10 inches ( 26 cm ) but usually smaller. They Prefer coastal waters, lagoons and coral reefs. The Convict Tang feed on Algae, Plankton and Crustaceans, they are herbivorous and roam the reef in large feeding aggregations. Thankfully Convict Surgeon Fish are not considered threatened.

I did actually buy a Convict Tang a few months ago, it was only about an inch and a half but like most small convicts ( so I hear ) it died, it died because it had worms. I was feeding it about six times a day but it just seemed to be getting thinner and thinner by each day. The place I bought it from said I should bring it back and they'd worm it for me but the poor little chap / chap-ess didn't make it through night. It really does get up my nose, when it seems to be common knowledge among Local Fish Shops that small convicts are prone to having worms and the Local Fish Shop doesn't just worm the fish on arrival to save unnecessary deaths, go figure.

Thank you to Marc Pelissier for allowing me to use his great photo of the Convict Tang shoaling.

Anyway, a few months down the line, I get a telephone call from the LFS to say that they had a replacement Convict for me. Excellent! off I went to pick up my new Convict, well three Convicts actually, I couldn't help myself, these new convicts are a fair bit bigger than the first poor thing that they sold me, not to mention double the price but that's another story, so yes, I have 3 amazing looking Convict Tangs.

So far so good but it is really just early days yet, they seem to have settled in nicely over night with my Purple Tang and my Blue Tang, although, they don't seem particularly interested in my tasty offerings as yet, they seem pretty happy in their small shoal ( of three lol ) just grazing on the rocks.

I'm enjoying sitting back watching the tangs swim around together in their mini shoal, eating what ever it is their eating on the rock, I feel myself just drifting off to some distant land, the sun glistening and dancing on the clear blue turquoise sea, the beautiful blue skies and whispy white clouds hovering above the most beautiful exotic reef that is in my head but then my other half calls me back to reality from the kitchen - my dinner is ready and on the table.

You'll be pleased to know that dinner wasn't Manini. If you have ever been to Hawaii then you'll know that the locals call the Covict Tang "Manini", they fish and eat Convict Tang on a daily basis. Fresh Manini costs $6.99 per lb thats £4.30 to you and I.

Hawaii diving club have an annual fishing competition to see who can catch the largest Manini with a three pronged spear, the largest last year was 1.26 lb.

Videos of Convict Tangs in the wild
A few Convict Tangs
Shoal of Covicts Tangs Grazing
Covict Tangs spawning en masse

Here's a photo I took of my three Convict Tangs about an hour after they were introduced into my aquarium, I will try and get a better photo soon.

Changing Growth Rates

2011-02-11T01:38:00.000-08:00

Changing growth rates on corals on the Great Barrier Reef due to weather extremes getting worse.

Dr. Janice Lough a senior research scientist at the Australian Institute of Marine Science has taken core samples from stony corals dating back as far as 1639 and they show that extreme weather is on the up. Lough's findings suggest that coral reefs will be subject to an accelerating pattern of extreme wet and extreme dry periods.

The coral cores have annual rings similar to tree rings and can be counted to calculate the colonies age. (See sample) This gives a record of the ocean environment throughout the corals life, dating back several centuries, before weather and climate were monitored with rain gauges and thermometers.

Records show that the frequency of extreme weather has changed over the centuries and at the moment is at it's peak.

The records taken from the Great Barrier Reef corals support predictions that tropical rainfall variability will increase in a warming world. AIMS researchers are currently analyzing coral cores from other tropical coral reefs of Australia to further study long-term rainfall and climate patterns.
Journal Ref: Janice Lough
For more information http://www.aims.gov.au

Barry's Reef

2011-02-10T06:08:00.000-08:00

I took some photos for a friend of mine Barry Gatt who's been keeping marine fish and corals for over 5 years now. Ultra Marine magazine decided to do a lovely article of Barry's tank (issue 23 aug/sept 2010) and used the photos for the spread. Barry keeps SPS and LPS corals and I must admit he knows his stuff.

Up until a few days ago Barry's tank was lit with an ATI power Module 6x54w and as you can see has been getting some amazing growth and colours but he has now decided to try-out some halides for a change. I'll keep you posted on this to see if there's much difference other than the glistening effect of the halides on the water.

Hope you enjoy the photos. I have some more photos and information that I'll add shortly.

It Starts Here

2011-02-09T07:23:00.000-08:00

It all started just over a year ago when I decided to keep my own little piece of the ocean, the addiction, the addiction of reef keeping that is, keeping reef fish, corals and inverts not to mention the equipment must-haves. I have looked at and admired these fish for as long as I can remember.

I decided to create this blog in order to share with you my interest and love of reef keeping and hopefully share with you any interesting information I can find and share along the way, including other peoples reef / fish tanks.

I'll look into things like lighting, water chemistry, feeding etc, infact everything and anything about reef keeping.

Welcome to A Colony Of Mouths.

Here's some photos of my tank just to get the ball rolling.

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Swimming With Fishes

Convict Tangs / Convict Surgeon Fish ( Acanthurus triostegus )

Changing Growth Rates

Barry's Reef

It Starts Here