Blenny finds a new house

5/5/04
Monday I went to a meeting of a new reef-keepers group that has just formed in central Maine. I don’t have to drive far to attend, but some of these people are driving over an hour just to talk to other marine aquarists! Anyway, the topic for the night was how to keep a culture of phytoplankton alive so that you can use the phytoplankton (which you can’t see) to feed zooxanthellae (which are barely visible specs), which in turn you feed to corals. Mind you, when I was contemplating getting into this hobby, the local dealer said the creatures in the live rock provide all you need in the way of micro coral food. Just 10% water change once a week, and enjoy that healthy reef forever!

The enjoyment meter is running pretty low, as the death of the tang this weekend has now been followed by the disappearance/probable death of the watchman goby/shrimp pair. They have stopped appearing for food (2 days now) and the opening of the den is all full of sand. Then the bicolor blenny decided the tube of the large featherduster worm was just his size. He backed in, cleaned up the lip a bit, and hasn’t emerged in two hours. What about the featherduster? Well, it was alive and feeding this morning. Apparently it is unable to assert ownership of its house, or has moved out (if so, I can’t find it) or is dead. I took a picture of the blenny peaking up over the rim though. When I approach, he backs in deeper, so I don’t think I can get him out by being assertive.

The anthelia coral, which I have had for a month and was growing very well, has split into a healthy component (right side in picture) and a dying component. These aren’t plants, of course, but it sure looks like the stems and leaves of a plant, just wilted right over on the left side, while the right side continues to wave in the current, oblivious to the adjacent (and perhaps encroaching?) distress.