The traveling anemone.

So, if you remember, a few days ago, we had this:

Well, he’s kept moving. This was his next move. 

And then…he made it through the hole to the shelf!

So we thought he’d settle there…since he worked so hard to get there. 

But wait. Where’d he go? Yep, completely inside the rocks! 

Oh, here he is again on the shelf, once more trying to move through another tiny opening!

And for now, he’s apparently happy where he is. 

New tank inhabitants!

The tank has slowly been getting up to speed and we finally decided it was time to add some more life. Unfortunately, Petco screwed up the order and what we were supposed to get Tuesday (when Tom was home and could handle everything) we didn’t get until this morning (when Tom had overnight duty and couldn’t handle anything). I managed, but it wasn’t in my comfort zone (I’ve acclimated fish before, but not saltwater ones)!

One of my favorites was a sea star… Unfortunately he arrived in less-than-stellar condition and we aren’t sure if he’s going to make it. But, he’s so cool…as soon as I put him in the tank, he burrowed into the sand. From sitting on top to completely buried took about five minutes!

2015-01-09 fish 08 going going gone

And I had forgotten how cool feather dusters were, too:

2015-01-09 fish 09

And some corals…

2015-01-09 fish 12

2015-01-09 fish 14

And the kids’ favorites—the clown fish!

2015-01-09 fish 19

Or Nemos as Katie calls them: Katie was excitedly showing them her Nemo: “Look! They’re the same Nemo!”

IMG_4285.JPG

And another favorite, the anemone:

2015-01-09 fish 16

They are intelligent creatures. I put him in the tank where I wanted him to be—where I’ve circled in the photo below. It was a nice little shelf in the current where I thought he’d look great. But he had other ideas. When I came back to look at him about 10 minutes later, he had flipped himself off the ledge and was upside down in the sand! I figured I’d help him out and flip him back over and then just leave him for Tom to deal with when he got home. The next time I came back and looked at him, he had scooched across the sand and wedged himself under the rocks (where he then stayed)! Simply fascinating.

2015-01-09 fish 21 anemone journey

After everyone is settled I’ll actually clean the glass and try to get better pictures!

She LOVES the new tank!

Long story short, we have a new saltwater tank!

Long story long, we haven’t had a saltwater tank since before we were married and lived in Lansing! We’ve wanted one, of course—and Tom even bought a few tanks along the way—but with moving every few years it just isn’t practical. He had an 80-gallon (I think it was) tank specially made…that we eventually sold after moving a few times. Then he found a used system that we were planning on setting up here…but it got trashed in the move. We were reimbursed for it and Tom wanted to buy the same tank right away, but I told him to wait because we were in no hurry. Fast forward five months and he was perusing Craigslist and saw a really great tank for a really great price—and snapped it up!

It won’t have fish in it for a few months (we have to wait for the water to cycle and get healthy so it doesn’t kill the fish) but in the meantime, the kids LOVE it. Especially Katie. She will just go sit in front of it.