Beautiful Animals

Thanks, Rosborne, for the skunks. That little one is wonderful. Saw a wildlife film the other night. A skunk scared off a cougar.


Here's trussia's link. It says it's a porcupine, but it looks like a hedgehog to me.

Discus fish:

Here is another shot of a Mudskipper Goby. These guys don't act much like fish. They spend a good deal of their time out of the water climbing on rocks, a trait that makes them difficult to keep in an aquarium as they will through the tiniest opening in a lid.



They were also the favorite food for this Conus Striatus which in this photo was on the prowl with his stinger out.

The octopus is a master at chaning it's color to blend into the background. They can change their color instantly sometimes in a pulsating manner.



Here he is in a more visible shot along with a Threadfin Butterfly and a Map Cowry.

Mesquite, That's an amazing aquarium you had. And an amazing collection. What with hunting going on, how did you keep the collection going?

Green with envy about the octopus. Fascinating animals. I've seen films in which they're shown changing color. It's instant.

Roberta, keeping it going was no problem with the supply being just a few miles away. Collecting was a big part of the enjoyment. The bigger problem was avoiding the temptation to overcrowd. The octopus only stayed in the tank less than a week, then went back to the ocean as he was too large and disruptive.

The predator cones seemed to have certain preferences and if those preferences were frequently available then the others were not bothered. The only unexpected loss was when the Conus Geographus ate one of the larger clownfish. That hurt because the clownfish were almost like pets. They would come to the top of the tank and poke their head out of the water to get chunks of shrimp from your hand. Then they would take it back to their anemone to eat it and the anemone got the leftovers.

A colorful hermit crab. It was always fun to drop a new empty shell next to one of these guys. They can't resist trying a new shell on to see if it fits. If they like it they will leave to old one and walk off with the new.

Mequite, Love dem clown fish. And they love their anemones. Life savers. With all the scouting around for photos I do, I don't think I can recall seeing a clown fish (in the ocean) that wasn't in or near an anemone.

Not surprised that the octopus was disruptive. They're impressive.

Speaking of disruptive oceanic critters, I'm recalling the time that the Monterey Bay Aquarium acquired a small great white shark for its collection. White sharks don't usually survive in captivity. There are various versions to this story depending on what you read or see. The one I like the best is the one I saw in a documentary. The shark was off to a shaky start and then seemed to perk up. Then the keepers noticed that various members of the exhibit were disappearing. The great white had resumed hunting. It was ultimately released.

Thanks again for the wonderful photos and the info about them. (Love dem hoimet crabs too.)

Cornsnake:





Kirindy:

The one other major predator that was in the tank was the Conus Textile. This guy has beautiful markings. His prey was other mollusks.




After stinging the prey he would sometimes pump a jet of water to flip the prey over.


Quite often when the Textile was getting a meal the damsel fish would back in and fan their tail at him.


The cleaned out shell that is left is in the lower right. The textile is partially buried on the left. also in the shot is the Geographus, a coral shrimp, blue starfish, black sea cucumber, and humpback cowry.

Mesquite, Amazing stuff! Thanks mucho. The textile is beautiful. Was that a Christmas tree worm it ate? Hard to believe that you had this aquarium at home. Not your typical three guppies and a goldish. I really appreciate your posting the photos.


The following two photos were finalists in the National Wildlife Magazine photo contest.

Blackbucks:





Grizzly bear:

Aren't these buggars extremely poisonous?

You're right Coolwhip, both the Conus Textile and Conus Geographus have a known reputation of delivering severe stings. Most of the known cases however occurred from doing very foolish things such as putting them in a pocket or tucking in the sleeve of a wetsuit. So long as you handle them with proper respect the danger is minimal.

Here is a shot of a three striped damsel showing no fear and doing his version of the nyah nyah nyah nyah dance. What you cannot see from a still shot is that he would hold that position with his tail fin quivering. I don't know the purpose of that behavior, but I have seen several different fish doing it to a feeding Textile. I have also seen others come in head first and watch, but this I attributed to possible scavenging for leftovers.

The shell that the Textile was eating was what we just called a common top shell. They were plentiful there.

I would have loved to have had a tube worm in the tank, but all of them that I came across were too well
imbedded to break loose without damaging them.

My tank was roughly 4'X2'X2', a size determined by what could could be made from one sheet of plywood and one sheet of Plexiglas. I still have a few pictures to go so I'll keep them coming if you don't find them too boring.

This little coral shrimp was not only colorful but interesting as well because they have the ability to regenerate lost limbs. I didn't know that until one day I saw that my previously one armed shrimp suddenly overnight had two arms. I found out that in order to grow they need to discard their old shell and grow a new one. It is during this process which only takes a couple of hours that any missing limbs are replaced.

NOT boring. Love this. The photos and the info. Please keep them coming. The coral shrimp is delicate. I didn't know that crustaceans could regenerate limbs.

The striped damsel looks like what I would call an angel fish. Are they the same?

The damsel fish are a rather large grouping of fish that come in many different colors. I am not sure what separates them from angel fish, but most of the angel fish are quite a bit larger and tend to more resemble the butterfly fishes.


The Three Striped Damsel


A Blue Damsel

These three pictures are all of the same fish. It was blue when I put it in the tank. He was quite territorial. he would carve out a hollow under a rock by carrying sand out with his mouth. he would then spend most of the time in the hole guarding it. He also had no fear of the Textile.

That's the same fish?

I was thinking of a fresh water angelfish. Wrong medium.

Here's a marine angelfish--the blueface variety:





Cedar waxwing:

Caiman:





Lynx: