Author: fheald

(copy of message I sent to a reef fish mailing list I’m on)

All,

Last night I had the sad task of retrieving my Scooter Blenny from the back of the tank and disposing of him. This is the first fish I’ve lost, but what’s sadder is the fact that I killed him – several different ways. Thought maybe I’d process here, maybe someone can learn something along with me. Long story disclaimer.

I have two tanks – both 12 gallon nanocube reef with lots of live rock, and a deep live sand bed, and very frequent water changes (about 15% per week), consistently great water readings, slightly salty on Catalina water and a crummy plastic hygrometer, and a little warm at 80-81 but that’s as cool as my house will get.

Before getting the tanks, I read a lot online and in books. Decided I was up for the challenge of a small tank; I enjoy the maintenance, and don’t really want to overpopulate. Someday I’ll move up to a 50 or so when I’m in a place I own, hopefully.

I ended up with two tanks, because I had been waiting to buy one on Craigslist, and not finding one, then finally shelled out for a new one, and the next day found an identical one on CL for a great price.

Tank 1, the ‘old’ tank, has 1 medium-sized maroon clown that came with the tank, a medium (around baseball-sized when filled out) quadricolor anemone, a cleaner shrimp, one large snail, small snails and hermits, some mushrooms and more algae than I’d like, plus a couple of small Aiptasia I haven’t bothered to attack yet.

Tank 2, the ‘new’ tank, has even more live rock, green star polyps, mushrooms, hermits, snails, and had been stable for about two months. So I was at the cheaper, closer LFS (I usually go to another one that’s farther away but a lot better), and they had a tank of scooter blennies – actual ones, I believe, occellated dragonet. First mistake – buy on impulse when I don’t have my book/research, and instead rely on their advice. So I got a small one (most likely her), and she was happy in the tank for about a month. I know I’ve got copepods, I can see them at night when I turn out the lights, so I figured Scooter was well-fed; he was active and looked filled-out. I added a very small blue devil damsel; they pretty much ignored each other.

The anemone has been the weirdest critter. I started with it in the ‘new’ tank, with no tankmates, and it would never settle down – kept getting into the center of the tank and spinning; would settle for a day or two then spin again. So I moved it into the old tank with the maroon clown, and they both seemed to be quite happy with the arrangement; the anemone found a place to stay and the clown hosted it well. They’d been together for about three months.

Then a few weeks ago, a day after a weekly water change, I noticed I now had two anemones. At some point it had split. Seemed like they would be crowded in the tank together, and the clown was confused as to which was ‘home’. So I looked on the net and in my books, and couldn’t find any contraindications for damsels or scooters and anemones; so I transferred one to their tank. Everyone seemed fine; the anemone seemed like it was finding places it liked and sticking, the fish ignored it.

Then the other night before bed, I noticed I couldn’t find Scooter. Must be under the rocks somewhere, I thought. But the next morning I still couldn’t find it. Finally I shined a flashlight down into one of the holes in the rock, and it was there – looking emaciated and black-eyed and still moving but definitely not happy. The anemone didn’t look particularly guilty, but I went online and looked again and sure enough – blennies are often stung and sometimes may be eaten by anemones.

I removed the Anem back to the other tank – carefully, because I’m sure it’s getting stressed too – hoping to save Scooter. By the way, another sign that I should have known the fish store was clueless – they sold him to me for $24 as a ‘red scooter blenny’ – he was brownish-red – but he certainly didn’t match pictures of a red scooter; he looked exactly like an ocellated dragonet that should have cost $5.99. Anyway, he died that night.

I guess I’m getting over my mourning because I’m trying to figure out what I ought to do next. Move the stinger back to the new tank? I know I won’t be getting another scooter – I read now that they should have at least 30 gallons and lots of live rock, per fish, so they get enough copepods (they really prefer to eat live caught food), unless I want to go into the hobby of breeding tiny shrimps – no thanks. Otherwise the only inhabitant is the small damsel. Probably enough for the tank, but I know my levels are good and another small fish seems doable. I’m going to think about it and read about it for a while, though.

Anyhow, I’d been meaning to intro and mention the Anemone split.

Pictures, including way too many of clownfish and anemone, at http://www.obtainium.org/gallery/fishtank

Was listening to a “computer help” radio call-in show the other day, and wanted to call in and offer some hints, but didn’t really want to sit on hold and have to banter with the screener (not to mention the very nerdly host). I always find this show amusing, especially now that they have Mac people calling in. The Windows folks have questions like “my computer keeps crashing, I think it’s some kind of a virus” or “I installed a card and now my computer doesn’t work” to which the answers are usually something to do with registry settings and antivirus programs and so forth. The Mac people that call in, on the other hand, ask questions like “I’ve got a photoshop file, and I’ve applied a filter effect, and I want to save the results in a print shop format”; they tend to actually be productive and getting work done, while the Windows people are lucky to have the damn thing work at all.

In any case, here’s my hint.

On the Mac, open up Applications, and then open up Utilities. Find the program “Terminal” and run it. Voila – you’ve got a Unix shell! Find a book about Unix (and/or BSD) and learn to grep and rsync and ssh all that fun stuff.

On Windows, get a program called Cygwin. It’s free, and it gives you a Unix shell (which basically emulates a Unix environment) within Windows – sort of like the DOS prompt. Oh, you thought the DOS prompt had gone away? Nope, it’s in C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe (as I recall) and it’s often quite useful for things like basic FTP or deleting files that Windows can’t.

This one is “not safe for work”. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. Really.

“Giant Evil Clown Lounge Chair”
“Build Your Own Cage Kit”
“Pile of rotting carnage with flies.”

And my favorite,
“Gimp Outfit”

(okay, but then there’s “Gaping Hole Outfit”. What the hell is up with _that_?? Not to mention “Burned Skin and Stained Undergarments” which sounds a little like a really sad country song.)

Along with “Hot Russian Teens”, “The Little Blue Pill”, and “Lower your Mortgage”, one of the spams I seem to get frequently is stock tips. Some little crappy company that someone, usually not the company itself but some other slimeback, is trying to “pump and dump”. Seems to me that it would be interesting to put together a tracking system for these – if I had bought them when I got the spam, how did they tend to do. Would they all follow similar trends, say rising quickly then plunging? If so, could one develop a speculative strategy for cashing in on them? Yeah, probably hoping for too much. But if you decide to try it, please let me know how it goes.

What it means:

You’ll want to buy a new Mac. Well, of course – but you _always_ want to buy a new Mac.
Update: But you won’t want to _wait_ to buy a new Mac. The new machines, when out, may or may not offer anything different from what the G4/G5 Macs offer – but why wait? If you need it, buy it, if you don’t need it, wait!

You’ll have to buy all new versions of your software. Yep, two years from now when the Intel Macs come out, if you want a new version of Office and Photoshop and whatever other commercial software you own, you’ll probably have to shell out upgrade fees for the new ones. All the more reason to move to (and create!) open source software!

What it doesn’t mean:

Existing Macs will be obsolete. No more so than any computer becomes “obsolete” the moment you buy it. The developer software “fat binaries” will allow programs to run on both platforms, and users most likely won’t know the difference. Sort of like Carbon and Cocoa now, but even more transparent.

Windows programs will work with OSX. Wrong. This should be obvious, but to many people it isn’t. Most recent software is written for the OS, not the chipset – tho a lot of software does have “hooks” that go down to the chipset level. Getting Windows software to work on it will still require an emulator (like Wine or VirtualPC). These emulators may get easier and faster, tho, which is always good news; and development efforts for Linux can be somewhat combined with those for OSX.
Update: There is some suggestion that Mac Intel hardware will be able to run Windows and OSX simultaneously. This sounds unlikely to me, tho the underlying software abstraction layer might make it possible. In any case, the new machines should be able to dual-boot to Linux or OSX. Oh, or that other atrocity, Windows. By the way, by the time those machines are released – Longhorn still won’t be available.

You’ll be able to run MacOS on any Intel PC. Nope. There will be new intel-based Macs made by Apple. They may have a toolbox chip (like the 68000 Macs did) or other unique hardware that OSX will refuse to run without. Of course, this hardware key may be subject to work-arounds, since Darwin (the core of OSX) runs fine on X86 hardware, now, for free. Notice though, that the Mac/Intel (Macintel?) developer kits include a special PC to run on. It does mean we’re a big step closer to this, though, so if Apple decided to become “just” an OS company and let Dell and Sony the Taiwanese battle over hardware, it wouldn’t be much of a stretch. I’d like to be able to run OSX on a tiny Sony laptop.
Update: There is some speculation, as well as blustering by Michael Dell, that we might see “the return of the clones”. Entirely possible, and if PC manufacturers want to licence MacOS, it would not be at all difficult for Apple to let them do this, if they want to. Will Apple want to? Time will tell.

Standard PC hardware peripherals will work with OSX. Not necessarily. Because the chip will be Intel, we assume the rest of the machine architecture will be Intel-style as well – and if so, then there will need to be software “drivers” for every periperhal, just as there are now on Windows and Unix. What a hassle. Drivers (or more importantly, the proprietary chips on hardware peripherals) should be standardized, especially in cases where the proprietary version does nothing above and beyond the standard.

Whoever decided to use backslash as a directory/file separator on DOS, carrying it over from CP/M (or is that CP\M?); whoever decided to keep using it in Windows. Forever after requiring people to ask “You mean forward slash, or backward slash?” There is no forward slash; there is only slash and backslash.

Whoever came up with the message after yet-another endless Windows patch, “You must restart your computer to complete the installation. Do you want to restart your computer now?” No, I don’t WANT to restart my computer now, but apparently I have to. As in the Bugs Bunny routine, “Do you want to shoot me now, or wait till you get home?” “Shoot him now, shoot him now!” “He doesn’t have to shoot you now.” etc.

Whoever decided to call unleaded gas “regular unleaded”, back when there used to be a choice between “regular” and “unleaded”. I guess I just prefer “Magna Sin”.

Sony. Because they keep making boneheaded decisions to stick with proprietary and/or homegrown media and formats. Sony makes awesome hardware, but then they cripple it by, say, not letting it run standard MP3s, or in the case of their “Palm-compatible” Clie handhelds, making it just barely not Palm-compatible, so you had to use their version of the sync software. Some would blame this on things like Sony owning Sony Media. I blame it on the old “not invented here” where you think that everything you make must of course be the best, so there’s no reason to adhere to an obviously inferior standard.

People (like Condi Rice this morning) that keep saying Muslims should like us because we support religious freedom. Don’t you get it – that’s exactly why they hate us even more! It’s one thing to have different beliefs – as far as I know the Muslims don’t hate the Chinese for being Buddhist, or the Northern Irish for being Catholic (Israelis being the obvious exception). But what’s worse than being different, is being indifferent! As a high school professor used to say, “The opposite of love is not hatred, but what? Indifference!” Religious freedom, as we apply it now, means the government says you can believe whatever you want to believe – the government is agnostic! Ironically, it’s the bornagain Christian right that seems to hate the Muslims, because that’s what Jesus taught, wasn’t it, hate?

Yes, I just subjected myself to this “classic”. Although I’m a fan of dystopic cinema, the campier the better, this had a hard time holding my attention.

But I did enjoy Deadwood (rented the videos, since I still don’t have a cable connection), as well as Dead Like Me (no relation btween them, aside from the obvious). There is something to be said for watching TV (or made-for-cable movies, in this case) on a serial basis rather than all at a time – Twin Peaks, for example, doesn’t hold its charm if you’ve got the next episode right there and you don’t have to wait for it (or perhaps it’s just that I’d seen it before). The other one I’m waiting for Netflix to deliver, is Carnivale. I think I’ve gotten more out of Lost on “Television Without Pity” ( http://www.televisionwithoutpity.com/ – formerly Mighty Big TV) than I would have if I’d chosen to endure it live. Ditto for Survivor.

Friends don’t let friends drink green Budweiser.

Do yerself a favor (ya bastards) and hoist a pint o’ the brown (or “the
broon” as they say).

The Rule of Guinness:
The first Guinness of the night, tastes like a Guinness.
The second, really tastes like a Guinness.
The third, really REALLY tastes like a Guinness.
The fourth, and any subsequent, taste like root beer floats.
(-Todd)

You can even have yersaelf one of them Black & Tan, or Half & Half. If
you use Bass instead of Harp, rejoice in the fact that the Irish comes
out on top. Quality rises.

(If you must be ironic, put a few drops of green food coloring in a
pint of Czechwar, and realise no one else will get that joke.)

They say everyone’s Irish on St. Patrick’s Day. But not everyone ends
the day drunk off their ass and passed out in a gutter. Those that do,
they’re the real heros. Please try to step over them.

Be kind to snakes, as there are none in Heaven or Ireland.

Enjoy your corned beef and cabbage, and joke about how all Scottish
food is based on a dare.

Ponder why people speaking with Irish accents always sound so bloody
ironic.

Wear orange. See if anyone notices.

Vow once again to read Ulysses, or even Finnegan’s Wake. And fail to
get past the first few pages.

Introduce yourself to people as “Angus the wall-builder.”

Listen to the Pogues (“Shane’s dentist don’t work too hard, always at
the pub…” – Mojo Nixon), the Young Dubliners (or the Dubliners if
you’re truly hardcore), Flogging Molly (saw ’em last night – never
imagined I’d see crowd surfing to Irish Folk music), The Chieftans, and
the Dropkick Murphys. (But not that damned kilt song, besides, it’s
Scottish!)

Wear your kilt proudly. Regimentally. Answer inquiries “Ye’ll have to
check fer yersaelf lassie.”

Didn’t get up to Visalia in time to see Felicia, due to poor weather, here or there. Maybe next week.

But yesterday I took a nice long interesting flight. From Santa Monica, popped up to Bakersfield (L45 Bakersfield Municipal). It’s an “uncontrolled” aiport, with only a unicom frequency, and noone was on it. Sorta strange to land and take off, only talking to myself.

Popped over to “General Fox” (WJF) for their famous $100 hamburger – since it’s around an hour and a good flight from LA area, that’s how much their $8 burger ends up costing you. Then did a little desert cruising, up to Barstow/Daggett (DAG), and Victorville/Southern California Logistics (VCV).

Down over the Cajon pass and into the hazy LA afternoon. Visibility was okay below, but fairly difficult ahead and into the sun, but I made my way with flight following out to just about over my house here, and the weather at SMO was below minimums – 6 miles visibility, haze, but with a 1000′ (AGL) overcast layer starting about four miles east of the airport. So I got to do a “special VFR” – 1 mile visibility, clear of clouds – and ducked under the cloud layer to drop back in to the airport. Really good to practice this one – I could have easily landed out at Van Nuys where it was only hazy and not overcast, but since my instructor had reminded me about SVFR just before I left and the conditions were good for it, I’m glad I got the chance. On the other hand, it required flying in lower than I would have liked, and if I’d had to go around, it would’ve been hard to avoid the clouds. The controller was very patient with me.

I’m starting IFR ground school next week with Joe Justice, the owner of the flight school I’ve been going to. That, and a written test, and a bunch of instrument approach practices with my instructor Jesse, and I won’t be quite so worried about this sort of weather.

Had my first “real” IFR lesson today, accidentally (tho with my instructor!) We had planned to fly out to Cable (CCB) and then down to Long Beach (LGB) but the weather didn’t hold up so instead we flew to Torrance (TOA). Weather was marginal – if I’d been by myself I wouldn’t have gone – but we decided to pop over to Long Beach since it was right next door. Got on the runway fine in VFR but by the time we’d taxi’d back it was drizzling and closing in. So Jesse (my instructor) filed a “Tower Enroute” IFR, and I got to fly that back to Santa Monica. I didn’t really do any of the radio work for the IFR portion, just flew the plane which was challenging enough – I’ve flown with a “hood” but never in actual clouds (tho I think actual IFR is somewhat easier, I get claustrophobic with the blinder hood on).

In case you’re interested our clearance was fly runway heading (250) to 800 feet, turn to 270, for vectors to Santa Monica, climb and maintain 3000 expect 4000 ten minutes out. Which is what we flew, heading out over LAX, then back east to the VOR approach to SMO. We went in and out of clouds most of the way, dropping out to VFR abou four miles east of the airport.

Tomorrow or Friday, depending upon weather, I head up over the Tejon pass to Visalia; but it’s still sprinkling rain here so I’m hoping for good weather tomorrow.

Here’s the flight track from the GPS (of course I love this!). The double track to the east is us flying out, and then back.