Friday, August 10, 2007

CLONE BABYSITTING

 CLONE REVISITED DSCN0320
If you`ve been reading this blog recently I mentioned how my RBTA`s or Rose Bubble Tipped Anemones propagate. They split into clones of themselves. These clones I readily give to any aquarist who shows knowledge of anemone husbandry. About a year ago, I met a young man from my immediate area, who I found out kept a few aquariums. I gave him some of my fresh water fish, & some frags from my coral trimming. Actually he came over to my place to help in a massive clean up in a reef of mine. I do these clean ups periodically to rearrange things & get rid of "pest" corals. This does no harm to the reef. It basically recreates what a big storm would be like, a recurrent fact of life on a natural reef. At this time, I gave him one of my clones.
He was thrilled as these are highly prized specimens, that sell for upwards of $100.00 depending on size. Along with the RBTA, I also gave him frags from numerous other corals. I`ve taken him under my wing so to speak. He`s a very bright young man, going off to college in late August. All corals grow & show their colors differently in different, lighting & current strength, conditions. He is gone with his family on vacation, him, with trepidation. I`m keeping an eye on his reef while he`s away. Today I went to check it & feed his reef, & took the opportunity to take shots of my clone, now his RBTA. Feast your eyes on this one, & visit the accompanying slide show attached to the click.
The clownfish in the anemone is a Percula clownfish, Amphiprion percula (Lacepede, 1802)
Have a great week end.
OOPS, The bird in the header is a constant visitor to my doorway. Here he`s on another porch stealing the bait from the sprung rat traps.
At Planet Earth, & beyond the click, a Mule Deer that was visiting tonight.

18 comments:

Family Man said...

Hi Head.

That picture is gorgeous, it's almost ethereal.

How far away were you from the mule deer? I know any deer around here are extremely skiddish (sp), and it would be hard to get a good picture.

olivia said...

Head, I don't even know what to say -- that photo has stunned me into speechlessness, and I'm sitting here w/ my mouth open.

It's beautiful in colour and as to form, well a risqué bouquet springs to mind.

Off to explore Planet Earth ----->

And Good Morning to you and FM, and Happy w/e!

AndiF said...

Wow fella, every time I think you won't be able to top your last photograph, you prove me wrong. Exquisite is just a pale and pathetic imitation of the word I need to describe that image.

Knucklehead said...

Good Morning FM,
I`d estimate the distance at 75 yards. I`m using a 300 mm. lens.
The images that seem to be closer are the result of the rear view mirror. No, I cropped the close-up ones.
During the night though they come right up to the house & eat roses & geraniums.

Knucklehead said...

Olivia, there you go rhyming again.
I believe most people would not even try to shoot this subject. The tank this anemone is in, is severely scratched. It`s a 50 gallon tank, although I`m helping him set up a new 150gallon one. I`ll link to a shot in a liitle bit. The front tank panel creates the misty look in the images of this series. This is not detrimental to the inhabitants in any way, but it sure makes it difficult to shoot. Even from one inch away, the sensors will pick up the scratches to focus on. These shots are taken right through the imperfections. If you think these are nice, & I do, they possibly would knock you over with a clear window to them. The tank transfer will be done in about ten days, so there will be more coming.
Have a nice weekend.

Knucklehead said...

Andif,
"Wow Fella", is that like "Hey Sailor"?
Thank you Andif.
An interesting exercise, is to describe an image to some one without them having seen it. You can take as much time as you want in describing it. People are always surprised at having pictured it so differently. Not because you didn`t describe it right, but because many images are beyond that. That`s why we shoot them. It`s like the shots of your vacation. How can you describe them?
Then you have Olivia, who is no help at all, throwing stuff in the mix like "risque bouquet".

Knucklehead said...

This link will take you to see what a reef tank looks like during initial set up. I just finished installing the lights in this tank. Now with monitoring & water changes the tank is cycling through its bio chemical phases & will soon be ready to transfer more & more of Alex`s specimens from an older smaller tank. I`ll be updating images from this tank periodically.
Alex`s new tank

Knucklehead said...

Nancy p,
What a beautiful & delicate way to put things in perspective. Thank you, & may you be double gobsmacked in the future.
Have a nice week end, please.

dada said...

who knew anemone's came with reservoir tips...'rim shot'.

olivia started it...:{)

Peace

Knucklehead said...

dada
You may not have seen this manufacturing process then.
Condom Factory

Nancy P said...

lol, kh. And thank you, I'm well on my way to have that nice weekend. Same to ya.

Knucklehead said...

Nancy p,
I did do a double take on your first comment. Hah

dada said...

ha!...missed that one...the things you learn on the intertubes.

Peace

Knucklehead said...

dada,
Another thing I might have mentioned in the original post, to make it a little more along these lines, is that, when the clownfish are getting used to a particular, anemone or coral they pick as home turf, I`ve noticed them "suckling" on said coral`s extremities. It`s a personal relationship that ends in an incredible bond getween the two.
Well better late/safe than sorry.

Unknown said...

Those RBTAs are certainly some bizarre life forms. But then nearly everything here is bizarre.

Well, maybe not the fish... I can still recognize a fish when I see one.

'Course it wouldn't surprise me to show up here one day and see a fish that didn't look like a fish either.

Anything is possible here I think!

I'm looking forward to seeing how Alex's tank develops.

Knucklehead said...

NDD,
I think Alex can`t wait either. The thing about setting up & maintaining reefs is that it requires patience. If you don`t have patience you will learn all about it, or you will fail as a reef keeper. That`s really how simple it is. Alex is of the patient kind, I can already tell. We`ll be seeing a lot more of it. I should have mentioned his tank I linked to is 6' long.
Now I have to see if I have a fish that will not look like a fish, to try & fool you. Hmmmn

Iowa Victory Gardener said...

I'm glad Olivia started the reservoir tip thing, because that was the first thing I thought of when I saw this shot! Amazing things those anemones, and it's really cool you're sharing your bounty with the young enthusiast.

Astounding work as always K-Head! Keep em comin, so to speak.

Knucklehead said...

IVG,
Thanks, You may or may not have gone to the link a few comments up. It might give you a little more insight into product availability. It`s called "Condom Factory".