New 125 setup

[AdamZC]

I bought anson lunas 125 around 6 months ago and have recently got it up and running with the services of a fellow maast member. Ace helped me with the plumbing, built a sump/fuge for me after TWO, yes count them TWO others were drilled for a bulkhead and didn't make it. Ace also built a very unique mathing cabinet for my huge skimmer and matched the trim, height, etc on the stand and canopy. It looks great. I should be getting my ballasts today form coral reef bazaar and will be putting my MHs in. I'll have pics once everything is in place.

Adam

[hobogato]

[edit] just read your email - glad everything is working like it should - now comes the fun part - getting critters ;)

[AdamZC]

[edit] just read your email - glad everything is working like it should - now comes the fun part - getting critters ;)

You know, I have to be honest. There are probably a lot of very novice hobbyists looking through here. I mean, I consider myself a novice and this is my third setup. What I am MOST proud of, is the patience that I have had. I remember my first tank, I could not wait to get something in there moving, now, I'm hesitant to put a living creature in there yet. It's weird. I'm literally saying to myself "no, not yet".

So to all of you new tankers out there, just wait, it's well worth it. ;)

[GaryP]

Good for you. The first critter a lot of people put in a tank, damsels, is one they usually regret for years afterwards.

[Texreefer]

yea11 those are mean little buggers once they get settled in,, i learned my lesson5 years ago

[RNall]

I know this sounds horrible but I had a very well established and stocked custom 160 a few years ago. I agreed (I really have no idea why) to let someone is desperate need put a few of their fish in my tank while they moved. Well, 2 of those fish were damsels. When it came time to get the guys out, It was impossible. I tried for hours upon hours to catch them. There were so many hiding places in that tank, catching them with a net was a joke. I tried a trap I had, and that didn't work. Days went by and I couldn't catch them to save my life. I even borrowed a really cool custom trap a LFS in Dallas had...it was a waste of time. After logging at least 5 or 6 hours hovered over this tank trying to catch these guys I was about to just give the guy a few bucks for them and keep them. Then, as if they knew that they had won, they became cocky and started picking on stuff in the tank. So now, I had no choice, I had to get them out! While shopping over the weekend, I had an idea. I went home and purposely did not feed the tank. The next morning I went to work and purposely did not feed the tank. That evening I went to my tackle box, got the smallest hook I could find, filed the barb off, tied on some fishing line, threw a tiny piece of shrimp on and caught both of those **** damsels within 5 minutes. I gleefully gave them back to their owner. I was a little worried that they would be injured but they were fine. Last thing I knew he still had them in his tank...thank God.

[AdamZC]

I know this sounds horrible but I had a very well established and stocked custom 160 a few years ago. I agreed (I really have no idea why) to let someone is desperate need put a few of their fish in my tank while they moved. Well, 2 of those fish were damsels. When it came time to get the guys out, It was impossible. I tried for hours upon hours to catch them. There were so many hiding places in that tank, catching them with a net was a joke. I tried a trap I had, and that didn't work. Days went by and I couldn't catch them to save my life. I even borrowed a really cool custom trap a LFS in Dallas had...it was a waste of time. After logging at least 5 or 6 hours hovered over this tank trying to catch these guys I was about to just give the guy a few bucks for them and keep them. Then, as if they knew that they had won, they became cocky and started picking on stuff in the tank. So now, I had no choice, I had to get them out! While shopping over the weekend, I had an idea. I went home and purposely did not feed the tank. The next morning I went to work and purposely did not feed the tank. That evening I went to my tackle box, got the smallest hook I could find, filed the barb off, tied on some fishing line, threw a tiny piece of shrimp on and caught both of those **** damsels within 5 minutes. I gleefully gave them back to their owner. I was a little worried that they would be injured but they were fine. Last thing I knew he still had them in his tank...thank God.

HAHAHAHA!!!


BRILLIANT!!!!!!

[matt]

That's really funny!

[safeuerwehr]

LOL...beats wasting all that money on a fishing trip to the coast...now i can stock my tank full of damels and just fish the tank when ever i feel the urge....

[Enigma13]

I had the damsel problem as well. At the point of almost giving up (several weeks of trying to trap) I realized that the fish trap was not working because they did not feed in the top of the water column. I started standing at the tank and holding the trap with one hand in the middle of the water column and holding the string for the trap door with the other hand. Each night I would get one damsel after about 30 minutes of trying. Each fish would tend to check the trap out one night and then finally go in the next night.

[RNall]

I swear I stood for hours with multiple traps, in multiple locations and with multiple foods. Perhaps my damsels were some sort of genius strain or something but they wouldn't come close. My daily catching and trapping attempts really began to stress everything in the tank out, not to mention me as well. For a few seconds there I was more proud of catching those two evil damsels than my 10.5 lb largemouth bass, 54 lb amberjack, et cetera.