a few more aandtsociety trips

Easter low tide trip

Another great trip.

The weather wasn’t the best, there were a few showers, but there was some shelter and when it stoped, it was great.
Feeder shrimp, peppermint shrimp, seahorses, little ocys, crayfish and a small Chelmon, I won’t put the Chelmon pic on as we see heaps of them and I forget what else was gotten as these are the only pics I have to use.

No one wanted any seahorses at the moment so none of them were taken, only one pipe fish was wanted and this is the first time for ages a little ocy was kept, they are normally a pain as they escape easily, so they are always left behind, the area it was put in, there is no escape and it can be fed and looked after easily.

Lots of peppermint shrimp around as there has always been here since the first time I came to this spot in the late 70s with my brother.

The life forms are a little greater in numbers than over the past 6 or 8 years as the water the last two seasons did not get very cold so there is a bumper year out there for all life forms except the corals, they did very badly and the algae did very well, but that is always the way, when the algae blooms the corals go down, shame, it has been like that for three years now and the coral numbers a diminishing.

The crabs, lobsters, prawns and eating fish are doing so well these days; in some areas you can hardly see the bottom of the ocean!








Easter monday trip

As usual the clubs trip has been productive and a good one.

Though the vis was not great,the oceans temp was a comfortable 25 degrees.

Except for the clubby, Marks requested tangs, we had nothing in particular to share with any members, so it was see what is there and go for it; we keep some just in case some one wants something.

The Easter Monday trip is as follows.
We got in around 9 am and got out around 12 midday.
The weather wasn’t great, it was raining most of the time and in the water, who cares!
Dave had an idea as to take out in his boat and put in some crab pots before the snorkelling and check them on the way back,it didn't happen that way,we did a shore dive instead, we got a big one while snorkelling around anyway.

No video this time, the water was dirty and there was nothing interesting to video.















we had a lot of fun,shame about the weather!


Late april blue tang trip

This trip was a very hard one as the little beggars were in water from 25 to 45 feet and getting large as the ones that were there were last seasons.

This season doesn’t seem to have brought many new ones, so the smallest of the old ones were all we had to work with and they were becoming very cunning.

There were a few other species around that we got,including a Cheatodon reticulatus,but some blue surgeons were what was wanted.

The guys on scuba from the other boat actually found them for us because the water wasn’t the clearest; it was filthy, about 7 metres vis.

Once we were told where they were it was backwards and forwards until all that were needed were collected.

While we were checking out the shallow ones a video was taken of the ones at around 55 feet down.

There were quite a few that we saw and the others saw some more at the larger sizes down deeper that have left the coral and were using the cracks in the structures to hide in.

We only wanted a few and it was good to see so many that made it to near on adult size to be a part of the food chain and begin to breed and help put a few extras on the gold coast reefs soon.

On the way out in the morning we dropped in a few crab pots to pull out on the way back and did quite well with a nice dinner pulled out of the water.

All up a top day.

A wrasse trip is planned soon,the new season ones should be a good size now.

Blue surgeon video

https://s272.photobucket.com/albums/jj198/aandtsociety/Underwater%20videos/?action=view&current=bluetangs.flv

photos-








During the week snorkel and scuba dive at moreton island and the rufs king wreck

Just a couple of pics of the trip out off moreton recently to have a look around china wall and cherubs cave.

We than went to the rufus king for a snorkel to spear a fish or two and only got some crays that day.

On the way out we dropped in some crab pots and on the way back picked them up,nice dinner from that days outing.

These pics are from the day.





Dave doing most of the work,good cabin boy,funny though,he owns the boat we were on that day.




This bird hung around the boat for ages wanting a hand out and folowed us to both deap dives,it nearly came into the boat at one stage,it was so funny when it tried to swim over the jesus line.







As you can see it was very rough that day.





This was the view towards moreton island from cherubs and china wall,much the same!





This is from at the coffee rock reefs out the front of moreton island on the way back,to dirty so we didn't bother having a snorkel there.




The back of the bar on the way back in,nice day,1 metre swells at the most.




A lovely trip back with some great near on clear skies.

Many thanks for these new pictures.

How do you acclimate the blue tangs in the aquarium? Do you have any loss or is it quite easy?

They are a very resilient fish and tough as well if you get them to your tank with a few hours from the ocean.
When we bring them home there is more or less no acclimatising, the only problem sometimes with them is they have such a tiny scale structure that the parasites are able to make contact with there flesh quite easily, similar a few other species,but if kept healthy,the parrasites are always short lived.
One of the guys has a Chaetodontoplus Conspicillatus and it is the same in that sense.
The main reason we get our own is not just because it is cheaper and more educational and a good sport. It is because of the 48 stress syndrome and inadequate care and the results of, that sometimes we are stuck with when purchasing a fish.
The good thing about the blue surgeons for me is that they eat more or less anything, they especially do well on Cunjivoe that gives them brilliant colour and it’s free from the shoreline.

Thanks for all the informations.
Yes, this is a very good reason when you have the chance to collect your fish: at least they won't have to stay in some retailers tanks where conditions can be quite bad.
Do you prepare yourself the marine water or do you take it in the ocean?

These days i get it from the boat ramp about 5 mins from home,its good water as there are heaps of beautiful corals all around that spot to indicate good conditions and we test the water regularly any way.

I would make up my own water as i have done in the distant past,i think it is better,but it is to expensive compared to just down the road.

I was just down there about a half an hour ago getting feeder shrimp and fish for my lion fishes,caught the weirdest cuttle fish,white body with black stripes along it and a common little red octopus.

This time of year there are thousands of peppermint shrimp in the rock pools,they can thrive now the boxer shrimp have slowed down,now that the cooler water it has made there food source a little less common.

I get them for fish food and some for the clubbies that could not be there for the removal of apitasia as such,the peps are good cleaners of rubbish in the tank and a good food source when they shed there shell.

Thanks for the details.

I translate our conversation for the non-english speakers/readers.

Un peu de traduction pour ceux qui ne sont pas des habitués de la langue de Shakespeare.

Je demandais donc à pkc s'ils n'avaient pas des soucis pour l'acclimatation des chirurgiens bleus. D'après lui, ce sont des poissons très résistants et qui récupèrent vite. L'autre aspect de la chose - à savoir pourquoi capturer les poissons plutôt que de les acheter - n'est pas seulement une question de prix : c'est qu'en contrôlant eux-mêmes toute la chaîne (capture, acclimatation), ils sont plus à même de contrôler l'état sanitaire des animaux et obtiennent de bien meilleurs résultats que si ça passait par le magasin local. Résultat, ils ont très peu de pertes.

Il utilise l'eau de mer puisée directement à 5mn de chez lui. Ils font des tests réguliers de l'eau, et au vu des coraux présents à l'endroit, il apparaît que c'est un milieu sain. Il pense toutefois que préparer son eau de mer est plus sûr, mais c'est bien plus cher.

Si jamais certains avaient des questions à poser mais n'osaient pas à cause de la barrière de la langue, qu'ils n'hésitent pas, je suis certain que quelques-uns parmi nous arriveront à traduire dans un anglais plus ou moins compréhensible par nos amis australiens !