The Reef Bug

After a few months of keeping a successful FOWLR aquarium, we bought our first coral, a beautiful Bubble Coral the size of a full ripe grapefruit, it was very exiting to see this majestic piece of underwater life right on your living room, needless to say this was not our last specimen, over the last year, we (I) have added a multitude of new life from all corners of the world, Fiji, Australia, Caribbean, Hawaii to name a few.

Today, our aquarium is a living spectacle, full of swaying tentacles, beautiful fish swimming in and out of caves, bolting under rock passages and in between coral branches.

Aquarium Keeping: The Begining of a great pastime

This blog will be dedicated as a global record of my Aquarium Husbandry Experiences.

I first would like to thanks my wife and kids for putting up with this obsession, I also would like to thank the many new friends we have made in this hobbies, always there to extend a helping hand.

Brief recount of my aquarium husbandry...
It all started when a cousin of mine needed to move and I was left safe keeping his aquarium, it was a freshwater aquarium with some great looking fish, I kept the tank (even after he was settle and wanted it back) for a few years until I had to move and hand it back to its original owner...

A few years past, but I always found myself walking into pet stores and specialty fish stores just to look at the tanks and specimens they had on stock... in 2006 we moved into a new home and I decided it was time to get back and setup a new aquarium for all to enjoy.

I loved the freshwater fish we kept in our "borrowed" tank, but I always were star struck by the beauty of the saltwater specimens in the fish stores we visited over the years... if I was setting an aquarium it would be a saltwater aquarium.

I started reading books and information online as I had absolutely no experience in keeping saltwater livestock, freshwater was so much simpler... make sure the fish you're looking to buy can't fit the ones you already have in their mouth and you're very much OK, not so with saltwater livestock... these guys have sharp teeth.

After much reading I decided it was time, I purchased an used 75 gallon reef ready aquarium setup from another hobbyist who was upgrading his current system, with his advice and that of many publications I started a Fish Only with Live Rock (FOWLR) system in April of 2007.

Here is an early picture shortly after the tank was cycled and some livestock added to it.