melev

Unlike other aquariums, my fish seem to duck and cover when I get near the tank. I don't really know why since I'm here all the time. When I go to the main tank at the LFS, those fish are right up against the glass and hundreds of people walk past them week after week. For the most part, I try to keep my hands out of the tank and try to leave my livestock alone as much as I can, even though I'm shooting pictures or feeding them often. But if I take down the temporary light shield, they dart into the rockwork. If I start cleaning the glass, they retreat. It just seems like they'd be used to me and whatever I was doing wouldn't cause this reaction - they've been with me for years after all.

With that mindset, I decided not to clean the glass yesterday because I didn't want to disturb them. I know that sounds nuts, but it seemed easier to clean the glass the next morning before they were out and about.

This morning I started cleaning the glass and noticed the Australian Tongue Coral was super-inflated. Sounds like a Nikon-moment, right? I couldn't clean all the glass in that area since the coral was touching it, and if I moved the coral it would surely deflate. So here's what I saw, using a flash. You'll notice a small penlight reflection on Spock's body... I used it to light up the coral to allow the lens to focus since none of the lights had cycled on yet.

It is easily a third bigger than normal in this inflated state. I like it.

20 minutes later, the VHOs came on so I took one more picture without the flash. I love the actinic period when corals like this one glow.