Bunch of pictures...

gflat65 · Aug 20, 2007

It's been a while and I've got a new lens coming in soon, so I am holding on to only a few things to blame

. These aren't the greatest, but without a tripod, I get a ton of camera shake. I'm still going to use the lens as a crutch. My wife was pushing for the non macro option for her own use, arguing that I would have the same resolution due to the range-why wouldn't it be as good

. I told her no problem, but I have to be able to get the macro if this one does not meet my wants

. I'll likely be ordering a macro soon

.

Fishies. Here are some of the clowns from Matt from the Chattanooga swap. I got four pair and a single cinnamon (to try to pair with my wife's Cinnamon). Don't have pics of them all, but they are all doing well.

gflat65 · Aug 20, 2007

See spot swim. I couldn't resist on some leopard wrasses (was supposed to get some bipartitus, too, but only got meleagris). I didn’t realize these guys can get so big... The big ones stayed in the sand for 8 days before coming out. I've got a large and small in each the 120 and 125 (haven't seen the big guy in the 120 in a few days...).

Here's the little guy in the 125.

Oh yeah. There are no tulip anemones, bubble alage, hair algae, or Aiptasia. It is all a filament of your figmentation

. Everyone is happy and colorful, so I'm not too concerned yet, but I'm hoping that finishing the tank room will help get some of this under control. The algae gives pods plenty of places to hide for the wrasses to pick off, so I'm trying a life of bliss through imposed ignorance

.

Here my solarensis hanging out in front of the left overs from the frag swap. With the leopard wrasses, I have to keep the sand bed clear, so hanging made the most sense...

gflat65 · Aug 20, 2007

Some coral shots with actinics mixed in.
New blasto (not sure what's going on with the center polyp)

Actinic
http://s26.photobucket.com/albums/c131/gflat65/?action=view&current=actinic-sunrise-blasto.jpg[/IMG]

Neon green Stylo

Actinic

Purple tipped acro

Actinic

Pink and green yuma (the adults are more blue as a base, unless these are two different types-time will tell).

Stick polyps (Acrozoanthus?)

gflat65 · Aug 20, 2007

Aquamarine tort

gflat65 · Aug 20, 2007

Azurel · Aug 20, 2007

Great pics Gary.....

msman825 · Aug 20, 2007

nice shoots

edwing206 · Aug 20, 2007

Love the leopards. Hows about a FTS?

JGoslee · Aug 20, 2007

Nice pics. The tank looks great! How big is the leopard wrasse?

gflat65 · Aug 21, 2007

Thanks everyone

.

I'll have to work on FTS. I've not had much come out clear (seems to kinda blur the contents).

The big leopard is about 5" long (maybe a tad longer). The smaller one is about 3" long. I saw the big boy in the 120 last night, too, so he's still lumbering around. He's roughly the same size as the one in the shots.

JGoslee · Aug 21, 2007

I didn't know they got that big. I have a small 3" one in my 90gal. I thought he was full grown.

gflat65 · Aug 21, 2007

I was surprised when I first saw it. I'd already commited to it, so it came home, but wow. Wasn't ready for that. I feel bad for the one in the 120. It seems like it doesn't have much room to swim. I sketched up an L shaped 450 gallon last night that would fit perfectly in the places of my 120, 125, and 22. The wife laughed at me. Not a hearty laugh. More of an evil sneering laugh...

revhtree · Aug 21, 2007

Looking good man!!!

Azurel · Aug 21, 2007

Those wrasses reef safe?

surfn · Aug 21, 2007

so what kind of lens were you shooting with in those pics? and what kind of lens are you going to get?

also, did you say there were two different species of leopard wrasses? i really want to get one.....but at 5"......YIKES!!

gflat65 · Aug 21, 2007

They haven't caused any issues so far. Macropharyngodon sp. are pretty peaceful, from all accounts. My C. solarensis looked extremely interested in peppermint shrimp, but haven't caught him nipping.

This is with the kit lens (18-55). I went with auto settings in sports mode. Seemed to work best for wrasses that don't stop swimming... I'm getting the 70-200mm L IS and a bunch of other things. I told her to expect me to buy the macro lens very shortly afterward. She was pushing for the monster lens (she is a bird stalker), so I figured I'd strike while the iron was hot

. She lost her job Friday (Countrywide Home Loans closed a number of branches since they took out something like $10B in loans from 20 different companies or something crazy like that). Not sure what that means for my macro lens now...

Those are all of one species of leopard. M. meleagris. I was supposed to get some M. bipartitus (much more colorful), but it wasn't in the cards. They don't ship well and I think people give up on them too early. My big boys were under the sand for 8-10 days before coming out. They have to adjust to time changes, as well as shipping. If shippers would ship in a few inches of sand for the wrasse to hide, I think they'd do better. My little ones were out within the first three days, but the big ones took a bit longer (I'd written them off).

surfn · Aug 21, 2007

ahhhh.....so she's a bird stalker.....yeah, those lenses are pretty darn expensive!

yeah, the 70-200mm L IS is a solid lens...i doubt you'll ever need to upgrade from that unless you get VERY specialized. i really should have gone with that lens to get the IS. i'm not impressed at all with the camera shake at F4 on my 70-200mm L in lower light conditions. but i guess i'll have to make it do for sometime.

the next lens i buy will probably be to replace my kit lens....i'm really torn b/w these 2 lenses.

24-105mm f/4L IS USM AF
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/397662-USA/Canon_0344B002_24_105mm_f_4L_IS_USM.html

24-70mm f/2.8L USM AF
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/264304-USA/Canon_8014A002_Zoom_Wide_Angle_Telephoto_EF.html

I also use my kit lens to take fish pics, and i also go hand held. Instead of using full auto mode.......try this instead.

Flip over to TV mode. Then use that little black dial to up the shutter spead to about 1/1000. Then increase your to around 200-800. That should hook you up with some pretty good pics and allow you to get closer to the fish, without any blurring.

gflat65 · Aug 26, 2007

Got a few more fish pics today.

Here's the big meleagris in the 125.

Here is one I haven't ID'd yet. It was in the sand for four weeks and just came out earlier this week. The big meleagris has been bullying it, but not too bad. It only stays out for an hour or so right now.

C. solarensis (slighly beter shot than before).

A couple of gobies I got from Mimi (a girl from our local club that is now in Pa doing residency).

Here are some Palythoa's. These are what I always thought of as paly's before being educated. Not much color to them (which is likely why you don;t see them all that often), but stereotypical growth form of the old school Paly sp. train of thought. Size is not a factor, as many think. These are much smaller than any PE type zoa.