Glofish

Bought a glofish a couple days ago for one of my desk vases. The glofish is a genetic creation, a neon bright zebra danio that glows in the dark. The fish was created by splicing its genes with the genome of a fluorescing jellyfish. At night, under a black light, the fish resembles a pink glowstick.

Obviously, there is some serious controversy surrounding this "franken-fish." What I found interesting was the fact the fish was created by accident -- a researcher wanted to better highlight the organs of a zebra danio for study, and he used the genes of a jellyfish to reach this ends. The fish itself being neon and glowing was only a side effect.

Since its creation, the fish has been used to study water pollution. Only very recently has it been available to the private sector for recreational use.

I hope the fish does well in the vase and I'll keep the blog posted.

- J
J

Mandarin update

I've updated on the mandarin. Please see here.

Josh
http://joshday.com

Attack of bristle worms

I lost one of my sexy shrimp the other day for the reef vase during a molt. A bristle worm attacked the shrimp and began to eat it from the inside-out while it was trying to breek free from its old skeleton. The worm, other shrimp, and crab made short order of the body; which was good cause i had no desire to take out all the rock to get it.

Bought the last two shrimp at the store, bringing the total to 3 now in the vase. Fed some mysis today and noticed two bristle worms on the glass when I turned off the powerhead. Not good. I'm going to feed twice a week now, and hopefully that will keep the worms away when the shrimp molt.

There are probably a hundred small cerith snails in the main nano. I added one to the vase just for kicks.

The GSP is almost fully back to its old self--however, the zoanthids are still looking rough. The increased current is helping but not as much as I'd like. I really don't know why they are floundering when the GSP and mushrooms are thriving.

- Josh
http://joshday.com

National Disaster

I haven't blogged in a while. It hasn't been due to nothing happening in my aquatic spectrum--on the contrary, I currently have two little sexy shrimp in my reef vase, I've shut down the frog tank and moved the frogs to the 3 gallon eclipse system in the bathroom, and my ten gallon reef tank is having a cyano problem only now, through large water changes, I believe I'm getting under control.

I'm going to depart from the purpose of this blog, which is to discuss fish keeping, and talk about something that faces all of us.

The hurricane that hit the gulf last week decimated the city I was born in, New Orleans, LA. Looking at satellite imagery, you can indeed see that more than 80% of the city and surrounding metro area is submerged in water. This info can be found here:

AP Satellite data

And a more detailed look of the city, as well as the area the hurricane has devastated, can be found here:

http://ngs.woc.noaa.gov/katrina/KATRINA0000.HTM

(I recommend downloading the free program Google Earth and playing NSA for a moment to get a bearing on what you're looking at before you examine the above link.)

I lived in Metairie, a part of Jefferson Parish, and we lived in walking distance of the 1-10 and the now infamous 17th street canal. We moved out in 1995 after our house was flooded with two inches of water in a mere tropical depression. I used to ride my bike along the jogging path atop the levee of the canal, and I used to bike while my dad jogged from our house in Metairie all the way to UNO on the lakefront.

We'd leave the house and head south to the 1-10 or north to Veterans, and then follow it east to the levee that separated in part Jefferson Parish from Orleans Parish. We ran along our side until we came to vetarans, and then we'd cross over to the east side of the levee, which is where the canal broke and flooded the city. I remember biking through tall grass past apartment buildings and expensive housing, and thinking that all now is under water is disquieting, if I can even find a word.

What's stunning is seeing my old house dry when 80% of the city is under water, our house and street that flooded when most of the city didn't even get wet.

Most of Old Metairie, the upperclass neighborhood with mansions and oak tree-lined streets, is flooded in a couple feet of water. My old school, Country Day, looks to be under several feet from the satellite imagery, and may have been under a lot more at high tide of the flood.

And this is nothing compared to what the rest of the parish and New Orleans got.

Here is a website where you can help in the relief of this disaster...

http://www.networkforgood.org/topics/animal_environ/hurricanes/

Right now the organizations are calling for monetary donations as their most needed form of relief.

I do not recommend donating anything to the Red Cross. After 9-11, the Red Cross organized a huge blood campaign and millions of Americans as well as internationals put on their garlic necklaces and donated some of their blood to this corrupt, vampiric organization. Nearly all of this blood was squandered and flushed down the toilet (burned, rather). Check out this story for more information.

There are also claims of the Red Cross causing as much problems as FEMA with the relief effort. Check this link for the story.

In the coming days and weeks, I really believe the federal government and the ruling administration will pay for its crimes of neglect, ineptitude, and squandering of resources that WERE IN PLACE TO GUARD AGAINST THIS SCENARIO in regards to Katrina. This is about accountability, not politics.

The facts speak for themselves.