Tyler/East Texas Reefers

[AquariaOCD]

Hi Japheth.

I'll add you to my list. That's five of us in the area. I'll try to keep the thread bumped up in hopes that we'll get some more responses! Nice to hear from you.

Kameron

[Japheth]

I know of at least one more person in east texas (Diana) that has two reef tanks. I just talked with him two nights ago and he's going to see about getting me some frags in a month or so.
He might be interested also.
I could also see about having my LFS post something and see if there is any interest.

[jeepguy553]

I am originally from Shreveport, but I live in Corpus Christi now. I'd be in for a club if possible.

[AquariaOCD]

Great Japheth!

The more, the merrier. What LFS do you have in Longview?

Kameron

[AquariaOCD]

Jeepguy-

I'll put you on the list. Man, you're a long way from home in Corpus!

Kameron

[Japheth]

in longview it's Wet Pets and Critters, they have a pretty good SW section. I'm in there about 2-3 times a week if not buying then just looking
The owners there are really nice.

Then there is also a petco but I've pretty much given up on them. I still stop by occaisonally but am always disappointed.

[AquariaOCD]

We're limited to Petland. Good people, but not much selection. The SW stuff stays pretty well cleaned out. Let me know how putting up a sign works out over there.

Kameron

[Japheth]

Originally posted by AquariaOCD
We're limited to Petland. Good people, but not much selection. The SW stuff stays pretty well cleaned out. Let me know how putting up a sign works out over there.

Kameron

Yeah, I noticed that, my wife and I decided to go to all the pet stores in tyler that said (on switchboard.com) that they sold SW stuff, Petland was the only one that actually did. We ended up getting two chromis, 4 hermits and some live rock from there.
Then we decided that Longview actually had better selection than tyler. That was a first, lol.

[Japheth]

Petland is actually where I first learned about ReefCentral. I ended up talking with someone in there that refered me to it. And I've been hooked ever since.

[jeepguy553]

Originally posted by AquariaOCD
Man, you're a long way from home in Corpus!

You better believe it. Try driving from CC to S'port at Thanksgiving with kids in the car. Can you say insanity? I ended up down here with the Navy and hung around for school and a job. I think it was a good decision so far.
Anyway, I'll do what I can from this end. I don't get up there much.

[AquariaOCD]

Wow, maybe I should drive over to Longview!!!!!! It may have been my buddy Shannon that hooked you up on RC. He got me started here. The best time to hit Petland is Wednesday (every other) that's when they get their shipments of livestock in.

[AquariaOCD]

Originally posted by jeepguy553
You better believe it. Try driving from CC to S'port at Thanksgiving with kids in the car. Can you say insanity? I ended up down here with the Navy and hung around for school and a job. I think it was a good decision so far.
Anyway, I'll do what I can from this end. I don't get up there much.

You'll get tired of lounging around on the beach sooner or later.

How is the island right now? I may try to go down the end of this month.

[beamer]

AquariaOCD, I also like Dagmar, but why not talk with the owners, Robin and Dave. They are friends of mine and are great people to work with and are very knowledgable where fish are concerned. In case you didn't know it they usually get their shipment of SW fish in on Tues. I think they can pretty much order you anything you want. I havent asked but on other pet products they have always told me if you don't see it we'll try and get it for you. I buy everything that I can from them except for the more expensive items like Tunze Streams, Mag 7 , etc, etc.

If my tank guy from Dallas flakes out on me Dave will be the one to come out to help me break down my tank in order to replace the sand bed and move it down the wall a bit. (I shouldn't have put it in front of the AC return. Things are rusting up now)

I have a brand new sump that Marc built for me (Melevs Reef) that will need to be plumbed in and Dave will be doing all of that too plus some other stuff.

Nemo, I bought an existing tank from a guy in Cedar Hills and had it moved here. You can find some good deals through DFWMAS (Dallas Ft Worth Marine Aquarium Society), and also TARE -Tx aquarium Reef Enthusiast.
Dave and Robin at Pet Land can get you pretty much anything you would want and come out and install it for you. Its always nice having a warranty. I actually wish I had started off new. I didn't know the one I bought had a crack in the upper corner. Of course that may have occurred through moving it but if it had been bought new then the warranty would cover it. I'm sure they can also help you to locate a used one if that is what you want. They may have a warranty on it as well since it would be coming through them. They are good , hard working, honest people.

Good luck!

Cindy

[jeepguy553]

Right now the island is pretty much dead. All the summer tourists have left the island to make way for the worst kind of tourists...WINTER TEXANS.
If you make it this way, let me know. I'll help you get some fish for your tank like I did. I used a castnet to pull some fish out of Aransas Bay in Rockport. If my boss will allow it, I'll take you to the shrimp mariculture facility and show you some LARGE "aquariums" with experimental shrimp in them and the unlimited supply of ultra-filtered, polished natural seawater from the Gulf of Mexico.
...and no...I don't think I could ever get tired of lounging around on the beach.

[AquariaOCD]

Cindy-

I've heard a lot about Robin and Dave, I just am never lucky enough to bump into them. Dave has made my buddy several excellent deals on livestock and has taken care of fish that have had problems for him (irregardless of the no warranty on salt water policy). There is definitely something to be said for that. Reefers as a whole seem to be a great bunch of people (as long as there are no politics involved)!

NOW I KNOW WHO HAS BEEN BEATING ME TO THE GOOD LIVESTOCK........................................................GRRRRRRRRRRR.

I'll have to start going in a day earlier!

Thanks for the info.

[AquariaOCD]

Originally posted by jeepguy553
Right now the island is pretty much dead. All the summer tourists have left the island to make way for the worst kind of tourists...WINTER TEXANS.
If you make it this way, let me know. I'll help you get some fish for your tank like I did. I used a castnet to pull some fish out of Aransas Bay in Rockport. If my boss will allow it, I'll take you to the shrimp mariculture facility and show you some LARGE "aquariums" with experimental shrimp in them and the unlimited supply of ultra-filtered, polished natural seawater from the Gulf of Mexico.
...and no...I don't think I could ever get tired of lounging around on the beach.

Cooool. I might take you up on that. I got some great warty anemones, porcelain crabs, and conches off of Bolivar peninsula a couple of months back. If you have a jetty around there, it should be loaded with anemones, too.

I can already hear the "don't put things from the ocean" police headed this way..................................................................

I'd never get tired of hanging out on the beach either. I just hate it when the sand starts creeping into all those.....uh.....difficult.......
places after camping for a day or two.

[beamer]

Can't blame it on me! When I bought my tank it came fully stocked with LS,160 lbs of LR, 20 + fish and coral on every rock. In fact, Dave said he wouldn't sell me any that I was too overstocked as it was. I did finally buy a BTA baby which split just the other day, and yesterday I bought a couple of skunk shrimp. As far as live stock goes that is it so you'll have to blame someone else!

Dave and Robin had some really pretty Flame Angels in and a really ugly Dog face puffer fish. Looks more like a pig to me. They had a couple of small Nasos and some Angel fish and a few pieces of pretty coral. I don't remember what else he got in, I was in a hurry.

Dont' go in too early on Tues, I believe they have to go to Dallas to pick up the fish, or maybe they pick them up on monday and have them out by tues. I'll find out. I would think that late Tues afternoon (by the way, they now close at 8:00 instead of 9:00) or early wed morning would be fine. They had a georgeous , huge, Naso tang the other week that I would have loved to have. I guarantee you would have loved this one too. It wound up going to someone in Athens.

Cindy

[AquariaOCD]

I'm not sure what the deal is with puffers. You always see them in there - coming and going. Must be some fish only people in the area. I hope they aren't getting plopped into twenty gallon tanks. That was a huge Naso. I don't have anything near big enough for as big as that fish was. He was a sight! I'm not sure that "Honey.....(lip poked out).....I need a bigger tank" would go real well at the moment. :-)

[beamer]

Aquaria,

All you have to do is gradually show your honey pics of what you would like to have or better show her what someone else has in the hobby that you like.. Tell her that its fun just looking and see what other people are doing. Get talking. Get her involved with it so that she doesn't feel threatened while you are talking about other peoples tanks. While going to fish stores or looking at pets ask her which fish she like and why, and also which coral. Don't buy any fish. You could say , yea honey, that is a beautiful fish, etc. but because of ....it would need a larger tank. So now there is something that she would like but now she can't have it. Get her educated on the hobby. The more educated she is the harder she will fall for the hobby. The info is so awesome. Start doing your research on what you would like to have and why. Certainly after your talking and your educating her you know she would like such, and such so therefore you would need that new 200 gl tank with all of the extras to house that such and such that she would like. This may take a little while. After all you are doing it for her aren't you. Yea-right! Meanwhile, start standing in front of a mirror practicing that -lip poked out look. When it looks pretty darn convincing to you and she's talking pretty freely with you about the hobby , then try it on her.

It works almost everytime my husband pulls it on me. Right now he's wanting a big cat for the house. I mean like half domestic and half wild cat weighing around 30-40 pounds. He keeps showing me the pics of how cute the kittens are (and they are)and what beautiful cats they make and he asks me to look up such and such web site for him that has these cats so he can show me more pics. I told him in the beginning absolutely not. He said "Don't worry, I'm not going to buy one" But he keeps on and on and now that I've learned a little more about them they sound pretty interesting and would be neat to have. He talks with me about it so soft and soothing that before I know it I'm hooked. I'm trying to be strong. But see what I mean? Try it, it just might work for you. A few flowers every now and then wouldn't hurt either. Of course then she might suspect that you are up to something!

Good luck! Let me know what you think about my idea.

Cindy

[SE TX HYDROPONICS]

hey...if y'all ever get a club up and running i sure would like to take a road trip up there to meet some of you folks....i live down here in beaumont, but 59 sure is a nice drive in the fall and there is a bbq resturant in carthage i have been wanting to go back to...

[AquariaOCD]

Cindy,

It's not that she wouldn't let me have what I want, but we've got a baby due in February so my main focus is remodeling a room for the baby. Between that, work, and trying to get my 180 gal going there's no way I could think of a bigger tank. It would be nice, though.

The wife loves the tank. She thinks it's great. I've got a dottyback that is her buddy. The only thing she doesn't like is the emerald crab in my 37 gal. I think it's the hairy legs that bother her. Must be a girl thing!

I've got the pouty lip thing down to an art. Works every time!
Kameron

[AquariaOCD]

SE TEX-

I'll put you on the list, too. If we can get something going - I'll definitely let you know!

Thanks,
Kameron

[jeepguy553]

Originally posted by AquariaOCD
Cooool. I might take you up on that. I got some great warty anemones, porcelain crabs, and conches off of Bolivar peninsula a couple of months back. If you have a jetty around there, it should be loaded with anemones, too.

Yep! It sure is. My Texas warty anemone came off the jetties. There are all sorts of neat little critters on the jetties that are perfect for a tank. My 10-gal is a native species tank for the moment. I should have the 89-gal tank today or tomorrow. That is going to be my reef tank after I move...again.

Originally posted by AquariaOCD
I can already hear the "don't put things from the ocean" police headed this way..................................................................

Me too. The water we make at the mariculture facility is cleaner than the water coming from your tap.

Originally posted by AquariaOCD
I'd never get tired of hanging out on the beach either. I just hate it when the sand starts creeping into all those.....uh.....difficult.......
places after camping for a day or two.

Agreed. My wife and family and I spend several weekends out of each summer camping on the Padre Island National Seashore. I think we bring back a measurable fraction of the beach each time we come home.

[jeepguy553]

FOr all of you puffer fish people...we have several species of puffers on the Port Aransas jetties here. One that is very common is the striped burrfish. They get a little large for a small tank, but for something 90-gallons or larger, they would be fine IMO.

[AquariaOCD]

Jeepguy-

I read somewhere that they use warty anemones in the manufacture of antihistamines. Any idea if they aquaculture the anemones or are they harvesting them from the gulf? (since you are in the mariculture business)

K.