The Simple Pleasures

[Playfair]

Sometimes this hobby gets overwhelming and we should all take a step back to remember the little exciting things that made spending all the time and money worth it...

For me, the most memorable was the day that a cleaner shrimp hopped on my submerged hand and started forging for dead skin cells or something... I was scared to death, but it was SO cool!

And if touching that first slimy coral wasn't enough, how about the first "snap" of an sps frag?

Anyone have an experience that made you say, "Now, that was worth five grand!"

[freakyreef]

Not 5 grand. But what about the first hitchiker (good hitchiker that is) that you saw climb out of the rock. The first batch of hatched anything.

[Six]

All my experiences have been priceless. Like the first time I saw Aiptasia and I thought it was a hitchiker coral. So I started target feeding it. Then I looked up online and found out it was bad. lol oh boy was that priceless. Then the time I got a hairycrab hitchhiker and it freaked me out cuz I saw somethin movin in the rock. I find out somethin new every day. And thats what I enjoy :)

[MrSandman]

Seeing the look on my nephew's face every time he sits on a stool in front of the tank staring into it and yelling....Nemo! Cram! Pawrips! Snayew! Cwab! Makes it all worth it.

[jimroth]

My SPS tank is near a first floor window. Once it was set up right, things took off and corals started growing, One day I was out in the front yard in deep snow, and I looked through the window and I could see the A. Tortuosa and bali slimer branches growing in there, that was a really neat feeling somehow.
I still like to stand in the snow outside and look at the tank from the back, when the world outside is all monochrome, and my tank is full of purple, and orange, and green.

[Wazzel]

Coming home from work and having 3 BTA's instead on just the two you "tucked in" the night before. Counting the heads on a branching LPS and having twice what you started with. Sitting on the couch with my kids enjoying the "view". All worth the $$$$$ in my opinion.

[JPerkins]

Simple pleasure: watching the skimmer work heh.

[Lil' Reefette]

The first time I saw my percula swimming in my hammer coral. I've waited months for the little guy to find a host.

[Vert20]

Simple pleasure:

Having a Copperband Butterfly thriving in your tank, and then hand feeding it mysis. That folks, it a rush!

[Donkeykong]

Having all your days stress and trouble fade away to nothing as you get lost in your little chunk of the ocean.

[TippyToeX]

When my clowns spawned. Not many people that I know are that into reef tanks. So there is no one to tell me "Good job, keep it up!"
When I saw those clown eggs it felt like a big pat on the back, that I was doing something right. I felt very proud and knew that every penny I sank into that tank was worth it. :thumbsup:

[Wilafur]

i dig the soothing sound of the water movement.

[Whisperer]

Watcing peppermint shrimps hitch hike on the snails back near the water surface when we had the power outage...that's instinct to stay with me, that's priceless.

[cdgrover]

I agree with DonkeyKong- having all you worries and tension gone when you get home and take your 9 month old daughter in your arms and sit and watch your tank w/ her. One of the most awsome feelings in the world!!

[mdhyde]

MY best was when a feather Duster spawned in my tank. This was like 10+ years ago when reef tanks weren't so popular and places like reefcentral did not exsist.

I came home to see it writhing and looking as though something was wrong. It then began "spitting" out little sticks every few minutes.

I described this to the LFS guy who asked me if I read that somewhere. He then said he has never heard of it happening in a tank before, but that I described the process to a tee.

That was a Proud Pappa moment!!! (legal note: I do not have sex with that feather duster..........) :D

[ri]

Just staring in to the tank, refugium or the sump.

Also, my baby Banggai Cardinalfish.

ri

[lexusboy]

I love just looking into the tank and forgeting everything else that is going on in the world. Also looking at the mini brittle stars in the fuge!

[skippy2]

Having my shrimp clean my hand is just soooo cool. Last night, my shy goby ate out of my hand. That, my friends, was so worth it all. And, as somebody else on this board said: "pod watching at 3 am--priceless

[Agu]

Being asked to host a friends daughters 10 year birthday party so all her friends could see the pretty fish and corals. It was the daughters request. We hosted the birthday party :) .

Helping my daughter prepare for a junior high marine biology test by studying the marine animals in my tank with her. She got an A+.

Best of all, getting my first free frag and realizing the power to create a community with like minded hobbyists. The people I've met through the hobby are a greater gift than any aquarium.

Agu

[joshuak]

Watching baby snails grow.
When I put my face up to the tank and
my tang and clown come to say hi.
Seeing bubbles come up through the sand.
Peanut worms. How cool are they!

Josh

[glaudds]

Having two teenage sons who always think their parents are unhip say " Your tank is the coolest one we've ever seen."
One of them is even getting interested in starting a nano in his room and is reading my copies of Tullock's and Borneman's books.

[JAYDEE]

i love putting my goggles and snorkle on, submerging my head in the tank, and pretending im exploring the great barrier reef!!!
:hmm5: :fish1:

[glaudds]

Originally posted by JAYDEE
i love putting my goggles and snorkle on, submerging my head in the tank, and pretending im exploring the great barrier reef!!!
:hmm5: :fish1:

LOL! That has to be a funny sight!:D

[Ilia]

For me it would have to be meeting all the great people who have become my friends and friends of the family. Also having adults come over to the house for dinner and they end up watching my RBTA with it's clown for hours.

How about watching your first frag start to encrust or getting stung by a bristleworm and thinking that it's poisonous.

Ilia

[technoshaman]

Just sitting in front of my reef and zoning out - there is always something going on. I traded my TV about a year ago for some frags and other reef stuff and don't miss it in the least - reefing is more interesting.

[BlAcK_PeRcUlA]

Coming home to see my black ocellaris in my rose after months.:)

[Spartan]

Having a slice of the tropics when there's 2 feet of snow outside.

[Project Reef]

Originally posted by Spartan
Having a slice of the tropics when there's 2 feet of snow outside.

Although there's no snow here in Southern Cali, the simple fact that you have a tiny piece of some exotic reef within your home does it for me.

Amazing.

[metamorphis]

How the tank looks right after a long overdo algae scraping and water change.

[deansreef]

Watching my daughter trying to clean the glass and saying "fishies" :D

[GarSrtn]

Everything about the tank makes it worth it, imo.

Things I like the most: sending time with the kids looking at the tank, finding things that I didn't put into the tank, seeing my corals grow and split.