Author Archives: Justin Fox

Yesterday I bought a fish I’ve always wanted.

He adds a lot of difference to the tank in the way he swims (love how he glides through the water). He’s not gotten close to cleaning the long standing tank mates. Blue Tang is now king of the tank and last night he was giving the new guy some attitude, so too my flame angel but today they’re all getting along a lot better.

I’ve been worried about keeping one of these fish as I’ve read that they often starve once there’s no more parasites to clean off other fishes. I’ve also read that they tend to harass other fishes once there’s no more parasites left to eat too (due to starving and desperately seeking more food). I had 3 to choose from in the shop (a small shop in Bondi Junction) and I chose the most colourful one as well as the most aggressive (he seemed very insanely happy to greet me up against the glass).

This morning I fed a little flake and he’s eating it at the surface. I just tried a block of mysid and he’s gobbling that up too (phew!). I also just did a water change and he bit my arm! Looks like he’ll be just fine :)

Mia’s a big girl now (well…almost!).

Her adult teeth are poking through!

The salty tank is settling in nicely. Water parameters are pretty stable and I should now be able to get away with just testing the water chemistry once a month (in case I need to make tweaks to my dosing computer).

I bought a couple of small clams (I love clams!) and a purple monti from an online store called Coral Crazy. His online shop looks clean and it was so easy to use (refreshing!). Turns out Andrew (the owner) lives local to me so he even dropped off my order himself and gave me a couple of free frags too. Top guy, super passionate and clearly in it for the love not the money (he’s a sparky by trade). I’m pretty sure I’ll be buying more goodies from him in future!!!

An original watercolor by Albert Namatjira, painted around 1954.

Albert Namatjira (28 July 1902 – 8 August 1959) is perhaps Australia’s best known Aboriginal painter, with his work forming one of the foundations of contemporary Indigenous Australian art.

Christina’s Dad Tony let me at his old tank in 2007. Christina and I managed to turn it from a dark scary algae breeding box into this lovely tank. It’s been doing great but he’s ready to go the next level and I’ve been enlisted to help!

Tony’s goal is to create a tank visually inspired by Albert Namatjira’s Australian landscape paintings. A lot of his work features a tree as a focal point in the foreground (usually far left or right) and blue mountain scapes in the distance. Re-creating the depth of his paintings will be a great challenge.

I say “I” a lot but this really is a team effort. Christina and Tony are in the boat with me and they’re both very much going to be sharing the driving.

A few weeks ago we ordered a 4x2x2 tank from the same guy that has been building tanks since my Dad was around and in business (Adrian from Ingleburn) and it was delivered last Saturday. Same 4ft width as his current tank (it’ll be sitting in the same place), taller but a lot deeper. The extra depth will really help us with trying to achieve the depth found in Namatjira’s paintings.

4x2x2 eurobraced (no glass panel on top to block the light) and super clear starphire glass all round. Like a bathtub. It looks so much bigger than his old tank (because it is!). The depth makes all the difference.

That same Saturday we went rock shopping at Bonsai Environment in Vineyard. Amazing shop with the most ridiculously inspiring bonsai garden, no photos allowed though, such a shame!

The rocks were about $40/rock so we bought a few. We might end up needing less, or more, we’re not sure!

More updates as they come!