Virtual-tank-tour

This week I had the opportunity to visit a fellow reefer Michele Wronski to pick up a pair of tank-raised clownfish.

Michelle runs a non-profit organization called Oceanis the Inland Reef which focuses on community education on marine life and coral reefs. Michelle teaches and inspires the people of all ages in her community to care for, understand, and respect, the coral reefs. A noble cause.

She's got over 20 tanks and more than 1500 gallons of reefy-goodness. She raises clownfish, bangaii cardinals, and seahorses. Hopefully soon she'll be breeding dragonface pipefish.

Having read the high praise that many people have for Michele on the Boston Reefers Society forums, I was prepared to be impressed. But my expectations were exceeded by the vast variety of fish and corals that Michele cares for in her facility.

Knowing that I was in for a treat, I asked Michele if I could video-tape my visit and she graciously agreed. Michele was a fantastic guide as she took me through her many fish tanks.

In case you don't get the opportunity to get all the way out to Barre, MA (it is worth the trip), here's a sample of the hour-plus that I spent with Michele.

Last night I visited a fellow member of the Boston Reefers Society, Chris. It was a small get together to drink some scotch and swap fish stories, so to speak.

Chris has a 92 gallon corner FOWLR tank in which he's got a big lionfish, a monster wrasse, a cool dogface puffer, a zebra moray eel, a damsel living on borrowed time, and a few others.

A while back, he dropped a clown in the tank which was intended to be food for the lionfish. As Chris tells it, the lionfish tried to eat the clownfish but spit it out.

It chased it around, but something happened and the clownfish was ultimately accepted into fightclub.

Now the clownfish actually hosts in the lionfish's feathery fins. I'm not sure which one is which's bitch, but I caught it on video. Judge for yourself.