Ben is recovering nicely! Still not terribly into food, but he’s now wandering around like a cat with a sore mouth, not like an invalid, and managed to sink his claws into Kevin’s ass during medication time this morning. So that’s good! (Except for Kevin, of course.)
I have been prowling the various reef-tank boards, and discover all the fascinating theme tanks people have, some by location (North Atlantic reef) or color (red) or species (zoo corals only, mantis shrimp, clownfish tank, etc) or just general thematic (Finding Nemo* say…)
In the spirit of such things, and to free myself from the need to come up with clever names for invertebrates, I have decided to name my tank Bob.
Everyone in the tank will be named Bob. In the interests of taxonomic ease, we will follow classic Deep South naming conventions. We now have Worm Bob, Bristle Bob, Tube Bob, Copepod Bob (Pod Bob to their friends) and will eventually have Shrimp Bob, Crab Bob, Fish Bob, and Snail Bob. (Actually, I located a Snail Bob last night, by sneaking into the studio at 2 AM with a flashlight. ID hopefully to follow.) Possibly someday there will be an Urchin Bob or a Star Bob. Clam Bob will likely have to wait until a bigger tank, and Eel Bob is a distant dream unlikely to be realized. Shark Bob is right out.
The Ball Bobs, not to be confused with Bob’s Balls — the so far six ball anemones I have located — may or may not be permanent residents. I know for a fact I’m getting rid of the Pest Bobs as soon as possible.
In the event that I ever acquire a sponge, it will be named Frank.
My buddy Otter–who names her fish much more imaginative names, like "Mister Horrible" and "Floyd"–has started up a blog as she gets her 65-gallon tank going. Go on over and take a look!
Digital Clownfish
*As far as I can tell, this one makes most of the other aquarists cringe. Sort of like getting Dalmation puppies and naming them after the Disney movie, when you see a clownfish named Nemo and a tang named Dory, one is forced to ask "Do you REALLY know what you’re getting into here?")
