Amazing Survivals: What's yours?

[d2mini]

We all hope that whatever we put in our tanks survives for as long as possible, but what do you have in your tank that has survived much longer than you truly expected it to?

My tank got wet in January and since I got all my stuff from TBS, I ended up with a lot of things i probably wouldn't have tried in a brand new tank, and some things that I wouldn't have bought at all. For instance, i got two flame scallops and one of them is still going 7 months later! The first died pretty quickly. Something else I'm surprised about is ALL my stars are still going strong. The huge orange one, the purple serpent and the bristle. I almost lost the purple one after my ac went out and the tank got too hot, but he bounced back. I'm still worried about all these animals, but enjoying the fact that they are still here.

So fess up... what did you add to your tank, either intentionally or not, that you really didn't think was going to make it for long but ended up doing really well?

 

[ggNoRe]

I have a few corals that I counted out for dead and to my amazement survived.

The first, was a zoa frag that was one of my very first corals to ever get. It flew off of it's plug almost as soon as I put it in the tank. Then in a nervous flailing I proceeded to poke and prod it for a good 5-10 minutes until it finally ended up out of sight in the back of my rocks and covered in sand. For days I searched high and low and couldn't find it anywhere until finally a saw a piece of it in one of the hardest places to get to in my tank wedged in the bottom. Had to get my wife with her small hands and a pair of chopstix to pull it out. Then, in an attempt to re-glue it onto a piece of rubble I dropped it on the floor. However, it pulled threw like a champ.

Then there are these two (a ric and a shroom) that when I recieved them they had not taken to 3 day shipping well and were nothing more than pieces of rubble rock in a bag filled with a gooey mess. There wasn't even anything identifiable as a coral to be found. Chunk the pieces of rock in the tank anyways and voila!... weeks later there is signs of life.

 

[Hiker4twenty]

My first dive into keeping SPS. My tank was only running for about 6 months and I knew nothing about SPS or really saltwater for that matter. I went to my first frag swap and was like a kid in a candy store. I bought $300 worth of SPS and took the plunge head first. I had no clue I was supposed to dose my tank or even check for alk, calc and mag. They actually all did quite well and were growing until I started to dose my tank 2 months later. I took my alk up to 14dkh and then all but 2 of the SPS I bought died. 1 was a green porites I got from Larry and the other was a pokerstar monti. The green porites got stunted, but is now growing like crazy and doing well. The pokerstar monti turned brown and stayed that way until 2 months ago. Its bright green and blue again. I'm very surprised they both made it through my SPS learning experience.

 

[wontonflip]

I have a couple of survival stories...
You all know how tough mushrooms are. I had some hitchhike on a rock that my pistol shrimp had hidden when i bought him at the LFS. So the LFS gave me the rock w/ 4 or 5 mushrooms on it. I put it in my 10g, which only had, for lighting, a regular old t8 flouresent light that was 8 watts. I figured they would die off from lack of light. Well, not only did they thrive, but they propagated. Now we have like 15-20. They've recently been moved to the 125g, and placed under a couple of temp t5's until I can get the LEDs up.

Then I have the firefish -- Suspect #1, who bullied the other firefish. Suspect got banished to the 10g. But when I moved him to the 125g, Stumpy turned the tables, and bullied Suspect so much, that at one point a few days after the move, Stumpy was just laying out in the open on the sand, and did not dart off when I nudged him with the fishnet. I left him for dead. He disappeared for 3 weeks. Then out of nowhere, out he popped out, all skinny but very much alive! And ironically, Stumpy, the healthier/fatter one, ended up jumping shortly after. that was a few months ago.

 

[dcantucson]

And ironically, Stumpy, the healthier/fatter one, ended up jumping shortly after. that was a few months ago.

Assisted suicide? Seems suspect.

 

[Wes888]

:shock: :mrgreen:

 

[wontonflip]

Assisted suicide? Seems suspect.

I think maybe Suspect was secretly whispering to Stumpy from the cave...pretending to be god, and telling him that if he jumps high enough, he will achieve the ultimate gift of flight.

 

[PRC]

I've got a favia frag that I bought when I first set up my tank. about 2 weeks after I got it it fell behind the rocks and I couldn't get it without dismantling my rock, so I said screw it, I only paid $10 for it. It wasn't getting any light at all because it was in a cave.

Fast forward 7 months later, when I redid all of my rock in the last month I found it placed it back up on the rock (glued it down) and the thing is going crazy.

It actually got significantly bigger while it was living in the cave. I'm shocked that it made it.

 

[reeffreak]

Everything I read about anthias-high metabolism,short lives.The bartletts and lyretail is still going strong since 2008.

 

[Chris_150G]

I have a purple firefish that is 2 and half years old. A few months ago it disapeared. Not unusual for them to hide out but it was gone for a month and I had assumed it died. All of the sudden one night it just pops out from under the rocks. It was so crazy skinny and ragged that it just looked like a skeleton. Whats funny is that before it went into hiding it was a chicken. When he came out he was a little bad ass. He's pretty much made a come back but no longer ever swims around. He just pops out for food.