R.I.P Lupin

Today I came home to find a horrible sight. The long tentacle plate coral was missing. I had it perched on the top of my highest live rock. It had been there 8 days, and all seemed well. I had noticed the plate had moved a bit, but only once. I had read here that it might move a little. I didn't worry to much. As days went by, it seemed like it was getting happier. It waved a little more, and opened a little wider every day.

The say day I got the long tentacle plate coral, I got a clown fish. From day one, it seemed like my prec was very ill. At first it just sank to the bottom of the tank. The next day it started to swim around, but slowly and awkwardly. It was the third day before he would eat anything. Again, as days went on, he had a little more spark, and ate a little more. Yesterday he was chasing the domino fish around a little.

When i came home today, the first thing I noticed was that the coral was missing. In a 24 gallon tank it didn't take long to find it sitting in the sand behind a rock. And there, in it's grip, was my perc. I had seen the perc laying on a rock at night time before. It isn't odd for it to just sit there for a couple seconds at a time, but this placement was odd. At first I was excited, because it seemed like he had figured out how to host with the coral. It only took me a second to realize that something wasn't right. I grabbed my net to pull them out of the sand.

I pulled the perc away form the coral, and in doing so, noticed that the coral had a mouth(?). I'll spare details because of little eyes that might read this, but the sad fact is that Lupin is no more. I took photos of the coral before it closed it's mouth. I'll upload them soon. I also took photos of lupin so that I can ask Tony more about what happened.

I don't understand. I'm mad, and sad. In the end... I miss my little fishy. And as pretty as it is under the moon light LEDs, I'm mad at my coral. Mad at my coral? That sounds like crazy talk. *sigh*

I think I'm going to give the plate coral back and get a pair of pecs next time.