That Fish Blog – Aquarium Advice and Information

After Jose’s blog in May about some of our coworker’s mishaps and misadventures, I’ve been badgered and teased (again) about what we refer to around here as “the eel incident”, one of my own prize foibles that Jose had forgotten when he wrote his blog. Since he wants to tell all of you anyway, here it is in my words….

Along the back wall of our fish room, we have two large coral tanks side-by-side. Now they are coral tanks, but at the time of this incident, we used them for particularly large or aggressive saltwater fish. In the smaller tank on the right, we had a green moray eel affectionally known as Captain who was about three feet long. The other tank had another eel that was about four feet long and was from the old incarnation of our 700 gallon display tank where it used to live with a huge Bumblebee Grouper named Buzz. That eel wasn’t named, so I’ll refer to it as eel B. Read More »

About 70% of our planet is covered with water. Since the other 30% is currently fixated on the ongoing World Cup competition in South Africa, why should the piscean players not get involved as well?  It was interesting to me as a fish hobbyist to find the following happenings in media from around the world…check out the links to read/see more!

Looking for some help figuring out your spread and who will win the next bracket? Ask Paul. Paul has gotten his last four predictions right. Paul will never lead you astray. Oh, by the way, Paul is an octopus. The 2-year-old British expatriate most recently predicted that his new German home team will defeat his old English hometeam on Saturday. So, Paul, who’s gonna take the Cup (and what are my lucky lottery numbers)? Read More »

A few hundred years ago, people in Western cultures like 16th century England often drank very little water. Because of untreated sewage draining into water sources and contamination in rivers, other beverages like beer and wine were actually preferred as safer choices. As technology and our understanding of health and technology advanced, we came up with more ways to purify our water sources. At the start of the start of the 19th century, a scientist named William Cumberland Cruikshank found that chlorine would purify water by killing microbes and bacteria like the notorious E. coli. Chlorine is still used in most developed countries to make drinking water safe and chloramine, a combination of chlorine and ammonia is starting to overtake even this old standard. Read More »

Footprint

This is more than just the actual size of the aquarium. Obviously, a 180 gallon tank would make a poor desktop aquarium just as a 10 gallon tank would be an inadequate room divider. Measurements aside, it is important to also consider how much weight the floor can support, particularly if you’re considering a large tank on any floor with open space beneath. In the 19^th century house I live in, I’m fairly certain that a large tank would go straight through the floor and end up in the basement. Some apartment complexes won’t even allow larger aquariums, especially on upper stories. A gallon of water weighs a little over 8 lbs, so water weight in addition to substrate and ornamentation can spell disaster on a weak floor. Saltwater aquariums are also generally going to be heavier than freshwater aquariums – the salt in the water and live rock used in most tanks increases the weight. Read More »

Some of the most interesting animals in aquariums can be the ones we never knew we had.  Aquarists often turn to the internet in trying to figure out what some unidentified thing in their aquarium is and where it came from. One of my favorite unexpected hitchhikers is the Stomatella Snail.

Stomatella Snails look like and are often mistaken for several other organisms like Limpets, Nudibranchs (sea slugs), or Abalone Snails but they are actually more closely related to Turbo and Margarita Snails. Stomatella’s only grow to just over an inch in length and have a small, flat shell on the top of their body. They actually don’t fully withdraw into their shell like other more traditional snails. This external shell and small operculum (the “trapdoor”) on the back of their foot separate them from the Nudibranchs and sea slugs, and the lack of “holes” and openings in the shell separate them from the Limpets and Abalones. Read More »