That Fish Blog – Aquarium Advice and Information

Melissa here. When you think of fish that are swimming around in the ocean, most people think of clownfish and damsels swimming around through the tentacles of anemones with corals and live-rock creating the backdrop of that picture perfect image. Ever wonder what is out beyond the reef? There are many awesome creatures that lurk around in the middle of nowhere, far away from the beautiful reef. One of these awesome fish is the Ocean Sunfish, or Mola Mola. Ocean sunfish are the largest known bony fish, weighing in on average 2,000 lbs for an adult. One of the largest Ocean sunfish ever recorded weighed nearly 5,000 lbs!

Ocean sunfish are usually seen near the surface in open water, swimming upright or on their side soaking up the rays or the sun like a large solar panel. Don’t let their position side fool you into thinking they are sick. It is theorized that they “sun” themselves to warm up from a deep dive. It is known that they also spend a great deal of time below 200 meters. That is quite a ways down.

Ocean sunfish are among the strangest looking fish. The posterior half of their body appears to be cut short. They do not have a caudal fin, instead they have clavus which is an extension of their dorsal and anal fin rays. The fish is laterally compressed, looking like a large oval with a paddle shaped fin on the top and bottom. Their skin is like gritty sandpaper covered in a mucus layer that can be as thick as 5 cm. They are also loaded with internal and external parasites (there is a link at the end if you would like to see the list of parasites that cover the ocean sunfish). Juveniles resemble puffers with their large pectoral fins, a tail fin and body spines that are uncharacteristic of adult sunfish.
Their diet consists mainly of jellyfish, squid, crustaceans, small fish, and lots of zooplankton. As its diet suggests, the Ocean sunfish feed across the ocean depths, from the surface to deeper waters, and in some areas, even the ocean floor. You can only imagine how much food these fish must eat on a daily basis to sustain themselves! They are very difficult to keep for long periods of time in captivity, even in the largest system, so Ocean sunfish are not seen in many public aquariums, but there are a few that have taken on the challenge of keeping them on display. The Kaiyukan Aquarium in Osaka, Japan and The Oceanario in Lisbon, Portugal both have Ocean sunfish on display. In the United States, The Monterey Bay Aquarium is the only one to house a mola mola. The longest known ocean sunfish in captivity made it 10 years. In the wild, they can live 100 years or so. Their growth rate is still undetermined, but a young Mola Mola at the Monteray Bay Aquarium went from a slim 57 lbs to 879 lbs in a mere 15 months. It also sprouted to a height of nearly 1.8m. Fattened up on a diet of squid, fish and prawns, this fish had to be airlifted out by helicopter and released into the bay after outgrowing its tank.
It is generally accepted that ocean sunfish larvae will become millions of times bigger during their life cycle. As you can see, this is definitely not a fish you would find at That Fish Place, but you might come across it while scuba diving, so keep your eye out. Ocean Sunfish are found in both temperate and tropical waters. A lot that remains unknown about the secret lives of ocean sunfish!
Here are some great websites about ocean sunfish: http://oceansunfish.org/ has a fun map showing sightings of ocean sunfish
http://www.earthwindow.com/mola.html has awesome pictures of ocean sunfish.
http://www.oceansunfish.org/lifehistory.html this site has a list of parasites that have been found on ocean sunfish.

Image referenced from Wikipedia.

Desiree and I have both shared some of our favorite aquarium websites and virtual reference, but what about those times when you want a real, live, glossy-paged, paper-cut-compatible BOOK? Well, just in time for the holiday shopping and wish list season, here are a few of our favorites of those, too.

• Dr. Axelrod’s Atlas of Freshwater Aquarium Fishes and Dr. Burgess’s Atlas of Marine Aquarium Fishes
• These two books are some of the classic tomes of aquarium fishes. Both contain literally thousands of species of fish as well as some basic information about each one. These books won’t help with aquarium-related details, but they are must-haves for identification and sheer volume of the animals covered.
• Pocket Expert Guides (Reef Aquarium Fishes and Marine Fishes, both by Scott W. Michael, and Marine Invertebrates by Dr. Ronald L. Shimek)
• This series is one of my personal favorites. Compact in size, but certainly not in information, these books are written with the aquarist in mind. They each contain well over 400 species of animals with detail on care, compatibility, aquarium suitability, maximum size, minimum tank size and other pertinent information. It’s a great series to take to the fish store with you for a quick reference on your new purchases.
• “The Simple Guide” and “Super Simple Guide”series
• This is the perfect series for new aquarists and is one of the first we tend to recommend when someone mentions “I’m thinking about starting a _______ aquarium”. The information is presented in a way that isn’t overwhelming to new aquarists and provides a complete view without getting too bogged down in scientific equations and technical terms. No matter what type of aquarium you have or are thinking about getting, there is probably a Simple Guide for it.
• Reef Invertebrates: An Essential Guide to Selection, Care and Compatibility, by Anthony Calfo and Robert Fenner
• I think we are currently on our…fourth?…copy of this book in our Fish Room because our employees wear it out reading and re-reading it during their lunches and free time. Lots of information about a wide range of invertebrates. A good read for “Reef” and “Fish-only” aquarists alike.
• Corals: A Quick Reference Guide, by Julian Sprung
• Ever see a new coral that you absolutely must have, but you know nothing about it? Look it up in here. Ever see a coral but can’t figure out what it could possibly be? Look through here. Need ideas about what new corals you could add to your existing reef tank? Browse this book. Lots of common aquarium corals with compatibility, identification and propogation basics.
• Aquarium Fish magazine
• Ok, so its not technically a “book”, but it still counts. This monthly magazine is by aquarists and for aquarists. It includes information on both freshwater and marine aquariums and is geared towards new and experienced hobbyists alike. I have a binder filled with past articles that I just HAD to save from this magazine. The new species profiles alone will never let us run out of new animals and aquariums to try at home.

Have any favorites I didn’t mention? Looking for a good book on a particular subject? Let us know!

Thanks!

Eileen

Ever wake up one day, take a look in your tank and see a horde of tiny little baby fish that weren’t there the night before? Did you have to run out in search for something to feed the new little fish? Here’s a quick and nutritious solution that you probably already have on hand…egg yolk! Yep, normal old chicken eggs that are probably already in your refrigerator. Just hard-boil an egg and remove the yolk (you won’t need the white, feel free to munch on that while you prepare the fishes’ portion). Put a small piece of the yolk in a small container of water and shake it up until the yolk is completely suspended in the water. You may want to break it up a little before you start to get a headstart but if you still notice larger chunks in the water that haven’t broken up enough, you can strain the mixture through cheesecloth or a coffee filter to get rid of the bigger pieces. Once the yolk is suspended in the water, just add a little to the tank with the fry. It’ll make the water a little cloudy so you don’t need to add much and you can save the mixture for a few days in the refrigerator.

Quick, easy, and healthy for just about any small fish fry!

Craig here. Parambassis pulcinella. What a name. It kinda rolls off the tongue, doesn’t it? Well… as cool as the name sounds, the Humphead Glassfish is even cooler looking! If you have ever wanted a fish that has a bit of size and a lot of character for your freshwater community aquarium, this just might be the fish for you!

A relative newcomer to the aquarium scene, the Humphead glassfish was not scientifically described until 2003. Parambassis pulcinella hails from Myanmar, in South East Asia. With changing political climates, many fish have just recently become known to science from this region. Myanmar is a country that has nearly half of its land covered in dense forests. Within these forests are countless streams. It is in these fast flowing streams that the Humphead Glassfish can be found.

The Humphead Glassfish is a schooling fish that benefits from being kept with members of it’s own kind. It has a spine from the dorsal (supraoccipital) area of it’s skull that is extended. This extension is what gives this fish it’s bizarre shape and name. The pH should range from neutral to slightly alkaline. It is not a particularly picky eater. The small group that is kept here will ravenously feed on pelleted foods and thawed frozen foods. It seems that the only things that the Humphead Glassfish are particular about is the need for excellent filtration, higher levels of dissolved oxygen in the water, and room to swim! Other than these requirements, you will find that these curious fish are very sturdy and make wonderful additions to your tank. They will not eat plants, so keeping them in a larger planted aquarium is acceptable provided that your CO2 levels do not rise to a dangerous level. Even though these fish are relatively peaceful and can be kept with smaller community fish, beware keeping them with fish like neon or cardinal tetras. If a tiny tetra will fit in their mouths… it will surely be lunch!

So, if you want something different, something rare, something new… take a look at the odd Humphead Glassfish. When available, these fish are certainly well worth the price. You will have something that many people have never even seen before, as well as a fish that is one of the most interesting and coolest additions to the aquarium trade in years.

Whenever most aquarists see that first dreaded bristleworm in their aquarium, they immediately run out for the nearest Dottyback or Sixline Wrasse or Arrow Crab or little plastic trap. There’s another, often overlooked, little critter that can help out even more than any of the “traditional” solutions – the Bumblebee Snail, Pusiostoma mendicaria.

Bumblebee Snails are flashy little snails, as saltwater snails go. They have solid black shells with thin yellow stripes and only grow to about one inch in length. Bumblebee Snails are more carnivorous than many other species and are known to feed on other snails, ornamental feather dusters or the occasional coral polyp if their supply of leftover foods, tiny crustaceans or small worms in the substrate grows too low. The risk is usually well outweighed by the benefits though to anyone with a bristleworm problem; A sturdy (nuisance level) bristleworm or flatworm population can keep several Bumblebee Snails well-fed enough to leave their tankmates alone as long as the population lasts. While Bumblebee Snails aren’t quite as proficient sand-sifters as the ever-popular Nassarius Snail, they do sort through the substrate and aquarium rockwork to find their food – the same places that the dreaded worms hide.

So, if you’ve tried the traditional solutions or want to cut a bristleworm or flatworm problem off before it starts, try adding a few Bumblebee Snails.