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Paul B
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Rock Pool Reef Keepers
Everything I know in case I go Senile (from 2014)
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road_runner
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I do everything from it ha ha ha.You must have a big phone screen.
Even my weekly water change is a click on my screen.
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Paul B
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Rock Pool Reef Keepers
I sometimes use my phone for a door stop or paper weight and I occasionally make a phone call. I have texts on there from probably 2015. I really need to answer those.
Secretive animals we keep.
In our tanks, especially if they have been set up for quite a while, besides the normal clownfish, tangs, wrasses and cardinals there is sometimes an entire universe of hidden animals that we rarely, if ever see. I am not talking about the tiny feather dusters or brittle stars that invade most tanks. I am talking about fish and crabs that are in there, but we just either forgot about or rarely see.
In my tank I occasionally see a tiny, bright red gobi of some kind. I don't remember buying it or can even identify it as I just, very rarely catch a fleeting glimpse of it. Cute little guy and I wish he would make an appearance once in a while. I am not sure if I bought him or he came in with some rock or coral.
Another shy fish is my possum wrasse. I love him but he is another one why prefers to stay in the dark shadows only venturing slightly out to grab a worm but never in the full light of the LEDs. I did buy him and may get another one, not to see, but just to know I have. He knows I am watching him as I can see him keep one eye on me as he is trying to get up the nerve to poke his head out. He has this little game he likes to play with me, but I know that he knows that I can see him.
Blue stripe pipefish are among my favorites but they also prefer to hunt in the dark undersides of caves. They do come out in the open but the hunting is better in the caverns so they stay there. Such beautiful little fish, it is a shame they don't knock on the front glass to get my attention, but they don't. I guess if I were such a skinny little defenseless fish, I would stay hidden also.
I once had a brutlyd or cusk eel. I had him for 18 years and never fed him or saw him eat. They are a bright yellow eel looking fish, very nice looking and if you want to have a fish that you only see every 18 years, that is the fish for you. I would usually find him if I looked in the tank after dark with a flashlight. He would be actively searching around the rocks for creatures or forgotten food that he would eat. I had not seen him in a few months and thought he died and it wasn't until I removed all the rock to re-aquascape that I found him by accident. Unfortunately I killed him in another accident with some nice old specimins.
Over the years I have found many creatures hiding among the rocks that I would never have known I had if it were not for an accident. I have found many crabs in holes in rocks that I removed for one reason or another, some of them were quite large.
So far I have not found any Supermodels in any of my closets but I keep searching. Sometimes I look for them at night with a flashlight. I realize I will never catch one eating but you never know
Secretive animals we keep.
In our tanks, especially if they have been set up for quite a while, besides the normal clownfish, tangs, wrasses and cardinals there is sometimes an entire universe of hidden animals that we rarely, if ever see. I am not talking about the tiny feather dusters or brittle stars that invade most tanks. I am talking about fish and crabs that are in there, but we just either forgot about or rarely see.
In my tank I occasionally see a tiny, bright red gobi of some kind. I don't remember buying it or can even identify it as I just, very rarely catch a fleeting glimpse of it. Cute little guy and I wish he would make an appearance once in a while. I am not sure if I bought him or he came in with some rock or coral.
Another shy fish is my possum wrasse. I love him but he is another one why prefers to stay in the dark shadows only venturing slightly out to grab a worm but never in the full light of the LEDs. I did buy him and may get another one, not to see, but just to know I have. He knows I am watching him as I can see him keep one eye on me as he is trying to get up the nerve to poke his head out. He has this little game he likes to play with me, but I know that he knows that I can see him.
Blue stripe pipefish are among my favorites but they also prefer to hunt in the dark undersides of caves. They do come out in the open but the hunting is better in the caverns so they stay there. Such beautiful little fish, it is a shame they don't knock on the front glass to get my attention, but they don't. I guess if I were such a skinny little defenseless fish, I would stay hidden also.
I once had a brutlyd or cusk eel. I had him for 18 years and never fed him or saw him eat. They are a bright yellow eel looking fish, very nice looking and if you want to have a fish that you only see every 18 years, that is the fish for you. I would usually find him if I looked in the tank after dark with a flashlight. He would be actively searching around the rocks for creatures or forgotten food that he would eat. I had not seen him in a few months and thought he died and it wasn't until I removed all the rock to re-aquascape that I found him by accident. Unfortunately I killed him in another accident with some nice old specimins.
Over the years I have found many creatures hiding among the rocks that I would never have known I had if it were not for an accident. I have found many crabs in holes in rocks that I removed for one reason or another, some of them were quite large.
So far I have not found any Supermodels in any of my closets but I keep searching. Sometimes I look for them at night with a flashlight. I realize I will never catch one eating but you never know
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Paul B
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Rock Pool Reef Keepers
Thinking outside the box
Unfortunately there is this box. It is very comfortable and warm inside the box which is why almost everyone wants to stay and think inside the box. People inside the box all have much of the same ideas and ways of thinking and oddly enough many of the same problems that don't get resolved using the same methods that people inside the box have been using since the salt water hobby started in the United States in 1971. I think it was on a Tuesday about 2 or 2:30 in the afternoon. Even though many of the methods don't work, people still use those methods because the sides of the box are very hard so the information gets echoed all over the box and we hear the same wrong information over and over again. We can't help but to use those methods because that is whats inside that box. The box also gets a daily influx of Noobs and many times Noobs will try something and it will work. Of course they don't know that that thing has been done forty seven thousand times. Then that information bounces around the box and everyone in the box hears it and thinks that is the way to do that particular thing. So it is done over and over again and even though it worked once, and never works again, it is still done because eventually that Noob gets out of the hobby and goes on one of those "Getting out of the Hobby, everything for sale " threads, but his Ideas keep getting re-circulated. He goes on to colect stamps and becomes an accountant at Burger King where he becomes a manager of the French Fry cooker.
Many years ago there was no box. All we had was wide open spaces, Elvis, Marylin Monroe, bellbottoms and a lot of sky. There were also no methods so we had to find our own ways to do things. We had to experiment and in doing so we killed more fish than StarKist Tuna. There was only one salt water hobbiest per state and there was no internet and we didn't know each other so everyone was a researcher. When we bought a fish,no one knew anything about that fish except the fish itself and Jacues Cousteau and he wasn't talking. So if our tank got overcome with hair algae, we learned on our own how to deal with it. We grew enough algae to cover a 19 hole golf course, but eventually we overcame and eliminated the algae. Of course if we were inside the box we would learn that changing the water will help with that. But we, outside the box realize that never works so we didn't do that.
When our fish got parasites we quickly learned how to deal with that also. Again, if we were inside the box we would change the water , with the same result.
If a fish died, we learned through trial and error how to correct that situation. No, we didn't change the water or check our parameters. We had no test kits anyway so we had to rely on our common sense which worked out pretty well.
We also learned, on our own how to feed fish so they would never get sick. We found out that our fish were supposed to spawn all the time and if they didn't, they were not healthy and prone to diseases. We could have changed the water but knew that in the future there would be this box where everyone changed water all the time but still had numerous problems.
We never had a new fish that wouldn't eat because our tanks were natural and healthjy, not sterile like a newly shampooed rug like many of the tanks inside the box.
Sometimes, after a while someone climbs outside of the box and in doing so trys to go against the fine folks inside the box. The people inside the box make fun of that person and say his (or her) Ideas can't work because it is just not done that way. If say that person uses a reverse undergravel filter, the laughter from inside the box will rise to a roar. If that person goes against biblical box knowledge and finds a way to keep fish healthy without quarantining, that roar will become a typhoon and the box will shake.
The box people will never accept those outside the box ideas because it is just not taught inside the box. Even if those outside of the box ideas are proven, they will never be taken seriousely, and more importantly if any of those ideas and methods are very cheap and easy to implement, forget about it, that person may as well take up collecting old shoes because he will be driven out of the fish hobby.
Now everyone knows there are some really nice tanks inside the box. Some tanks, everyone are jealous of so going outside the box is not for everyone. But history proves that all of the new, important, earth shattering or Awe inspiring events that happened were the result of thinking outside the box because if everyone always thought inside the box there would never be any improvement because the box doesn’t allow for it. Most Neanderthals thought inside the box which is the reason they walked around for thousands of years carrying sticks and little else. It took an outside the box thinker to invent a microwave so Neanderthals could throw away that stick and heat up a TV dinner. Eventually Neanderthals got taken over by Liberals who invented that box.
Unfortunately there is this box. It is very comfortable and warm inside the box which is why almost everyone wants to stay and think inside the box. People inside the box all have much of the same ideas and ways of thinking and oddly enough many of the same problems that don't get resolved using the same methods that people inside the box have been using since the salt water hobby started in the United States in 1971. I think it was on a Tuesday about 2 or 2:30 in the afternoon. Even though many of the methods don't work, people still use those methods because the sides of the box are very hard so the information gets echoed all over the box and we hear the same wrong information over and over again. We can't help but to use those methods because that is whats inside that box. The box also gets a daily influx of Noobs and many times Noobs will try something and it will work. Of course they don't know that that thing has been done forty seven thousand times. Then that information bounces around the box and everyone in the box hears it and thinks that is the way to do that particular thing. So it is done over and over again and even though it worked once, and never works again, it is still done because eventually that Noob gets out of the hobby and goes on one of those "Getting out of the Hobby, everything for sale " threads, but his Ideas keep getting re-circulated. He goes on to colect stamps and becomes an accountant at Burger King where he becomes a manager of the French Fry cooker.
Many years ago there was no box. All we had was wide open spaces, Elvis, Marylin Monroe, bellbottoms and a lot of sky. There were also no methods so we had to find our own ways to do things. We had to experiment and in doing so we killed more fish than StarKist Tuna. There was only one salt water hobbiest per state and there was no internet and we didn't know each other so everyone was a researcher. When we bought a fish,no one knew anything about that fish except the fish itself and Jacues Cousteau and he wasn't talking. So if our tank got overcome with hair algae, we learned on our own how to deal with it. We grew enough algae to cover a 19 hole golf course, but eventually we overcame and eliminated the algae. Of course if we were inside the box we would learn that changing the water will help with that. But we, outside the box realize that never works so we didn't do that.
When our fish got parasites we quickly learned how to deal with that also. Again, if we were inside the box we would change the water , with the same result.
If a fish died, we learned through trial and error how to correct that situation. No, we didn't change the water or check our parameters. We had no test kits anyway so we had to rely on our common sense which worked out pretty well.
We also learned, on our own how to feed fish so they would never get sick. We found out that our fish were supposed to spawn all the time and if they didn't, they were not healthy and prone to diseases. We could have changed the water but knew that in the future there would be this box where everyone changed water all the time but still had numerous problems.
We never had a new fish that wouldn't eat because our tanks were natural and healthjy, not sterile like a newly shampooed rug like many of the tanks inside the box.
Sometimes, after a while someone climbs outside of the box and in doing so trys to go against the fine folks inside the box. The people inside the box make fun of that person and say his (or her) Ideas can't work because it is just not done that way. If say that person uses a reverse undergravel filter, the laughter from inside the box will rise to a roar. If that person goes against biblical box knowledge and finds a way to keep fish healthy without quarantining, that roar will become a typhoon and the box will shake.
The box people will never accept those outside the box ideas because it is just not taught inside the box. Even if those outside of the box ideas are proven, they will never be taken seriousely, and more importantly if any of those ideas and methods are very cheap and easy to implement, forget about it, that person may as well take up collecting old shoes because he will be driven out of the fish hobby.
Now everyone knows there are some really nice tanks inside the box. Some tanks, everyone are jealous of so going outside the box is not for everyone. But history proves that all of the new, important, earth shattering or Awe inspiring events that happened were the result of thinking outside the box because if everyone always thought inside the box there would never be any improvement because the box doesn’t allow for it. Most Neanderthals thought inside the box which is the reason they walked around for thousands of years carrying sticks and little else. It took an outside the box thinker to invent a microwave so Neanderthals could throw away that stick and heat up a TV dinner. Eventually Neanderthals got taken over by Liberals who invented that box.
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Paul B
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Rock Pool Reef Keepers
Gearing Up Was No Minor Challenge for our Marine Aquarium Forebears
(By Paul Baldassano Oct. 2015)
Equipment limitations
Early tanks had other concerns besides parasites, and the majority of those concerns were due to the aquarium hardware at the time. As I said, tanks had metal corners up until the early 60s, which was when all-glass tanks were sold. That led the way for larger tanks to be manufactured.
My first all-glass tank was a 40-gallon, which was considered large then. But the filters, lights, heaters, and air and water pumps were still all made for freshwater aquariums. All tanks used undergravel (UG) filters, and the smaller tanks used airstones and an air pump to operate the UG filter. Early air pumps were operated with a motor and a leather piston that had to be oiled almost every week. Oil would sometimes get into the water, which made a realistic looking Exxon oil slick, but worse than that, the pumps would overheat or rust. Later air pumps were vibrator types, which were much cheaper but not as powerful. No water pumps were submersible, and they were all built out of metal. Iron to be exact. Do you have any idea what happens when you spill salt water on an iron pump? Can you say rust?
In time, powerheads replaced airstones on undergravel filter tubes. Those early powerheads were made of aluminum and plastic but were not yet submersible (at least, you should not submerge them on purpose—sometimes they fell into the water). Remember, GFCIs would not be invented for 20 more years, so a powerhead dropped in the water would elicit a small explosion, a big spark, smoke, and the lights in the house going off as the circuit breaker tripped. Even if you did not drop it in the water, the salt creep would allow electricity to flow into the tank, so we had to unplug the thing before we put our hands in the water. It was easy to remember because the first time you forgot to do that, you would be thrown across the room, and if you were lucky, you didn’t break off the front glass of the tank as you flew. Light housings were also aluminum, and they had a little push button on the side. We quickly learned to push that button with a stick for the same reason I explained with the powerheads.
All filters were hang-on-back (HOB) types, and all tanks had filters because we didn’t have bacteria in our tanks to handle any wastes. Between the oil slicks from the water pumps, the electricity from the powerheads, and the Clorox we used to clean the coral skeletons, any bacteria in their right mind grew legs and ran away as fast as they could. HOB filters were filled with fiberglass fiber that was later replaced with nylon floss because the fiberglass is actually glass fibers and would get into your skin, causing cancer and the heartbreak of psoriasis.
(By Paul Baldassano Oct. 2015)
Equipment limitations
Early tanks had other concerns besides parasites, and the majority of those concerns were due to the aquarium hardware at the time. As I said, tanks had metal corners up until the early 60s, which was when all-glass tanks were sold. That led the way for larger tanks to be manufactured.
My first all-glass tank was a 40-gallon, which was considered large then. But the filters, lights, heaters, and air and water pumps were still all made for freshwater aquariums. All tanks used undergravel (UG) filters, and the smaller tanks used airstones and an air pump to operate the UG filter. Early air pumps were operated with a motor and a leather piston that had to be oiled almost every week. Oil would sometimes get into the water, which made a realistic looking Exxon oil slick, but worse than that, the pumps would overheat or rust. Later air pumps were vibrator types, which were much cheaper but not as powerful. No water pumps were submersible, and they were all built out of metal. Iron to be exact. Do you have any idea what happens when you spill salt water on an iron pump? Can you say rust?
In time, powerheads replaced airstones on undergravel filter tubes. Those early powerheads were made of aluminum and plastic but were not yet submersible (at least, you should not submerge them on purpose—sometimes they fell into the water). Remember, GFCIs would not be invented for 20 more years, so a powerhead dropped in the water would elicit a small explosion, a big spark, smoke, and the lights in the house going off as the circuit breaker tripped. Even if you did not drop it in the water, the salt creep would allow electricity to flow into the tank, so we had to unplug the thing before we put our hands in the water. It was easy to remember because the first time you forgot to do that, you would be thrown across the room, and if you were lucky, you didn’t break off the front glass of the tank as you flew. Light housings were also aluminum, and they had a little push button on the side. We quickly learned to push that button with a stick for the same reason I explained with the powerheads.
All filters were hang-on-back (HOB) types, and all tanks had filters because we didn’t have bacteria in our tanks to handle any wastes. Between the oil slicks from the water pumps, the electricity from the powerheads, and the Clorox we used to clean the coral skeletons, any bacteria in their right mind grew legs and ran away as fast as they could. HOB filters were filled with fiberglass fiber that was later replaced with nylon floss because the fiberglass is actually glass fibers and would get into your skin, causing cancer and the heartbreak of psoriasis.
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Paul B
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Reef Tank 365
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Rock Pool Reef Keepers
Relax! Have Fun! It’s a Hobby!
JUNE 3, 2015 BY PAUL BALDASSANO
I realize that many of us take our aquarium keeping very seriously, but we have to put it in context and remember that it is just a hobby. A hobby, by definition, is something that gives us pleasure, not something that is necessarily important (except, of course, to us and our fish and corals).
Actually, they are not even our fish and corals. Most are wild creatures that we decided to “help” by rescuing them from the sea, housing them in fake water, feeding them foods that they never saw in nature, and illuminating them artificially while providing a vastly different water movement system and forcing them to live with creatures from the other side of the planet whom they’ve never met.
Between the aquarium and the deep blue sea
Besides that, we love what we do and some of us are very good at it indeed. Many of the fish that we “rescue” actually live longer in our care than they would in the sea. If given a choice, I am not sure whether the fish would want to stay in the sea or come and live with us, given that some of us watch reality TV in full view of our tanks. Who knows whether fish even like reality TV? I mean “Dancing with the Stars” shouldn’t excite fish much, as they don’t have legs. I would assume the National Geographic Channel would be a better choice. Also, some people identify as liberal or conservative, but what about fish? I am not sure how fish would vote. Which party is for which fish?
In contrast to their wild counterparts, fish in our care are prone to the same afflictions that we are due to lack of exercise. My dad, many years ago, was a seafood peddler, and every day he walked over the Brooklyn Bridge, pushing a very heavy cart full of fresh fish, crustaceans, and ice. I just walk over to the fridge and grab a shrimp cocktail. Long before that, our great, great, great, great, etc. grandfathers had to run down game if they wanted to eat. They were in great shape. However, now we can drive our 300-horsepower, 3,000-pound cars three blocks over to McDonalds and drive away with a small part of a cow that someone else caught and made into chopped meat.
Fish in the sea have a hard time finding food and often have to swim after it and then fight with it while simultaneously fending off other would-be predators that either want to steal their meal or eat them. This happens to wild fish at almost every meal, but in our tanks, they kind of float there, waiting for someone to squirt some food in their face at about the same time every day. That’s how they feed supermodels; they just spray some chicken soup into their face once or twice a day.
Fish, like us, have muscles, and although I am not a fish strength trainer, I assume their muscles atrophy just as ours do if they aren’t used. I think if we released our fish into the sea (please don’t!), they wouldn’t make it ten minutes, as all the rest of the fish (after making fun of them for being in such terrible shape) would be flying past them from all angles to catch prey.
No contest
Many of us lose sight of what we are trying to accomplish by yearning for the best tank, in which everything grows and spawns, corals grow up the walls, and we can have the honor of Tank of the Month or Post of the Month or just Something, Anything of the Month. But this thought is completely wrong. This is not a competition, and there is no end game. I know because I have been doing this for over 60 years and I am still not done. We try desperately to get to the point where we’ve won, where everything is perfect, but if we think like that, we are sure to be disappointed.
Aquarium keeping is like sailing. When you go on a sailboat, you don’t usually even have a destination. It’s the act of sailing that is the fun. If we actually get anywhere, that is great, but then if we needed to be somewhere, would we really jump into a very expensive sailboat that goes maybe four miles per hour in a good wind and splashes us every five minutes? I mean really.
It’s called “aquarium keeping,” not “aquarium finishing” because we will never be finished. It is the ride, the act of keeping these colorful and expensive little creatures alive that is the thrill. And keeping them alive is only part of the fun. Changing water, cleaning glass, testing, dosing, re-aquascaping and writing about our experiences are all part of the fun, too. Even when something dies—yes, even when something dies—we can find fulfillment in figuring out what happened. If nothing ever died, we would call it stamp collecting. Now that’s a thrill.
Challenges are part of the fun
So when cyanobacteria, hair algae, flatworms, ich, or any number of other problems occur, be happy for the experience and don’t think of it as a disaster. A tornado is a disaster, an earthquake is a disaster, a supermodel gaining a pound is a disaster, but something happening in a fish tank is not a disaster. It’s just part of this wonderful hobby, a hobby that makes us happy.
I’ve enjoyed this fantastic hobby every day of my long life, and I will keep doing it until they put me in a nursing home. It has helped me through hard mental times and just boring times. Sometimes I spend days on end “working” on the tank, and sometimes weeks go by where I barely have time to feed the fish. I have had large die offs and constant spawning. But I’ve savored all those times and have never been disappointed. You can put whatever you want into this hobby, and I’ve loved every minute of it!
Photo credit: Paul Baldassano
JUNE 3, 2015 BY PAUL BALDASSANO
Actually, they are not even our fish and corals. Most are wild creatures that we decided to “help” by rescuing them from the sea, housing them in fake water, feeding them foods that they never saw in nature, and illuminating them artificially while providing a vastly different water movement system and forcing them to live with creatures from the other side of the planet whom they’ve never met.
Between the aquarium and the deep blue sea
Besides that, we love what we do and some of us are very good at it indeed. Many of the fish that we “rescue” actually live longer in our care than they would in the sea. If given a choice, I am not sure whether the fish would want to stay in the sea or come and live with us, given that some of us watch reality TV in full view of our tanks. Who knows whether fish even like reality TV? I mean “Dancing with the Stars” shouldn’t excite fish much, as they don’t have legs. I would assume the National Geographic Channel would be a better choice. Also, some people identify as liberal or conservative, but what about fish? I am not sure how fish would vote. Which party is for which fish?
In contrast to their wild counterparts, fish in our care are prone to the same afflictions that we are due to lack of exercise. My dad, many years ago, was a seafood peddler, and every day he walked over the Brooklyn Bridge, pushing a very heavy cart full of fresh fish, crustaceans, and ice. I just walk over to the fridge and grab a shrimp cocktail. Long before that, our great, great, great, great, etc. grandfathers had to run down game if they wanted to eat. They were in great shape. However, now we can drive our 300-horsepower, 3,000-pound cars three blocks over to McDonalds and drive away with a small part of a cow that someone else caught and made into chopped meat.
Fish in the sea have a hard time finding food and often have to swim after it and then fight with it while simultaneously fending off other would-be predators that either want to steal their meal or eat them. This happens to wild fish at almost every meal, but in our tanks, they kind of float there, waiting for someone to squirt some food in their face at about the same time every day. That’s how they feed supermodels; they just spray some chicken soup into their face once or twice a day.
Fish, like us, have muscles, and although I am not a fish strength trainer, I assume their muscles atrophy just as ours do if they aren’t used. I think if we released our fish into the sea (please don’t!), they wouldn’t make it ten minutes, as all the rest of the fish (after making fun of them for being in such terrible shape) would be flying past them from all angles to catch prey.
No contest
Many of us lose sight of what we are trying to accomplish by yearning for the best tank, in which everything grows and spawns, corals grow up the walls, and we can have the honor of Tank of the Month or Post of the Month or just Something, Anything of the Month. But this thought is completely wrong. This is not a competition, and there is no end game. I know because I have been doing this for over 60 years and I am still not done. We try desperately to get to the point where we’ve won, where everything is perfect, but if we think like that, we are sure to be disappointed.
Aquarium keeping is like sailing. When you go on a sailboat, you don’t usually even have a destination. It’s the act of sailing that is the fun. If we actually get anywhere, that is great, but then if we needed to be somewhere, would we really jump into a very expensive sailboat that goes maybe four miles per hour in a good wind and splashes us every five minutes? I mean really.
It’s called “aquarium keeping,” not “aquarium finishing” because we will never be finished. It is the ride, the act of keeping these colorful and expensive little creatures alive that is the thrill. And keeping them alive is only part of the fun. Changing water, cleaning glass, testing, dosing, re-aquascaping and writing about our experiences are all part of the fun, too. Even when something dies—yes, even when something dies—we can find fulfillment in figuring out what happened. If nothing ever died, we would call it stamp collecting. Now that’s a thrill.
Challenges are part of the fun
So when cyanobacteria, hair algae, flatworms, ich, or any number of other problems occur, be happy for the experience and don’t think of it as a disaster. A tornado is a disaster, an earthquake is a disaster, a supermodel gaining a pound is a disaster, but something happening in a fish tank is not a disaster. It’s just part of this wonderful hobby, a hobby that makes us happy.
I’ve enjoyed this fantastic hobby every day of my long life, and I will keep doing it until they put me in a nursing home. It has helped me through hard mental times and just boring times. Sometimes I spend days on end “working” on the tank, and sometimes weeks go by where I barely have time to feed the fish. I have had large die offs and constant spawning. But I’ve savored all those times and have never been disappointed. You can put whatever you want into this hobby, and I’ve loved every minute of it!
Photo credit: Paul Baldassano
riche
Valuable Member
You sir are a legend. I always enjoy reading your post and reading this one reminds me of how lucky we are. That we are able to sit down and listen to someone share there stories, no judgement passed, no pointing fingers or beer bottles being thrown.
If more people would take the time to engage with other if its on here or at the gas station. I think we would be a better world for it.
When you Said that bat sh&& crazy ladys name, Nancy pee on her self, I had to turn and throw up. She makes me sick to my stomach
Rock On Paul and as long as you are able to type, please keep sharing the good word
If more people would take the time to engage with other if its on here or at the gas station. I think we would be a better world for it.
When you Said that bat sh&& crazy ladys name, Nancy pee on her self, I had to turn and throw up. She makes me sick to my stomach
Rock On Paul and as long as you are able to type, please keep sharing the good word
road_runner
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THANK YOU!Relax! Have Fun! It’s a Hobby!
JUNE 3, 2015 BY PAUL BALDASSANO
I realize that many of us take our aquarium keeping very seriously, but we have to put it in context and remember that it is just a hobby. A hobby, by definition, is something that gives us pleasure, not something that is necessarily important (except, of course, to us and our fish and corals).
Actually, they are not even our fish and corals. Most are wild creatures that we decided to “help” by rescuing them from the sea, housing them in fake water, feeding them foods that they never saw in nature, and illuminating them artificially while providing a vastly different water movement system and forcing them to live with creatures from the other side of the planet whom they’ve never met.
Between the aquarium and the deep blue sea
Besides that, we love what we do and some of us are very good at it indeed. Many of the fish that we “rescue” actually live longer in our care than they would in the sea. If given a choice, I am not sure whether the fish would want to stay in the sea or come and live with us, given that some of us watch reality TV in full view of our tanks. Who knows whether fish even like reality TV? I mean “Dancing with the Stars” shouldn’t excite fish much, as they don’t have legs. I would assume the National Geographic Channel would be a better choice. Also, some people identify as liberal or conservative, but what about fish? I am not sure how fish would vote. Which party is for which fish?
In contrast to their wild counterparts, fish in our care are prone to the same afflictions that we are due to lack of exercise. My dad, many years ago, was a seafood peddler, and every day he walked over the Brooklyn Bridge, pushing a very heavy cart full of fresh fish, crustaceans, and ice. I just walk over to the fridge and grab a shrimp cocktail. Long before that, our great, great, great, great, etc. grandfathers had to run down game if they wanted to eat. They were in great shape. However, now we can drive our 300-horsepower, 3,000-pound cars three blocks over to McDonalds and drive away with a small part of a cow that someone else caught and made into chopped meat.
Fish in the sea have a hard time finding food and often have to swim after it and then fight with it while simultaneously fending off other would-be predators that either want to steal their meal or eat them. This happens to wild fish at almost every meal, but in our tanks, they kind of float there, waiting for someone to squirt some food in their face at about the same time every day. That’s how they feed supermodels; they just spray some chicken soup into their face once or twice a day.
Fish, like us, have muscles, and although I am not a fish strength trainer, I assume their muscles atrophy just as ours do if they aren’t used. I think if we released our fish into the sea (please don’t!), they wouldn’t make it ten minutes, as all the rest of the fish (after making fun of them for being in such terrible shape) would be flying past them from all angles to catch prey.
No contest
Many of us lose sight of what we are trying to accomplish by yearning for the best tank, in which everything grows and spawns, corals grow up the walls, and we can have the honor of Tank of the Month or Post of the Month or just Something, Anything of the Month. But this thought is completely wrong. This is not a competition, and there is no end game. I know because I have been doing this for over 60 years and I am still not done. We try desperately to get to the point where we’ve won, where everything is perfect, but if we think like that, we are sure to be disappointed.
Aquarium keeping is like sailing. When you go on a sailboat, you don’t usually even have a destination. It’s the act of sailing that is the fun. If we actually get anywhere, that is great, but then if we needed to be somewhere, would we really jump into a very expensive sailboat that goes maybe four miles per hour in a good wind and splashes us every five minutes? I mean really.
It’s called “aquarium keeping,” not “aquarium finishing” because we will never be finished. It is the ride, the act of keeping these colorful and expensive little creatures alive that is the thrill. And keeping them alive is only part of the fun. Changing water, cleaning glass, testing, dosing, re-aquascaping and writing about our experiences are all part of the fun, too. Even when something dies—yes, even when something dies—we can find fulfillment in figuring out what happened. If nothing ever died, we would call it stamp collecting. Now that’s a thrill.
Challenges are part of the fun
So when cyanobacteria, hair algae, flatworms, ich, or any number of other problems occur, be happy for the experience and don’t think of it as a disaster. A tornado is a disaster, an earthquake is a disaster, a supermodel gaining a pound is a disaster, but something happening in a fish tank is not a disaster. It’s just part of this wonderful hobby, a hobby that makes us happy.
I’ve enjoyed this fantastic hobby every day of my long life, and I will keep doing it until they put me in a nursing home. It has helped me through hard mental times and just boring times. Sometimes I spend days on end “working” on the tank, and sometimes weeks go by where I barely have time to feed the fish. I have had large die offs and constant spawning. But I’ve savored all those times and have never been disappointed. You can put whatever you want into this hobby, and I’ve loved every minute of it!
Photo credit: Paul Baldassano
sam.veilleux30
Well-Known Member
Hi Paul nice articles, fun to read.
I like your conclusion about cyano and other terrible events to fill our mind when taking care of a little reef, this will help me to see the bright side of my red sand and rocks...
I like your conclusion about cyano and other terrible events to fill our mind when taking care of a little reef, this will help me to see the bright side of my red sand and rocks...
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Paul B
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Sam.veilleux30, I still have cyano. There is a thick layer of it now in some places in my tank. Sometimes I take a baster and blow it off and sometimes I put it in salad. Cyano has been around since Mrs. Pelosi's third birthday and it hasn't hurt anything yet.
It's just there as are flatworms and Chubby Checker's Twist.
Who cares? It leaves when it wants to. Of course you could read one of those thousand page threads on how to eliminate it, but the cyano never read those so it hangs around not causing any harm.
It's bacteria and bacteria has been here much longer than us. Look at it, smile and go out to breakfast thinking, Wow, what a cool, (and because of cyano) colorful hobby.
We could play golf or collect stamps, crystal owls, straw hats, gold Myley Cyrus albums or get parrot fever and die. But enjoying this hobby is better.
It's just there as are flatworms and Chubby Checker's Twist.
Who cares? It leaves when it wants to. Of course you could read one of those thousand page threads on how to eliminate it, but the cyano never read those so it hangs around not causing any harm.
It's bacteria and bacteria has been here much longer than us. Look at it, smile and go out to breakfast thinking, Wow, what a cool, (and because of cyano) colorful hobby.
We could play golf or collect stamps, crystal owls, straw hats, gold Myley Cyrus albums or get parrot fever and die. But enjoying this hobby is better.
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Paul B
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Fish Are Superior to People!
JANUARY 12, 2015 BY PAUL BALDASSANO
When viewed at depth, a copperband butterflyfish looks much different than the colors we’re familiar with.
Why do I make this claim? Well, primarily to capture your attention. But think about some of the things fish can do that we cannot. For example, we two-legged beings can go forward, backward, and from side to side. Fish can do that too, but they can also go up and down, and they can do that just by thinking about it and barely moving a fin.
If we get up in the middle of the night because we hear a noise or are thinking about that Victoria’s Secret catalog on the table (strictly for research purposes, of course), we would run into walls, doors, windows, or, if we’re lucky, a beautiful cat burglar. (I would probably just trip over a cat!) But a fish would not run (or swim) into anything.
Have you ever gone fishing, sat there all day putting worms on a hook without getting a single bite, and then quit in disgust after throwing the rest of your worms in the water only to see 47 fish come up to devour all the worms you just dumped in? It happens all the time. They know there’s a hook in there. But how?
Put it all on the line
How are fish able to do all these things that are well beyond the capabilities of us “highly advanced” humans? Because fish have a lateral line that lets them know what is around them, even in pitch darkness. If a fish loses an eye, it barely notices and goes about life as if it just had LASIK surgery. It’ll get along fine just by relying on its lateral line. Everybody here who has a lateral line raise your hand. Higher! That’s what I thought.
Gender-bending ability
Many fish species can do something else that people can’t (without expensive surgery, anyway): They can change sex. Then, if they get bored, they can change back again.
I have some fire clownfish. Actually, I had one for a long time and then decided to get another one. That first one was either male or female; I have no idea. This fire clown sat there in a broken bottle for years and just looked out the glass at me. He (or she) kept guard over a nest and would keep it neat, blowing away detritus along with arrow crab poop. There wasn’t another fire clown within, perhaps, a 15-mile radius.
Then one day I added another fire clown and the two of them fought. I don’t know whether they both thought of themselves as boys, girls, or politicians. But then after a few years, they started becoming friends. Then they were more than friends if you know what I mean. So one of them became a female (I could tell by her eyelashes and the fact that she started to smell better).
Now I don’t know what possessed that one to change into a female, but I do remember walking in front of the tank in my underwear. I don’t know if that would have caused the transformation; my wife just tells me to get away from the front of the TV.
A kaleidoscope of colors
Another weird thing about fish is that the tropical ones are, for the most part, beautifully colored. Why is that? To attract mates? Scare predators? Look good in magazines? No, it’s because where fish live, the only color you can see is blue. If you descend in the ocean about 40 feet, or somewhere thereabouts (I’m a diver, but I never take a ruler with me), everything becomes blue because blue is the only color of the spectrum that gets through that much water. So all fish appear blue in the sea. A copperband butterfly would be blue with darker blue bands, and red appears black. The fish probably know why they have those colors, but no one else does.
Also, while we are seriously (or perhaps not so seriously) thinking about this, why do fish from temperate waters have drab colors? Ever see a bright red or blue flounder with yellow stripes? I didn’t think so, but why not? Why is it that people from tropical countries aren’t bright purple, yellow, and blue but tropical fish are? Despite having varying degrees of melanin in their skin, people from New York, Alaska, and Greenland are more or less the same colors as people from everywhere else. Why are fish so special?
So who’s really the superior animal?
Remember we spend thousands of dollars on fish, then spend more thousands on rocks, then spend hundreds on medications, test kits, books, etc. On top of that, we spend $12.00 for tiny little cubes of clam or mysis to feed them. What did a fish ever do for you? Nothing, right? Except die, jump out, or get ich, pop-eye, or swim bladder disease!
These are just some of the things I don’t know. There is a whole plethora of other things I don’t understand—an unimaginably vast expanse of knowledge I don’t possess. I mean we could go on about what is at the end of the universe and we would all have different opinions, sort of like ich threads. I think at the end of the universe is a brick wall with tar paper on top of it, and beyond that are strawberry fields forever. Prove me wrong. (Editor’s note: Pepperland, peopled entirely by Blue Meanies, actually lies beyond the universe…or is it across the universe?)
I guess we should save some room for your thoughts and then start on why invertebrates are smarter than we are.
Well, smarter than “some” of us anyway.
JANUARY 12, 2015 BY PAUL BALDASSANO
When viewed at depth, a copperband butterflyfish looks much different than the colors we’re familiar with.
Why do I make this claim? Well, primarily to capture your attention. But think about some of the things fish can do that we cannot. For example, we two-legged beings can go forward, backward, and from side to side. Fish can do that too, but they can also go up and down, and they can do that just by thinking about it and barely moving a fin.
If we get up in the middle of the night because we hear a noise or are thinking about that Victoria’s Secret catalog on the table (strictly for research purposes, of course), we would run into walls, doors, windows, or, if we’re lucky, a beautiful cat burglar. (I would probably just trip over a cat!) But a fish would not run (or swim) into anything.
Have you ever gone fishing, sat there all day putting worms on a hook without getting a single bite, and then quit in disgust after throwing the rest of your worms in the water only to see 47 fish come up to devour all the worms you just dumped in? It happens all the time. They know there’s a hook in there. But how?
Put it all on the line
How are fish able to do all these things that are well beyond the capabilities of us “highly advanced” humans? Because fish have a lateral line that lets them know what is around them, even in pitch darkness. If a fish loses an eye, it barely notices and goes about life as if it just had LASIK surgery. It’ll get along fine just by relying on its lateral line. Everybody here who has a lateral line raise your hand. Higher! That’s what I thought.
Gender-bending ability
Many fish species can do something else that people can’t (without expensive surgery, anyway): They can change sex. Then, if they get bored, they can change back again.
I have some fire clownfish. Actually, I had one for a long time and then decided to get another one. That first one was either male or female; I have no idea. This fire clown sat there in a broken bottle for years and just looked out the glass at me. He (or she) kept guard over a nest and would keep it neat, blowing away detritus along with arrow crab poop. There wasn’t another fire clown within, perhaps, a 15-mile radius.
Then one day I added another fire clown and the two of them fought. I don’t know whether they both thought of themselves as boys, girls, or politicians. But then after a few years, they started becoming friends. Then they were more than friends if you know what I mean. So one of them became a female (I could tell by her eyelashes and the fact that she started to smell better).
Now I don’t know what possessed that one to change into a female, but I do remember walking in front of the tank in my underwear. I don’t know if that would have caused the transformation; my wife just tells me to get away from the front of the TV.
A kaleidoscope of colors
Another weird thing about fish is that the tropical ones are, for the most part, beautifully colored. Why is that? To attract mates? Scare predators? Look good in magazines? No, it’s because where fish live, the only color you can see is blue. If you descend in the ocean about 40 feet, or somewhere thereabouts (I’m a diver, but I never take a ruler with me), everything becomes blue because blue is the only color of the spectrum that gets through that much water. So all fish appear blue in the sea. A copperband butterfly would be blue with darker blue bands, and red appears black. The fish probably know why they have those colors, but no one else does.
Also, while we are seriously (or perhaps not so seriously) thinking about this, why do fish from temperate waters have drab colors? Ever see a bright red or blue flounder with yellow stripes? I didn’t think so, but why not? Why is it that people from tropical countries aren’t bright purple, yellow, and blue but tropical fish are? Despite having varying degrees of melanin in their skin, people from New York, Alaska, and Greenland are more or less the same colors as people from everywhere else. Why are fish so special?
So who’s really the superior animal?
Remember we spend thousands of dollars on fish, then spend more thousands on rocks, then spend hundreds on medications, test kits, books, etc. On top of that, we spend $12.00 for tiny little cubes of clam or mysis to feed them. What did a fish ever do for you? Nothing, right? Except die, jump out, or get ich, pop-eye, or swim bladder disease!
These are just some of the things I don’t know. There is a whole plethora of other things I don’t understand—an unimaginably vast expanse of knowledge I don’t possess. I mean we could go on about what is at the end of the universe and we would all have different opinions, sort of like ich threads. I think at the end of the universe is a brick wall with tar paper on top of it, and beyond that are strawberry fields forever. Prove me wrong. (Editor’s note: Pepperland, peopled entirely by Blue Meanies, actually lies beyond the universe…or is it across the universe?)
I guess we should save some room for your thoughts and then start on why invertebrates are smarter than we are.
Well, smarter than “some” of us anyway.
@Heart of Dixie. You hit the nail on the head exactly with this comment. I laughed.
Supertanker
Community Member
I love this post. Being new to the hobby, I am ignorant. My way has always been research research research, then get stressed out when something's "not right". E.g. my recent algae outbreak (now going away). This post= genius. Experience, reality check, and slow down. I can see with a different view, which means I can maybe do what I wanted in the first place...relax. The post may be old, but wisdom never goes out of style.
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Paul B
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This picture was a few months ago but that Hippo is beautiful and has no spots or tattoos at all. He is always smiling and his only fear is that I will croak and someone will quarantine him.
Excuse him as he is Pooping here.
He also never has eaten dried Nori and eats fresh or frozen clams and live worms a couple of times a week. In between that he gets Mysis and LRS food.
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