Captive Aquatics: An Aquarium and Ecology Blog

The ReefCentral "Gestapo" Strike Again!

Well, I made my final post at ReefCentral - a forum reknown for it's misinformation and excessively controlling moderators (hence why this is my first and last post in five years).  I posted a thread selling a few of my personal aquatic paraphernalia, as I'm moving personal (not business) locations soon.  Here is a transcript of what followed:

Visiting the Monterrey Bay Aquarium

Editor's Note: this post introduces our newest contributing author and photographer, Nate Bernardo.  All images in this post are © Nate Bernardo, 2009.

It was a beautiful Wednesday morning when I decided to head out to Monterey. I packed my bag with water, food, and a book to read on the bus and left my house with my SLR camera.

Mike Maddox Interviewed (again)!

I meant to post this back in June, but we've been so busy around here at Captive Aquatics that I forgot!  Anyways, our very own Mike Maddox was interviewed by Frank Reece of Blue Zoo Radio concerning our aquatic business and services, aquarium science, Mike's no-nonsense approach to hobbyist education (no, just because someone posted it on Reef Central doesn't make it true!), and more.

Mikemaddox_bluezoo

MP3 and WMA formats for those that want to download it rather than listen here. 

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All-In-One Nano Aquarium Thoughts

Robbert from Nano Reef Systems called me to discuss the state of today's nano aquariums, and what I th ought an ideal nano aquarium would have to offer.  I apparently have attained a reputation regarding nano reef aquariums, and Richard called me to let me know he sympathizes with my opinion regarding many of the all-in-one (AIO) nano aquariums on the market today: close, but no cigar. 

My opinion of Reef Central

My own opinion of Reef Central, epitomized by the Louisiana Reef Club (click image for larger version):

 

RC promptly banned the entire club and deleted their club forum. 

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Pet and Local Fish Stores: a Disgrace to the Hobby?

I detest the vast majority of pet and local fish stores (LFS).  Why?  To put it simply, I very rarely see a store that provides decent care to their livestock, and offers sound, accurate advice.

 

 

A Few Thoughts

I've been enjoying marine aquarium keeping for fifteen years as of 2009, and I've seen the hobby progress and change a great deal; but the simple pleasure of observing the "simple" organisms in my aquariums hasn't changed for me.  I know all about 'fad' corals, and am constantly bombarded with the "must-have" acans and zoo and acros, but that isn't what keeps my love for the hobby alive, or even what I spend most of my time observing.  For all of the beautiful corals available, I derive the most enjoyment and have spent the most time watching the more "lowly" animals in my aquarium, especially gastropods and copepods. 

I remember being twelve and being completely fascinated by a limpet that had hitchhiked on a piece of live rock I bought from Petco.  I would spend hours at night watching this limpet via flashlight, as it slowly grazed across the rockwork in it's twenty-gallon 'ocean'.  As I am writing this after spending the last hour dividing my attention between observing snails and watching generations of copepods crawling on the glass (and wishing I could find my magnifying glass to better see the youngest of them) I realize that a lot of that twelve year old is still in me. 

The fascination and appreciation for the miracle that is life has never tarnished for me, even if the reality of it has left me more of a cynic than I was then.  Let the appreciation for life, (and not how much it cost, or how rare a color variation it has) and the perspectives our aquariums allow be the point of my late-night ramblings. 

What are your unusual but much-loved fascinations with our hobby?  Feel free to comment!

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"Saving" Fish: Don't Do it

Ever since I started in the hobby, I have been "saving" fish or invertebrates.  When I "saved" a fish, I would purchase a fish that was in poor health (clearly going to die at the store) and nurse it back to health at my home.  This may seem heroic, but it is not.  In reality the act of saving a fish hurts more than it helps.

 

Why you should be involved in the aquarium hobby!

Editor's Note: this post introduces Dennis Wallace, our newest contributing author.  Dennis will be writing about freshwater & marine aquariums. 

Interested in shiny things? Spend hours staring at a wall and hoping the dots in your eyes aren't in fact caused by a brain tumor?  Answer yes to either of these questions?  If so, you could be the ideal aquarist!

Should Anemones Be Illegal to Import for our Hobby?

P. yucatanicus engaged in a commensal relationship with C. gigantae on the Drowned Cayes, Belize.  Mike Maddox

How do you think the public would react if they were told that cats and dogs, rather than being bred, were taken from the wild (and often injured in the process) before being placed in an oft-inappropriate home?  How about if the public were told that 90% of the cats and dogs they bought would die in the first year?  Do you suppose it would still be legal to own them? 

While this scenario is just an example, anemones in the home aquarium have a dismal survival rate ("more than 90% die within a year " - WetWebMedia)!