What Hobbyists Can Learn when They Visit a Public Aquarium
Public aquariums can provide hobbyists with numerous insights that can apply to their home systemsHere in the US, the summer travel season is well underway, and popular attractions all across the nation are swarming with tourists. For those of us enamored with marine life, vacation travel often involves a visit to major public aquariums, where we can spend several quality hours figuratively immersed in the underwater realm. (Turns out most facilities get pretty upset if you try to do this literally!) As a reefkeeper, what I find particularly interesting about visiting public aquariums is not just the enthralling experience they provide while I’m there, but also the information I glean from the exhibits that can be applied to my own systems back home.Here are just a few examples: Aquascaping inspiration The smaller display tanks that are often peripheral to the gazillion-gallon crowd-pleaser tanks in public aquariums can provide excellent insights on how to configure rockwork and other aquascaping features in your home aquarium for optimum aesthetic appeal. Sure, artificial elements (e.g., faux coral inserts, etc.) often stand in for the real thing in these tanks, but it’s easy enough to extrapolate from the design concepts on exhibit. Which fish species might coexist Seeing different fish species or conspecific groups “playing nice” in a public aquarium display tank can be helpful in determining whether they’re likely to get along in a home aquarium. However, you do have to take the size of the exhibit into account because both heterospecific and conspecific aggression tends to become more intensified as tank size diminishes.Cassiopea, Curacao Jellyfish
Cassiopea (upside-down jellyfish) is a genus of true jellyfish and the only members of the family Cassiopeia. They are found in warmer coastal regions around the world, including shallow mangrove swamps, mudflats, canals, and turtle grass flats in Florida, and the Caribbean. The medusa usually lives upside-down on the bottom, which has earned them the common name. Where found, there may be numerous individuals with varying shades of white, blue, green and brown. They have a mild sting since they are primarily photosynthetic, but sensitive individuals may have a stronger reaction. The photosynthesis occurs because, like most corals, they host zooxanthellae in their tissuesThe incredible coral reefs of Indonesia’s Raja Ampat
The first time I dived on Raja Ampat’s reefs, I didn’t know where to look first. The profusion of colors and the seeming chaos of the Indonesia reef’s appearance — not a single straight line to be seen — provided a total contrast to the orderly, human-built world we usually inhabit topside. <![CDATA[ #gallery-1 { margin: auto; } #gallery-1 .gallery-item { float: left; margin-top: 10px; text-align: center; width: 50%; } #gallery-1 img { border: 2px solid #cfcfcf; } #gallery-1 .gallery-caption { margin-left: 0; } ]]> MORE: Hunting down the world’s oldest art in South Sulawesi, Indonesia Photos and video struggle to ever do Raja Ampat’s reefs justice. They just can’t fully capture the all-encompassing sense of the reef’sCuracao Coral Restoration Foundation, CRFCuracao
Good morning all, we are having a week of hurricane force winds making it tough to do anything outside! Yesterday we were going to take the submersible out for a collecting trip but because of the crazy wind driving big waves to shore we were unable to even get our sub in the water. So today I have a coral nursery or coral Christmas tree for you that I photographed near the Substation but to the west a little ways. This is a super cool coral restoration project being done by the Curacao Coral Restoration Foundation.Reef Threads Podcast #281
Listener Felicia Svedlund’s aquarium will be featured in the next issue of Reef Hobbyist magazine.
In podcast #281 we talk about the Dory movie, Felicia Svedlund, lionfish, learning from public aquariums, and the hobby’s best blogs. Download the podcast here, or subscribe to our podcasts at iTunes. Also, follow us on Twitter at reefthreads.—Gary and ChristineSponsor: Rod’s Food
Rod’s Food website
Learning from public aquariums
What Hobbyists Can Learn when they Visit a Public Aquarium, Jeff Kurtz, Saltwater Smarts
The hobby’s best blogs
The 9 Best Saltwater Aquarium Blogs, Albert B. Ulrich III, saltwateraquariumblog.com
