by Saltwater Smarts | Sep 28, 2015 | Corals, Fish, Invertebrates, Science, Tanks
If there has been a mysterious death in your aquarium, determine the cause before seeking a replacement.In a nutshell, the reason people are drawn to this hobby (not counting the genetic mutation unique to marine aquarists that I can only assume researchers are close to isolating) is to enjoy up-close-and-personal encounters with exotic marine life. In other words, the whole point of this crazy venture of ours is to acquire specimens for our tanks so we can spend as much of our free time as possible viewing and appreciating them—just as the point of taking up golf is to go golfing as often as possible. But one significant difference between aquarium keeping and many other pursuits is that there are certain times when it’s decidedly not in your best interest to engage in one of the core aspects of the hobby—the livestock-acquisition part, that is.Here are five circumstances in which adding another animal is precisely the wrong thing to do. You’ll notice I’ve targeted this post at beginners, but even experienced hobbyists sometimes forget these points or get impatient and add specimens when they really shouldn’t. 1. Before cycling is complete When cycling a new system, you should observe subsequent spikes and declines in ammonia and nitrite levels and then gradual accumulation of nitrate. by Saltwater Smarts | Sep 24, 2015 | Corals, Equipment, Fish, Invertebrates, Opinion, Science, Technology
Virtually since the advent of the internet, there’s been a tendency in our hobby to rate the reliability and trustworthiness of online content beneath that of print-format materials—books, magazines, and so forth. But is this assessment really fair?The general premises behind this viewpoint are: Anyone with a computer and internet connection can post anything they want online, whether or not he or she has the requisite expertise to expound on the subject. Online articles and posts are seldom given professional editorial treatment and/or subjected to peer review, so you can’t trust that they’ve been vetted properly for accuracy. There tends to be an “echo-chamber effect” online, so inaccurate or outright fallacious information appearing on one site can be picked up immediately by others and repeated ad nauseam, creating the false impression of consensus on the information/viewpoint. Now, there’s truth to each of these arguments, but as someone who’s made his living as a writer/editor for nearly 20 years (primarily in print format) and once served on an editorial committee that reviewed book submissions for a major retail pet chain, I can say with some confidence that print materials have their limitations as reference sources, too. Among them: Just as with online materials, print books and magazines are no more reliable or accurate than the writers and editors who produce them. You can’t assume that just because someone went to the effort to produce something in hardcopy, the information it contains was properly vetted. by Saltwater Smarts | Sep 21, 2015 | Corals, Equipment, Fish, Science
A misguided and hasty approach often leads to a failed aquarium and exit from the hobbyIt’s a tale as old as the hobby itself: A novice marine aquarist sets up his or her first system, runs headlong into every conceivable obstacle and pitfall, responds with a series of misguided decisions, loses a whole tank’s worth of fish and corals, and finally chucks the entire hobby in frustration and despair, all the while cursing Neptune and that silly enchanted trident of his. Just as this scenario is all too common (with the possible exception of the Neptune part), so too are the reasons many novice marine aquarists fail and drop out of the hobby. A post-mortem analysis of the average hobby failure would likely reveal one or more of the following five underlying elements:1. Failure to research I’m including this point first because it’s the most significant contributor to hobby dropout and encompasses many of the major oversights that newcomers make. Failing to cycle, skipping quarantine, overstocking/overfeeding, combining incompatible species, and choosing inappropriate life-support equipment (skimmer, lighting, etc.) are just some of the bad decisions new hobbyists sometimes make due to lack of prior research—and all can have hobby-ending (not to mention budget-breaking) consequences. Without ever reading hobby literature, perusing informative websites, seeking advice from more advanced hobbyists, studying up on the habits and demands of various species, etc., newcomers don’t even know they’re supposed to be concerned about these things—or, as Caribbean Chris and I like to say, “They don’t even know that they don’t know.” And that’s a recipe for certain disaster in this hobby! 2. Having no coherent strategy The best way to get started on the road to success in our crazy pastime is to establish a set of long-term goals—a strategic vision of the type of system and livestock you’d like to keep—and then implement the appropriate tactics, equipment purchases, and stocking approach to help you achieve those goals. by Michael D. Phelps | Jul 19, 2011 | Invertebrates
As more newcomers enter the hobby, it seems that more livestock retailers enter the industry. Unfortunately, this means that some new businesses may be in it purely for the profit, and lack of knowledge or greed on their part may put your current livestock at...
