In this post and in others coming up, I am going to be reviewing my favorite aquarium books, the ones I still use today.
When you are getting started with your first salt water fish tank, one of the most popular kinds of books to get is an fish ID book, to help identify and learn about the animals you want to keep and which ones are compatible with whom, etc..
When I got bit by the reef tank bug, this book wasn’t out yet, but now it is and you need this book if you are going to be keeping corals or saltwater invertebrates of any kind.
It’s a really handy book to have close to your tank. It’s great for quick identification and for learning more about the different kinds of corals and the conditions that best suit them.
It also can make a great Christmas or Hanuka present for your favorite reef-a-holic enthusiast.
Julian Sprung is one of my all-time favorite authors whom I chose to follow and learn from when I was just getting started and trying to figure this reed tank thing out. He has always been very straight forward and all of his books are very thorough and well thought out to be as useful as possible.
Recently, my son’s 10-gallon goldfish tank took a turn for the worse. So, you might be asking yourself, ‘what does goldfish have to do with saltwater aquariums’? Stick with me here … keep reading.
When my son Nolan was born, it was only a matter of time until he had an aquairum in his bedroom. I think he was about 2 when we caved in and bought a 10-gallon starter kit from PETCO … yes PETCO. I paid full retail for it, even though I could have bought it from one of my wholesale suppliers I regularly use in my business. It was just quicker and easier – plus my wife got to get in on the fun of getting the tank too.
As for the fish, I got 5 feeder goldfish ($1.00 for all 5 – thank you). I wanted something that was simple, hardy and wasn’t going to be a lot of work. The goldfish were the perfect fish for the job.
Our strategy was two-fold. During the winter the fish would live in the 10-gallon tank in Nolan’s room, and during the summer, we would move them to our barrel fountain on the deck. In the barrel fountain they always go through a growth spurt, as they feast all summer long on mosquito larvae and algae. We even occasionally feed them some flake food, when we remember.
So this seasonal back and forth has worked without issues for almost 3 years now, until this past Christmas when the fish broke out with a case of fin-rot. Are you starting to get the lesson here and how it applies to saltwater aquariums? Keep reading.
WHAT IT LOOKED LIKE
All of a sudden, one morning the goldfish starting showing a white film on the margin of their fins, and two of the most hardest hit fish were losing control of their swim bladder, as they were swimming head down most of the time. This was a classic case of fin rot – a fungus in combination with bacterial infection.
THE REAL CAUSE OF THE PROBLEM
Are you ready for this? Here it is. The real cause of this disease outbreak was … I got lazy. That’s it – neglect. All this was caused by being lazy and not sticking to a preventative maintenance routine. I wasn’t doing regular water changes and feeding was sporadic. This allowed stress to build up to the tipping point – and then presto – instant disease outbreak – totally avoidable.
SHORT-TERM REACTIVE SOLUTION
To get the tank back on track I did the following:
- added kosher salt to raise the salinity to 2ppt
- treated it with a product called Maracyn-Oxy (by Mardel) for 5 days;
- performed a 50% water change
- vacuumed the gravel, removing a large amount of detritus and organic matter
- resumed regular daily feedings
THE LESSON – If we would only surrender to the discipline of keeping up with our preventative maintenance routine, we could avoid 90% of the problems we encounter. And let’s face it, much of being a good aquarist is being good at solving problems – it’s simply a part of aquarium keeping, whether it be freshwater or saltwater aquariums. So wouldn’t it be nice if we could greatly reduce the number of problems? That would mean more time for fun and enjoyment of your saltwater aquarium – or freshwater aquarium. Don’t worry, there will still be plenty of problems to solve.
Now do you see how this is not just about a goldfish tank with a disease problem. This entire problem could have been avoided had I stuck with the preventative maintenance routine of doing regular water changes. It’s only a 10-gallon goldfish tank. A 50% water change takes 15 minutes. The most common cause of people getting out of this great hobby is most often described as “something went wrong and all the fish died”. Well I’m willing to bet that 90% of these cases are due to some form of being lazy or neglecting the preventative maintenance routine.
Yesterday we had an amazing interview on the Under The Sea Radio Show. Our guest was David Winchester, who shared his career as a professional aquarist at the New England Aquarium.
Topic covered were:
the day in the life of a professional aquarist at a public aquarium
Mr. Winchester’s background and how he got his start and got to where he is today
advice on how to get started in pursuing such a career and the different strategies that have been proven to work well consistently
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to work at a public aquarium – to get paid to play with fish and work on filtration systems all day? Well here’s your chance.
Please call in with your questions at (949) 534-0637.
See you at 4:00pm (EST). And remember, it you can’t make it to the interview, you can always listen to the recording or download it to your iPod for later
Last weekend, we held the second interview in the aquarium radio interview series Careers In Marine Biology. And this episode was a great one, with a very special guest.
Here’s the recording of the episode so you can take a listen.
Next week is going to be even better with, my friend Dave Winchester – a professional aquarist at a major public aquarium. So tune in on Sunday at 4:00pm EST.
As I help more and more people to make their saltwater aquarium work, I find there is one big common thread.
Can you guess what it is?
Drum roll please . . . It’s confusion.
Confusion about water chemistry, or how to choose the right lighting for their coral tank, or which fish go together, or what filters they need and how to set them up – and on and on and on it goes.
So what i want you to do now is post a comment and tell me what is the most confusing for you. Whatever it is, I want you to tell me what it is and how it is stopping you.
In case you didn’t already know, I have been a recurring guest on the Under The Sea Radio Show, where we discuss different areas/topics of keeping salt water aquariums, reef tanks, fish-only tanks, etc.. And instead of me guessing what the topics should be for each episode, I’d like for you to tell me what you would like us to cover. Tell me what your biggest frustrations and challenges are, and what your biggest question is related to keeping your reef tank or fish-only saltwater aquarium.
The people with the best questions and comments will have their question or topic featured on the radio show, so go ahead now and type in a comment and let me know what you would like our next interview to be about.
Some upcoming topics include:
“Fish Compatibility: How To Choose The Right Saltwater Fish For Your Aquarium”
“Coral Compatibility: How To Choose The Right Corals and Invertebrates For Your Saltwater Aquarium”
“Water Changes: The Overlooked Magic Bullet and How To Do It Correctly”
“Lighting For Your Reef Tank: How To Choose The Right Lighting Setup”
“Temperature Control: How To Chill Your Tank and Still Make Your Mortgage Payment”
Get any ideas from this list? Type in a comment and let me know.
So what is your biggest question on fish compatibility, and properly selecting the right fish to go with your existing fish in your reef tank or fish-only tank? Enter a comment here on this blog post and tell me what your biggest question is that you’d like me to cover on the radio show this weekend.
The person with the best question will get their questions answered in detail, live on the show.
If you talk to 10 different saltwater aquarium experts, you will likely get ten different opinions. The reality is that there are so many different ways to do a saltwater aquarium right, that if you don’t choose one way, you run the risk of making one big mess that doesn’t work. I’ve gone on about this point before, because it is that important.
One of the other great experts that I learned from when I was getting started was Julian Sprung. He’s the author of many books and now has his own product line. He also had a column in one of the major aquarium magazines called Reef Notes, and I gobbled up every article he wrote. He was always able to answer questions directly and to help you out in a way that involved no ego. He is always good at helping you out where you are trying to go, whatever the problem you are dealing with.
So the point here is to ask for help and be ready to be helped. Don’t let someone’s expertise or celebrity status intimidate you. We all started somewhere and we were all newbies at one point, overwhelmed and confused. So you are me and I’m you. How do you like that?
If you have a question you’d like help with, just enter it as a comment here on the blog and I’ll do my best to answer it and help you out.
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