Tap water and the Aquarium

I wanted to comment on the water sources in the various cities in this area:

Albany: Fairly soft, acidic water; you will definitely need to add a buffer to keep the pH stable, especially in the winter. Otherwise, pretty good for raising fish as long as you keep an eye on the pH. Tap water is typically about 7.2-7.4, but drops quickly due to the low mineral content. You might want to consider adding a few pieces of base rock (for coral tanks) to a freshwater tank to keep the pH stable long-term.

Schenectady: We get our water from an aquifer, so it's got plenty of minerals. The water is hard, and comes out of the tap with a pH of around 7.8-8.0. I got very spoiled keeping fish here, because the pH stays stable for a long time, even if you're bad about water changes.

Troy: Worse than Albany; the water comes from reservoirs, and it is always very soft and acidic. Comes out of the tap at 7.0, but drops to 6.0 within two days or so, once the carbonates bubble out. If you're going to keep freshwater fish, I strongly recommend use of a buffer AND adding some marine substrate to keep the pH from dropping rapidly.

Clifton Park: Must get it from an aquifer, because it comes out of the tap at about 8.4-8.6. Seriously. So, if you want to keep discus, get a water softener. Most fish can adapt to a higher pH, like in Schenectady, but in CP, you should choose fish that can take an extremely high pH. African cichlids are ideal, as are marine fish.

Latham: Almost perfect; only Schenectady is as good. Hard but only mildly alkaline, Latham water has lots of minerals and starts out at 7.4-7.6. It's fairly stable, and it is adaptable to most fish species.

Most of the other areas get their water from one of the above sources, or I haven't had experience with them. Check your water source before you add fish, and figure out what you need to do to keep your pH stable. There are a lot of rural areas where people have wells, and they seem to run from soft and acidic to extremely hard and alkaline, depending on where you are. If you have a well, have your water tested for ammonia and nitrite content before adding fish; you may need to use a water conditioner like Prime, which neutralizes ammonia and nitrite.

The ammonia and nitrite get into well water via farm animal waste, and if it shows up in your test, you should consider sending your water to be tested for E. coli. In the water chemistry class at Cobleskill, there is at least one person every year whose tap water turns out to be full of ammonia, nitrite, and E. coli, and the person and their family had usually been suffering from gastric complaints for quite a while without knowing why. A filter can be added to remove these, or you may need to purchase bottled water. Better safe than sorry.

Fish behavior and good ole boys

I read an article that was complaining about PETA's stance on fishing. I'm not going to go into my opinion of PETA, fishing itself or aquaculture, because it isn't relevant. The author annoyed me, however, by acting like an idiot.

PETA contends that fish “are intelligent animals who observe, learn, use tools, and form sophisticated social structures” and “talk to each other with squeaks, squeals...Some fish even woo their potential partners by singing to them!” They also contend that “Some fish tend well-kept gardens, build nests, and collect rocks for building hiding places where they can rest.”

I can imagine this guy chortling at the ridiculousness of fish behaving in these ways, as if PETA made them up out of whole cloth. "Contends"? Well, ol' boy, I'd like to point out that all of these behaviors are well-documented by aquatic biologists.

Anyone who's kept cichlids in aquariums can attest to their masonry skills, which for some fish borders on an obsession. Many other fish move rocks for nesting and shelter as well. This is so widespread and well-documented that I don't need to provide details.

Tool use in fish IS fairly simple, because they do not have fancy limbs like we do, but it happens, mostly consisting of using rocks to crush hard-shelled prey and spitting water (water is the tool). Archerfish (Toxotes jaculator) spit water onto insects that hang out above the water, knocking them down so they can be snarfed. Puffers and other fish spit as well, usually spitting water onto the substrate to reveal prey hidden just below the sand; this behavior frequently manifests in captivity as they spit to get a keeper's attention when begging for food.

The well-tended gardens of Garibaldi, the largest damselfish species, are cultivated for the purpose of getting babes. Male Garibaldi cultivate a patch of algae on a rock; the females come along to inspect the gardens and, on the basis of who's the best available gardener, choose their mate. Herbivores such as surgeonfishes and damsels will tend and protect a patch of algae.

Sound production in fish is a BIG field of study these days; cod, haddock, toadfish, damsels, cichlids, and many, many other species use sound for a variety of communication purposes. Studying these sounds may help fisheries scientists figure out better ways to protect collapsing fisheries, especially since they are so often associated with mating behaviors.

Finally, the sophisticated social structures are very real. One of my favorites to talk about is the cichlid species that has effeminate males that pretend to be girls for the purposes of getting some sperm into the egg pile while a masculine male is mating with a female. Trannsexual sperm-sneaking fish--does it get any weirder than that? (Yes, it probably does, actually!)

So, if this guy wants to make the point that PETA is full of crap, he should maybe not be mocking information that is actually true. Maybe he just thinks a fish is a mindless creature that does nothing but swim, eat, and squirt out gametes, but as far as I can tell, he's projecting a bit there.

And this:

If you are a fisherman and see the whole thing as a crackpot scheme, don't laugh. Our side doesn't have any grassroots support like this and regulations can be swayed these days by the correct voter turn-out for ballot initiatives.

Yes, absolutely, there are no such organizations as Trout Unlimited, Rod & Gun Club, Bassmasters, or the other 140+ organizations that unite anglers socially and politically. Nope. Doesn't exist. And state governments do absolutely nothing to support the recreational fishing industry.

Get real.

My menagerie

In case anyone was wondering, these are the creatures currently in my household. If you have any questions about them, please let me know--I love talking about them. Also, if you want to see what they look like, I'll be happy to snap a recent photo.

male.female.unsexed
0.1 Baird's rat snake (Elanor)
3.1 yellow rat snake (Julian, Lucius, Marcus, Cornelia)
1.1 Everglades rat snake (Gregor, Claudia)
1.0 Honduran milk snake (Tezcatlipoca)
2.1 ball python (Prowler, Renenet, Jerry)
0.1 Central American boa constrictor (Luna)
1.0 Jurassic milk snake (Hobbes--Cali king/Honduran milk hybrid)
0.1 Chinese smooth green snake (Yu-Mei)
0.0.1 rough green snake (Olive)
0.1 speckled kingsnake (Sophia)
0.1 rubber boa (Hecuba)
0.1 eastern milk snake (Seska)
1.0 Malayan box turtle (Fig)
1.1 diamondback terrapin (Toby, Nate)
0.0.1 house gecko
0.0.2 Argentine horned frog (Blinky, Inky)
1.0 human (Brian)
1.2 domestic shorthair cat (Teya, Morgan, Dom)
1.0 ocicat (Aakhu)
0.0.lots Lobster roach colony (want some? I give them away for free!)

Aquarium:
2 Leopard ctenopoma
3 red-tailed chalceus
3 Synodontis eupterus
1 Synodontis angelicus
1 Synodontis alberti
1 Synodontis ocellifer
1 Synodontis longirostris
1 grey leopard/Sultan (L-264) pleco
3 clown botia
5 weather dojo
3 ropefish
3 Neolamprologus brichardi
1 crown jewel cichlid (one-eyed)
1 yellow labidochromis
1 Frontosa (one-eyed)
2 gold gourami
2 opaline gourami
1 festivum cichlid
2 Arulius barb
1 ruby shark
1 spiny eel
1 brown African knife

Learning the ropes

I have a particular fondness for eel-like fishes, possibly because of their resemblance to snakes. I also think that, because they are able to move their heads more independently from their bodies, it gives them more body language and therefore makes them more interesting (even though our interpretation of that body language is generally flawed and processed through an anthropomorphizing filter). It goes without saying that I find ropefish very enjoyable to watch, but I had not ventured into ropefish-keeping until I started my current job.

Other stores would get maybe one ropefish in every few months. They were high-priced, and about half the time were found dried up on the floor. A dried ropefish is a very sad thing. Their little faces are human-like, and it hurts my heart to think of what they experienced when they unwittingly played a nasty trick on themselves. Contrary to what most people seem to believe, fish that jump or slither out of their aquariums are not "committing suicide" or even "stupid". In the wild, fish that find themselves in a shrinking or stagnant puddle of water can often jump out and land themselves back into the main part of a stream, either directly or by flopping around, letting gravity take them to the water (water flows downhill, after all). Ropefish, eels, lungfish, and other similar creatures take this to another level by being able to direct themselves out of their current body of water, not having to rely on gravity and desperate flopping. They move through wetlands that might be a centimeter deep or even less; the small amount of ground moisture being just enough to keep them hydrated as they search for a suitable place to hang out.

In captivity, these creatures are engaging in their natural behavior, but they are in a very unnatural situation. Evolution prepared them very well for life in streams, lakes, and ponds, but not for life in a box of water, four feet off the ground, with the surrounding area dry as a desert. Some fish crawl or jump out to escape foul conditions in the aquarium, while others simply have an instinct to roam. Either way, keeping these fish alive means doing everything possible to seal up the tank. I suppose keeping a shallow pan of water on the floor for wayward eels and ropefish might not be a bad idea, either.

Long story short, my current workplace tends to get not just one ropefish at a time, but ten or so. A tank full of ropefish is an impressive sight; all those little heads peeking out of their hiding area is adorable and amusing. Having ropefish eat frozen bloodworms from my fingers makes me all giddy, too. Their movements are so graceful and deliberate; when they are searching for food, they appear to be very intelligent, looking all around them, carefully inspecting every crevice, and moving slowly and carefully.

We started having problems with the ropefish soon after I started the job. I hadn't realized that they'd had these issues before I came to work with them as well. They would get an illness that would eventually kill every single one within a week. The deaths were protracted and horrible, and none of the medications were working.

My first step was to ban copper-based medications and aquarium salt from their tank. They improved somewhat, but not enough. This last batch was going downhill fast, and I couldn't stand to see it happening. My personal ropefish at home was thriving; he has been with me nearly a year now. I decided to take the remaining fish home and see if I could reverse the illness with some intensive care.

First, they received a dip in penicillin, and the entire tank was treated with a food that contained penicillin (I also have several sickie refugees here that the boss was going to euthanize). I added Maroxy, Melafix, and Pimafix to combat the bacteria and fungi, and I added two powerheads, each spewing a steady stream of bubbles, to circulate and oxygenate the water. Dried foods were suspended in favor of frozen bloodworms and plankton.

The two ropefish that I brought home are 100% better now. They are happy, healthy, eating, and exploring the tank. A big change from the illness that caused the other fish at the store to go from "okay" to "massive internal hemorrhage" within 24 hours. These two were showing the beginning symptoms (skin patches, lethargy, gasping) when I brought them home; the others were already on the brink of death when I made this decision.

I have a couple of products on order from Seachem that I believe will help the next bunch of ropefish. I blame myself for these guys' deaths, though, because I did not catch the signs soon enough. That, and we lost one to the floor; people keep leaving their canopy open. I am learning as I go how to give these guys the best possible start on captive life, but it has been at a very unfortunate cost.

When I get some photos of the ropes in my aquarium, I'll post them. They're extremely difficult to photograph, though, as their heads are very small, and they move quite a bit.