Paul B
NJRC Member
The problem of having healthy fish and inverts.
Most of us, or rather “all” of us want healthy fish and invertebrates so this may sound odd. But just as there are problems having sickly fish, there are other "problems” having healthy animals.
I will explain.
Fish that are not in the best health present few problems, except for their affinity to become sick and die. After the fish dies, the problems with that fish go away except for the money we paid for it.
But healthy fish have their own problems. First of all the healthier a fish is, the higher it can jump just like an athlete who is fat and out of shape probably won't compete in the high jump at the next Olympics. I lose most of my fish to jumping out. I am not sure if they are very happy or excited to see me but when I feed them, they seem to jump more. I was out in my boat today and it is almost 100 degrees so I left the front panel on my tank, which is built into a wall, open to get more air in. I found one of my flasher wrasses on the carpet.
I probably lose a fish a month to jumping out even though I try very hard to block every possible exit route; healthy fish always find a new one.
Even if they don’t make it to the carpet, I find them on the lights or sometimes I don’t find them until years later tucked inside a crack in the wall under my tank (which is in a dark closet)
Healthy fish are also always spawning, building a nest or looking for a mate. Fish are not like us and will mate with any fish of the opposite sex no matter their social standing, taste in clothes or looks. When I was dating I was particular in certain ways and the girl had to at least have her eyes where they should be and have a pulse and not eat with her feet. That was about the extent of my criteria. Fish don’t seem to care.
But for us, mating fish have problems. Mating fish will always bite you when you stick your hand in the tank and they have no fear that you are 7,000 times bigger than they are. I got into quite a few fights over girls when I was younger, but if the guy was a lot bigger, tougher, stronger or had scary tattoos, I let him have her. I did call to apologize to her later though as I am a Gentleman.
Another problem with some mating fish is that they only want to lay their eggs on your prized SPS corals and their eggs always kill the coral in that place. The fact that they can’t lay their eggs on a coral that died last week is beyond me. Cute little fish like clown gobies can, and do kill large pieces of acropora, not on purpose of course but by laying eggs all over them. That is the reason I have no more acropora. But I have clown gobies which are a lot cheaper than acropora. Clown gobies don’t seem to care how much you paid for that acropora and it seems the more you paid, the larger egg masses they lay.
The other problem with mating fish is that we get all excited to find the eggs that we go out and buy a tank to raise the babies, then we order rotifers, green water to feed the rotifers, brine shrimp eggs. Nets, lights, air pumps medications, close up lenses for our cameras, microscopes etc. The fry usually die and we carry all that stuff outside for our next garage sale.
Healthy fish are normally immune fish and healthy, immune fish usually live forever. If you don’t really like that fish, you can be stuck with it for eternity. I bought a fireclown 26 years ago. I don’t even like clownfish and bought it as a baby because I thought it was a flame hawkfish. I found out later it was a fireclown. Have you ever even seen a fireclown? Not the best looking clownfish. I think I have seen two of them in my life and I bought the other one as a birthday present for my other one. Not that I want anything to happen to them but they never die. The interesting, colorful, rare fish I get jump out, but the fireclowns have been with me for over a quarter of a century and all they do is spawn. Almost every day they spawn. I mean, don’t they ever get tired of each other! It’s the same thing 5 or 6 times a week. OK I am a little jealous, but Jees!
Do my banded pipefish live for 26 years? No, how about my Marine Betta? Um, no. Ruby Red Dragonettes, Not hardly, but fireclowns, forget about it. I think if I laid one in the street and had a school bus full of high school seniors that just came back from a hot dog eating contest run them over twice, they would spawn on the asphalt.
Healthy fish are also strong fish and can, and do carry corals and rocks all over your tank, usually to the back where you can't find it.
I can't buy small frags unless I tie them to a cinder black because at least one of my fish will carry it away to the nether regions of my tank where it becomes lunch for my Godzilla Bristleworms which are also, unfortunately very healthy.
You can see her devil eggs above her. That, and all my acropora became history because of her and her boyfriend.
Spawning, Spawning, Spawning, That's all they do.
Most of us, or rather “all” of us want healthy fish and invertebrates so this may sound odd. But just as there are problems having sickly fish, there are other "problems” having healthy animals.
I will explain.
Fish that are not in the best health present few problems, except for their affinity to become sick and die. After the fish dies, the problems with that fish go away except for the money we paid for it.
But healthy fish have their own problems. First of all the healthier a fish is, the higher it can jump just like an athlete who is fat and out of shape probably won't compete in the high jump at the next Olympics. I lose most of my fish to jumping out. I am not sure if they are very happy or excited to see me but when I feed them, they seem to jump more. I was out in my boat today and it is almost 100 degrees so I left the front panel on my tank, which is built into a wall, open to get more air in. I found one of my flasher wrasses on the carpet.
I probably lose a fish a month to jumping out even though I try very hard to block every possible exit route; healthy fish always find a new one.
Even if they don’t make it to the carpet, I find them on the lights or sometimes I don’t find them until years later tucked inside a crack in the wall under my tank (which is in a dark closet)
Healthy fish are also always spawning, building a nest or looking for a mate. Fish are not like us and will mate with any fish of the opposite sex no matter their social standing, taste in clothes or looks. When I was dating I was particular in certain ways and the girl had to at least have her eyes where they should be and have a pulse and not eat with her feet. That was about the extent of my criteria. Fish don’t seem to care.
But for us, mating fish have problems. Mating fish will always bite you when you stick your hand in the tank and they have no fear that you are 7,000 times bigger than they are. I got into quite a few fights over girls when I was younger, but if the guy was a lot bigger, tougher, stronger or had scary tattoos, I let him have her. I did call to apologize to her later though as I am a Gentleman.
Another problem with some mating fish is that they only want to lay their eggs on your prized SPS corals and their eggs always kill the coral in that place. The fact that they can’t lay their eggs on a coral that died last week is beyond me. Cute little fish like clown gobies can, and do kill large pieces of acropora, not on purpose of course but by laying eggs all over them. That is the reason I have no more acropora. But I have clown gobies which are a lot cheaper than acropora. Clown gobies don’t seem to care how much you paid for that acropora and it seems the more you paid, the larger egg masses they lay.
The other problem with mating fish is that we get all excited to find the eggs that we go out and buy a tank to raise the babies, then we order rotifers, green water to feed the rotifers, brine shrimp eggs. Nets, lights, air pumps medications, close up lenses for our cameras, microscopes etc. The fry usually die and we carry all that stuff outside for our next garage sale.
Healthy fish are normally immune fish and healthy, immune fish usually live forever. If you don’t really like that fish, you can be stuck with it for eternity. I bought a fireclown 26 years ago. I don’t even like clownfish and bought it as a baby because I thought it was a flame hawkfish. I found out later it was a fireclown. Have you ever even seen a fireclown? Not the best looking clownfish. I think I have seen two of them in my life and I bought the other one as a birthday present for my other one. Not that I want anything to happen to them but they never die. The interesting, colorful, rare fish I get jump out, but the fireclowns have been with me for over a quarter of a century and all they do is spawn. Almost every day they spawn. I mean, don’t they ever get tired of each other! It’s the same thing 5 or 6 times a week. OK I am a little jealous, but Jees!
Do my banded pipefish live for 26 years? No, how about my Marine Betta? Um, no. Ruby Red Dragonettes, Not hardly, but fireclowns, forget about it. I think if I laid one in the street and had a school bus full of high school seniors that just came back from a hot dog eating contest run them over twice, they would spawn on the asphalt.
Healthy fish are also strong fish and can, and do carry corals and rocks all over your tank, usually to the back where you can't find it.
I can't buy small frags unless I tie them to a cinder black because at least one of my fish will carry it away to the nether regions of my tank where it becomes lunch for my Godzilla Bristleworms which are also, unfortunately very healthy.
You can see her devil eggs above her. That, and all my acropora became history because of her and her boyfriend.
Spawning, Spawning, Spawning, That's all they do.
