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02-18-2006 12:44 AM |
Ivy wrote:
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Actually, that's my tank.
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Oh I new that Ivy, I just thought that with all that snuggling that the rule "whats mine is yours" would fall into effect :razz: :mrgreen:
Anthony wrote:
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So, how did you know John's <cough cough> "size"?
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Anthony, keep it up my friend and I will be helping John serve up that super sized nuckle sandwich that your asking for! LOL
Here's the text of the article, I made a few minor identity edits :biggrin:
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By Kate Trotter The Tri-City News
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A fresh water aquarium is a habitat but a salt water reef tank is a world.
Ivy has two such worlds in her world – a 65-gallon tank and a desktop, 3.5 gallon miniature – both lush with life.
“The only dead thing in this tank is the pump,” Ivy said.
Even the sand is considered alive with bacteria that contribute to the overall wealth in the water. “Everything is dependent on another aspect,” she said.
A reef aquarium is not for the faint of heart or slim of wallet. Ivy’s friend John said he got started while working the internet boom in Texas, when, he said, “I had too much disposable income.”
For instance, a pair of lights, on sale, can be $150. A piece of coral can cost $100. Ivy’s particular passion is a coral called zoanthids; three or four, each about one centimetre in diameter, make up a “frag” and cost upwards of $40.
Like the living creatures they nurture, reef aquarium enthusiasts are interdependent, relying on networks to share coral, selling fragments that grow like plant cuttings.
“We call it a frag party,” Ivy said.
Most elements in reef aquariums are obtained through sharing or are cultivated, not captured wild, John said.
Reef aquariums became viable for hobbyists in the 1980s, he said, when knowledge about coral’s need for intense light and other biological breakthroughs seeped out of scientific circles.
As well, Ivy said, plumbing became more sophisticated with the rise in popularity of hot tubs.
For her, it started with a betta, better known as a Siamese fighting fish. A friend had three and gave Ivy one. The fish looked lonely, Ivy said, so she got some more. Now, she has two reef tanks and two freshwater tanks. She has tanks at her parent’s home and one at work.
“I maxed out at 11 or 12,” she said. “It was really obscene.”
Now, she has the “cast of [the movie Finding] Nemo” in her living room and can discuss the flaws in the animated film – like the sex changes the animated fish should have undergone for veracity’s sake. That’s because instead of watching TV, she and John will snuggle in front of the tank for the 9:30 p.m. show, when a pair of Fairy Wrasse (really pretty fish) do a mating ritual.
But like the owners of Dalmatians shudder when any movie version of 101 Dalmatians is played, Ivy and John warn Nemo-lovers that maintaining a reef aquarium takes a lot of work and money.
“We don’t encourage people to plunge into the reef hobby without research and patience,” she said. “You can’t go buy a couple of Nemos [Clown fish] and throw them in a fishbowl. It’s not right. It’s not responsible
“Saltwater livestock have very particular needs in regards to compatibility, space requirements and water chemistry.”
But if the intensity and responsibility of running a marine world is your idea of a hobby, they recommend joining the aquarians’ world first through events organized by Reef BC (reefbc.com) or checking out information sites such as canreef.com.
But be warned, it can be addicting. “We have a friend building a 400-gallon tank,” John said. “It’s going to be worth more than his car. He’s taking out walls.”
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