It's getting cold.

Cold water (or more correctly temperate) fish aren't always that popular. In fact I think that most people rush through the temperate freshwater section of the Blue Planet Aquarium "to get to the good stuff". I know that I have been guilty of this many times. Yesterday I went to the aquarium and went through the temperate section and I found an amazing new tank set up. The arch tank that has housed a variety of indistinguished medium sized temperate fish has been re-designed.

The tank is now the biggest and most impressive White Cloud Mountain Minnow tank I have ever seen or heard of. It is stunning (wish my camera wasn't broken!!!). The tank has literally hundreds of White Cloud Mountain Minnows and you get to see them in impressive shoals. It also has a great selection of real stemmed plants, bog wood and moss. It looks great, although I'm not sure how biological correct this is. I believe that White Cloud Mountain Minnow come from streams with more rocks and less plants, fast flowing streams. So it may not be the most correct biotope it is a great tank.

I am loving The Blue Planet Aquariums recent shift to filling large tanks with hundreds of smaller fish instead of a handful of medium or large fish. The new coral bay display is the best example of this but I love this White Cloud Mountain Minnow tank. The Blue Planet has for years had the spectacular Cichlids tank. This tank is that fantastic sight of hundreds of individual fish interacting. I believe this kind of set up is much more impressive then the other option of a small tank with 2 large fish (electric eels?). I know that a large draw of an aquarium is to allow people to see fish they could never own or are unlikely to see in the wild. Therefore larger fish are an important draw.

However, think about how long people spend looking at each tank. The tanks with more fish hold peoples attention for longer, generally the tanks with less (but bigger) fish hold peoples attention for much less time.

Personally I wish more tanks become like the White Cloud Mountain Minnow tank, full of activity. More tanks like this will encourage repeat visits. Maybe the issue comes down to The Blue Planet's Aim. Is it creating a 3D text book of rare/unusual fish or an art gallery showcasing the beauty of fish. I suspect they are trying to do both but personally I am very happy to see the more artistic tanks that have been popping up.

P.S. this post should be tempered by the fact that The Blue Planet Aquarium has also recently replaced its Turtles display (which included dozens or turtles) with a Cayman display. So this tank has moved from lots of a common animal to two of a much rarer animal. It's good to see something rare and unusual, maybe I do prefer the text book approach.

Coral Bay Update

Ok stopped in for 5 mins at The Blue Planet Aquarium when i was dropping my girlfriend into work.

AND CORAL BAY LOOKS FANTASTIC

My cam is broke so cant get any pics at the moment but will do soon.

It is great, I think they have done a really good job in filling this large tank with loads of small fish instead of a few mid size fish. I think they have well over 200 small coral fish in the tank. It looks really active, alive and realistic. It reminded me of when I went snorkeling in the Red Sea. It had that sense are a large fish community. I love it.

Big update coming soon

I've been away

I have been away first on holiday and then on a work do so I haven't had the chance to have a proper visit to the Blue Plane Aquarium for a few weeks now. But i popped in once on the way to pick up my girlfriend from work and I was pleasantly surprised to see that the coal bay exhibit I was told wouldn't be ready until October has already been started to be stocked with Fish. They had no information up let and I didn't know the names of the fish off the top of my head. But I think it will look great when its all finished. The did have a couple of very healthy looking neon cleaners in the tank. I love them. Also I saw one in the massive main tank (well in its smaller corner divided section.) They looked happy. As did the 4 different Morays i saw this time. Sometimes i walk round slowly have a detailed look and I don't find any Morays this time i almost run through and found 4. Very strange but very cool. I will hopefully get there this week for a more detailed look and post more information about Coral Bay, with Photos I hope.

Common Name:
Tete Sea Catfish or Shark Catfish
Scientific Name:
Hexanematichthys seemanni
Scientific Class:
Actinopterygii
Conservation Status:
Not on the threatened species list
Habitat:
This unusual catfish is common in coastal marine, brackish waters and freshwater rivers. It is native to Pacific-draining rivers and estuaries in Central and South America. Young fish appear to favour the fresh water and migrate into salt water as they mature.
Life Expectancy:
Up to 7 years
Diet:
An omnivore but appears to enjoy frozen blood worm when in an aquarium and Blue Planet aquarium lists its diet as Fish and Peas.
Maximum Size:
35cm

Tank Breeding:
"A mouthbrooder, the few, amazingly large eggs are incubated by the male. Reproduction in the aquarium is difficult as the aquarist requires to emulate the migration from marine to fresh water and back again in a spacious aquarium. The is one verbal report of this being accomplished by an American aquarist who spawned the fish by gradually changed the water from marine to fresh water and back again over a 12 month period." from planet catfish
Interesting facts:
They have venomous dorsal spines (unconfirmed).
Private UK Aquarium:
Yes but they are difficult to keep as they grow large and their salt water needs can make it difficult. I have not found any shops selling these but a search on Aquarist classified will often find a private seller.
Blue Planet Aquarium Tank:
These Catfish are housed in a brackish tank (which is not ideal for adults as they prefer full marine) in the "where land meets sea" area. The share a tank with Scats, Monos and Archer Fish. This tank also overflows into the mud skippers and 4 eyed fish display. The two amphibious fish are occasionally seen swimming in the deeper tank.

A Storm In Coral Bay

After going away for a couple of weeks i went to the Blue Planet Aquarium to see how everything was. Well being in the middle of the summer school holiday it was packed full of families. So I put my mp3 player on and went round in my own little world.

Down in the coastal zone I found the Coral Bay exhibition being completely over hauled.

Speaking to the staff I was assured their was no problem with the existing tank. They just wanted to redesign the exhibit. The first stage being a complete strip down, clean and rebuild. The central rock work was solid and could not be removed but all the imitation coral pieces were attached either by a suction cup or by being screwed onto the base. The staff removed each piece individually to be cleaned. Below you can see the imitation coral pieces stacked up against the tank side and the shards of a big piece that broke up in the water.


But in all of this redecorating what about the fish? Most have been transported into the main massive tank. I went and had a look to see if i could find them. I found some. 1 Reef bannerfish, 1 picasso trigger fish and 2 regal tangs. The below blurred pictures shows the tangs and trigger fish. They looked very happy in their new surroundings. (they do look very small compared to their new tank mates, i hope they do well in their new home.)


But not all the fish have had this change of tanks, apparently at least 1 fish has escaped the staff nets and any attempts at catching it have so far failed. I saw its faint shape at the back of the tank but couldn't identify it. Sneaky fish!

The staff said that they haven't yet decided what the new tank will be populated with but they informed me the new display will be fully set up by the 1st of October.

TANK BUSTERS

The Blue Planet Aquarium has just updated, its biggest tank has now been re-branded as a Tank Buster display. This giant tank is full of fish that are regularly sold as juveniles in the ornamental fish trade. Sadly they are often miss sold by pet stores who don't inform the customer how big they get. These fish then quickly grow too large for the tank and either die by being too cramped, or get dumped into rivers where they usually die or they get given away IF they can find someone to take them. The Blue Planet gets at least 1 or 2 calls a week about fish that are too big. Some they are able to re home. The biggest and most impressive fish are now housed in this display. It looks great and shows how fish of this size should be kept.



It is sad to think that for every one fish in this tank so many more end up in tiny cramped tanks where they live short miserable lives. I believe the pet stores and Local Fish shops really need to take more responsibility in informing customers of the eventual size of the fish they sell.

The Blue Planet Aquarium has put up information explaining this to visitors and i hope that this may help to educate more members of the public of the importance of having the right size tank for a fish.

The Tank Busters display currently includes
- Black Pacu (After the common Plec and the Piranha this is the most commonly dumped fish in the UK)
- Ripsaw Catfish
- Vundu
- Tiger Shovelnose catfish (these are my favourite in the tank)
- Nile Perch
- Leopard catfish
- Redtail Catfish (the 2 big redtails they have in this tank are amazing)
the tank also includes a
- Geoffrey's side neck turtle (you can usually find him hidden up in the branches or sometimes scavenging for food on the tank floor)

TAN