This morning as I walked past my still dark tank I noticed my moorish Idol where he usually is but I saw the bangai cardinal pushed up against the front glass looking unusual. For the last two weeks I have one of those plastic breeders in there hooked up to the front glass to try to hatch some eggs that I found in my tank. The cardinal must have swam between the breeder and the glass and become wedged. Since fish can't swim backward when their fins are pinned, he died. I don't remember how long I had this fish and I can't even guess so it must be 8 or 9 years.
That got me thinking about how many fish I lost to accidents.
The answer is almost all of them.
The last fish that I can think of that died of natural causes was a 12 year old percula clown. He died about 20 or 25 years ago.
Since then I don't think any fish in my reef died of natural causes like old age or disease.
There was the two mandarins which got sucked into the powerhead when the strainer came loose, the four or five firefish that jumped onto the lights, the two royal grammas that carpet surfed, the three clown gobies that could just fit in the skimmer overflow, the porcupine fish that got wedged between a rock and inflated until the crabs got him, the 18 year old brutilid (cusk eel) along with a purple tang a 10 year old hippo tang and a few others that I lost in a Clorox mishap and the ribbon eel that made his way into an ajoining tank which was fresh water.
I don't see these things as bad necessarily. Not good of course but everything that happens teaches us something and makes us better hobbiests. When I started with salt in 1972 I lost all of my stock to disease like ich, pop eye, dropsy, whatever. Now at least they have a chance to die of old age except for my stupidity.
Of course today I will remove the breeder so that doesen't happen again. The cardinal did live longer in my reef than he probably would have lived in the sea. If you spend any time SCUBA diving or at least snorkling you will see fish being eaten continousely. Thats why there are fish, to be eaten by other fish. If you watch trumpetfish which are very common you will see them suck up damselfish and clowns no matter how much we would pay for them. At night you will see soldierfish or squirrelfish eating all the small fish drifting just above the coral. Forget about frogfish and sculpins, they can eat until they are ready to explode. On some Islands you see fisherman drag their catch on the beach to sell for food. I once saw a bunch of beautiful lookdowns, moray eels and tangs dying on the sand for sale for 50 cents a pound. I am guilty myself of eating fish almost every day but I was brought up in a fish market and it is what it is. Fish were made to be eaten, either by other fish or us. I think if I had a choice to be eaten alive or kept captive and fed for the rest of my life I may choose the latter. Just a thought.
Have a great day.
Paul
That got me thinking about how many fish I lost to accidents.
The answer is almost all of them.
The last fish that I can think of that died of natural causes was a 12 year old percula clown. He died about 20 or 25 years ago.
Since then I don't think any fish in my reef died of natural causes like old age or disease.
There was the two mandarins which got sucked into the powerhead when the strainer came loose, the four or five firefish that jumped onto the lights, the two royal grammas that carpet surfed, the three clown gobies that could just fit in the skimmer overflow, the porcupine fish that got wedged between a rock and inflated until the crabs got him, the 18 year old brutilid (cusk eel) along with a purple tang a 10 year old hippo tang and a few others that I lost in a Clorox mishap and the ribbon eel that made his way into an ajoining tank which was fresh water.
I don't see these things as bad necessarily. Not good of course but everything that happens teaches us something and makes us better hobbiests. When I started with salt in 1972 I lost all of my stock to disease like ich, pop eye, dropsy, whatever. Now at least they have a chance to die of old age except for my stupidity.
Of course today I will remove the breeder so that doesen't happen again. The cardinal did live longer in my reef than he probably would have lived in the sea. If you spend any time SCUBA diving or at least snorkling you will see fish being eaten continousely. Thats why there are fish, to be eaten by other fish. If you watch trumpetfish which are very common you will see them suck up damselfish and clowns no matter how much we would pay for them. At night you will see soldierfish or squirrelfish eating all the small fish drifting just above the coral. Forget about frogfish and sculpins, they can eat until they are ready to explode. On some Islands you see fisherman drag their catch on the beach to sell for food. I once saw a bunch of beautiful lookdowns, moray eels and tangs dying on the sand for sale for 50 cents a pound. I am guilty myself of eating fish almost every day but I was brought up in a fish market and it is what it is. Fish were made to be eaten, either by other fish or us. I think if I had a choice to be eaten alive or kept captive and fed for the rest of my life I may choose the latter. Just a thought.
Have a great day.
Paul
