A Day’s Adventure In My Aquarium

Since I joined the Tampa Bay Aquarium Society in April 1994, many club members have asked how I can be interested in fish when I don’t even own an aquarium. How is it that I don’t own an aquarium? Well, it’s really quite a different story than that.

I live on a boat in one of the local marinas not too far from the Gulf of Mexico. Before that, I lived on my boat behind a friend's house. In both spots, I had fish and I fed them every day. My aquarium is many hundreds of gallons of water.

Today my friend Mike LoBello came over to help me paint and while he was there, I showed him my fish. We started along the sea wall and I showed him my new little fish that I believe are a species of surgeon fish. When the sun is high in the sky and the little fish are feeding along the wall looking for little creatures and eating the algae, their pectoral fins are a brilliant, bluish purple. There are literally thousands of them.

I was telling Mike how there used to be a school of jacks that would periodically sweep through the marina and eat everything they could get in their mouths and quite literally clean the place out. They would behave like those natives you see on TV, that all gather at one end of a pond and make lots of noise to scare the fish into the other end and awaiting nets. Well, these jacks would also gather together at one end of the marina and quickly work their way around the docks eating everything in their path. They would wipe out all the little fish for the entire season.

Mike asked why the little fish were still there. I told him that about two or three months ago a guy came in here and fished with hooks for three nights straight, catching every jack he could. He got about thirty of them and told me that he was not going to eat them. Instead, he was going to sell them to the Oriental market because there was a demand for jacks from the Orientals community. He personally thought they were unfit to eat.

I had mixed emotions upon seeing those fish so cruelly taken out of my aquarium, but now the benefits are enormous. I told Mike that it was ironic that all the members of the club were trying to duplicate the conditions of nature in their aquarium, I was actually the only one doing that because my aquarium was nature. The little tangs feed on a wall that is covered with oysters and barnacles. That wall is a virtual sea of life (excuse the pun). The tide was going out and the wall was slowly becoming uncovered. The stratification of the attached animals was very significant today as it was an exceptionally low tide. The high tide mark was hardly covered by any creatures at all. As the high tide line goes down, the barnacles start showing up. They obviously have a high tolerance for dryness, compared to the creatures lying a little deeper down.

The oysters start to predominate where they are covered in water at least 75% of the time. Below the oysters, you start to find sponges…bright orange and white. The sponges only rarely come out of the water (or should I say the drop in water level rarely leaves them out of the water). On extremely low tides, I have seen the white sponges drooping down as the water level drops. It looks like they would do anything to get back in the water. Their wish is fulfilled in just a few short hours. As the water level drops the oysters start shooting water out and seeing an occasional drop of water go shooting sideways is always a fascinating sight. I’m sorry to say that I don’t know what either causes them to squirt or why they squirt. It’s just one of those mysteries that I'm sure someone else knows the answer to.

Buried within this vertical oyster bed are many more small creatures that I can’t readily identify. While we were talking, I was casually looking out into the open water away from the wall and I noticed little twigs that were undulating. This brought my attention to two-inch long needlenose fish. I have seen these extremely fast predators fully grown (at about a foot long) go after the smaller fish. These needle fish were so small that I barely even saw them. I can only imagine how small their prey must be. I never saw them eat anything but I’m sure that they were enjoying something very tiny nearby for dinner.

While we were painting, a movement caught my eye and along the wall, completely submerged, came a cormorant cruising the wall for goodies. Most of the small fish hid in the wall of oysters and I guess that the cormorant did not get much food on that hunt. It was pretty exciting to see a cormorant swimming underwater. While we were there a man in a truck stopped and got out with two buckets. Since many fisherman stop here, I thought he was just another angler. Apparently a large white egret, who was fishing nearby, using his beak as a spear, thought the same. The egret came over to see what the fisherman was using for bait (and no doubt wanted to steal some of it). Mike wondered if the egret was going to get anything. Suddenly all three of us realized the "fisherman" had just came down to the wall for about four gallons of water which he put in his truck, then and drove away! We figured that the egret must have better luck getting fish from fisherman then getting food on his own…otherwise he would have kept on fishing in the "traditional" fashion.

Speaking of birds, I also have a small brown night heron that sits on the dock lines in the marina and, every night, fishes in the glow of the security lights. There are also pelicans and great blue herons and of course those silly laughing gulls

What do I feed my fish (and, of course, birds) in my aquarium? Well, like most aquarists, I feed my fish table scraps. Anything that sinks, the fish get. Anything that floats, the gulls get. At night, the catfish rise up from the depths and eat whatever is thrown overboard. During the day, I never see them. I’m sure they are down there somewhere.

Some of the other fish I have in my aquarium are our famous mullet. The mullet swim in spiral patterns in the marina. I haven’t a clue why. Sheepsheads are common sight along the pilings and walls. They are grazing, looking for small shellfish to eat. On occasion, scrawled cowfish are seen sifting sand, looking for tasty morsels.

Is it all fun and games? I’ll say not. Three days ago one of my large queen triggerfish was found floating in the marina. It wasn’t apparent how it died. One day a few months ago a pelican showed up with its wing all shattered. Catching the bird was tough, but with the help of a couple of other fellows at the marina, we were able to catch it and it got a ride in the front seat of a Chevy pickup to the Seabird Rescue Sanctuary on Tiera Verde.

Remember when red tide was the scourge the coastline? Well, it wiped out a lot of my aquarium fish. Hundreds of catfish, grunts, porgys, and sheepshead Floated on the surface. While the red tide persists, we have to live with the constant odor of dead fish. Thank goodness, it has finally disappeared.

The best part of my "tank" is when the Dolphins come in to feed. Normally, they come in at night and there are usually three of them. Sometimes they are there for only twenty minutes or so and other times they stay several hours. I guess it depends upon how the fishing is.

So now you have a brief look at my aquarium, come visit sometime.

This article originally appeared in the newsletter of the Tampa Bay Aquarium Society June 1996

The following article was the original written by Mr. Fish and submitted to the editorial committee who rewrote it and it appeared in the above form.

A Day’s Adventure In My Aquarium

Since I joined the Tampa Bay Aquarium Society in April 1994, many people have asked how I can be interested in fish when I don’t even own an aquarium. How is it that I don’t own an aquarium, well it’s really quite a different story than that.

I live on a boat in one of the local marinas not too far from the Gulf of Mexico. Before that I lived on my boat behind a friends house. In both spots I had fish and I fed them every day. My aquarium is many hundreds of gallons of water.

Today my friend Mike LoBello came over to help me paint some and while he was there I showed him my fish. We started along the wall and I showed him my new little fish that are some kind of surgeon fish I believe. When the sun is high in the sky and the little fish are feeding along the wall looking for little creatures and eating the algae, their pectoral fins are a brilliant bluish purple. There are literally thousands of these fish.

I was telling Mike how it used to be that there was a school of jacks that would periodically sweep through marina and eat everything they could get in their mouths and quite literally cleared the place out. They would make like those natives you see on TV that all gather at one end of a pond and make lots of noise to scare the fish into the other end and waiting nets. Well the jacks would all gather together at one end of the marina and quickly work their way around the docks eating everything they had in their path. They would wipe out all the little fish for the entire season.

He asked me why the little fish were still there. I told him that about two or three months ago a guy came in here and fished with hooks for three nights straight catching every jack he could. He got around thirty of them and he told me that he was not going to eat them. Rather that he was going to sell them to the oriental market because the Orientals liked the jacks. He personally thought they were unfit to eat.

I had mixed emotions upon seeing my fish so cruelly taken out of my aquarium, but now the benefits are enormous. I told Mike that since all the members of the club were trying to duplicate the conditions of nature in their aquarium, I was the only one doing that because my aquarium was nature.

The little tangs fed on the wall that is covered in oysters and barnacles. That wall is a virtual sea of life (excuse the pun). The tide was going out and the wall was slowly becoming uncovered. The stratification of the attached animals was very significant today as it was an exceptionally low tide. Naturally the high tide mark was hardly covered by creatures as it was at that point that there wasn’t a whole lot of water covering it most of the time. Then as the water level goes down the barnacles start showing up. They obviously have a high tolerance for dryness. At least as compared to the creatures lying a little deeper down.

The oysters started to predominate where they are covered in water at least 75% of the time. Then from below the oysters one starts finding sponges. There are bright orange sponges and whitish sponges. The sponges only rarely come out of the water (or I should say the water level drop rarely leaves them out of the water.) I have seen on extremely low tides the white sponges drooping down as the water level dropped. It looks like they would do anything to get back in the water. Their wish is fulfilled in just a few short hours. As the water level drops the oysters start shooting water out and seeing an occasional drop of water go shooting sideways is always a fascinating event. I’m sorry to say that I don’t know what either causes them to squirt or why they squirt. It’s just one of those mysteries that someone else probably knows the answer to.

Buried within this vertical oyster bed are many more small creatures that I can’t really identify but I know that they are there. While we were talking I was casually looking out in the open water away from the wall and I noticed little twigs that were undulating. This brought my attention to about two inch long needlenose fish. I have seen these extremely fast predators fully grown up at a foot long go after the small fish that are around. These were so small that I barely even saw them. I can only imagine how small their prey must be. I did not see them eat anything but I’m sure that they were eating something.

While we were painting, a movement caught my eye and down the wall came a cormorant completely under water and cruising the wall for goodies. Most of the small fish hid in the wall and I would guess that the cormorant did not get much food on that jaunt. It was pretty exciting to see a cormorant swim underwater. It reminded me a lot of the penguins under water. While we were there a man in a truck stopped and got out two buckets. As there are many fishermen who stop here I thought he was just another fisherman. Obviously so did a large white egret, who was fishing nearby on his own using his beak as a spear. The egret came over to see what the fisherman had and probably steal some of it. Mike wondered if the egret was going to get anything. About the time all three of us realized the guy just came down for about four gallons of water which he put in his truck and drove away with, we theorized that the egret must have better luck getting fish from the fisherman then getting it on his own or he would have kept fishing in bird fashion.

Speaking of birds I also have a small brown night heron that sits on the lines in the marina and every night he is fishing in the light of one of the security lights at the marina. There are pelicans and great blue herons and of course those silly laughing gulls. They are always laughing but come dinnertime they just eat and have a fun time.

What do I feed my fish and, of course, birds in my aquarium. Well like most aquarists, I feed my fish table scraps. Anything that sinks the fish get. Anything that floats the gulls get. At night, the catfish rise up from the depths and eat whatever is thrown overboard. During the day, they are never seen. I’m sure they are down there somewhere.

Some of the other fish I have in my aquarium are the famous Mullet. The mullet seem to swim in spiraling patterns in the marina. I haven’t a clue why. Sheepsheads are common sights along the pilings and walls. They are grazing, looking for small shellfish to eat. On occasion, scrawled cowfish are seen sifting threw the sand looking for tasty morsel down there.

Is it all fun and games, I’ll say not. Three days ago one of my large queen triggerfish was found floating in the marina. It wasn’t apparent how it died. One day a few months ago a pelican showed up with its wing all shattered. Catching it was tough, but with the help of a couple of other guys at the marina we were able to catch it and it got a ride in the front seat of a Chevy pickup to the seabird rescue place on Tierra Verde.

Remember when the red tide came to scourge the coastline. Well it wiped out a lot of my aquarium fish. Floating were hundreds of catfish, grunts, porgy’s, and sheepsheads. It is so nice when the tide goes away, but until it does we have to live with the constant odor of dead fish.

The best part is when the Dolphins come into feed. Normally they come in at night and there are usually three of them. Sometimes they are there for only twenty minutes or so and other times they stay a few hours. I guess it depends upon how the fishing is.

So now you have a brief look at my aquarium, come visit sometime.