New Hampshire Aquarium Society

This month I would like to talk about a few different topics. Each one is very short and does not warrant an article of its own, but is non the less still very important.

DYING ANENOMES

The first thing that I would like to talk about is the practice of dying Sea Anemones to make them more attractive for sale. I ran across some of these specimens in a pet shop the other day. They were very pretty, a nice bright yellow color. Upon asking about these animals I was told that they were in fact dyed. They were naturally a dull white color, they were dyed yellow to enhance their sales appeal. I was assured that they were not injected with dye, they are placed in a solution that contains food coloring. These animals supposedly are not harmed in this process and live long normal lives.

I see several pros and cons with this issue. The first, is the animal actually not harmed by this process? We all know how delicate anemones can be, it's hard to believe that this process doesn't hurt them in some way.

Second, does dying an animal an unnatural color and then selling it to a customer constitute fraud on the retailers part? The pet store employee that I dealt with was very up front with me about this. I didn't have to ask, I was told outright. In this scenario there certainly is no fraud here. But, what if a new hobbyist purchases the animal, only to have the color fade away a few weeks or months later? A case of fraud certainly seems to be taking place here. It seems to me that the pet shop that does business this way will eventually go out of business, the public does not like to be duped.

Third, isn't altering the natural color of an animal to please us artificially humiliating the animal in question? I believe that all of God's creatures are beautiful in their own right. How would you like to be tattooed from head to toe, just to make you more saleable? Doesn't sound to good does it?

In my opinion dying an animal is wrong. But, as long as the process doesn't hurt the animals, and the retailer is up front about it, I guess that I can live with it. Before I can except this practice though, I must be shown that the animals are positively not harmed by this process.

TRANSSHIPPING

Many larger pet shops are transshipping their own animals in from their sources. This save them money over buying them from wholesalers. Pet shops will by directly from collectors and holding facilities the world over. They have the animals shipped directly to their door. This cuts way down on the costs of bringing in their livestock.

This sounds great at first, anything to help bring the cost down of our marine pets. The problem is that most of the stores are not equipped to handle animals that are directly transshipped. The water that the animals arrive in is badly polluted, often times the water is very acidic. Often going below a pH of 6.5. When the pH is this low toxic ammonia is in a non toxic form called ammonium. Thus, the bagged animal is able to cope, but when the animal is put directly into a tank with a pH of 8.3 then pH shock is inevitable.

Stores that transship need to have holding tanks that have a Ph that closely matches the pH of the water in the bags. Then the animals can be released into their holding tanks.

The pH can then be brought up slowly over a few days time frame. This will certainly go a long ways towards minimizing losses. During this time the animals will acclimate to captive life, learn to eat prepared foods (Hopefully), and can be treated for any diseases.

I have been to several stores that transship their animals directly, the result is almost always the same. Within twenty four hours much of their stock is dead or dieing from disease. I believe that this could be eliminated if pet shops that wanted to transship would set up their facility to acclimate animals properly. I realize that this would cost more money to get going, but I believe that the profits will climb as the public sees that they are carrying healthy animals. Transshipping is a great idea, as long as it is done properly.

ANOTHER BAD PURCHASE IDEA

On two separate occasions I purchased a wonderful fish called a Sea Robin (Prionotus scitolus). They were between 3" and 4" in length. Both of the animals ate like little pigs, devouring krill, frozen foods and even pelleted foods. The animals were purchased a couple of months apart. Unfortunately, both of these animals died within two weeks of my purchase. The only behavior that I witnessed that I considered unusual was that they both seemed to spend much of their time swimming about in the water column. When I was younger I used to fish for cold water sea robins in
the ocean. I always caught them at great depths on the bottom. This lead me to believe that the swimming in the water column was unnatural, as they spend much of their lives buried in the sand.

I lost my first Sea Robin after a fifty percent water change. Most of the water came from my reef tank, while only around ten percent of the water added to his tank was fresh salt water. I pumped water into the Sea Robin's aquarium using a powerful water pump. This caused millions of tiny bubbles to be put into the water. The Sea Robin died the next day. I figured that I had messed up and killed my fish with the excess air bubbles.

When I found another Sea Robin I brought it home. At this time I also added 3" of sand to the bottom. I wanted to be able to provide the animal with a natural environment and to help to relieve stress by supplying it with a place to naturally bury itself.

Regardless of all my preparations, this fish also died within two weeks. I don't understand why. I looked up this animal before I purchased it and found that it had an extensive range, from tropical to temperate waters in the Atlantic Ocean. Could these animals have been from the colder waters of the Atlantic? This would explain the hyper activity of the animal. Could it have been a deep water fish that couldn't adjust to aquarium life. It was eating so well that I'm at a loss for an explanation.

If anyone out there has some answers for me I would love to hear from you. Please write me in care of this magazine. For now I'm going to have to recommend that this animal not be kept in captivity, once I have the puzzle figured out I will report it to you. Then maybe we can keep this animal
alive in our aquariums.

	New Hampshire Aquarium Society Bits and Pieces by Tom Neal

Home News Events Monthly Meeting Information and Directions Contact Us Membership Links Articles Supporters About NHAS Help!	This month I would like to talk about a few different topics. Each one is very short and does not warrant an article of its own, but is non the less still very important. DYING ANENOMES The first thing that I would like to talk about is the practice of dying Sea Anemones to make them more attractive for sale. I ran across some of these specimens in a pet shop the other day. They were very pretty, a nice bright yellow color. Upon asking about these animals I was told that they were in fact dyed. They were naturally a dull white color, they were dyed yellow to enhance their sales appeal. I was assured that they were not injected with dye, they are placed in a solution that contains food coloring. These animals supposedly are not harmed in this process and live long normal lives. I see several pros and cons with this issue. The first, is the animal actually not harmed by this process? We all know how delicate anemones can be, it's hard to believe that this process doesn't hurt them in some way. Second, does dying an animal an unnatural color and then selling it to a customer constitute fraud on the retailers part? The pet store employee that I dealt with was very up front with me about this. I didn't have to ask, I was told outright. In this scenario there certainly is no fraud here. But, what if a new hobbyist purchases the animal, only to have the color fade away a few weeks or months later? A case of fraud certainly seems to be taking place here. It seems to me that the pet shop that does business this way will eventually go out of business, the public does not like to be duped. Third, isn't altering the natural color of an animal to please us artificially humiliating the animal in question? I believe that all of God's creatures are beautiful in their own right. How would you like to be tattooed from head to toe, just to make you more saleable? Doesn't sound to good does it? In my opinion dying an animal is wrong. But, as long as the process doesn't hurt the animals, and the retailer is up front about it, I guess that I can live with it. Before I can except this practice though, I must be shown that the animals are positively not harmed by this process. TRANSSHIPPING Many larger pet shops are transshipping their own animals in from their sources. This save them money over buying them from wholesalers. Pet shops will by directly from collectors and holding facilities the world over. They have the animals shipped directly to their door. This cuts way down on the costs of bringing in their livestock. This sounds great at first, anything to help bring the cost down of our marine pets. The problem is that most of the stores are not equipped to handle animals that are directly transshipped. The water that the animals arrive in is badly polluted, often times the water is very acidic. Often going below a pH of 6.5. When the pH is this low toxic ammonia is in a non toxic form called ammonium. Thus, the bagged animal is able to cope, but when the animal is put directly into a tank with a pH of 8.3 then pH shock is inevitable. Stores that transship need to have holding tanks that have a Ph that closely matches the pH of the water in the bags. Then the animals can be released into their holding tanks. The pH can then be brought up slowly over a few days time frame. This will certainly go a long ways towards minimizing losses. During this time the animals will acclimate to captive life, learn to eat prepared foods (Hopefully), and can be treated for any diseases. I have been to several stores that transship their animals directly, the result is almost always the same. Within twenty four hours much of their stock is dead or dieing from disease. I believe that this could be eliminated if pet shops that wanted to transship would set up their facility to acclimate animals properly. I realize that this would cost more money to get going, but I believe that the profits will climb as the public sees that they are carrying healthy animals. Transshipping is a great idea, as long as it is done properly. ANOTHER BAD PURCHASE IDEA On two separate occasions I purchased a wonderful fish called a Sea Robin (Prionotus scitolus). They were between 3" and 4" in length. Both of the animals ate like little pigs, devouring krill, frozen foods and even pelleted foods. The animals were purchased a couple of months apart. Unfortunately, both of these animals died within two weeks of my purchase. The only behavior that I witnessed that I considered unusual was that they both seemed to spend much of their time swimming about in the water column. When I was younger I used to fish for cold water sea robins in the ocean. I always caught them at great depths on the bottom. This lead me to believe that the swimming in the water column was unnatural, as they spend much of their lives buried in the sand. I lost my first Sea Robin after a fifty percent water change. Most of the water came from my reef tank, while only around ten percent of the water added to his tank was fresh salt water. I pumped water into the Sea Robin's aquarium using a powerful water pump. This caused millions of tiny bubbles to be put into the water. The Sea Robin died the next day. I figured that I had messed up and killed my fish with the excess air bubbles. When I found another Sea Robin I brought it home. At this time I also added 3" of sand to the bottom. I wanted to be able to provide the animal with a natural environment and to help to relieve stress by supplying it with a place to naturally bury itself. Regardless of all my preparations, this fish also died within two weeks. I don't understand why. I looked up this animal before I purchased it and found that it had an extensive range, from tropical to temperate waters in the Atlantic Ocean. Could these animals have been from the colder waters of the Atlantic? This would explain the hyper activity of the animal. Could it have been a deep water fish that couldn't adjust to aquarium life. It was eating so well that I'm at a loss for an explanation. If anyone out there has some answers for me I would love to hear from you. Please write me in care of this magazine. For now I'm going to have to recommend that this animal not be kept in captivity, once I have the puzzle figured out I will report it to you. Then maybe we can keep this animal alive in our aquariums.