Coral Aquarist Program by AZA

[Gman83]

Hey everyone,

I was just curious if anyone had looked into the Association of Zoos and Aquarium Coral Aquarist program?

I saw an article this morning on my google feed, and it looked interesting, and wanted to see if anyone was going to participate, and everyone’s thoughts on it.

Florida Reef Tract Rescue Project

The AZA Florida Reef Tract Rescue Project (FRTRP) is an AZA member-driven coral rescue and conservation network focused on the rescue, housing and propagation of Florida corals affected by stony coral tissue loss disease.

www.aza.org

 

[chipmunkofdoom2]

I expect most hobbyists wouldn't find participating in this program to be fun, if they're able to meet the requirements at all. I used to work at the National Aquarium in Baltimore. AZA doesn't mess around. At least on the institutional side, pretty stringent system, quality and testing bars must be met to get accredited.

For this program, there are likely going to be many policies and procedures to which you must adhere to be in and stay in the program. Right in the literature, it says you're going to have to pay almost $3,000 in tuition and fees to be in the program, as well as attend a 7-day on-site training, presumably at your own cost. That's going to rule out a large majority of applicants.

This isn't going to be a thing where they mail you a frag of Caribbean staghorn or elk horn and you send them back frags occasionally. Look at this as opening your own private, closed-to-the-public AZA-accredited facility. If that sounds good to you, you should go for it.

If that sounds like too much work, you can help the FL reefs (and reefs around the world) by being more environmentally-friendly. Eating less meat and processed foods is a quick and easy way anyone can significantly reduce their carbon emissions and water usage.

 

[Gman83]

I saw the cost and time commitments. It’s not something I personally can participate in, but I am interested in the education aspect of the program, and what they would teach.

If someone out there is doing the program what nuggets could they share with the community.