I'm getting ready to set up a small, freshwater "hardscape" tank in my office.
This is what I'm planning on recreating...Dull? Not to me.
Yeah, freshwater. Why not? And I'm thinking of populating this aquarium with some really grey or silver-colored fishes. Very monotone; kinda "Zen", sort of.
Grey? Dull? Hmm..made me think...I've spoken of this thing I have for seemingly "bland" animals before, and I realized today it's a real aesthetic "stance" I take sometimes. Weird.
Why do I like small , grey fishes? Why do I covet corals that most people find rather uninteresting? Why do I get excited about great Sarcophyton, Acropora yongei, and Fungia specimens way more than I do about many other corals? Do I not get out enough? Am I too cool to jump on the bandwagon of new Chalices? Or, could it simply be that, after several decades in the hobby- I’ve learned to be honest with myself about what I like? Hmm…is there a lesson here? Or even a blog? Does something have to be rare and crazy looking to be worthy of our keeping it? Let’s see…
I get to see a lot of corals and fishes in my day-to-day work- a lot of really rare stuff. I don’t care how long you’ve been in the hobby or worked in the aquatics industry- when a new livestock shipment arrives and it’s time to break out the box cutters, even the most crusty fish person still gets a kind of giddy excitement, anticipating what is in the box.Just like on your birthday!
Not too long ago, I was in our warehouse when a shipment arrived from one of our guys in Australia. I hung around watching the crew open up the boxes to see what was coming in. I opened one one of the boxes, not reading the manifest attached to it. Wonder what was inside? "Masterpiece" Scolys? Insane Yellow and Blue Tabling Millies? "A" Grade Acans? No, this time, it was a box of Green Sarcophyton leathers. Sarcophyton? Really? The “bread and butter”, ultra “common” staples of the reef hobby.
Yawn.
Actually, I wasn’t yawning. They were beautiful. I was admiring these brightly colored gems in their bags, and considering what brought them here. Just a few days earlier, these little corals were happily located somewhere in their native Great Barrier Reef, photosynthesizing away like their ancestors had done for eons before them. I wondered what they faced now. What was their destiny? Who would end up buying them? What size aquarium would they spend the rest of their lives in? Would they be kept in proper conditions, or would they slowly waste away and die? I felt a bit of guilt. I mean, they were collected in accordance with some of the strictest laws in the world, by people I know truly care about the well being of the reefs. Yet, the fact is, they were hacked off a wild reef. These are animals that are easily propagated in captivity..That's part of our mission. I was a bit depressed for a second, then it dawned upon me that we would be using some of these for brood stock, so that we WON'T have to take hundreds more off the GBR in the future. Nonethelss, it made me think about our awesome role as both hobbyists and stewards of the wild reefs. Serious stuff.. Do we ever think about this?
Was I being overly sentimental? Stupidly self-righteous? Maybe. But I was contemplating; just for a second- how easy it is to take for granted what has become “common” to us. These corals are popular in the aquarium hobby for a reason: They are beautiful, not trendy. Yet, they are interesting creatures. They are precious, regardless of the price tag- and they are worthy of our respect and admiration. They need not be expensive and flashy to be worthy of our admiration, do they? Just because we can get them all the time doesn't make them any less enjoyable or worthy of our efforts.
Just because it's common doesn't mean that it isn't cool!
Which brings me back to fish. What about the not-so-crazy-looking ones? Who loves the grey fishes? Maybe more people than we think.
To further compound my theory, I need only Google into a freshwater hobby forum, and admire the (very grey!) fishes sometimes coveted by our friends in the FW world. I saw pics of “Tanganyika Lampeyes” not too long ago. Okay, on the surface, these grayish Rift Lake killifish are about as unexciting (is that a word?) as a fish can get- a poster child for the freshwater “haters”…But wait a minute. Have you ever even seen one? Probably not that often. Probably because they are rather…well, bland, and collectors toss ‘em back. But man- that’s what’s so cool about them, right? They are different! Subtle. Imagine how awesome they’d look as contrasting players in a tank full of colorful African Cichlids!
Grey, yet compelling, if you ask me...The Tanganyika Lampeye.
Think about the humble “Blue Streak Cardinalfish” Apogon leptocanthus. This little Indo Pacific fish looks for all the world like a kind of dull freshwater Tetra from the Amazon, yet it’s a 100% marine…Subtly colored, yet somehow compelling. It sold out really fast when we used to receive them as "Eco Labeled" fishes from Papua New Guinea. In fact, I had plenty of "call me" rain checks for even a handful of them. Why? I don’t know. I mean, why is a “Pokerstar Monti” so hot? It's pretty dull, if you ask me. But that's the charm. To each his own, I suppose. Could it be that we really, truly love the creatures of the sea for what they are?
Get in line...This Cardinalfish is a hot commodity...if you can find one.
I believe we do!
The beauty of the hobby is that there really IS room for all sorts of fishes and inverts. Seems like pretty much every animal out there gets at least some love from the reef masses! And that's a really good thing, I think. Admit it- you’ve occasionally stared longingly at a browned-out Acro and wondered, right? There's some magic in there, huh? You’ve contemplated purchasing that grey-brown blenny with the cute eyes and cirri before, huh? You may have even owned a Scopas Tang once!
I would love to hear about YOUR predilection for the common. The seemingly dull. The "mundane."
Dull, maybe. But I know more than a few reefers who keep 'em...The much maligned Scopas.
There is hope for the hobby after all…Long live the dull!
Who loves the grey fishes; the "common" corals?
We all do.
Something to ponder on a Monday.
Until next time…
Stay Wet.
Scott Fellman
Unique Corals
This is what I'm planning on recreating...Dull? Not to me.
Yeah, freshwater. Why not? And I'm thinking of populating this aquarium with some really grey or silver-colored fishes. Very monotone; kinda "Zen", sort of.
Grey? Dull? Hmm..made me think...I've spoken of this thing I have for seemingly "bland" animals before, and I realized today it's a real aesthetic "stance" I take sometimes. Weird.
Why do I like small , grey fishes? Why do I covet corals that most people find rather uninteresting? Why do I get excited about great Sarcophyton, Acropora yongei, and Fungia specimens way more than I do about many other corals? Do I not get out enough? Am I too cool to jump on the bandwagon of new Chalices? Or, could it simply be that, after several decades in the hobby- I’ve learned to be honest with myself about what I like? Hmm…is there a lesson here? Or even a blog? Does something have to be rare and crazy looking to be worthy of our keeping it? Let’s see…
I get to see a lot of corals and fishes in my day-to-day work- a lot of really rare stuff. I don’t care how long you’ve been in the hobby or worked in the aquatics industry- when a new livestock shipment arrives and it’s time to break out the box cutters, even the most crusty fish person still gets a kind of giddy excitement, anticipating what is in the box.Just like on your birthday!
Not too long ago, I was in our warehouse when a shipment arrived from one of our guys in Australia. I hung around watching the crew open up the boxes to see what was coming in. I opened one one of the boxes, not reading the manifest attached to it. Wonder what was inside? "Masterpiece" Scolys? Insane Yellow and Blue Tabling Millies? "A" Grade Acans? No, this time, it was a box of Green Sarcophyton leathers. Sarcophyton? Really? The “bread and butter”, ultra “common” staples of the reef hobby.
Yawn.
Actually, I wasn’t yawning. They were beautiful. I was admiring these brightly colored gems in their bags, and considering what brought them here. Just a few days earlier, these little corals were happily located somewhere in their native Great Barrier Reef, photosynthesizing away like their ancestors had done for eons before them. I wondered what they faced now. What was their destiny? Who would end up buying them? What size aquarium would they spend the rest of their lives in? Would they be kept in proper conditions, or would they slowly waste away and die? I felt a bit of guilt. I mean, they were collected in accordance with some of the strictest laws in the world, by people I know truly care about the well being of the reefs. Yet, the fact is, they were hacked off a wild reef. These are animals that are easily propagated in captivity..That's part of our mission. I was a bit depressed for a second, then it dawned upon me that we would be using some of these for brood stock, so that we WON'T have to take hundreds more off the GBR in the future. Nonethelss, it made me think about our awesome role as both hobbyists and stewards of the wild reefs. Serious stuff.. Do we ever think about this?
Was I being overly sentimental? Stupidly self-righteous? Maybe. But I was contemplating; just for a second- how easy it is to take for granted what has become “common” to us. These corals are popular in the aquarium hobby for a reason: They are beautiful, not trendy. Yet, they are interesting creatures. They are precious, regardless of the price tag- and they are worthy of our respect and admiration. They need not be expensive and flashy to be worthy of our admiration, do they? Just because we can get them all the time doesn't make them any less enjoyable or worthy of our efforts.
Just because it's common doesn't mean that it isn't cool!
Which brings me back to fish. What about the not-so-crazy-looking ones? Who loves the grey fishes? Maybe more people than we think.
To further compound my theory, I need only Google into a freshwater hobby forum, and admire the (very grey!) fishes sometimes coveted by our friends in the FW world. I saw pics of “Tanganyika Lampeyes” not too long ago. Okay, on the surface, these grayish Rift Lake killifish are about as unexciting (is that a word?) as a fish can get- a poster child for the freshwater “haters”…But wait a minute. Have you ever even seen one? Probably not that often. Probably because they are rather…well, bland, and collectors toss ‘em back. But man- that’s what’s so cool about them, right? They are different! Subtle. Imagine how awesome they’d look as contrasting players in a tank full of colorful African Cichlids!
Grey, yet compelling, if you ask me...The Tanganyika Lampeye.
Think about the humble “Blue Streak Cardinalfish” Apogon leptocanthus. This little Indo Pacific fish looks for all the world like a kind of dull freshwater Tetra from the Amazon, yet it’s a 100% marine…Subtly colored, yet somehow compelling. It sold out really fast when we used to receive them as "Eco Labeled" fishes from Papua New Guinea. In fact, I had plenty of "call me" rain checks for even a handful of them. Why? I don’t know. I mean, why is a “Pokerstar Monti” so hot? It's pretty dull, if you ask me. But that's the charm. To each his own, I suppose. Could it be that we really, truly love the creatures of the sea for what they are?
Get in line...This Cardinalfish is a hot commodity...if you can find one.
I believe we do!
The beauty of the hobby is that there really IS room for all sorts of fishes and inverts. Seems like pretty much every animal out there gets at least some love from the reef masses! And that's a really good thing, I think. Admit it- you’ve occasionally stared longingly at a browned-out Acro and wondered, right? There's some magic in there, huh? You’ve contemplated purchasing that grey-brown blenny with the cute eyes and cirri before, huh? You may have even owned a Scopas Tang once!
I would love to hear about YOUR predilection for the common. The seemingly dull. The "mundane."
Dull, maybe. But I know more than a few reefers who keep 'em...The much maligned Scopas.
There is hope for the hobby after all…Long live the dull!
Who loves the grey fishes; the "common" corals?
We all do.
Something to ponder on a Monday.
Until next time…
Stay Wet.
Scott Fellman
Unique Corals
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