Volume 16, Issue 8 January 13, 2010 OVER Tipping the balance of power since 1994 e photo is of toadstool, or sacrifitin, a type of coral even though you may assume it is an anemone, ——— THE EDGE Educates and hiding in the anemones like a professional. He is a Tang. = te Other fish include a clownfish, lionfish (the angry one), an eel, dragonet (the tattoo sh), a butterfly (the stripey small one). Photography by Kali Flick STEPHANIE MCCULLOUGH MANAGING EDITOR We enter the house of Russell the Coral- Man on a melty day in January, There are several cars taking up the slender residen- tial street in Prince George. The note on he door says to “Come Right In and Go Downstairs,’ therefore I hide my compul- ive need to knock on doors and stroll on in. Once we get downstairs in the home e pass through the beaded doorway into a basement that could have been a grow- op in a past life. On the walls there are tubing, extension cords, lighting fixtures, and no windows. What are they hiding? s it illegal? Will I have to sign a consent form to enter the room and see what we've ‘ome for? I overhear the chatter of “water hanging techniques,’ what are they doing? urns out weve stumbled upon a hidden ave of Tropical beings. There are three fish tanks totaling over 250 gallons filled with he widest menagerie of plant and animal life: coral, anemones, salt-water fish, eels, and even a ball python. Throughout the winter months these anks have been doing a traveling tour of omes. This particular presenter is Russell, who used to be the Ad Manager of OTE! (Speaking of, we are still looking to fill this position.) These meetings happen often and are normally for the purpose of trad- ing/selling coral growths as well as newly acquired fish. Trading tips on water chan- ges, calcium levels, and lighting conditions are also on the agenda. We learnt that fish are the easy part of these aquariums; main- tenance of the tank is the most important and consequently the most expensive as- pect of the salt-water aquarium. The whole experience reminds me of the Vancouver Aquarium touching centre. No, that is not the pedophile room. The Van- couver Aquarium keeps a large area for experiential learning about the ocean filled with shallow tanks of starfish and anem- ones, It is hilarious fun to poke the anem- ones and feel them attempt to close around your fingers. It's also hilarious fun to watch someone who has never seen an anemone up close do this and react to it. Except there is no touching here... probably a good thing, these fish look angry. ‘The fish swim around all day. They dart around the obstructions in the tank and I am now wondering why... are they solely searching for food or is there a deep social interaction playing out that we are all ob- livious too. The stripey one and Dory chase each other, are they courting each other or Se’ ) do they actually feel each other are anem- ones ? For the purpose of this story, I am going to assume there are deep- rooted personalities for these fish. The filtration system in place for these three tanks is one large basin with plants and several pumps and filters, This thing is so large that Russell houses fish in here. One in particular is in here because it is a notorious coral-eater, and that trait in these tanks isn't sought after. There is also a tank filled with coral growing in suspension. This is an efficient way of growing coral in mass without sacrificing area at the bot- tom. The bottom of the tank is doing some multi-tasking as well. Russell is a chief coral grower just in case we haven't made that clear yet. He will take a colony, slice it into pieces with a diamond grinder and re-grow it in the perfectly healthy environment. Another fantastic attribute of the regrowth scenario is that the coral restructures in a tank environment making it perfect for re- selling to other home tanks, If you were to take coral from the ocean you wouldnt be terribly environmentally friendly, so this is a fantastic alternative. Like I said previously, there are plenty of lighting and pumping systems in the base- ment making for high energy use. Russell said that it is more than 600 dollars a year extra to house these tanks. And again, I ry] bring up the point that this is a hobby. Like knitting, racing cars or anything fun, these “hobbies” cost grandiose amounts of money and we can only hope it’s worth it. Staffen Lindgren, the man in charge of the aquarium at the university which I’m sure everyone is aware of, was also at the exhibit. He brought up the maintenance schedules of the particular aquarium which can be quite stringent. Each day anywhere from one two gallons of water needs to be added and then every 2-3 weeks at the water change, 25% is refreshed, One-quar- ter of the water being changed can equal more than 30 gallons of water. The whole act of maintenance requires plenty of vol- unteer hours which Dr. Lindgren coordin- ates and participates in. He is calling out for donations in addition to volunteers. Money raised goes toward the materials needed for maintenance of the tank; currently there is no department at the university that is responsible for the upkeep, Because the tank is not paid for by the university, Dr. Lindgren has been individually sponsor- ing the aquarium and he is actively seek- ing donations from sponsors. These cash and cheque donations are tax-deductible and can be made out to “Office of Univer- sity Donations’ memo note of UNBC reef tank, They have had one fundraiser before back at the end of November 2009 which The darting blue fish reminiscent of Dory in Finding Nemo is pleasing the eye and very active! He is weaving in and out between the rocks, raised some money through the Thirsty, Moose. There will be a showing of the uni- versity tank with Dr. Lindgren on scene to] answer any questions, watch for it! A horror story of improper water changes comes from the university aquarium many years ago. In addition to improper levels o salts and minerals, some stony/soft combo} coral (entitled anthelia) died and then pol- luted the water to such a degree that many, of the fish died. Stories like this are similar to gossip in the coral-reef aquarium world, and spread around like that story of that girl in first year who walked home in her heels and was in a cast for a yeat. Now for the learning portion of your day... if you are looking at the pictures and| attempting to differentiate between anem- ones and coral I have the lowdown for you, Anemones are essentially non-colonized| coral reefs. Coral can be stony or soft and the majority of the organisms in the photos| are coral! The anemone is one organism liv- ing on their own, self-sufficient to a degree Again, the coral is a colony and Russell] splits them to allow them to reproduce.