Modern Aquarium

April 2013volume XXnumber 2

1994 — 20th Anniversary — 2013

Don’t miss this opportunity to see great speakers, get new fish and learn from others who share your interest!

http:// convention.northeastcouncil.org/

SPEAKERS Andre Carletto

Charles Clapsaddle

Mark Denaro

Lee Finley

Todd Gardner

Rachel O'Leary

Greg Steeves

----------------------------

Workshops Richard Pierce

Amanda Wenger

Leslie Dick …………...(203) 748-7800 [email protected]

Joe Masi …………...(845) 896-4793 [email protected]

Nancy Villars............(732) 787-0654

[email protected] Vendor Room Chair

George Goulart……………(401) 331-5376 [email protected] Fish Show Chair

Visit Convention Web Page for All Details including Auction Info and Rules,

Online Registration, Hotel Reservations, Event Schedule & Speaker info and Show info!

THE CROWNE PLAZA Cromwell, Connecticut

Exit 21 off I-91 South of Hartford. Turn left off exit.

An Educational and Social Weekend Open To All!

Northeast Council of Aquarium Societies

38th Tropical Fish Convention April 5-7, 2013

Speakers - Vendor Room Fish Show – Workshops All Day Auction Sunday!

ON THE COVER

Our cover this month features Tilapia synyderae, the smallest member of the genus Tilapia. For more information on this West African cichlid, see Joe Graffagnino's article, "Black Eggs," on page 27.

Photo by Marsha Radebaugh

GREATER CITY AQUARIUM SOCIETY

Board MeMBers

President Dan RadebaughVice-President Edward VukichTreasurer Jules BirnbaumAssistant Treasurer Ron WiesenfeldCorresponding Secretary Sean Cunningham Recording Secretary Tommy Chang

MeMBers at Large

Claudia Dickinson Pete D’OrioAl Grusell Ben HausEmma Haus Jason KernerLeonard Ramroop

CoMMittee Chairs

A.C.A. Delegate Claudia DickinsonBowl Show Leonard RamroopBreeder Award Warren Feuer Mark SobermanEarly Arrivals Al GrusellF.A.A.S. Delegate Alexander A. PriestMembership Marsha RadebaughN.E.C. Delegate Claudia DickinsonPrograms Claudia Dickinson

Mark SobermanTechnology Coordinator Warren Feuer

MODERN AQUARIUM

Editor in Chief Dan RadebaughCopy Editors Sharon Barnett Susan Priest Alexander A. PriestExchange Editors Stephen Sica Donna Sosna SicaAdvertising Mgr. Mark Soberman

In This IssueFrom the Editor

2G.C.A.S. 2013 Program Schedule

3President’s Message

4 March's Caption Contest Winner

5Cartoon Caption Contest

7Should You Be Cooking for your Fish?

8by Jules Birnbaum

G.C.A.S. Bowl Show Rules 10

Fish Bytes 11by stephen sica with donna sosna sica

MA Classics 13The Guppy King – Paul Hahnel

by dan Carson

Lionfish of the Turks & Caicos 17by stephen sica

Our Generous Sponsors & Advertisers 19

Wet Leaves 21by susan Priest

The Tao of Greater City 22by Wallace deng

Member Classifieds 24

Black Eggs: Tilapia Snyderae 27by Joseph graffagnino

G.C.A.S. Happenings 28

The Undergravel Reporter 29Spawned in the USA

Fin Fun (Puzzle Page) 30It Must Be April!

Series III Vol. XX, No. 2 April, 2013

Modern Aquarium - Greater City A.S (NY)2 April 2013

From theEditor by Dan Radebaugh

Caught up in the historical tone of last month’s meeting, I felt inspired to follow up in a like vein in this issue,

so for our MA Classics article I chose one that I’ve been thinking about for some time, by former Editor Dan Carson from the October 1969 issue of Modern Aquarium. Those of you who were here last month will remember the cover of that issue from Joe Ferdenzi’s presentation.

What with the present day availability of so many high quality specialty foods, the idea of cooking for your fish wasn’t as unusual years ago as it seems today. (See another MA Classics article, “Feed Your Fish Some Gourmet Cooking,” by Mary and Dan Carson, which was reprinted in the September 2010 Modern Aquarium.) Jules Birnbaum updates this old concept as he reviews a new product in “Should You Be Cooking for Your Fish?” on page 8.

As we’re accustomed to, Steve Sica’s “Fish Bytes” takes us on a tour of the publications sent to us by other clubs around the continent. Always entertaining, the end of this month’s contribution leaves us wondering if this time he shouldn’t have changed the spelling of “Bytes...”

Also, continuing his personal survey of the ongoing lionfish invasion of our Atlantic coastal waters, Steve and Donna this month take us to the Turks & Caicos islands to assess the state of the invasion there.

In “Black Eggs,” Joe Graffagnino tells us about his experience with our cover subject, Tilapia snyderae, and Sue Priest, in her Wet Leaves column, brings us up to date on the uses of the familiar zebrafish (Danio rerio).

This issue also features a return of “The Tao of Greater City,” a display of photos

by Wallace Deng from our Facebook page, Greater City Aquarium Society Fishy Friends. Sign in and visit us some time, Facebook folks!

Our politically alert Undergravel Reporter muses on presidents and taxonomy in “Spawned in the USA,” and the issue closes, as always, with our puzzle, “Fin Fun.”

* * *Remember, as always, we need articles!

Modern Aquarium is produced by and for the members of Greater City Aquarium Society. Our members are our authors, and with ten issues per year, we always, always need more articles. I know several of you are keeping and/or breeding fish that I would like to know more about, and I’m certain other members would be interested as well. Share your experience with us. Write about it! If you’re a little unsure about the state of your writing technique, don’t worry – that’s why there are editors.

If you have an article, photo, or drawing that you’d like to submit for inclusion in Modern Aquarium, it’s easy to do! You may fax it to me at (877) 299-0522, email it to [email protected], or just hand it to me at a meeting. However you get it to me, I’ll be delighted to receive it!

Modern Aquarium - Greater City A.S (NY) April 2013 3

GCASPrograms

2013It is our great fortune to have another admirable cast of speakers who have so graciously

accepted our invitation to join us throughout the coming season, bringing us their extensive knowledge and experiences. You certainly won’t wish to miss a moment of our prominent

guests, not to mention the friends, fish, warmth, and camaraderie that accompanies each meeting. I know I can barely wait to see you here! Enjoy!

Claudia

March 6 Joe Ferdenzi90 Years of GCAS!

April 3 Larry JohnsonLake Malawi

May 1 TBA

June 5 Leslie DickLivebearers

July 3 TBA

August 7 Silent Auction

September 4 TBA

October 2 TBA

November 6 TBA

December 4 Holiday Party!

Articles submitted for consideration in Modern Aquarium (ISSN 2150-0940) must be received no later than the 10th day of the month prior to the month of publication. Please fax to (877) 299-0522, or email to [email protected]. Copyright 2013 by the Greater City Aquarium Society Inc., a not-for-profit New York State corporation. All rights reserved. Not-for-profit aquarium societies are hereby granted permission to reproduce articles and illustrations from this publication, unless the article indicates that the copyrights have been retained by the author, and provided reprints indicate source and two copies of the publication are sent to the Exchange Editor of this magazine. Any other reproduction or commercial use of the material in this publication is prohibited without express written prior permission.The Greater City Aquarium Society meets every month, except January and February. Members receive notice of meetings in the mail. For more information, contact: Dan Radebaugh (718) 458-8437. Find out more, or leave us a message, at our Internet Home Page at: http://www.greatercity.org or http://www.greatercity.com


President’sMessage

by Dan Radebaugh

First of all, I’d like to express my thanks to former President Joe Ferdenzi for his outstanding presentation last month on the 90-year history of the GCAS. Very entertaining and informative, with great coordination between the slides and the text. I was also impressed by the turnout for

the meeting in the face of a rather negative weather forecast. I know that many of us are still sensitive to the possibility of inclement weather after the two storms last November that effectively washed out our meeting that month. Joe was originally scheduled to present his program at that November meeting—I’m certainly glad that he didn’t get washed out twice in a row!

About a week or so before last month’s meeting, Dan Puleo contacted me about an idea he had for a new project, which he eventually entitled “The LFS Report.” The idea has several facets: first, to identify to our members where the fish shops are located around our area. This is a great idea, since, even in these days, when many private pet shops are giving up in the face of a poor economy and low-priced competition from the large chains, there are still more small shops around than most of us realize. Second, we could alert our members to special offers available at some of these shops, and third, we would increase awareness of the GCAS among shop owners, who might then refer potential members. All in all, it seemed like a good idea. While Dan had originally conceived of The LFS Report as a regular column for Modern Aquarium, we both (he first, really) came to the conclusion that, given the deadline pressure for printing the magazine, a stand-alone piece would enable us to give our members more timely information on special sales being run at the various shops. The end result of all this you saw for the first time at our March meeting. As promised, Dan had info on special pricing at several shops in Manhattan and Queens, and he included a special “Spotlight” feature on our friends at Cameo Pet Shop, whose advertisements have appeared in each issue of Modern Aquarium for as long as I can recall. Great job, Dan! We look forward to more.

Dan


March's Caption Winner:Horst Gerber

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I don't think the on/off switch is working on my breeding program...

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6 April 2013 Modern Aquarium - Greater City A.S (NY)

Support Fish in the Classroom!If you have any 5 or 10 gallon tanks, or any filters, pumps, or plants that you could donate to NYC teacher Michael Paoli's classrooms, could you please bring them in or email Rich Levy ([email protected]). If you'd like to donate larger tanks, be sure and email Rich so he can make sure Michael can accommodate it.


The Modern AquariumCartoon Caption Contest

Modern Aquarium has featured cartoons before. This time though, you, the members of Greater City get to choose the caption! Just think of a good caption, then mail, email, or phone the Editor with your caption (phone: 347-866-1107, fax: 877-299-0522, email: [email protected]. Your caption needs to reach the Editor by the third Wednesday of this month. We'll also hand out copies of this page at the meeting, which you can turn in to Marsha before leaving. Winning captions will earn ten points in our Author Awards program, qualifying you for participation in our special "Authors Only" raffle at our Holiday Party and Banquet. Put on your thinking caps!

Your Caption:

Your Name:

Cartoon by elliot oshins


Should You Be Cooking for Your Fish?

by Jules Birnbaum

There are only two things that mean either life or death for your fish: water conditions and food. However, I don’t think you want to spend your

time in the kitchen, cooking for them. Most of us are taught that a good flake food is all we need use to feed our fish. Just throw in some flake food twice a day, and that is all the fish need. The label states that it contains all meat, veggies, and bulk.

A little common sense tells us that fish are animals. Like humans, there is no perfect food that we can exclusively eat over and over again without getting bored out of our minds, to say nothing about the potential effects on our health. If you feed flake food in too large a quantity, the water gets fouled from the leftovers, and a large amount of algae is likely to appear, perhaps even accompanied by a foul smell. If we read enough we get the message that, just as in the wild, our fish need some variety. William T. Innes, in his book Exotic Aquarium Fishes, first written some 80 years ago, was of the opinion that living foods are best. However, these foods are not always available, and live foods are becoming quite expensive.

A pound of blackworms is currently going from $20 per pound locally, or $36 per pound to be delivered overnight. Innes states that each manufacturer of fish food thinks his is the best, but that there had not been an impartial, competent, comparison made. He goes on to state that in a pinch you can grind up a puppy biscuit, and gives a recipe of powdered puppy biscuit: use powdered dried shrimp and water, with and an egg beaten in. Then spread on a cookie sheet and lightly cook. Not too many of us are going to go through the time and mess of preparing and cleaning up to accomplish this.

Exotic Aquarium Fishes’ thorough chapter dealing with fish food also discusses using baby foods mixed with gelatins. The use of gelatins has lead to a number of recipes for gel fish foods. The AKA

(American Killifish Association), in its “Beginners Guide,” has a recipe for gel food by Dan Katz, a respected killifish breeder.

I’ve tried several of these recipes and found them to be messy and time consuming. A few breeders opine that the store-bought gelatin clogs up the digestive systems of some fish, although I have not experienced this problem first hand. Joe Ferdenzi recently gave me some gel food he prepared from his own recipe. The secret Ferdenzi formula was accepted by all my fish from day one. This is not always so when introducing a new food. Joe prepares it, places it in flat plastic bags for easy storage, and then freezes it. Maybe he

will share his recipe with us some day.

I like trying new ideas introduced into the hobby. One particular gel food was introduced to me by the well known aquarist Ted Judy. You might have seen it in some of his and others’ videos. Repashy is a prepared dry powder that one mixes with hot water and then allows to dry. Allen Repashy first developed this food for reptiles, then a few years ago he developed a variety for tropical fish. The food comes in a powered form. The gel used is made with

algae and plant fibers. It is free of starch, gluten binders, and other industrial by-products. There is really no mess. I just measure the dry food prescribed on the label, add the proper amount of water, stir, place in a plastic container saved from take-out food, and let sit until firm. You can also use an old ice cube or other similarly sectioned tray. Repashy preparation can also be seen on YouTube. It is then ready to feed or store, either in the refrigerator or freezer. My year’s experience with preparation of this food indicates that four ounces of powder makes about two pounds of food. The prepared food will last a couple of weeks in the refrigerator, or a year if frozen.

I cut it into appropriately sized cubes and simply drop a cube in each tank. This being a new food for


your fish, they will likely not be used to seeing food larger than they can get into their mouths, so it should be first introduced when the fish are hungry. The cube stays together while they graze on it, and it will not foul the water. For those fish that don’t come to the bottom to feed, some of the food can be placed near the surface. My experience has shown that it took a few days for my fish to get used to it, but once they do, the livebearers, cichlids, and killifish especially go crazy for it. I have a group of juvenile Moanda jewel fish (African ) just purchased from Ted Judy that were raised on this food. The first time I put some in their tank it never reached the bottom. It was fascinating to watch them rip it apart.

Some of the uses for this food are: First, as a grazing block food which can be used to feed fry during short vacations. Second, as a fry food, so that they have constant access to food throughout the day. Third, it is an excellent means of administering medications or vitamins, by mixing them in while preparing the food. Fourth, you can use it as a regular supplemental grazing food. It usually takes no more than a few minutes for the cube to be consumed in my heavily stocked tanks, and an hour or two where there is a low bio-load.

Repashy makes several blends to choose from. They sell it in plastic bags from to 2 oz. to 64 oz. You can purchase it online at Ted’s Fish Room, Swiss

Tropicals, Amazon, and at some pet shops. (I get no remuneration for this plug).

S o m e aquarists have complained about the cost of Repashy, but I find that, when prepared, this food is comparable in cost to other foods, and less expensive than live, freeze-dried, and frozen foods. An important point to remember is that with a varied diet your fish will live a longer and healthier life (and so will you).

I recommend giving it a try to supplement your fishes' diet, but don’t upset your spouse’s kitchen. It is easy to prepare, and has no smell, but you might still get thrown out of there. My Repashy is now prepared in our laundry room or my fishroom. The only thing I do with it in the kitchen (in general the only thing I do well in the kitchen) is boil the water.


Modern Aquarium - Greater City A.S (NY)6 March 2010

BOWL SHOWRULES

There is a Bowl Show at every GCAS meeting, except our Silent Auction/fl eamarket meeting and our Holiday Party and Awards Banquet meeting (December). These shows are open to all members of GCAS. Rules are as follows:

Only current GCAS members may enter fi sh in the Bowl Show.There is a limit of 2 entries per member per meeting.Unlike some other clubs, every month is an “open” Bowl Show at the GCAS (i.e., there is no “theme,” such that one month cichlids are judged, the next livebearers, the next anabantoids, etc.).Any fi sh that wins any prize (1st, 2nd, or 3rd) may not be entered again in the same meeting year.The current Bowl Show Coordinator is Leonard Ramroop, who usually also serves as judge (although guest speakers are often asked to do the judging honors).2.5 gallon containers are available for use (brought to the meetings by the Bowl Show Coordinator), but entrants are responsible for providing enough (and suitable) water for their fi sh. For a fi sh too large (or too small) for those containers, entrants must supply a suitable container, which must be clear on at least three sides.Only one fi sh per container (i.e., no “pairs”).No plants, ornaments, or equipment (fi lters, airstone, etc.) are allowed in the judging tank (an external mirror, or opaque cards between containers is acceptable, as is a cover that does not obstruct side viewing).Points are awarded: 5 points for 1st Place, 3 for 2nd Place, and 1 for 3rd Place.Ribbons are awarded: blue for 1st Place, red for 2nd Place, and green for 3rd Place.The person with the most points at the end of the meeting season receives the Walter Hubel “Bowl Show Champion” trophy at the Awards Banquet.The decision of the judge(s) is fi nal.A running UNOFFICIAL total of the points awarded is printed in Modern Aquarium. Only the tally of points maintained by the Bowl Show Coordinator is offi cial.In case of ties:1st Tiebreaker – most 1st Places2nd Tiebreaker – most 2nd Places3rd Tiebreaker – most entries


An occasional column for society exchanges, guest appearances, articles, and items of general interest. We try not to bite off more than we can swallow. If you wish to offer comments, suggestions, or any information that you would like to see in this column, the authors encourage you to contact us through the Editor ([email protected]), or at a monthly meeting.

by Stephen Sica with Donna Sosna Sica

It’s Wednesday evening, and in an hour the November 2012 meeting of the GCAS is about to begin. Looking out my front door into a

raging blizzard, I see two branches from the tree in front of my house lying in the street. Is this a penalty for living on a hill? I have observed this tree for over twenty years and it never lost a branch. Now a few feet from my window, there are three huge trees, currently upright. I estimate that each one is at least 80 or 90 feet tall. Except for a dent in my car last month from a falling branch on a windy evening, I have managed to avoid disaster with this threesome (or should I say treesome?) since 1990. The next day, I discovered that ice broke off the rear wiper arm of our Subaru Forester. That evening our electricity went off line at 5:42 PM, just as Donna was about to cook dinner. The phone had rung, so she put off cooking and spoke for about half an hour. Almost immediately after she turned on the oven the power went out, so the food went back into the refrigerator. Hello salami sandwich for me! Donna won’t eat the stuff. She said that if the phone hadn’t rung she would have had sufficient time to cook, and we would have had a lovely dinner by candlelight. I’m not complaining; many people had no power for weeks. Many lost their homes and all of their possessions. Back to Wednesday evening.

Donna says nothing about the weather but I decide that we should skip the meeting to stay home

and be safe. Donna is dog-sitting, so I recline on the couch in our den to contemplate what to do to keep busy this evening. Donna’s charge, an extremely affectionate female rescued dog from Tennessee, takes up station on my torso and rests her head on my chest. Her owner is in travel status and missing the bad weather. The dog and I are sort of nose-to-nose. There’s nothing like curling up with a cute and loving dog while a blizzard rages outdoors. I probably should light the fireplace to perfect the moment, but I decide not to get up and make the

“long” walk to our living room. I’d better conserve energy for tomorrow’s cleanup, I rationalized. Lying on the couch in the den will have to do for now.

It turned out to be a good move. The next morning I find that limbs have fallen all about my property and that of my neighbors. Except for my inability to find gasoline, this storm affected me

worse than did last week’s hurricane Sandy. I decided to begin my column with the above

narrative so that I could avoid reading a computer full of fish publications. Ironically, this column won’t appear until next spring, when most of us will have forgotten about many of these events…so now a brief word about fish.

The Kitchener Waterloo Aquarium Society is establishing a marine achievements program, MAP (similar to BAP for freshwater fish and HAP for aquatic plants and AAP for authors). The

Hey pal, “Where’s Donna?” “A grunt saw her hugging a funny looking dogfish.” “I don’t believe it!”


previously established marine breeding initiative, or MBI, whose website is mbisite.org, reported the 500th successful breeding in September 2012.

The Bucks County Aquarium Society had the good sense to reprint Jules Birnbaum’s “That Dreaded Green Stuff” in its October 2012 issue of The Buckette. Jules did a masterful job of writing about algae, and how to either avoid or work around it. As he said in his article, don’t bother to call him for help, because he’s up to his (fill in a descriptive word) with his own algae.

The January 2013 The Buckette has a detailed synopsis of Joe Graffagnino’s recent guest lecture at the BCAS, comparing old world and new world catfish. Did you know that the Amazon basin contains about 560 catfish species, the Congo basin contains about 1,300 species, and the Mississippi basin contains 250 species? I didn’t. The December 2012 online issue of the In Depth newsletter of the Tropical Fish Club of Burlington (Vermont) has a basic killifish primer by David L. Banks, Jr. entitled “Dave’s Top Ten list for ‘tips for beginner killifish keepers.’” I do not think that many fishkeepers specialize in barbs, but in the January 2013 In Depth, Banks wrote “Odessa Barbs, Spawning An Egg Scatterer.” This may be a fish to try some day.

The January 2013 issue of Fins and Tales from the Kitchener-Waterloo Aquarium Society has a more detailed (and by the way, excellent) article about killifish entitled “Dazzling and Stunning, Killifish” by Al Ridley. For swordtail fanciers, Ridley, a member of the KWAS for over thirty years, also authored “Xiphophorus netzahualcoyotl and Xiphophorus mayae.” Ridley’s writing style is business-like and to the point, but it contains much information.

The February issue of Fins and Tales has a fascinating article, “Somewhere down the Lazy River, Constructing a River Riparium Tank” by Don Rhodes. The article opens with my initial question. “So what is a Riparium? A Riparium is an aquarium that recreates the habitats at the edge of lakes, rivers, ponds and streams. A Riparium Zone is the area between land and a river or stream.” This article is well written, and illustrated with many photographs. The finished tank was stocked with hillstream loaches and a school of white clouds. I think that you can access this article online from the KWAS website, www.kwas.ca.

The January 2013 Cichlid Blues, newsletter of the Pacific Coast Cichlid Association, has Ron Coleman’s “Reflections: Three Interesting Fish Books.” The first book is about Peter Artedi, a contemporary of Carl Linneaus. For history buffs,

as well as for someone who likes a good (murder?) mystery, this may be a good read. Coleman’s review is positively intriguing and delightful. The second book review is about cichlids, and a former member of the Pacific Coast Cichlid Association, who is a professor of ichthyology at the University of California, whom the reviewer knew well. The final book is about the cichlids of Lake Victoria. The reviewer quotes a story by the author Tijs Goldschmidt, who in the 1950s caught an unnamed lively specimen with purple flanks. He was already inundated with over one hundred and fifty new species, so he released the fish because “at the time I couldn’t face discovering another new species. I don’t think it was ever caught again!” Nile perch can grow to over one hundred and fifty pounds. Coleman points out that the introduction of Nile perch years before finally took their toll on the ecosystem.

The January/February 2013 PCCA Cichlidae communiqué, #195 has a logical and rational discussion of hybrids in the natural world of cichlids. Read “Oh Hybrid, where dost thou belong?” by Mark Tomasello. What do you think?

Many years ago I wrote an article about diving with a dolphin. I was informed that a former editor of this prestigious publication was contemplating using one of my photos on the cover, but decided against it because a dolphin is not a fish. With this in mind, I wish to conclude my column with a photograph of the newest member of our family. I am hoping that the current editor of Modern Aquarium may not actually be as smart as he looks. I offer a new species of dogfish. I must admit that it is a hybrid, a 9.8 kilogram female of the species Cordelia. She came into our lives on October 25, 2012, via a North Shore Animal League e-mail seeking donations for her pending heart surgery. Donna’s father left this world on that day. Thanks for our gift, Dad!


MA ClAssiCsJoe Ferdenzi's talk last month on the history of the GCAS contained a slide of the cover shown below, which features a photo of the renowned guppy breeder Paul Hahnel. This seemed like a good time to showcase Dan Carson's article on Mr. Hahnel in the October, 1969 issue of Modern Aquarium.


Bucks County Aquarium Society Volume XX, Issue # X P X


LIONFISHOF THE TURKS & CAICOS

Story and Photos Stephen Sica

My wife Donna was searching the internet last May when “JetBlue Getaways” sent us an e-mail for a neat little trip to

Providenciales in the Turks & Caicos islands. A few days later she received another e-mail with the price lowered by one hundred dollars. When it comes to bargains in the supermarket, Donna likes to go for it. For instance, you can never have too many Philly cheese steaks in your freezer, right? Now, I’m not attempting to compare traveling and vacationing with food or even grocery shopping (Editor Dan has already cited our hardships while being on vacation in his Editor‘s Comments last May), but in Modern Aquarium anything is possible. When we get the travel itch we tend to scratch it.

Donna reasoned that we could leave on a Monday, do three days of diving, and return home on Friday. We hadn’t been in ‘Provo’ for many years since we went diving with Club Med for a

week. We even stayed an extra day when American Airlines’ flight attendants went on strike, and we had to fly to Miami on an airline unknown to us, but that’s another story, as I like to say. Oh, in case you’re wondering about our dietary habits, we don’t eat Philly cheese steaks. As a matter of fact, we don’t really care for cheese steaks no matter where they’re from, so why did I mention them? You should know that I always diverge from my topic when I’m stuck for a thought. Hey, maybe I really should try a cheese steak! For inspiration?

But back to our story. We decided to stay at a modest resort, across a small plaza from the dive shop. From this location it was a five minute ride in the shop’s “dive bus” to the dive boat dock. In fact, there were two docks, depending on where the captain decided to go diving. Some dive locations were around Provo, and others were on neighboring West Caicos. It took about an hour, usually longer,


to reach each dive location. The deserted island of West Caicos is considered more pristine, and a prime diving area. It takes about seventy-five minutes each way, so it’s a long day. Fortunately, the boat crew rinses all the dive gear for the next day and even relocates it to one of Dive Provo’s three boats for the following day’s diving.

Our first day did take us to West Caicos. Upon our arrival, our boat motored past the beachside skeleton of a resort complex that had never been completed due to the economic recession. The boat crew said that the financier was a large brokerage company that had collapsed. Anyway, we anchored close to the island, listened to the dive briefing, and jumped in. These were guided dives, which I like so that I don’t have to pay attention to where I’m going. This makes it much easier to take photographs. As I have mentioned in other articles, it’s easy to get lost underwater, especially if the visibility is poor. If the water is shallow—say thirty feet or less—I would swim to the surface to get my bearings and find the boat, while Donna waited below. I would signal from the surface to her the direction, submerge again, and we would swim together underwater to the boat. Swimming below the surface is much easier than on the surface. Occasionally it would be difficult or impossible to equalize ear pressure

and submerge again, so I would surface swim while Donna continued underwater.

The reefs in Provo usually begin at a depth of fifty feet, so all shallow dives are at least that deep. We tend to enjoy the majority of our diving at above forty feet. In my viewpoint forty feet is the maximum for shallow diving; I prefer twenty-five to thirty. There is more sunlight, the water is warmer, and you can stay below longer. Shallow is easy. The sport-diving rule of thumb is sixty feet on average for “routine” diving, with the absolute maximum depth being 130 feet. I dove beyond 130 feet once, in Belize’s blue hole. We like to stay above 100 feet unless a deep wreck does not afford that option.

At a site named Spanish Anchor, during a fifty-five minute dive to sixty-nine feet during our initial diving day in West Caicos, Donna and I saw two lionfish. After the dive, during our lunch break and surface interval to de-gas nitrogen between dives, I

asked Nigel, our British divemaster, if he had seen any lionfish during the dive. Without hesitation, he replied that he had seen at least twelve. Huh? Donna and I looked at each other. I said to her, “Where were we?” Nigel said that the Turks and Caicos had numerous lionfish. During the second dive we saw sharks, stingrays, spotted drums, and schools of large jacks, but no lionfish.

The next day we were diving Provo’s Grace Bay with divemasters Bill and Meevis. Meevis, a petite female, was from an obscure eastern European country. I don’t recall which, but it may have been Montenegro. She knew the reefs very well; we saw more sharks, numerous lobsters, moray eels, puffer fish, and anemone shrimp, but only one lionfish during the two dives. I assume that there were more; we just didn’t see them.

Our third and final diving day took us to Northwest Point off Provo. Again we saw sharks, stingrays, and two turtles. Donna was happy to

Donna displays an “eat a lionfish sticker” in the Dive Provo shop and office.


see the turtles, which are probably her favorite sea life. All told, Donna and I saw only three lionfish between us during six dives. The divemasters and boat crews insisted that there had been many more than that.

Based upon my personal observations and an extremely small sampling of the local waters of West Caicos and Providenciales, my current opinion is that these two islands may have a sizeable population of lionfish, but are not overrun by them.

At a later date I intend to show you some of the sea life, briefly mentioned here, that we encountered in West Caicos and Provo. Until then, have many happy readings in Modern Aquarium. Oh, by the way, has any of you ever heard of Guy America Airways?

This lionfish is surrounded by fry. I tried to identify if the fry were lionfish, but they were too small for my eyesight. They did not look like tiny lionfish.


35th Annual AuctionApril 20th at 11:00amSt. Matthews Over The Rainbow Child Care Center214 Kinne Street, East Syracuse, NY, 13057Registration will begin at:10:15 to 11:00am

Additional imformation:Pre-registration is required for sellersBuyers register at the auction *CASH ONLY* Unless you are a CNYAS member

For further instructions & directions:Call: (315)-454-4792e-mail: [email protected] visit our website at:www.cnyas.org


Popular Science, February 2013“Will This Fish Transform Medicine?”

by Virginia Hughes

Science Geeks Take Note

Popular Science magazine has been aroundsince 1872. (Yes folks, that’s an 8!) Itsfounder, Edward L. Youmans, intended for itto “disseminate scientific knowledge to theeducated layman.” It became an outlet for thewriting of such authors as Charles Darwin,Louis Pasteur, and Thomas Edison. It hasundergone many name changes over the years,and has remained a monthly publicationthroughout. Today it is translated into 30languages, and goes out to 45 countries. As ofMarch 2010, all issues, including May 1872,which was the first, are available for free onGOOGLE books. There is a one year delayon recent issues.

a Series On Books For The Hobbyistby SUSAN PRIEST

This is not so much a review as it is a report onan individual articlef r o m P o p ul a r

Science magazine which Ihope you will find to be ofparticular interest. Pleasetake an extra moment toread the title box to yourright.

Every fishkeeper is familiar with the zebradanio (Danio rerio), AKA the zebrafish. If youhave never actually kept any zebrafish, you havesurely seen them forsale in pet shops,and/or read aboutt h e m i n hobbymagazines. Theyhave been among thestandard bearers of thetropical fish hobby forvery many years. Now they have a newclaim to fame.

I n 1 9 8 8scientists learned toselectively mutate theDNA of zebrafish. What does this mean? I don’treally know. What I do know from reading thisarticle is that because of this, growing numbers ofgenetic researchers are choosing zebrafish overrodents for use in their research. “The field is onfire,” says Leonard Zon of Harvard Medical School. He uses zebrafish in his laboratory to study skincancer, blood diseases, and stem cells.

The three major advantages of using zebrafishover rodents for medical research are: 1) A female zebrafish spawns hundreds of embryosjust three days after fertilization, whereas a femalemouse takes three weeks to produce ten pups.2) One tank with a few dozen zebrafish in it can bemaintained for 6½ cents per day, whereas five micein a cage cost 90 cents per day.3) In their larval stage Zebrafish are transparent.

A particular advantage of this transparencyfeature is that it can dramatically speed up researchresults when exceptionally rare illnesses are beingstudied. (This is not to say that the process isn’t stilla very lengthy one.) It can also be used as adiagnostic tool for babies with mysterious health

problems. Also, “Zebrafish are great for screeningmolecules to identify promising drugs. Researchers simply put the compound into thewater, and the fish absorb it through their skin.” The aforementioned laboratory at HarvardUniversity was the first in the world to develop adrug through research using zebrafish.

The photo of the Danio rerio which you seehere is the same one which accompanied thisarticle in Popular Science magazine. It is a long-finned variety, quite possibly developed via

selective breeding by ahobbyist such as yourself,and is not typical of theshort-finned danios usedby medical researchers. The article also has amightily magnified photoof the brain of a three day

old zebrafish which has been stained to showdetail. Very cool! (Photo credits not found.)

Trivia: In 2004 a fluorescent zebrafish, mostoften called a “Glofish,” becamethe first geneticallymodified animal tobe sold as a pet in theU.S.

This article hasgiven me a newperspective as I looka r o u n d a t m yaquariums. Maybe acure for A.L.S orParkinson’s diseaseis lurking among

those Anubias plants!

18 April 2013 Modern Aquarium - Greater City A.S. (NY)


Jumping spider.

Pseudomugil connieae.

The Tao of Greater City

Early last year, Greater City’s Gypsy Mermaid, Sharon Barnett, created a Facebook page for us so that we could keep up with one another’s fishy activities online. Appropriately enough, she called it Greater City Aquarium Society Fishy Friends. It’s been a fun experience for those

participating, but, in the tradition of the “law of unintended consequences,” the most notable result was the emergence of a new star in our midst, namely “Wallace Tao,” the Fishy Friends nom de plume of Greater City member Wallace Deng. Wallace has sent us a seemingly never-ending stream of fantastic photographs—and not just of fish! To be sure all of our members have a chance to see them, this column made its debut in our December 2012 issue.

Melanotaenia praecox pair.

Photos by Wallace Deng


Flower in Jeff Bollbach's garden.

Nerite snail -- a nice algae eater.

Hemigrammus bleheri: Rummy nose tetra.

Face on tree.

Gobiopterus chuno: Sumatran glass goby.

Melanotaenia papuae - 2 months, 1 1/8th inches.

Melanotaenia boesemani.


Member Classifieds

WANTED:

For Restoration Project: Does anyone have some pieces of bubble-edge glass? Perhaps from a broken or old tank? Need three pieces -- Will pay! Please contact Steve: shhinshaw@gmail.com.------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------FOR SALE:

Need to part with 10 fully set up tanks:6 Ten-gallon tanks 1 20-gallon-long2 3 0-gallon tanks1 125 gallon tank with wood stand and canopy

Call Gerry: 347-837-5794------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------FOR SALE: Fish Hobbyist’s Dream Home: $189,000!

Fishroom: 15 X 26 – almost 400 square feet. 10 Picture-window tanks, with built-in wall shelving underneath for storage. room for more tanks, with pressurized air system throughout the room. Full sink (hot/cold) with work space; ceramic tile floor.

Pond room: 12 X 16 – almost 200 square feet. 300 gallon indoor pond for tropical fish. Mag pump, ceramic tile floor, large cathedral windows, lots of light for growing plants. gorgeous views. great place to read the sunday papers.

rest of house: 2 Br, 2 Ba, hUge kitchen with 49 cabinets and drawers. all rooms huge, Lr/desk area. almost 2,000 square feet. Central a/C.

Climate: 340 sunny days last year. Mild winters with absolutely No snow shoveling.

Location: truth or Consequences, New Mexico. great name, huh? Was formerly called hot springs (and yes, we’ve got ‘em). Very friendly community. Cars actually stop for you to cross the street. rarely hear a car horn. two blocks from town.


House Location: On historic site for Geronimo and his braves, where they ground holes in huge boulders (on the southern edge of the property) for cooking maize. Evidence still there (placard next to property). Just 20 feet below us stands a fi sh pond stocked with trout, and another hundred feet down is the Rio Grande River, for rafting, tubing, and fi shing. For even greater bass fi shing, we’re only fi ve miles from Elephant Butte Lake, the largest lake in New Mexico, which also

features water sports such as boating, swimming, fi shing, jet skiing, etc. There are two marinas.

View: Tremendous! From the front porch (completely tiled) you have the best view of Turtleback Mountain rising majestically above the park and river in front of you. Breakfast on the porch is breathtaking! Lunch too!

Taxes: Only $600 per year.

Summing Up: We’ve lived here for 19 years, and I both the fi sh pond and the fi shroom built for my hobby, but I’m now 83, and it’s time to retire from the hobby. We watched our grandchildren grow up as they spent all their summers here. Irreplaceable memories. You could have them too.

Charlie Kuhne: (575) 894-2957


Black EggsTilapia Snyderae

Story and Photo by Joseph Graffagnino

I have bred many species of fish, but I had never before seen black eggs. I was amazed when I saw them—and from a West African cichlid, no

less! I obtained a breeding pair of Tilapia snyderae from fellow fish breeder Vinny Babino. Vinny informed me that these are very beautiful fish with striking color markings. They are aggressive fish when spawning and protecting their young, and they are the gift that keeps on giving—once they start spawning you can’t get them to stop.

Tilapia snyderae are the smallest of all Tilapia, and they hail from Lake Bermin, a volcanic crater lake in Cameroon, West Africa. This species’ common name is “Snyder’s dwarf tilapia.” There are three colors that these species can display, based on their mood, and especially during spawning. They can go from a pale bland color to a green, and to a red. In spawning dress both the male and the female are absolutely stunning, with a green top that goes to the middle of their body (the lateral line, which extends from the head through the anal fin). The lower portion of the body is an orange-red. But that’s not all; the face changes color as the mouth becomes a dark black, while the lips become pure white—truly amazing coloration on a fish that gets no larger than four to five inches.

When I received this beautiful pair of fish, I realized they were too large for a 20 gallon aquarium, so I quickly did some rearranging, and moved them to a 30 gallon-wide aquarium. I believe in species tanks, so I kept them by themselves. After less than one month in their new home, they started moving large amounts of gravel in the tank. They really like to landscape! Four days after the landscaping began the female took up residence in a small clay breeding cave that had an opening the size of a

thumb, which the male clearly could not enter. I assumed that they would lay their eggs on the glass bottom, since they made it bare by moving all the gravel away. A day or two later I used a flashlight to see into the cave, and lo and behold! I saw around 20 or so black eggs.

A few days later they must have hatched, because the parents moved the fry about a foot away from the cave and under a piece of coral. I was concerned for the fry, because this tank was overrun with Malaysian burrowing snails, who I thought might go for the babies. However, within a few

days my snail problem was a problem no more. Once their yolk sacs disappeared and the fry started free swimming, I fed them microworms, vinegar eels, and frozen baby brine shrimp. They grew quickly, and they seemed to clone each other, for although I initially counted around 20 eggs, I now

counted about 80 swimming fry.I highly recommend this beautiful but

aggressive West African cichlid as an addition to your fishroom in a species-only tank. Since they only live in Lake Bermin, they are on the IUCN red list (critically endangered), and are of course on the CARES list, so maintaining this fish in our aquariums will help insure it against extinction. Please share this wonderful fish with members of this and other local fish clubs, and let everyone enjoy them!

This article originally appeared in Aquatica, the journal of the Brooklyn Aquarium Society, Vol. XXIV No. 5, May/June 2011.


GCAS Happenings April

Here are meeting times and locations of some aquarium societies in the Metropolitan New York area:GreAter City AquArium SoCietyNext meeting: May 1, 2013Speaker: TBAtopic: TBDmeets: Meets the first Wednesday of the month (except

January & February) at 7:30pm: Queens Botanical Garden 43-50 Main Street - Flushing, NY Contact: Dan Radebaugh (718) 458-8437email: [email protected]: http://www.greatercity.org

BiG APPle GuPPy CluBmeets: Last Tuesday each month (except Jan, Feb, July,

and August) at 7:30-10:00pm. Alley Pond Environmental Ctr.: 228-06 Northern Blvd. Contact: Donald Curtin (718) 631-0538

BrooklyN AquArium SoCietyNext meeting: April 12, 2013 Speaker: Mark Denarotopic: Where Rare Species Are Commonmeets: 2nd Friday of the month (except July and August) at 7:30pm: NY Aquarium - Education Hall, Brooklyn, NYCall: BAS Events Hotline: (718) 837-4455Website: http://www.brooklynaquariumsociety.org

loNG iSlANd AquArium SoCietyNext meeting: April 19, 2013Speaker: Vincent Kreyling topic: The Long Windy Road meets: 3rd Fridays (except July and August) 8:00pm. Room 120 in Endeavor Hall on theState University at

Stony Brook Campus, Stony Brook, NY email: Margaret Peterson - [email protected]: http://liasonline.org/

eASt CoASt GuPPy ASSoCiAtioNmeets: 2nd Tuesday of each month at at 8:00 pm. Alley Pond Environmental Ctr.: 228-06 Northern Blvd. Contact: Gene Baudier (631) 345-6399

NASSAu CouNty AquArium SoCietyNext meeting: April 9, 2013Speaker: TBAtopic: TBDmeets: 2nd Tuesday of the month (except July and August)

at 7:30 PM Molloy College - Kellenberg Hall ~1000 Hempstead Ave -

Rockville Centre, NYContact: Mike Foran (516) 798-6766Website: http://www.ncasweb.org

NortH JerSey AquArium SoCietyNext meeting: April 18, 2013Speaker: TBA topic: TBDmeets at: The Lyndhurst Elks Club, 251 Park Avenue, Lyndhurst, NJ 07071 Contact: NJAS Hotline at (732) 332-1392email: [email protected]: http://www.njas.net/

NorWAlk AquArium SoCietyNext meeting: April 18, 2013Speaker: TBA topic: TBDmeets: 8:00 P.M. - 3rd Thursday of each month at:

Earthplace - the Nature Discovery Center - Westport, CTContact: John Chapkovich (203) 734-7833Call our toll free number (866) 219-4NASemail: [email protected]: http://norwalkas.org/

A wArm welcome bAck to renewing gcAS memberS bill Amely, ShAron bArnett, mArio bengcion, JuleS birnbAum, Jeff bollbAch, Arne briStulf, Albert chAng, Pete d'orio, wArren feuer, michAel gAllo, wAlter gAllo, Jeff george, horSt gerber, Al gruSell, JASon irizArry, Andrew JouAn, michAel mAcht, dAn Puleo, dAn And mArShA rAdebAugh, leonArd rAmrooP, Steve And donnA SicA, mArk SobermAn, ed vukich, eddie weSt, ron wieSenfeld, And Jeffrey ye!

A SPeciAl welcome to new gcAS member JoSePh gurrAdo!

Last Month’s Bowl Show Winners:1 Mario Bengcion Yellow laB

2 richard waizMan Black & Blue Betta

3 richard waizMan gold & Black Betta

unofficial 2013 Bowl Show totalS to date:Mario Bengcion 5 richard waizMan 4


Etheostoma obama, a newly identified species offreshwater darter. (Image: © Joseph R. Tomelleri)

A series by The Undergravel Reporter

in spite of popular demand to thecontrary, this humor and informationcolumn continues. As usual, it doesNot necessarily represent theopinions of the editor, or of theGreater City Aquarium Society.

The title of this month’s column is taken froma posting on the website of the Britishnewspaper , The Guardian on

November 29, 20121 having the subheading:“Obama is one of four presidents to have newlydiscovered species of fish named after them fortheir green credentials.”

Researchers Steve Layman from GeosyntecConsultants in Georgia and Rick Mayden fromS a i n t L o u i sU n i v e r s i t y ,discovered five newspecies of darters inthe Duck andBuffalo rivers of theTennessee riverdrainage. Dartersare native Americanfishes, and thesmallest members ofthe perch family. They are called“darters” for their ability to get around rocks andother obstacles on the bottom of waterways. Mostdarters live in the creeks of northern Alabama andeastern Tennessee, a region, The Guardian notes,“not typically hospitable terrain for Democrats.”

The researchers decided to name each of thenewfound darters after a U.S. President or VicePresident. And so, a two-inch long Tennesseenative whose males have vivid orange, blue, andgreen scales will now be known as Etheostoma obama.

Layman and Mayden told ScientificAmerican that President Obama earned the honorof having this fish named after him “for hisenvironmental leadership, particularly in the areasof clean energy and environmental protection, andbecause he is one of our first leaders to approachconservation and environmental protection from amore global vision,”2

In addition to President Obama, Layman andMayden named the other darters after three U.S.Presidents and one Vice President who are alsoknown for making conservation a priority:Theodore Roosevelt (Etheostoma teddyroosevelt),Jimmy Carter (E. jimmycarter), Bill Clinton(E. clinton) and Al Gore (E. gore).3

This is not the first species named in honor ofPresident Obama. In 2009 President Obama hadthe “honor” of being the first U.S. President tohave a fungus named after him. Caloplacaobamae is a species of lichen in the fungus genusCaloplaca.

The discoverer of that fungus, KerryKnudsen, statesthat he chose tohonor PresidentObama for “hissupport of scienceand sc ien t i f i ceducation.” Hew r o t e t h emanuscript forpublication of thespecies in the timebetween Obama'selection and hisinauguration.4

OK, being the President of the United Statesis a “Big Deal” and winning a Nobel Prize is alsoa really “Big Deal,” but having both a fish and afungus named after you is pretty cool, in myopinion.

1 http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/nov/29/fish-barack-obama-presidents2 http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/running-ponies/2012/11/29/all-the-presidents-fish-five-new-species-named-after-obama-clinton-roosevelt-carter-and-gore/3 http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/animals/blogs/new-fish-species-named-after-obama4 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caloplaca_obamae

Modern Aquarium - Greater City A.S. (NY) April 2013 17


Fin Fun

In recognition of the time-honored tradition known as “April Fools Day,” we offer you these reversemultiple choice questions. In other words, your challenge is to pick out the WRONG answer. Have fun!

1) These fishes will often rise to the surface for a gulp of air.A) Gouramis B) Suckermouth catfish C) Paradise fish D) Corydoras catfishes

2) These fishes are all livebearers.A) Corydoras catfishes B) Mosquito fishes C) Goodeids D) Limias

3) These are all schooling fishes.A) Cardinal tetras B) Neon tetras C) Red-tailed black sharks D) Tiger barbs

4) These fishes are all endemic to Africa.A) Congo tetras B) Synodontis catfishes C) Kribensis D) Julie cichlids

5) These fishes all have horizontal stripes.A) Banded rainbowfishes B)Penguin fishes C) Licorice gouramis D) Altum angelfishes

6) These fishes all have spots.A) Pearl gouramis B) Heckel discus C) Decorated Synodontis D) Clown knifefishes

Solution to our last puzzle

1) The first editor of Modern Aquarium Series 3 was: ‚ Warren Feuer2) The photo on the front of every issue of Series 3 used to be: ‚ glued on by hand3) Modern Aquarium competes in publication contests sponsored by ‚ The NEC and ‚ FAAS4) This was NOT a special theme issue in Series 3 of Modern Aquarium: ‚ Native Fishes Issue5) The “newsletter” the club put out in-between “Series 2” and “Series 3” was ‚ Network6) The person responsible for color photos inside Modern Aquarium is ‚ Dan Radebaugh7) The “Editor’s Babblenest” was a Modern Aquarium column of: ‚ Editorials

24 April 2013 Modern Aquarium - Greater City A.S. (NY)

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