Raping the seabed

I was recently at a local arts and crafts fair and was simply appalled at the number of sea life that was used as jewelry beads. Now I am not talking about shells or even pearls but sea life that had to be harvested while alive to be used as jewelry. The main item was seahorse bodies, next was sea urchins. Both of those types of creatures had to be killed in order for the crafters to use them.

I did enlighten a few people, very politely mind you, as to the origins of their supplies. One women even told me that she wondered why some people would not buy the seahorse jewelry she had made. It was quite possible that her customers were aware of the origins as I was.

As more people become aware of products made from living sea creatures and how they are killed and processed, the less likelihood those people are to buy those products.

Fresh water fish threatened

It has been a few months since I last posted here. My summer so far has been inland and not near any coastal areas. That is a bit of a change for me. Family functions and me with a summer job selling  ATV Accessories has kept me busy. Normally there is enough oceanic news to report but this time I want you to be aware of the inland oil spill in the Yellowstone River.

The oil is slowly destroying fish habitats for catfish, walleye and trout. There are several native and non-native species of fish that call this area home. I am sure that the area will recover but the question is, how many years will it take?

Hideous jewelry

The photo above is of a real seahorse that has been preserved and gold plated and is sold on the open market. To me it is hideous, why? Because you know darn well that the seahorse did not die of natural causes but was "harvested" for the jewelry market. I first saw one of these on a online Key West jewelry store.

In one of my very old books on seahorses, there is a section on preserving your pet seahorse once it has died so you can decorate your home or person with it. That is the same as skinning your dead cat and wearing the poor animal's skin as a hat.

I say leave the seahorses alone.

The fake eye

Tropical warm water fish are often very colorful. Since they have so much color to attract mates it also makes them venerable to predators.

They often have a "fake eye" pattern on their bodies to confuse larger fish. The fake eyes can be elaborate and include under eye dark circles. The larger fish see these fake eye patterns and aim for the wrong part of the fish to grab. This often gives the smaller fish the chance to get away from the predator.

Gifts for a ocean lover

If I can't go to the coast and frolic on the beach in this frigged, cold winter weather then I can shop. Let's see, what would an ocean loving person want? Something interesting perhaps persnonalized gifts or a travel DVD, underwater travel of course. I would stay away from anything that was made from sea life. Don't buy preserved seahorses or something made from a sea turtle shell. Think before you buy that gift.

Weird ads showing up

I just changed the layout of the blog and for some odd reason I am getting Google ads for fast food places, travel and hoodia diet pills. I guess the Google ad bot can't figure out that this is a sea life blog, not sea food blog. I guess I had better put the words whales, boats, ocean and aquariums in this post so it gets a better idea.

The awful truth about fish oil harvesting

How many of you use fish oil supplements in your diet or even your pets' diet. Fish oil is used in everything from dog food to male enhancement pills. Do you ever wonder where that fish oil comes from?

Most people think that the oil comes from the fish that are harvested for human consumption, sort of a by-product. That is not entirely true. The fish the oil comes from is a by-product of sorts but not how you would normally think of.

Fish oil is extracted from fish that are not headed for the human or pet food industry. The fish that were caught while net fishing for other fish are the poor victims of the fish oil trade. I bet you thought that non-edible fish that were caught in the fish nets were tossed back into the ocean, didn't you? Nope, they are headed for the fish oil industry.

Humans.......they want to rape the ocean for everything when they put a net in the water.

Camouflage among marine fish

Have you ever wondered why some marine fish have a large black dot on their bodies? Those black dots are the camouflage pattern of the fish that will confuse the larger fish. The dots are to mimic dark eye circles so the larger fish will aim for the wrong end while hunting for the fish. That allows the smaller fish a chance to get away.

That's my trivia fact for the day.

Aquarium culture

It has been a while since I wrote a blog post about aquariums and keeping fish. Although I am totally against wild caught fish for the home aquarium, I have nothing against captive bred and raised aquarium fish. I also realize that many people and children often have their first experiences with live fish via a home aquarium. What sparked this post was something I saw at a local pet store.

I have seen some pretty odd stuff in the fish sections of pet stores. A few years back it was "painted fish," followed by "neon fish." Both of them had been treated with a chemical that would make them "pretty" to the customer but would kill the fish. This time what I saw was not as harmful but odd to say the least.

Aquarium plants are not only very plentiful, pretty and do well in fresh water aquariums, providing the amount of lighting is correct, they provide extra aeration to the fish and water. That being said, do not buy land plants and stick them completely under water and expect them to survive. One pet store I was in, was doing that. They had potted lucky bamboo, which is a low light terrestrial plant and had them in the tanks with goldfish, completely submerged. What customers will not realize is the fact that the lucky bamboo (which is not at real bamboo at all, but that is another matter) will slowly deteriorate over time. It does make a great semi-wet terrarium plant where it is only partly submerged but not entirely underwater.

Do your research on what aquatic plants do well with your fish and leave the terrestrial plants on land.

Piranha found in landlocked lake - USA

Some idiot let a piranha or 2 loose in a fresh water lake in the USA. That is not as strange as the fact that a couple of kids caught it on their fishing line. Below is the video of the event and the actual piranha they caught.

My true feelings about the oil spill in the Gulf

Warning: this post may offend some of you

Ok, I have heard just about enough news on the TV about the oil spill in the Gulf and I am pissed. What I am pissed off about is the fact that almost all of the coverage is about how people are affected by the spill. The TV news is covering how people are losing their businesses and work. Well boo who. People can move, find other lines of work, start other businesses. Damn it, what about the sea life that can't move, are having their homes destroyed and some of them will not live through this disaster to continue their species. Instead of the TV news continually covering the economic part of the disaster just to sell commercial air time to viagra and sleep aids, why don't they cover what the Sierra Club, The National Wildlife Federation and other conservation clubs are doing.

I am sorry if I offended some of you but I just had to say that.

My collection of fish books

When I was little I always had a fish tank with some sort of swimming resident. Since it was my pet and mine alone I had to take of what ever fish I had at the time. Of course I had, and still have many of them, lots of books about pet fish. I did sell a few of them over the years and even listed some of them on Amazon books but I will not get rid of my favorite ones about seahorses. The funny thing is, I never had seahorses as pets, even in the days when you could get a pregnant papa seahorse in the mail for $2.98 I just never thought that I could care for them very well so I passed on have one as a pet. But that did not stop me from reading all I could about them and talking to pet shop owners who sold them.

Varieties of the fantail Goldfish

The fantail Goldfish has an elliptical shaped body with a split tail. When they swim they kind of waddle through the water. They are not very fast swimmers so they are not very popular as pond fish but are great tank pets. There are many varieties of the fantail Goldfish. The longer finned versions are called veiltails. The fantail also comes in a variety of colors and scale types. There are many varieties of Goldfish that closely resemble the fantail and may have been bred originally from them to create new varieties.

After reading online about the average size of this fish I have come to the conclusion that not many people who write for the internet about Goldfish actually owned them. For example the articles I found mentioned the average size for a fantail was from 1-3 inches in diameter. My guess is that they have never seen a pond grown one like I owned. My fantail grew to a large 5" from nose to base of tail and she was only 10 years old when she died. Since fish keep growing until they die she would have gotten much larger given enough time. Goldfish live an average of 20 years and often more.

Sea life everywhere

I love sea life. I mean I really love it. I have a bathroom that painted light blue and has ceramic mounted all over the walls. I would enjoy having each room decorated with a ocean theme. I would have a whale room and a shoreline room and a seahorse room. Or maybe I would go with ocean climates like ice flows and tropical bays.

A friend of mine did her child's room in tropical fish, cute baby tropical fish. The colors were just wonderful. Of course she also had her Baby jogger city select outfitted with fish too. I wonder if her child will end up as a future marine biologist. I personally doubt it because my mother decorated my bedroom with unicorns all over the place.

Fish I have raised

I was in my backroom where I have sort of a library/office set up. I needed to sort through a few things and came across an old notebook where I had logged all the information, dates and results of a guppy breeding venture I had when I was a teen. I had gotten the bright idea to breed show guppies and then sell the offspring that didn't come up to show standards to the local pet store.

I thought my idea was brilliant until I found out that I needed more and more 10 gallon tanks to separate the males from the females and then separate the different types and colors. It was becoming a logistics nightmare.

Looking over that old notebook brought back memories of finding the best prenatal vitamins for fish, yes they do have them. I also had to keep on hand lots of fresh water plants so they were more inclined to breed.

Would I try it again one day? Nah, it was just a childhood pipe dream for me. Let someone else take over and breed guppies.

Quit raping the ocean for your own greed

I am simply fed up with companies coming up with a "secret" ingredients that involves a rare form of sea life. How many whales, dolphins, rare fish and other life need to die for the greed of man? I have read so many off the wall claims of rare enzymes found only in certain rare fish that are being touted as natural fat burners or sexual enhancers. It makes me sick.

Seahorses are still ground up and used in medicines in the far east but there is no real medical use for seahorses. That is a photo (above) of dried seahorses for sale. When will this stop?

Moving an aquarium

How do you move your home aquarium full of fish? After you said "carefully" what else? Would you call some moving companies New York city? Or call your local pet store for advice? I hope you said the pet store. They could not only advise you on the types of containers or bags to house your fish in during the move but also the amount of oxygen they would require.

Keep in mind that the tank your fish will go into after the move should be "aged" for at least 24 hours prior to the fish being added. Planning for that you might have to move much of the original tank water with the fish.

If you plan ahead for the move and are prepared, your fish will survive the move.

My active time of the year

Travel, keeping up with marine biology news and trips out to the local fish hatcheries has kept me active this summer. I often volunteer at the fish hatchery each week. With the cut backs that government agencies are having they welcome us volunteers with open arms. In Oregon if you plan on doing volunteer work you will need to contact the state biologist which is located in Corvallis at OSU.

Volunteers will learn lots of interesting stuff about fish farming, breeding and even taking the fish out to remote lakes in backpacks. I would mainly feed the trout and it might surprise you to know that the trophy trout are fed a special feed compared to the regular trout. Just moving those bags of 50 pound feed around is enough to make anyone think twice about using weight loss supplements. You'll build lots of muscle doing that type of work.

I also like the idea that it gets me outdoors more. There is nothing worse than staying inside on a beautiful day.

Aquarium fish

Salt water aquarium fish can be tricky to care for but are a very satisfying pet once you have mastered their care. I prefer saltwater fish that have been tank bred rather than caught in the wild, for obvious reasons. You will need to check with the saltwater fish store that you purchase your fish from to find out where the fish came from. Stay away from a store that doesn't know or won't give you a straight answer.

Certain marine animals like live coral, sea urchins and non-vertebrates are also kept along with fish in the same tank but you should do your homework first about how compatible they are with each other. You would not keep sea anemones with seahorses unless you want to have dead seahorses. Some corals also sting so you need to know what species you have in your tank along with what part of the world they are native to so you don't put the wrong fish in the tank with them.

Before setting up a tank you should not mix different fish from different parts of the world. The salinity requirements are different according to which ocean they came from. They should also be compatible with each other. Passive fish can be kept together and aggressive fish kept on their own or in an extremely large tank with other fish and kept well fed so they don't eat your other fish.

Fat and happy

In the ocean the fish and mammals depend on their body size to survive. If they are too small for their species then they don't often live long enough to reproduce. Whales, for example, need extra blubber to survive the far northern or southern cold oceans. Their weight loss supplements are in the form of brine shrimp or large schools of small fish. Only the Killer Whales will feast on the larger prey animals like seals, dolphins, tuna and sharks.

It is not only sea mammals that need to have extra body mass but fish do too. A thin under weight fish usually has a health problem going on and lack of energy to escape from larger fish hunting it.