Salt Water Aquariums - Part V

There are many different species of Moray Eels.  The smallest moray is believed to be the Snyder's Moray which is about 4.5 inches long. The longest species, the Slender Giant Moray reaches up to 13 ft. The largest in terms of total mass is the Giant Moray which reaches 9.8 ft and can weigh 80 pounds.

Moray Eels are frequently thought of as vicious and dangerous animals. In truth, morays hide from humans in crevices and would rather flee than fight. Morays are shy and secretive, and attack humans only in self defense or  mistaken identity. Most attacks stem from disruption of a moray's burrow (to which they do react strongly), but an increasing number also occur during hand-feeding of morays by divers, an activity often used by dive companies to attract tourists. Morays have poor vision and rely mostly on their acute sense of smell, making distinguishing between fingers and held food difficult; numerous divers have lost fingers while attempting hand feedings.  The moray's rear-hooked teeth and primitive but strong bite mechanism also makes bites on humans more severe, as the eel cannot release its grip even in death and must be manually pried off. While the majority are not believed to be venomous there may be a few species that are. Any bite should be treated immediately because chance of infection is great. As a general rule Morays rest in their crevices during the day and hunt at night. 

Occasionally, I would go to Hanauma Bay at night to collect fish -- well because they sleep at night and are easier to catch.  Once I went at night (with an underwater light) and saw a Humahumanukanukaapua'a which is a "Trigger Fish" and the state fish of Hawaii. He darted into a small piece of coral. I just picked up the coral and put it into my bucket and voila, there he was. But, on another occasion I was in about four feet of water in an open area the size of a small room. I was circling around looking into the coral for fish. Christine would lay on the beach with a flashlight reading while I was in the water. For some reason I turned around and coming straight at me was a large Moray Eel -- a good six or seven inches in diameter. He got to within three feet of my mask. Now, I am sure I looked like the little 8 year old boy playing his first baseball game and being chased by a bee while playing center field. I jumped up and down and in general made as much noise and commotion as I could muster. That was it for the night! By the time I got to the beach and Christine, my heart was pounding like I just sprinted a 100 yard dash. Once Christine saw that I was unharmed she was able to provide some comfort (after a hardy laugh).

I did purchase two different species of Moray Eels for my aquarium, before moving to Hawaii. One is photographed below. He became very friendly and rose to the surface of the water whenever I would feed him and the other fish. I did occasionally use tweezers to "hand" feed him, but usually just dumped the shrimp in the water for him to catch on his own. Here's the photo (probably 1963 or 4).

Moray Eel

Salt Water Aquariums - Part IV

Here is my first salt-water aquarium that I had specially made by a plastics company. The black, white, and yellow striped fish with the long dorsal fin is a Moorish Idol. They range in price today between $50 and $75 depending on size. I think the two I bought here were about $50 at the time (1961). However, there is a little more to this "story." In 1966 Christine and I got married and the next day moved to Hawaii to finish school at the University of Hawaii. We arrived on June 5th and classes didn't start until September so I spent some of the summer working (selling pots and pans door to door ) and most of the summer in the water collecting ocean fish and invertebrates. One of the first fish I caught and brought home was a Moorish Idol.  We lived on bologna and cheese sandwiches the first half of each month; then cheese sandwiches, and then by the end of the month it was pretty much "honeymoon" sandwiches (Just lettuce alone). So, you can imagine my thrill in catching a $50 fish. 

50 Gallon Plexiglass Aquarium with Moorish Idol, Powder Brown Tang, and Naso Tang

Salt Water Aquariums - Part III

Continuing with my Salt Water Aquariums, the Pinnatus Bat was a large beautiful and delicate Batfish that was jet black with bright orange trim. When he get nervous the middle section of his body turned a very light gray as in the first photo. This was a difficult fish to keep for several reasons. It's large dorsal and ventral fins were "targets" of smaller fish, so it was always trying to "escape" them. However, it was very slow moving and certainly not its nature to move quickly. The result was that he never ate very well and eventually passed away. The Obicularis Bat was a little more aggressive and would turn on any smaller fish trying to nibble its fins. The Comet was a beautiful fish and one of my favorites. I had two over the years both reaching about seven or eight inches in length. They too were more delicate looking and slow moving, but managed quite well. In the photo below the head is to the right. The fourth photo is a Sebae Clownfish that got protection by living among the poisonous tentacles of the Sea Anemone. In return the Clownfish would give the shrimp that I would feed the fish directly to the Sea Anemone. It was a fascinating symbiotic relationship. 

Pinnatus Bat

Orbicularis Bat (also sea urchin and Flame Angel)

Comet

Seabae Clownfish

Salt Water Aquariums - Part II

This next group of fish I had for several years and they grew quite large. The first, the Harlequin Tusk from the Great Barrier Reef off Australia - and the most expensive fish I ever bought ($125) became very pleasantly tame. He was always glad to see me and would come up to the glass and wag his tail. The Harlequin Tusk has large sharp and pointed teeth used to shred his food. I fed him shrimp purchased at the local grocers. The next three fish swallowed their food whole. They liked the shrimp as well, but once a day they each got a couple of goldfish too.  (I kept a 10 gallon tank that I stocked with goldfish. I'd buy 100 or so at a time for this purpose). The Panther I bought when he was about two inches. When I finally had to move and sell my fish he was about 10 inches.  The Lionfish, as you can see, was (well is) an extremely interesting and beautiful fish. However, it's 13 dorsal spines have a poisonous fluid that can be injected into prey -- including human, so handling is done very carefully.  The Dogfaced puffer was another very friendly fish.  Puffers "puff" up when they are distressed. He didn't do that very often which I took as a sign of contentment. 

Harlequin Tusk

Miniatus Grouper

Panther (Grouper)

Lionfish

Dogfaced Puffer

Going Back to 1961?

Life has a way of coming full circle -- or at least helping you "rediscover" your passions. In 1961, I was 15 years old and fascinated by the Ocean. So, I began an experiment of keeping "salt-water" aquariums. Back then, aquariums were made with steel frames. I knew this wouldn't work for salt-water so had a plexiglass company make a 50 gallon aquarium for me. Salt water, contains more than just sodium chloride (table salt). It actually contains 64 elements, some in trace amounts. I located a place where I could by packaged sea salt. I also found a distributor in the Philippines that would send me fish and invertebrates from the tropical waters of the Indian and Pacific Oceans, including Hawaii. Later I found someone who would send fish from the Red Sea. This was a very expensive "hobby".  The Clown Triggerfish below I paid $100 for. But, I had saved quite a bit of money from my paper route. (I started delivering the Washington Post newspaper in 1954.

I studied all the literature on Salt Water fish -- wasn't a lot out there. (This was before Jacques Cousteau became famous). Over the next three years I dealt with diseases, fish that wouldn't eat, fish that weren't "community" oriented, fish that ate my other fish, etc. I kept records and finally in 1964 wrote a book and displayed the book and an aquarium at our County Fair (Montgomery County, Maryland) for which I won an Award. Within a couple of days, someone with the US Department of Agriculture contacted me and ask if I would be willing to have an exhibit at the Department of Agriculture that summer for which I agreed. 

I ended up going to the University of Hawaii to study Oceanography, but the US Army had other ideas. Seems as though they wanted me too. So, in 1967 it was off to the Army. Six years later and with two children I "retired" from active duty and went to work for Xerox doing what I did in the Army (Logistics and Distribution). I did have a 125 gallon aquarium in the mid and late 70's. But, it wasn't until 1984 that I finally got back to nature, fly-fishing and then wildlife photography.

Anyway, for the next couple of days I'll show you some of my aquarium photos (that date back 50 years):

Clown Triggerfish and Adult Emperor Angel

Blue Ringed Angel with Flame Scallop, Feather Duster Worms, and Sea Anemone

Powder Brown Tang and Majestic Angel

Yellow Tang, Power Brown Tang, and Hippo Tang

Saddleback Butterfly