[tommo]

Im writing a series of articles and working towards a book, but id like some ideas for general subjects, particularly fish related, that you think arent being covered correctly in modern literature and current articles. plus anything else you are generally interested in!

So far i got

'The Modern Marine Aquarium' this is a completed article that exposes my views on the way things are and should be undertaken without donating any specifics, its essentially my train of thought on the subject as a whole without any mention of the word fish!

'Bacterial Diseases in Marine Aquarium Fish' Very understated, after working in the trade i find these, both internal and external far more common than it would seem considering that there is large neglect of information on these in alot of modern literature. People are too quick to say 'it happens to all of us', or,' fish just die occasionally' i feel this fills at least one of these gaps. It also covers probiotics somewhat. this article is almost complete. It also covers many treatments including their administration and specific uses.

Thirdly i have

'Butterflyfish, sheep in wolve's attire, Benefits and Woes' This article is nowhere near complete and was tedious to write, i never realised quite how diverse this family of fish were until i added all my knowlege together. I am determined to finish this one

Cheers guys. I talk far better than i write at the moment, The info is there, im just perfecting my skills as a writer, the more i write the better i seem to become and the more free flowing it is. Once i am 100% happy with them i intend to start getting them out there.

Anybodys ideas i steal will be credited

Tom

[ben]

what about toxic fish, such as box fish ect , and how dangerous they really are?

[Reefkeeper64]

Hi Tom,
A few subjects that I feel that are not covered in many reference books are:-
1. Tank Maintenance Methods
2. Drilling of Aquariums, Making and Building a Sump, Pipework for Aquariums - Tips on getting it right and Pitfalls to avoid.
3. Lighting Time Patterns & Positioning of Lights - how long should my lights be on for? and how close should my lights be above the water?
Just a few ideas to get the ball rolling.
Thanks
Adrian

[chriss]

Since your field of expertise is fish, how's about...

1) Healthy fish diets/dietry requirements
2) Keeping groups/pairs of fish, not necessarily for breeding
3) Longterm fish husbandary techniques and requirements

Chris

[Dave.I]

Keeping colouration in fish through diet.
Sexing and pairing,eg angels.
Alternative reef fish/inverts.Eg lions,triggers,eels,cuttlefish,ghost pipefish anything interesting and unusual.

On a side note Tom.Have you ever had a go at keeping ghost pipefish? I have seen videos of them in the wild and they seem to like a bit of flow.I know they would be tricky but once settled they could be very interesting and may breed.Live mysis isnt a problem

Dave

[tommo]

Ghost pipes are still on my to do list when i get the time. The problem i forsee with them is the lack of information on their probably short lifespan but once the lifespan issues are sorted, they should be pretty practical and juveniles probably easy to kreisel up and rear. Syngnathids in general are remarkably hardy and willing to breed under good aquarium conditions and with good diet! I can't see them being as difficult as they are made out to be.

If you get chance dave, go for it. On my to do list also are the true pygmy seahorses, denise, bargibanti etc which i may/ may not have devised a careplan for based on an interesting biomedia i have read up on recently!

[tommo]

I like pretty much all of the suggestions so far. Im not a big practical writer so i like the idea of doing some plumbing and lighting stuff which i can again talk for england about

Some small handy hints for angels here

Centropyge are pretty unanimous as regards to the fact that males have longer fins and much sleeker bodyform than females. Some aren't very social (coral beauties and Eibli come to mind) so having a clear size difference with these makes pairing a much smoother process. In this case their protogynous nature can be put to best effect. Paracentropyge are much harder (partly because dimorphism is poor to nonexistant and the fact they are rarer) and pygmys can be difficult if not in condition though typically there are sly colour and weight differences with healthy fish.

With large pomacanthus and holocanthus angels, the most reliable way to produce a pair is a small adult placed with a reasonable sized but clearly smaller juvenile (by adult and juvenile i mean colour form).

Apolemicthys can be difficult, especially if not in condition, small and large individuals combined and trial and error have worked well for me, at the same time, they arent as horrific with each other as some larger angels IME

Pygoplites are reasoable, sexing is easy in adults IME, females are never as large and always shorter and fatter. again being protogynous, and fairly amicable in comparason to some the juvenile W small adult method can work wonders

HTH

Tom

[Zeus]

chriss, on Jul 3 2009, 10:44 PM, said:

Since your field of expertise is fish, how's about...

1) Healthy fish diets/dietry requirements
2) Keeping groups/pairs of fish, not necessarily for breeding
3) Longterm fish husbandary techniques and requirements

Chris

Hi, could i just add to this please?

Where known could you include average life expectancy in the wild/in captivity? I think this info would be really useful so people, especially those new to the hobby, could get an idea of what they are in for when they setup a seawater fish system.

Campbell

[lindsay]

Once a system is ready,the order in which fish should be added.Once some fish become established they often wont except other species ie several times now i have found that if some tangs like the Goldring Bristletooth ,Zebrasoma Yellow Tang ,Scopas Tang and Sailfin Tang will not except a Copperband Butterflyfish if the tangs are in first.

[BOM8ER]

lindsay, on Jul 23 2009, 12:51 AM, said:

Once a system is ready,the order in which fish should be added.Once some fish become established they often wont except other species ie several times now i have found that if some tangs like the Goldring Bristletooth ,Zebrasoma Yellow Tang ,Scopas Tang and Sailfin Tang will not except a Copperband Butterflyfish if the tangs are in first.

Id like to add one more to your list that will not accept Copperrbands, In my case even when the Copperband was established into the reef first (Emperor Angelfish)