Sea world and south - A Fascination for Fish: Adventures of an Underwater Pioneer - page 82

The elusive razorfish in their new aquarium home. (Photo by author)
On the return trip to Sea World we found out the hard way what
their favorite food is. Because holding space for all the fish we were
bringing back from Mexico was tight, we decided to combine two of
the species of sand-dwelling fish—the garden eels and razorfish—in
one tank just for the night. The next morning we found each razorfish
with part of a garden eel sticking out of its mouth like a cigar. It was
no problem for them to catch a garden eel—all they had to do was
swim into the sand. As mad as we were about losing some of our pre-
cious, hard-won garden eels, we couldn't help but laugh at the sight.
UNHARMED AND HEALTHY
Although there are hundreds of topics about how to catch fish, be-
ginning with Izaak Walton's Compleat Angler, practically nothing has
been written about how to collect fishes and invertebrates alive, un-
harmed, and healthy. You either figure it out yourself or you go with
someone who in turn learned it from someone else who figured it out
on their own. Seeing a new creature, the collector's mind immediately
begins to figure out a way to collect it.