Aquarists at work - A Fascination for Fish: Adventures of an Underwater Pioneer - page 207

began operation. The space beneath the employee parking deck was
deemed the best location for our holding tanks. An important crite-
rion was that they be shaded from sunlight, both to minimize algae
and diatom growth in the tanks and to avoid stress to the fish.
The intake pipes that brought water into the pump house from be-
yond the kelp bed had just been completed. A temporary submersible
seawater pump was installed in the sump of the pump house and a
pipeline run from the pump around the perimeter of the building con-
struction site back to the holding tanks. It was an exciting day when,
at last, power to the pump was turned on and we all gathered in an at-
mosphere of celebration to watch the first tank fill. Somewhat preoc-
cupied with all the preparations, I was unaware that some of my cowork-
ers had hatched a devious plot. In one swift, well-coordinated motion
my colleagues grabbed my arms and legs from behind while my treach-
erous wife, Betty, whipped the wallet out of my back pocket, and I was
tossed, clothes and all, into the tank. Wet and salty though I was (and
not for long, since Betty had thoughtfully brought along a set of dry
clothes), it really was a fitting way to celebrate the beginning of this
new phase for the aquarium, a phase where we would be working with
real animals instead of blueprints, pictures, and lengthy to-do lists.
The temporary water system worked well. We didn't have twenty-
four-hour sta¤ at the aquarium yet, so to alert us to problems with the
water supply a pressure switch was installed in the pipe, and it auto-
matically dialed the phone number of a security company if the pump
stopped. The security company would then call us. Luckily, we got only
a few middle-of-the-night calls to go to the aquarium to check out the
pump and the fish.
BRINGING IN THE ANIMALS
By the time the aquarium opened we would need thousands of fish,
representing hundreds of species. For some of them I imposed on old
friends, such as Steinhart Aquarium director John McCosker and cu-
rator Tom Tucker, who helped us immensely by giving us striped bass
( Morone saxatilis ) and white sturgeon ( Acipenser transmontanus ) from
San Francisco Bay. There's an unwritten understanding in the public