Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
collected, purchased, traded, or cultured—and transported with min-
imum trauma back to the aquarium. This process can vary from rela-
tively easy to incredibly di‹cult. It is a common misconception that
collectors, or aquarists who do their own collecting, are people who
get paid to go fishing or diving. Well, they do, but fishing and diving
is the easy part. The real challenge is handling the animals gently, keep-
ing them alive and healthy, and getting them back to the aquarium in
good condition. It can be quite nerve-wracking knowing a life is in
your hands.
Most new animals need to be treated for parasites or disease before
going on exhibit. An aquarist needs to be able to calculate aquarium
volumes and the correct dosage of therapeutic drugs. Accuracy is vi-
tal; an error of a decimal point can be fatal. Animals must also be feed-
ing well before they are taken out of quarantine. Figuring out and get-
ting the right foods for animals that have specialized needs are an
important and often challenging part of the aquarist's work as well.
Much of the work of an aquarist is cleaning—cleaning glass, clean-
ing walls, cleaning gravel. This is important not only for the health of
the animals but also for aesthetic reasons. We want the aquarium, with
its necessary walls and windows, to disappear as much as possible. Even
something as minor as a tiny patch of algae growing on the glass or on
a tank wall will likely catch the eye, reminding the visitor that this is
actually a man-made tank with animals in it. The less of the actual con-
tainer that is readily apparent, the more easily visitors will mentally
transport themselves into the world beneath the water and focus their
attention on the plants and animals within.
Some of the work consists of hard physical labor. Fishes and inver-
tebrates live in water, and water is heavy. Just moving animals from
one place to another often means moving heavy buckets or tanks of
water. Likewise, washing and hauling wet sand and gravel is strenu-
ous. We've all been told that the correct way to lift heavy objects is with
the legs and not with the back. Well, that may work for some jobs, but
it's impossible to lift “correctly” while leaning over the edge of a tank
and lifting out a large rock.
An aquarist's work can be repetitive, and to some it may seem me-
nial, but the knowledge that thousands of people come to see one's ex-
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