Aquarium Life
Wednesday, October 18, 2006
Silence at the Ray pool
Today went by really quickly ... before we knew it the day was over. But it was a good day. I got to do the ray talk and feed today. As per usual Pancake (Painted ray) was following me around the pool which is not unusual ... she got her name bacause she is so greedy that after feeding time she looks like a little stuffed pancake. I also had a problem with the Undulate rays. They are really bit over eager sometimes ... so much so that last Thursday one took it right out of David's hands ... so I was a bit careful today but you can actually feel them grab the tongs. But it was good.
I had a great ray talk later though ... I got there and the pool was packed ... so I knew I wouldn't get away with not doing a talk. So I got up on the ledge and started talking ... silence ... absolute silence around the ray pool ... I have never had that before. I couldn't believe it when a couple walked in talking and some people asctually shushed them ... amazing ... after I finished I even got an applause ... I was treasuring the moment because as they say it wont come along again soon ;o) I also saw one of the dogfish in the side tank laying some eggs today ... it was amazing the way she was looking for somewhere to attach them.
When I finished at the ray pool I had time to chat to visitors at the Coral reef section. It was kewl I was just in time for the nocturnal tank feed. Now most of these fish do feed on the bottom like the bluespotted stingrays and the epaulette sharks ... so what they do is put a feeding tube in the water and pt some shrimp in the tube and flush water into the pipe so the shrimp goes to the bottom. It was so cute all three the stingrays just piled on top of each other, the sharks and the grey moray eating along the sides all of a sudden the one epaulette shark decided enough and grabbed hold of the other shark's pectoral fin ... and they started spinning around in circles then she just let go all of a sudden and swam off a little way. The other bitten shark ate a couple of more shrimp then stopped turned around and walked to the other shark that bit it ... now when I say walk I mean walk ... these sharks use their fins like legs and would rather walk around then swim ... anyway she walked up to the other one and grabbed her by the pectoral fin ... same thing as before spun around a few times then she let go turned around and walked up the slope to her resting hole. It was something I had never seen before.
I also did the rainforrest feed todaym that wnt off without a hitch so it was kewl. More hopefully tomorrow ... time for bed.
L8r
P
I had a great ray talk later though ... I got there and the pool was packed ... so I knew I wouldn't get away with not doing a talk. So I got up on the ledge and started talking ... silence ... absolute silence around the ray pool ... I have never had that before. I couldn't believe it when a couple walked in talking and some people asctually shushed them ... amazing ... after I finished I even got an applause ... I was treasuring the moment because as they say it wont come along again soon ;o) I also saw one of the dogfish in the side tank laying some eggs today ... it was amazing the way she was looking for somewhere to attach them.
When I finished at the ray pool I had time to chat to visitors at the Coral reef section. It was kewl I was just in time for the nocturnal tank feed. Now most of these fish do feed on the bottom like the bluespotted stingrays and the epaulette sharks ... so what they do is put a feeding tube in the water and pt some shrimp in the tube and flush water into the pipe so the shrimp goes to the bottom. It was so cute all three the stingrays just piled on top of each other, the sharks and the grey moray eating along the sides all of a sudden the one epaulette shark decided enough and grabbed hold of the other shark's pectoral fin ... and they started spinning around in circles then she just let go all of a sudden and swam off a little way. The other bitten shark ate a couple of more shrimp then stopped turned around and walked to the other shark that bit it ... now when I say walk I mean walk ... these sharks use their fins like legs and would rather walk around then swim ... anyway she walked up to the other one and grabbed her by the pectoral fin ... same thing as before spun around a few times then she let go turned around and walked up the slope to her resting hole. It was something I had never seen before.
I also did the rainforrest feed todaym that wnt off without a hitch so it was kewl. More hopefully tomorrow ... time for bed.
L8r
P
Thursday, October 12, 2006
Did We Loose a Diver?
Well last week was a bit of a quiet week but today was really quite interesting. It was the first time that I could walk around and chat to visitors in any part of the aquarium ... my choice. So I was thinking ok ... I'll go to the coral reef section. Now to get there you walk past the Pacific tank ... which is our shark tank. As I walked past I looked into the tank and thought to myself what's going on ... I had never seen so much movement in the tank ... "Had they increased the circulation in the tank?" ... then I realized that it was feeding time at the shark tank ... it was really cool, I had only seen the feed from the top of the tank, not the bottom. I watched two piecies of fish drift to the bottom of the tank and three sharks go for them. Georgina (Sandtiger shark), Ashley (Nurse shark) and Jane (Brown Shark) all went for the same two fish now Ashley is like a small hoover so he got one. George missed the second one, but made a quick U-turn so she got the fish ... size really matters so George got it and since she is HUGE and much bigger than Jane. Sharks really are quite facinating to watch.
YEAH I did my first shark talk with a working mic so it was kewl. I spoke to Mario (one of the Aquarists) earlier the day so I knew that we would have some divers going into the shark tank during my talk, since they were going to give Bell, Ashley and Maz some food with iodine. So I started my talk and about in the half of the talk ... a mask comes drifting down on the left side of the tank ... so I'm thinking to myself ... while still talking .... that either someone lost a mask or we just lost a diver ... now everone is turning around and looking at me ... "uhmm I say someone seems to have lost a mask". I couldn't tell them what I was thinking as I had just told them that the divers go down into the tank regularly and have found the sharks to be quite docile and harmless even though the Browns are related to Great Whites ... some mothers I think would not have enjoyed the comment. Luckily the divers went in five minutes later so it was all good.
Well that is enough for now ... hopefully more next week when I have hopefully had some more sleep.
L8r
P
YEAH I did my first shark talk with a working mic so it was kewl. I spoke to Mario (one of the Aquarists) earlier the day so I knew that we would have some divers going into the shark tank during my talk, since they were going to give Bell, Ashley and Maz some food with iodine. So I started my talk and about in the half of the talk ... a mask comes drifting down on the left side of the tank ... so I'm thinking to myself ... while still talking .... that either someone lost a mask or we just lost a diver ... now everone is turning around and looking at me ... "uhmm I say someone seems to have lost a mask". I couldn't tell them what I was thinking as I had just told them that the divers go down into the tank regularly and have found the sharks to be quite docile and harmless even though the Browns are related to Great Whites ... some mothers I think would not have enjoyed the comment. Luckily the divers went in five minutes later so it was all good.
Well that is enough for now ... hopefully more next week when I have hopefully had some more sleep.
L8r
P
Wednesday, October 04, 2006
Food Glorious Food
I got the feed the Rainforrest, Coral Reef and Rays today. It was really cool ... the archer fish was jumping well and I ever got spat on the cheek. I also got to visit Cheeky. Nothing more than usual happened though.
I've started doing my shark talks now ... Monday's went well and I even got thanked afterwards ... today was a bit more nerve wracking ... my microphone died 3 minutes into my talk so I had to basically shout the rest of my talk. It was ok though people were keeping quiet and just listening so it went well. I had a guy come up to me afterwards and ask me if sharks sleep ... I told him that they do but only with half of their brains the other half they use to keep swimming and breathing. So he asked me how old Georgina was (she is our biggest sandtiger shark) ... I told him about 12 or 13 ... so he looks at me, shakes his head and says "do you want to tell me that George has been swimming around in circles for the last 12 years." Well if you think of it like that ... it's quite depressing.
I also had a little girl ask me some questions at the Atlantic tank, then she turned to me and said ... I had two goldfish for four years ... I told her that was great ... and she said that they had gotten too big for their tank ... so her dad instead of just throwing one goldfish in the canal tossed both of them into the canal ... he poor child she must have been mortified.
Thats all the news I have for today. Tomorrow is Elizabeth's bithday ... so Lizzy if you are reading this .... HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!
Hopefully more news later.
P
Check out some aquarium photo's on Smile and Wave
I've started doing my shark talks now ... Monday's went well and I even got thanked afterwards ... today was a bit more nerve wracking ... my microphone died 3 minutes into my talk so I had to basically shout the rest of my talk. It was ok though people were keeping quiet and just listening so it went well. I had a guy come up to me afterwards and ask me if sharks sleep ... I told him that they do but only with half of their brains the other half they use to keep swimming and breathing. So he asked me how old Georgina was (she is our biggest sandtiger shark) ... I told him about 12 or 13 ... so he looks at me, shakes his head and says "do you want to tell me that George has been swimming around in circles for the last 12 years." Well if you think of it like that ... it's quite depressing.
I also had a little girl ask me some questions at the Atlantic tank, then she turned to me and said ... I had two goldfish for four years ... I told her that was great ... and she said that they had gotten too big for their tank ... so her dad instead of just throwing one goldfish in the canal tossed both of them into the canal ... he poor child she must have been mortified.
Thats all the news I have for today. Tomorrow is Elizabeth's bithday ... so Lizzy if you are reading this .... HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!
Hopefully more news later.
P
Check out some aquarium photo's on Smile and Wave
