If it is worth doing it is worth doing right. I can supply the zoo with
real fish... That is pretty easy I think.
Thanks for the work you do Alex. At least you want to do it right. That
means a lot.
Roy Hunter
Co-Chairman
ANGFA of North America
visit our website at:
http://www.angfa.org
----------
> From: Aleksei Saunders <asaunders at mho.net>
> To: rainbowfish at pcug.org.au
> Subject: Re: [RML] Display Suggestions
> Date: Wednesday, February 26, 1997 6:06 PM
>
> Is it that they themselves don't
> >know? And if they don't how in the world do they get these jobs?
>
>
> Ouch! Are you trying to start something Rhonda?? :-) (just
> kidding). I must admit I'm on a bit of the defensive now, but I'll try to
> answer your question without slandering my fellow zoo keepers (as well as
> start a flame war).
> I fully admit, there is a lot about fish keeping I don't know.
I've
> been doing this on and off professionally for about six years now. My
main
> training is in Native Fisheries Management (in B.C., Canada), and for a
> time I was an enviromental consultant working with habitat preservation.
> My "formal" aquarium training is in coastal marine fishes and
> invertebrates of B.C., I worked these fish and inverts for around 4
years.
> I got into tropical fresh because I couldn't afford to have a chiller at
> home and then took them on as part of my work responsibilties (working
with
> these for 3 years and this is where my interest lays now). Tropical
marine
> is still a bit fuzzy for me (all those wonderfully tacky colours) and
I've
> only been doing these fish "professionally" for 6 months!
> Now, and I don't want to start something here, just what to get
my
> point across. If you were going to design a tank on coastal marine fish
and
> inverts. could you do it?
> I realize that you could research and read and ask around to
> finally get a display that was accurate, but let's say you were on a time
> constraint, budget constraint, space was tight and you've got 12 other
> displays that need cleaning, feeding, and medicating. Not to mention the
50
> other holding tanks you've got to work with, nor the breeding programs
that
> you've undertaken, and the fact that your supervisor, and the general
> curator, and the park director want you to continually justify the fish
you
> have and what you are doing to keep them.
> (Ok, ok, I'm getting a little carried away here).
>
> I agree with you, if zoos and aquaria are to educate the public,
> their displays need to more accuratly represent the natural environment.
> But, as I said in an earlier post, not all zoos care about educating the
> public (at least not about fish) and to be honest I know plenty of people
> that couldn't tell a guppy from a bamboo shark and frankly couldn't care
> less. Many, many people come to zoos strictly for entertainment (if I
hear
> "when are you going to feed the piranhana?" one more time I'm gonna
flip!)
> and we try to slip some education in with them as they walk by.
>
> You feel strongly about this because your interested in this, and
I
> agree it is my (and every other zookeepers) job to educate the public on
> the plight of nature as professionals. Other people who don't feel the
same
> way about fish don't care. Unfortunatly many zoo keepers are pressed by
> marketing groups, the director, and other factors to keep many unrealted
> fish in tanks together becuase either they're big (arapamia and giant
> gouramys, dovii cichlids and nile perch) they're scary (all types of
> sharks) or neat (octopus, nautilis, etc, etc). These other people don't
> know about fish biomes or habitat and their concern is getting people in
> the door and financing the institution.
>
> Another point is that with this many tanks to take care of,
keepers
> get burnt out really quickly. On an average day I care for around 80
tanks,
> I'd say maybe 20 are 400+ gallons, but many are much smaller. To properly
> check my fish it takes me about an hour, and then to clean the displays
> another 30 minutes. I do a morning feed (around 45 minutes) and then
water
> changes (any where from 30 min. to 4 hours). Afternoon feed around 1.5
> hours, etc, etc. I used to have 30 tanks at home, now I have 2 and
they're
> really shoddy because after 8 hours of fish I don't need another 1-2
hours.
>
> Availability is also a factor. Given zoos can get things that the
> average hobbist has trouble with, but many zookeepers are reluctant to go
> out of their way to get something. If its close in distance, its close
> enough for exhibit. Also, keepers generally think they know it all, and
> don't want to talk to the "public" about their profession. I think that
is
> a shame because the public gets to put a lot of time in with the species
> they enjoy. This way they learn a lot more detail and hints to the
specific
> care of their particular animal. I don't get to do this, I have 4-5 tanks
> that contain my "babies" and then run the spectrum from tropical fresh
> liverbearers to marine corals and native gars. I wish I knew it all, and
I
> sign on this lists to learn more.
>
> Finally (I know about time!!) there's the pay. The pay is bad and
> there is no two ways about it. At Vancouver (where I worked previously)
we
> went six years without a raise (not even cost of living). That's six
years
> making roughly $14.50 an hour Canadian. Here in Denver I make $23,500 a
> year to start, maxing out in 15 years at around $33,000. Not many people
> will work for this, and those that do aren't always qualified I agree.
(And
> I'm married to another Zookeeper so I'm definately not in it for the
> money!).
>
> I hope I didn't upset anyone and I hope that you'll susgest, in a
> nice way, when you see something wrong in a zoo. Take time to vollunter
(I
> can never spell that word) and offer your expertise to the keepers. I'm
> doing my best,as are a lot of keepers, but this zoos as an education
> facility has really only caught on in the last few years.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Alex
>
> asaunders at mho.net
> Denver Zoo,
Denver,CO
> Any fish is a good fish
> (especially with a little
butter)
>
>
>
>
>