Fishy tales from the Aquarium

In an ongoing captive breeding programme at Blue Planet Aquarium in Cheshire Oaks, more than 100 baby seahorses have been born at the aquarium that is working to protect the threatened species.
The youngsters, which measure less than a centimetre in length, are known as spotted seahorses and will eventually grow to a length of nearly 20cm.
The young seahorses are being kept in special nursery tanks and will go on public display in a few weeks’ time.
Breeding seahorses in captivity, is extremely difficult which is what makes this quite an amazing achievement.
In the wild virtually all of the approximate 35 species of seahorse are under threat from a variety of sources. [Via]

An appropriate filtration system is a must in any aquarium if you want healthy fish and plants.
Broadly, there are three types of filtration that are available today – biological, mechanical and chemical.
While, if you have a marine aquarium you would pretty much need to have all three types of filtration for your tank, you can afford to take it easier if you have a freshwater tank, and pick any one of them. A biological filtration system (a natural filtering system consisting of helpful bacterial colonies that, through a cycling process, convert pollutants in water to harmless nitrate) comes into play even before introducing new fish into the tank, and once properly set up would continue after that as a cycle. Nitrate is nitrogen, therefore this cycling process is also referred to as the nitrogen cycle or cycling a tank. (more…)

This one was popular during the 1970’s on the heels of trends disco dancers, not to mention on the feet of the pimp in “I’m Gonna Git You Sucka”

Goldfish Shoes from I'm Gonna Git You Sucka

A disco goldfish shoe? Imagine a real live goldfish, within the heel, or within the heel and the sole of a high-heeled platform shoe. The heel and sole in disco goldfish shoes are made from a transparent material, such as acrylic glass, that allows you to see the goldfish, and unfortunately also allows the goldfish to see all the psychedelic lights, not to mention the floor shooting up at it at rather terrifying speeds. Don’t know about the dancer, but I doubt of the fish would have survived even one dance.
In such a confined place as the heel of disco goldfish shoes, it is hard to know which problem that actually kills the fish first – suffocation or shock – but goldfish will die very soon after being inserted in disco goldfish shoes.
Thankfully, these days, the fashionistas have to make do with artificial goldfishes.
Unfortunately, I could only find a very blurry image.

Robots that mimic fish movements

Ever heard of a fish pile up? I guess that’s what promoted the engineers over at Nissan to study the movements of schools of fish, to try and come up with a solution to keep the roads safe from accidents.
Hoping to create safer cars, engineers at Nissan are studying the movements of schools of fish and developed robots to mimic their nimble motions, and help drivers avoid crashes in the future.
Using a laser range finder and radio communications, the three-wheeled rather odd shaped bots determine where obstacles are and avoid them, also sharing information with each other to avoid collisions, and deftly change directions while traveling alongside each other like a school fish.
Nissan, which previously created robots based on the movements of bumblebees, hopes to develop vehicles using this technology in the future. [Via]

Planted aquariums are some of the most beautiful aquariums you can get, and some aquarium enthusiasts able to create stunning lush, natural-looking landscapes within the confines of a tank. Don’t expect neon gravel, miniature plastic castles or sunken treasure boxes sprinkled with glitter – oh no, these are painstakingly created works of art, replicas of miniature underwater worlds with driftwood, rocks, underwater moss and plants, not to mention the fish swimming peacefully among them.
I for one, have never managed to do so which is why, I find these planted tanks even more amazing.
Each year the Aquatic Gardeners Association, a group of more than 1,300 enthusiasts, holds a contest to name the best tanks in the world. Here’s the showcase, of their entries across the years.

A recent trip to Thailand took us to Siam Oceanworld in Bangkok, and one of the most fascinating specimens there were the Sea Angels. With fins (parapodia) that look almost like wings, and a body shape to match, they look very much like mini angels, but thats where the similarities end.
A type of sea slugs, related to the snails, they are voracious predators feeding almost solely on sea butterflies (other species also feed on zooplankton). They hunt down their victim snaring them with specialised mouth tentacles. Once trapped, the prey is ripped from its shell with sharp hooks and swallowed whole.
Sea angels are gelatinous, mostly transparent and very small non shelled mollusks, with the largest species (Clione limacina) reaching 5 cm. Clione limacina is a polar species; those found in warmer waters are far smaller. (more…)

Fish don’t make noises or contort their faces to show that it hurts when hooks are pulled from their mouths, but a Purdue University researcher believes they feel that pain all the same – and what’s more, their reactions to it are much like that of humans.
Garner and Janicke Nordgreen, a doctoral student in the Norwegian School of Veterinary Science, attached small foil heaters to the goldfish and slowly increased the temperature. The heaters were designed with sensors and safeguards that shut off the heaters to prevent any physical damage to a fish’s tissue. (more…)

Robot fish developed by British scientists are to be released into the sea off north Spain to detect pollution.
If next year’s trial of the first five robotic fish in the northern Spanish port of Gijon is successful, the team hopes they will be used in rivers, lakes and seas across the world.
The carp-shaped robots, costing 20,000 pounds ($29,000) apiece, mimic the movement of real fish and are equipped with chemical sensors to sniff out potentially hazardous pollutants, such as leaks from vessels or underwater pipelines.
They will transmit the information back to shore using Wi-Fi technology.
Unlike earlier robotic fish, which needed remote controls, they will be able to navigate independently without any human interaction.
The robot fish will be 1.5 meters (nearly 5 feet) long – roughly the size of a seal. [Via]