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I once had a customer who would come into the store every day, and look at all the fish. He would ask me all these questions about compatibility, husbandry, and space requirements. He would point at all the different things that he found interesting and wanted. Being a good local fish store employee, I would use my better judgment and choose not to sell him things that were destined for doom. He’d want to get butterflies and pomacanthus angels, when he had clams. He’d want a big panther grouper, when he had many small fish. He had already plopped a large galaxea coral in the middle of a whole bunch of other corals, only to have them perish under the stinging sweeper tentacles of the galaxea. He once stormed out of my store more fuming, saying “why do I even bother?”
We as reef aquarists have a unique position in the world. We are both hobbyists and pet owners. We seek to collect rare and enchanting specimens from an ecosystem we are struggling to protect. While building the reef aquarium is an engaging and fulfilling thing to do, we must remember that we have a responsibility to the animals that we keep. Putting together a system that works and thrives is success in the hobby.
The Pitfalls of the “Shop as You Go” Aquarium
My old customer above fell into a really common trap. We go to the fish store every day and purchase what looks nice. As most animals that go into our aquariums have roughly similar needs, we are indiscriminate and hasty with our purchases. We then have a tank with representatives of all different colors, rather than need and compatibility.
There are many ways that we paint ourselves into a corner. A pretty comical incident happened recently, where a man had purchased a grouper of a decent size. He also bought a good large clownfish, just large enough to stave of the grouper’s appetite. He then wanted to mate his large clownfish. As clownfish change sex as they move up in a size pecking order, the smaller the clown you get, the more likely it is to be a male. But how do you choose a clown that is small enough to be a male, yet large enough to not get eaten? In fact, won’t both clowns eventually be eaten by such a voracious animal eventually?
Corals also present a particularly pertinent compatibility issue. Many of them just don’t get along. The galaxea is a great example. Like the rainforest, the reef floor is a constant battle ground for space. Many of these animals have adapted means of assuring space on the reef floor. Galaxea’s nematocyst laden sweeper tentacles present a unique hurdle for the aquarist when deciding its purchase and subsequent placement. A “mixed reef” of soft corals and SPS corals is often quite difficult to achieve as soft corals have adapted to this race for space by developing a type of chemical warfare. Palythoa, the common button polyp, releases a particularly toxic chemical, which is sometimes even dangerous to the aquarist, let alone your other corals.
The secret to a harmonious and successful tank is, as said before, planning. The reef aquarium is a particularly powerful canvas to paint with, and works best with insight, inspiration, and foresight.
A Brief Look at Regionality and Locality
One solution that is always proposed to help choose animals appropriate for each other is to create a region specific environment. While the idea works in theory, there are still a lot of pitfalls. For instance, the genus Acropora has a huge distribution. They range from the east coast of Africa, through India, the Philippines, Samoa, Hawaii, north west South America, then through to the Caribbean (Veron, 126-127)! Palythoa, zoanthids, and mushroom anemones are found in many regions where acropora are found, however, they are not necessarily compatible. Aquariums that are densely stocked with such animals are particularly prone to chemical warfare. Furthermore, many tanks that are designed to keep mushrooms, palythoa, and zoanthids, are ill suited to house acropora.
When looking at species distribution globally, we see very little that can help us put together our systems. It is only when we look at the locality of species within each region that we begin to see any type of useful stratification. Veron describes different localities in a variety of ways. The simplest that he depicts stratifies the indo-pacific shore into four different segments: The mangrove forest, the intertidal mud flat, the outer intertidal mud flat and the reef slope (Veron, 39). Corals are found from the intertidal mudflat through the reef slope. The reef slope is further stratified into the back reef margin, lagoon, reef flat, and the reef front. Each of these localities have different depths, current, and even ranges of temperature.
When mapping the distribution of animals along the reef slope, we begin to see a phenomenon called a cline. Imagine that you are at the base of a mountain, surrounded by trees. Take a look at the size, shape and distribution of the trees. Take note of the different species of trees, animals, and other plants around. Then walk up the mountain. As you move up the mountain, the composition of plants and animals gradually changes. The different sections of the mountain each provide different conditions for life to grow. Like the mountain slope, the reef slope is rich with life. The distribution of animals depends on the resources and environment available for them. Moving any direction along the reef slope you can see a cline.
The Regionally and Locally Specific Reef
One of my favorite customers was a veteran once stationed in Hawaii. He missed his younger days, and longed to be back in Hawaii and in the waters again. Although collecting corals from American waters is illegal, he pursued creating a tank as closely reflective of his old lagoon as possible. He chose fish and invertebrates that were endemic to Hawaii. He chose corals from South Pacific islands such as Samoa, Fiji, and Fiji that were present, or similar to corals that found in his lagoon. I have never seen such a breathtaking aquascape in such a small space. He packed corals densely enough to make them attractive, and chose animals that worked together, and were found often in close proximity. He chose animals whose biologies did not compete, or chose to keep those animals separate. He was judicious, slow, and intent on his vision. I have never seen such a breathtaking tank.
The secret to his success was his commitment to his lagoon. He chose to create an environment that was both regionally and locally specific, and provided animals an environment that they work together in, or at least do not compete violently in.
A Few Common Regionally and Locally Specific Themes
The Outer Reef: The Outer Reef is one of the most dynamic and impressive environments in the world. Many of us strive to create such a bright, nutrient poor, and turbulent environment at home. It houses corals from Acropora, Montipora, to Favia and Favites. Acanthurus and Zebrasoma tangs are found in hoards throughout the outer reef surge zone. Damsels weave in and out of huge acropora heads.
The Reef Apex: At the apex of the outer reef, along isolated reef walls, and across shallow sand crests on the reef’s shore lay small islands of life. Here, large anemones are host to huge families of clowns, reveling in their protective tentacles. Nutrient poor, and particularly bright, these invertebrate safe havens thrive. Great caution should be taken when creating such an environment, as clownfish hosting anemones require vigorous husbandry and seldom survive in the average aquarist’s care.
The Reef Floor, Caves and Overhangs: Lower light, or particularly turbid, this is where some of the brightest and dynamic corals live. Tubastrea, gorgonia, and Dendronephthya grow in abundance under little to no light. Dendronepthya often grow completely upside down. Small, long nosed hawks, perch on great stalks of gorgonia, awaiting their next meal (Debelius and Baensch, 1032). Care and husbandry of such animals provides a great challenge to reef hobbyist. While nutrient poor, and relatively dim, these animals require huge amounts of current and food to survive.
Soft Corals and the Shallow Reef: The conditions in the shallow, soft coral reef vary. Corals collected from such an environment have low to moderate lighting requirements. Huge Sarcophyton leathers, often measuring a few meters wide, dominate portions of this zone. Xenia, zoanthids, and mushroom corals find their niches along the shallow reef wall.
A Look at a Few Good Guides
Building the regionally and locally specific tank is often a difficult task. Being judicious while shopping at your local fish store is a challenge, to say the least. But there are many tools that you have at hand.
As shown in previous papers, careful planning can help guide your purchases. Keeping a journal with you as you go through your local fish store helps you to note animals that are interesting, and reference your notes and existing animals. Bring a digital camera to the fish store, so that you may look up peculiar animals and corals on your own time.
A few books are particularly helpful when looking for the locally specific animals of a region. A great book beginning book to look at is Natural Reef Aquariums by John Tullock. Here he talks about basic set ups and methodologies, and then he expands on the possibilities of the natural reef tank. He takes great care to explain large regions, such as the Indo-Pacific and the Caribbean. He then divides each region into its local microcosms, such as the reef flat, outer reef shore, caves and over hangs. It is a great beginning guide for the aquarist in building a true microcosm.
If you are looking at building an Indo-Specific tank of scleratinian corals of various types, Julian Sprung’s Corals, A Quick Reference Guide provides detailed descriptions of animals that are endemic to the Solomon Islands. He uses easy to read descriptions of placement to give a good idea of the animal’s locality along the reef-shore.
The Marine Atlas Series by Debelius and Baensch is a wonderful reference that covers tropical animals throughout the world. It gives detailed descriptions of the distribution of both invertebrates and fish.
A Few Closing Remarks about Regionally and Locally Specific Aquarium Stocking
We draw pleasure from this hobby by creating a world. We build a house, a small universe, a living work of art. While I advocate vigorous husbandry, and careful attention to detail, I also acknowledge that this is, in fact, a hobby. We can’t always create a tank that mimics exactly a small cove in the world. So choose animals that make this hobby enjoyable. Find pleasure in the nuances of the animals that you have. Take joy in knowing your animals, and find wonder in rediscovering their behaviors. But never forget your responsibility to the animals that you carry.
Debelius, H. Baensch, H. Marine Atlas. Vol 1. Shellburne: Microcosm Ltd., 1997. 3 vols.
Sprung, J. Corals. A Quick Reference Guide. Miami. Florida: Ricordea Publishing, 1999
Tullock, J. Natural Reef Aquariums. Simplified Approaches to Creating Living Saltwater Microcosms. Shellburne: Microcosm Ltd, 1997
Veron, J. Corals of Australia and the Indo Pacific. North Ryde, Australia: Angus and Robertson, 1986
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THAT TRULY SUMMED UP ALL OF MY QUESTIONS AND WORRIES ABOUT SOFT CORAL COMPATIBILITY. REGIONALITY MAKES SO MUCH SENSE FOR CORALS AS IT DOES FOR FISH. THANK YOU!
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Approved: 9/15/2011
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Very nice post, good luck! ;-)
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Approved: 2/15/2011
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