a possible project
- Thread starter chefjamesscott
- Start date
Thats too bad. Hopefully you can knock some sense into them. Those fish deserve a better home than before.
So in further, I just got off the phone with Jennifer in response to my last email.
In great detail I shared with her how greatly in error the information she was giving about the proper care of these sturgeon is. I also asked her to contact the phone number she was given for a center down in the states that raises sturgeon for release and also has an interpretive center where they house full grown sturgeon to see how correct their calculations are as to what size tank is adequate for housing these 2 fish.
In the midst of my conversations with both Jennifer and The Ministry of Enviroment they referred to pulling their formula from this organization http://www.aza.org/ .
So I told Jennifer that I would contact The Association of Zoos and Aquariums and speak with them about this matter and get her the response. I just got off the phone with someone there and they will be forwarding my information and the forwarded emails to the person who specifically deals with sturgeon to get their thoughts on the proper care and housing of sturgeon.
The lady was very glad that I had contacted them about this matter especially since the name of their organization was brought up as the source for the formula being used for the decision on whether or not these creatures are being properly cared for.
Though Jennifer and the person from the govt. that looked at it feel the present tank is sufficient, I disagreed.
On the positive side though they do have a tank that will be coming in within the next 2-3 mths which will definitely give the fish more room.
My only purpose in getting involved with this was to see what indeed The Science Center had for a tank, because I get real worried when I hear someone say that fish only grow to the size of their environment. I am totally confident that in the end of this matter, the 2 sturgeon will have a fantastic place to enjoy a quality life.
In great detail I shared with her how greatly in error the information she was giving about the proper care of these sturgeon is. I also asked her to contact the phone number she was given for a center down in the states that raises sturgeon for release and also has an interpretive center where they house full grown sturgeon to see how correct their calculations are as to what size tank is adequate for housing these 2 fish.
In the midst of my conversations with both Jennifer and The Ministry of Enviroment they referred to pulling their formula from this organization http://www.aza.org/ .
So I told Jennifer that I would contact The Association of Zoos and Aquariums and speak with them about this matter and get her the response. I just got off the phone with someone there and they will be forwarding my information and the forwarded emails to the person who specifically deals with sturgeon to get their thoughts on the proper care and housing of sturgeon.
The lady was very glad that I had contacted them about this matter especially since the name of their organization was brought up as the source for the formula being used for the decision on whether or not these creatures are being properly cared for.
Though Jennifer and the person from the govt. that looked at it feel the present tank is sufficient, I disagreed.
On the positive side though they do have a tank that will be coming in within the next 2-3 mths which will definitely give the fish more room.
My only purpose in getting involved with this was to see what indeed The Science Center had for a tank, because I get real worried when I hear someone say that fish only grow to the size of their environment. I am totally confident that in the end of this matter, the 2 sturgeon will have a fantastic place to enjoy a quality life.
When I spoke with Jennifer on the phone as well as the provincial govt people, I assured them that such a formula as they were using was most probably only for use in the growing out of fry for release and not for keeping them in long term aquaria
I copied my last response to the thread in mfk to save having to retype the info, so here it is.
"As I said I will not share the detail of the email I received, but suffice it to say that the tenor of the last email was interesting. When I say I may have opened a can of worms here I mean big nightcrawlers.
Thus far I have involved The Ministry of Environment fishing and gaming, and The Association of Zoo's and Aquariums. It will be very interesting to see where this heads and I will follow through with it.
One of the things that I have taken issue with is a statement that these 2 fish would be good in this 89g tank till they reached the size of 36 inches long. I told them that the formula they have used to come to this conclusion is pure lunacy!!!!!!! Though I am really tempted, I will keep the email correspondance out of public view.
Though I will say this in phone conversations I very clearly intimated to all parties involved that to believe you can keep a 36 inch fish in a 4 foot long 18 inch wide aquarium is not reality unless you want to dice up the fish, pickle it and call it sardines.
To think, this has come about simply because my son who is 8 was concerned about fish that seemed to be in a tank to small for them and was given the MYTHICAL answer "Don't worry they only grow to the size of their tank!!!" When he came home and told me that something just clicked.
If a facility is going to maintain a live display, they must make sure said display is more than something the creature within just exists in. I told the parties involved that I could for sure house a great dane in a 4 foot by 2 foot closet but is that truly life, and what would the life expectancy of this great dane be!"
