New Exhibit at the Waikiki Aquarium

[Gary Majchrzak]

Please post pics here so we can all see!
My vacation to Hawaii got cancelled last year and I will not be able to get there anytime soon!

 

[SurfsUP]

Beautiful tank! I can still remember walking pass the front of the Waikiki Aquarium everyday for 10 years with my surfboard and would stop to just look at the front door tank. You braddas had some awesome tanks.

 

[D.W.L.]

Whoa, some kind of equipment. Makes ours look kinda puny.

I think when we were there, I went to the aquarium 13 out of 15 days. It was, "ok dear, you go shopping, I will find something to do".

Sadly, the day we were to meet with Charles, he was tied up. Still had a nice back tour though.

Now, if only our monopoly money was worth something.

 

[JeremyR]

<<We have had the butterflyfish since 1986>>

Gives you an understanding of what's possible.. people need to quit kidding themselves that their pet fish died of old age after 6 months or a year in their tanks.

 

[delbeek]

Gives you an understanding of what's possible.. people need to quit kidding themselves that their pet fish died of old age after 6 months or a year in their tanks.

Lets just say that most home aquarists do not have the budget or space to provide the kinds of environments many of these fish require ... most tanks are just too small.

This strays a bit from the topic(but still has to do with displays at the Waikiki Aquarium.) I don't see visiting Hawaii an option in the near future, and the website doesn't have any of the info(OR pics) I'm looking for on their deepwater tank. Would it be possible to have you snap a few pics of it for me, and possibly fill me in on some of the details, etc? It would be a HUGE deal for me since I've been planning a deep-water tank for nearly 7 months now. I know the aquarium has a display, but can't find anything on it. To keep from detracting too much from this thread, feel free to e-mail any pics and info to me if you have time.

I'll see what I can do. As for the website ... yes it is a bone of contention ... it comes down to time to create, review, edit and post new content. The new webmaster is talking about updating the whole website, change the look etc.

Aloha!
JCD

 

[smokinreefer]

for those of you who cant see the pics....
make sure you are logged in.

i had the same problem.

 

[john f]

" In the seven years I have been here, we have never used "nasty yellow halides". The water has a slight yellow tinge. "

I didn't mean to imply you had used the yellow halides before. It was just an expression.
The pictures may make the tank look more yellow than it actually is. Since I have not seen it in person I can't say.

Is it really your opinion that a tank that size could not support a 12-14" parrotfish?
Something like Scarus niger?
Not sure what you mean by support. Do you feed your tanks daily?
I'm assuming so based on the presence of anthias.
I know parrotfish are a difficult animal to keep for the long term, but as they are such an important part of any reef community it seams a shame to exclude them from a tank that size.
There are several species which do not consume live corals as a general rule and only grow to 12-15 inches.




John

 

[SPC]

Posted by deelbeck:

Lets just say that most home aquarists do not have the budget or space to provide the kinds of environments many of these fish require ... most tanks are just too small.

-What size tank would you say is required for a yellow tang to live out a normal life Charles?
Steve

 

[delbeek]

" In the seven years I have been here, we have never used "nasty yellow halides". The water has a slight yellow tinge. "

I didn't mean to imply you had used the yellow halides before. It was just an expression.
The pictures may make the tank look more yellow than it actually is. Since I have not seen it in person I can't say.

Is it really your opinion that a tank that size could not support a 12-14" parrotfish?
Something like Scarus niger?
Not sure what you mean by support. Do you feed your tanks daily?
I'm assuming so based on the presence of anthias.
I know parrotfish are a difficult animal to keep for the long term, but as they are such an important part of any reef community it seams a shame to exclude them from a tank that size.
There are several species which do not consume live corals as a general rule and only grow to 12-15 inches.
John

The pictures may look yellow because of the diatom growth on the rocks and sand. Those pictures were taken only 3 weeks after the tank was setup.

As for the parrotfish, there are species in Hawaii that supposedly do not eat coral, yet they do in my outdoor exhibit, I have four juveniles out there about 9" long. By support I mean enough corals and rocks. Yes they do eat prepared foods, but they also graze the rocks and corals all day long. After a few years that tank will have become reduced to sand. ;-)

If you can suggest a south Pacific species that absolutely will not eat rocks and corals, then I would consider it.

Aloha!
JCD

 

[delbeek]

Posted by deelbeck:

Lets just say that most home aquarists do not have the budget or space to provide the kinds of environments many of these fish require ... most tanks are just too small.

-What size tank would you say is required for a yellow tang to live out a normal life Charles?
Steve

I have no idea but we rarely if ever keep a single yellow tang, we usually keep a small school of between 6-20 tangs. One school is in a 1400 gallon (5 years old) exhibit the other in a 7000 gallon exhibit (up fort 16 years with the same yellow tangs). Most large species of tangs and surgeons can live for up to 40 years.

Aloha!
JCD

 

[john f]

Charles,
I'm sure you know more about parrotfish than most.

Have you read this:
Bellwood, D.R. and J.H. Choat, 1990. A functional analysis of grazing in parrotfishes (family Scaridae): the ecological implications.. Environ. Biol. Fish. 28:189-214.

I am trying to get the article for myself.
I have just seen pieces of it in other works like Ecology of Fishes on coral reefs (Sale)
Chlorurus bleekeri is an example I believe of a parrotfish that does not eat coral. Burgess lists the max length at 25cm although some of their estimates have been wrong in the past.
Aquafish also captures jarval scarus species and raises them on prepared foods. If you could get one of the smaller species this way the chances of it eating the reef tank would be minimized.

On the Atlantic side the Princess parrotfish does not eat coral. I know it would not really be a south pacific fish though.

Really is a great tank.
You just have me scared now as I was planning on including a Princess parrotfish in my 1000 gallon reef. But if you don't want to put one in a 5000 gallon reef, I might have to rethink.


John

 

[SPC]

Posted by delbeek:

I have no idea but we rarely if ever keep a single yellow tang, we usually keep a small school of between 6-20 tangs.

-Do you feel that keeping these fish in schools is a factor in long term health?
Steve

 

[skylsdale]

Thanks Charles--those pics of the deep-water tank would be an incredible help. This type of setup is talked about quite a bit in various literature, but I have yet to actually see one up and running, so it would be nice to see what's been done there(lighting, aquascaping, etc.)

As far as the website, some more pics of the actual exhibits would be fantastic, instead of a couple pics of fish from them. Redoing the entire site would be quite a job, but might be nice to give it a facelift and run a little bit more traffic through there. If you added a monthly section on updates in research or certain displays, I'm sure people on the boards would love to read about it(just an idea....)

Anyway, the display looks fantastic--definitely shows the time and effort you've put into it. Any problems you've noticed or had to deal with since it's been up? By using skylights, does it encourage algae at all, or does it just serve as a bit of supplemental light?

 

[skylsdale]

^ Bump ^

 

[Anonymous]

Amazing - thanks for sharing.

 

[delbeek]

As far as the website, some more pics of the actual exhibits would be fantastic, instead of a couple pics of fish from them. Redoing the entire site would be quite a job, but might be nice to give it a facelift and run a little bit more traffic through there. If you added a monthly section on updates in research or certain displays, I'm sure people on the boards would love to read about it(just an idea....)

I'll pass along your suggestions to our webmaster.

Anyway, the display looks fantastic--definitely shows the time and effort you've put into it. Any problems you've noticed or had to deal with since it's been up? By using skylights, does it encourage algae at all, or does it just serve as a bit of supplemental light?

Well the skylights are not so much windows in a roof as they compose the entire roof ... that is ... the entire roof area is a skylight made of beams and acrylic panels. Actually it is the other way around, the 4600 W of metal halide are the supplemental light. Yes algae grows, I have to clean the windows from the inside twice a week.

Aloha!
Charles

 

[humu]

hey mr. delbeek!
man that looks exactly like my backside in the 2nd picture! i was at the aquarium around the time you took those pics too! weird
that tank is amazing! by the way, do you have anthony motgomry's email address? I lost it.
also I really want to volunteer at the aquarium, but I'm only 16. I bet I know more than most of the volunteers there! I have had a SUCCESSFUL reef tank since I was 13. hmm what else? I studied most hawaiian coral species, and know how to do everything that involve reef tanks, and I raised baby seahorses and banjaii cardinals. I also am an avid diver. am I any worth to ya!? I think volunteering at the aquarium would look great on a resume
thanks!

 

[humu]

http://reefs.org/phpBB2/download.php?id=121



I swear that's me! i have that shirt and shorts, and I'm always wearing slippers. I also visited the aquarium 3 times when they made that tank.

 

[Bill2]

Hey Charles,
I think people would be interested in seeing some of the pics that you took when building the tank. Or maybe you can do a talk on #reefs about it. I was at MASLAC and really enjoyed your presentation on the creation of the tank

BTW Mac's rule

Bill

 

[skylsdale]

^ One more BUMP, just for "old times" sake... ^