RE: Amazonia at Washington Zoo -Reply

[William Vannerson <William_Vannerson@ama-assn.org>]

>>By the way, I saw only big bodied South American cichlids among
other fish in one of the large tanks (or artificial ponds)<<

I've only been to two aquariums, the Shedd in Chicago and Boston's,
whose name I can't recall (very nice though), plus a few zoos.  It seems
to me that the large tanks and large crowds dictate larger specimens.  

I do recall a childhood memory form the late sixties, where I was at a
display that had tiers of small tanks with small fish.  I grew up in Chicago
so it had to be at the Shedd or maybe Brookfield zoo.

I know it's difficult to design an exhibit with large crowds with small
tanks with only a few square feet of viewing area.  But some of the
most fascinating species are the smaller Apistos and other dwarfs, and
killies.  What fun it would be to have a gallery of small fish.

BTW, this past spring, while I was at the Shedd, I spent some time
watching Boseman's Rainbowfish.  They were in a large tank, approx.
6'x6' by 5' deep, with another species.  What fascinated me was the
territorial display by the dominant male. A subordinate male would
occasionally challenge him, shivering side by side, displaying their colors.
 Beautiful.

Quickly, the dominant male would exert his dominance and chase the
subordinate male out of his territory.  After watching for a while I was
able to determine the extent of his territory.  The subordinate male was
allowed to stay in a corner about 6 inches square.  I really drove home
the point on how little space we provide our fish in captivity.

Bill Vannerson
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/william_vannerson


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