Rockfish

[fargoaquaguy]

How the heck can I acquire Rockfish like the ones in the November 2002 "Colum w/Spines" article???

[rshimek]

Hi,

[welcome]

The first thing you need to do is to have a large tank, and make sure it is set up for cold water. The highest temperature most of those fish can take is about 50 deg. F.

After that do a web search on animal specimens, and see if you can find someone in the region whom you might be able to hire to get some of them. Some species have been collected and available sporadically in the past, but I don't personally know of anyone collecting them now - there isn't much of a market. If you can't find a collector, then you will have to do it yourself (not as difficult as it sounds = take a trip to Seattle, and see if you can go out with some fisherman to get them).

[fargoaquaguy]

okay, thanks for the quick response, also, I have an unused 100 gallon tank, would this tank w/a skimmer & a chiller be enough to maintain one china rockfish? If not how big of a tank & what equiptment is required here, your article was absolutely fascinating & I am planning a trip to Seattle, even if it may take a large chunk out of my chiller budget!

[rshimek]

Hi,

With a properly constructed cave, 100 gallon would probably suffice to maintain a small to medium sized China rockfish.

I think you will a pretty heavy duty skimmer as these are voracious fish and need a lot of food.

There are other complications with cold water tanks, and this is probably why they have never really caught on, even though the cold water fauna is very colorful. You should be aware that all surfaces of a cold water tank will have a significant amount of water condensing on them. Public aquaria typically use double-glazed glass to prevent this problem. Additionally, having a tank that is, say, 100 gallons, at 50 deg. F. in a room results in a very significant cooling of that room.

:strooper: