03-30-23

www.montereycountyweekly.com march 30-april 5, 2023 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY 21 found in studies to reduce stress, anxiety and depression, as well as control heart rates and blood pressure. They’ve also been found to reduce symptoms of Alzeheimer’s patients. “Ornamental fish, reef keeping and fish keeping can be one of the most amazing things you can do for your blood pressure,” says Adam Jenson of Tiger Lily’s House of Fish in Las Lomas, a full-service aquarium installation and maintenance business, as well as an online tropical fish and coral retail store. The senior residents of Aegis of Aptos, one of his longest customers, love the aquarium he maintains for them. “The outright joy of the residents, it brings tears to my eyes,” Jenson says. Improvements in aquarium equipment over the years have made adopting and successfully caring for tropical and freshwater fish much simpler than in the past, Meyers says: “Starting an aquarium now is a lot easier than it was when I was a kid.” People just starting out can purchase a setup for around $60, and stock their aquarium with around $30 worth of fish. Fish can get pricey depending on how rare they are or how difficult they are to breed. Stores like Meyers’ that specialize in aquariums “emphasize education and a slow approach so you don’t get off into that area where there’s a lot of failure,” he says. Jenson’s number one piece of advice for anyone just starting out is to do some research. “The most important thing I would say is know what you’re getting into. Know the lifespan of the fish, what it eats and where it’s coming from,” Jenson says. It’s also important to know the space and other needs of the fish. Just as some breeds of dogs need more space to run around, some fish might require larger aquariums, for example. He gets calls from people asking for specific types of exotic fish that may not be appropriate for their set up or even their skill level. “Just because it’s pretty doesn’t mean you should attempt it,” Jenson says. While Meyers has found success with brick-and-mortar stores—he opened his first store in 1974, followed by another store called Del Monte Pets at the Del Monte Shopping Center that was in business from 1983-1999— Jenson found success going the internet route (tigerlilyshouseoffish.com) shipping fish and live corals to customers around the country, although retail is also available by appointment, including equipment. On his property in North County he maintains tanks where he breeds and quarantines fish for customers and farms corals. Pet Fun’s big, bright store is stocked mostly with food and products for dogs and cats—with food and items for other pets like rabbits and reptiles—and it’s in the back that Meyers maintains an aquarium area. There are dozens of species of saltwater and freshwater fish and every product needed for aquarium owners to be successful, along with expert advice. (Fish are the only live animals Meyers sells inside the store.) The Salinas store is one of the few remaining brick-andmortar locations in Monterey County that offers fish and aquarium supplies after The Ultimate Aquarium store on Lighthouse Avenue in Monterey closed last year. The aquarium area includes an indoor pond filled with young koi fish, and tanks filled with clownfish, made popular by the Disney movies Finding Nemo and the sequel Finding Dory, plus dozens of other species of fish, from tiny neon tetras to larger saltwater and freshwater varieties. There are even genetically modified fish in neon colors of pink, orange and yellow that glow under blacklights. Meyers says there’s been a positive evolution of ornamental fish over the decades. Instead of fish being plucked out of their native environments, contributing to depletion of species, people have found ways to successfully breed the fish in captivity, usually in places in the world with favorable water temperature and weather conditions, like Asia and Florida. “That’s something I applaud,” Meyers says. (Jenson previously was breeding over 30 varieties of fish but during the pandemic focused more on aquarium services.) In the 1980s, people became interested in finding natural ways to balance the aquarium habitat and mimic nature using live plants to create miniature reefs, that keep water clean and well aerated. “That’s where aquarists became really advanced in how an ecosystem works. The emphasis was on sustaining stability,” mostly with saltwater fish, but also with freshwater species, Meyers adds. A student of aquarium history, Meyers says that movement brought aquariums full circle: The first person to distribute aquariums was a curator at the London Zoo in the late 19th century who figured out how to balance the aquariums naturally, since there was not yet electricity available for filters and mechanical aeration. Meyers sees the aquariums of today as teaching tools for environmental issues, as a microcosm of the world and the impacts of climate change. Too much carbon dioxide can upset the pH balance of an ecosystem, just as can happen in an aquarium that’s not properly maintained. Ray Meyers in his favorite habitat, the aquarium section of his Salinas store, Pet Fun. Meyers first started breeding tropical fish at age 10. Below: A clownfish inside an aquarium at Pet Fun in Salinas awaits moving to a new home.

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