Note: Thanks to members of the www.bcaquaria.com reef keeping community for helping with fish and coral identification.

MEET AN AQUARIST SERIES : THE NETHERLANDS
Part 2 : Pieter van Sijlekom

By Theo Wyne

Original to Aquarticles

Mr. van Sijlekom sits next to his magnificent aquarium

Sometimes the most beautiful aquariums are found in unusual places. That is what I thought upon entering a fireplace store in a small town in the Netherlands (also called Holland). With my tour guide Nico leading the way, I was told to expect one of the best marine aquariums in all of Holland, perhaps even Europe... After what I'd already seen earlier that day (see: MEET AN AQUARIST SERIES : THE NETHERLANDS Part 1 : Nico and Frank), I had high expectations. Still, a fireplace shop as the site for an amazing aquarium?

Trudging up the stairs of a turn of the century brick building, we came to a glass door, opened it, and entered a large and modern showroom. There were many beautiful and finely crafted fireplaces and limestone mantles for sale all around us. Then my eyes were drawn to a massive aquarium off to one side of the shop. Walking up to it I gasped - Wow...!

The tank just before Mr. van Suijlekom cleaned the glass

As Nico chatted with the owner, Mr. Pieter van Suijlekom, I got out my camera and began taking photos. As a small crowd of onlookers stood off to one side, a smiling Mr. Suijlekom came sauntering over with a squeegee in hand. "Please", he exclaimed, "allow me to clean the algae off the glass. I have been sick the past week and so the tank is not at its best." I had been so impressed by the tank, I hadn't even noticed the thin film of green on parts of the glass. While cleaning his tank, Mr. van Suijlekom explained how he had been keeping fish ever since he was a little boy, and that this tank represented his ultimate achievement as a hobbyist. Initially, he had one much smaller cylindrical aquarium in his shop for keeping sea horses and a few assorted fish (see photo below). As time passed he experimented with different designs until finally creating his "masterpiece" about two years ago.

A very tall cylindrical tank designed specifically for sea horses

Mr. van Suijlekom works to continually improve his aquarium. The result is what you see today.

One could study this tank for many hours and still spot something new

The first thing I noticed about the aquarium is how Mr.van Suijlekom has created different zones or territories for the fish and corals. Thus, the tank is really a combination of perhaps five separate sections, each with its own little unique look and inhabitants. While some of the larger fish like tangs or angelfish moved from one area to another, most of the smaller schooling fish tended to stay in one little part of the tank. I took a series of close-up photos, moving from right to left. I've tried, with the help of some experienced aquarists, to identify the fish, coral, and invertebrates pictured.

Far right of tank

Some fairly large (20-30 cm) sea clams

Middle part of tank

Squarespot male Anthias, Blue/Hippo/Regal tang, Purple Queen Anthias, Threadfin Anthias
(Yellow top/pink-purple bottom), Majestic Angelfish (yellow fish with blue face at bottom)

 Anthias (purple queen, threadfin, male & female squarespot) plating corals are mostly
Montipora cap., branching corals mix of Montipora digitata & Acropora species

So many fish kept in a reef tank is rare to see

 Black & white Bandit Anthias, Squarespot male Anthias, Blue/Hippo/Regal tang, Purple Queen Anthias, Threadfin Anthias (Yellow top/pink-purple bottom), Hippo tang behind Bluespot Naso or unicorn tang at bottom.

 Squarespot Anthias swimming off the top left, Ventralis Anthias top, Black & white Bandit Angelfish, Purple Queen Anthias, Yellow or female Squarespot Anthias, Blonde Naso tang with streamers in the middle

More sea clams

Far left of tank

A pair of  clown fish jealously guard their anemone

After some time of looking at the aquarium, Mr. van Suijlekom asked whether I would like to see the fish fed. I was not about to say "No", and so he brought out some thawed frozen brine shrimp, lifted the tanks hood, and began to feed the fish.

It's feeding time

An explosion of activity

A cute little flame angel pops out of hiding (lower right) to eat

Although I have very limited first hand knowledge of keeping a marine aquarium, I had some basic questions. First, I asked about the beautiful parrot fish I had seen scooting amongst the coral; wouldn't it eat the coral? Mr. van Suijlekom replied that he feeds the fish so well that this is not a problem. Next, I asked how it is that the coral are not inter-grown with one another. How does he maintain such a clean definition between the coral? The answer to that was "Extensive pruning". Mr. van Suijlekom prunes his coral regularly. The current tank is young, he told me, the coral being only one to two years old. As the tank grows out he plans to continue pruning, and where appropriate replacing the various corals. My last question was how he handled the bio-load of the aquarium. I had always heard that you can not keep a coral aquarium heavily stocked with fish. Mr.Suijlekom smiled and exchanged a knowing glance with Nico; I was told to follow them as we left the showroom to go to the basement beneath the shop...

The filtration system I saw down below rivals the sophistication of that I have seen while on several behind the scenes tours of the world's great public aquariums (albeit on a smaller scale). The photos below should capture the complexity of the filtration system. I have thumbnailed some of the photos in case any one wants to enlarge one for a closer look.

Note the large sump, fluidized bed filter, coral filter, charcoal filter and skimmer.

The fluidized sand-bed filter (note: the tank next to it is where
Mr. van Suijlekom grows out coral and holds additional fish)