MEET AN AQUARIST SERIES: JASON SHAW

by Howard Norfolk
Aquarticles

I first met Jason Shaw through the Internet when he submitted some articles to Aquarticles. In one of his messages he told me "I love the fishkeeping hobby with all my heart……I try to hide it at times so I don't seem weird to others. I can spend hours talking fish."

I decided that I would like meet this "weird" person, so I made a weekend out of it, taking the ferry from where I live in the City of Vancouver across to Vancouver Island, and then driving up the coast to the small town of Campbell River, where Jay lives.

Until recently Jay and his wife Sherry lived in a ground floor condominium apartment, where Jay managed to cram forty-five fish tanks into the small spare bedroom. Just six weeks ago they bought their first house, and Jay has had the luxury of converting the 300 square feet garage into a fish room.

Jay grew up in Ontario, and his parents gave him his first fish tank when he was ten. He spent a lot of time checking out the local creek, and would bring home frogs, minnows, crayfish, and even the occasional leech! His interest in the hobby developed over the years, culminating in the decision to pursue Aquaculture at Sir Sandford Fleming College in Ontario, studying the husbandry of indigenous Canadian fish for food and sport. Whilst at college he worked in a large aquarium store. After graduating he joined the staff of the New England Aquarium in Boston as a technician on the Bluefin Tuna Project, and in 1997 moved to British Columbia where he is currently employed at a large chinook salmon hatchery.

Jay's ambition, however, is to make a living from his aquarium hobby, and all his spare time is taken up by various projects connected with this.

Jay loves to breed fish, and has bred and sold numerous species, including bettas, various rainbows, tetras and barbs, African and New World cichlids, livebearers, and others. From a commercial point of view he has found that some species have only limited demand and it is easy to flood the market, so for now he has settled on breeding angelfish, which he sells to local hobbyists and stores and also to regional aquarium stores and wholesalers. He is able to distribute some fish by sending them on local buses, but he also makes the long day trip to the City of Vancouver once a month to sell fish. Even though his fish cost a little more to produce than imported ones, dealers prefer them because they are used to local water and conditions, so their survival rate is much higher.

    Male pearlscale marble angelfish, with eggs

Jay and his father worked hard for a month to transform the garage at the new house into the ultimate angelfish breeding room. They insulated, dry-walled, painted, did electrical work, added a row of kitchen cupboards, and built new tank stands from plywood. A 2500 watt heater with fan was installed, which keeps the room at 85F (30C). Bright lighting was added, so that only a few grow-out tanks need individual lights, which are on timers. The room is dimly lit at night for a moonlight effect, which makes the angelfish more confident and less likely to eat their eggs.

Jay now has about one hundred tanks. About half of them are 5 gallon size, some are 10 to 20 gallons, and there are twenty six 33 gallon tanks. All are bare-bottomed with home made sponge filters powered by two units of Hagen's "The Pump."

  33 gallon grow-out tanks

Further improvements to the room are planned, including a more effective aeration system, another row of tanks, a state-of-the-art brine shrimp hatchery, and a 1000 gallon box tank for growing out angelfish. Jay also intends to build a fishpond outside in his large garden.

About 1000 fish are sold each month. Angelfish take about three months to grow to marketable size, so at any one time there are about 3000 fish to look after. This involves lots of work, which Jay's wife Sherry helps with when Jay is unavailable due to other commitments. 25-30% of water in the breeding tanks is changed weekly, and 40-50% in the heavily stocked grow-out tanks (which are sometimes changed twice a week). Jay has a precise schedule for water changes: Mondays - all breeding tanks, Tuesdays - half of the grow-out tanks, Wednesdays - other half of the grow-out tanks, Thursdays - 5 gallon tanks (eggs and fry), Fridays and weekends - special operations as required. The fish of course also need daily feeding and other attention.

Thousands of angelfish

Somehow, despite all this work, Jay finds time for other fish related activities:

He has his own website anythingfishy.ca through which he sells fish, including specially selected breeding stock angelfish. He also offers live cultures of white worms, microworms and grindal worms, and some other specialised foods for fish breeders. The site contains links, and some advice and information about fish keeping and breeding. Jay even offers to help others who have questions about setting up a fish room.

Jay has an aquarium maintenance business as another sideline. He installs and services display aquariums in private homes and in commercial and public spaces. He has developed a hidden system of vigorous filtration involving a cabinet enclosed Ocean Clear canister filter used in combination with under-gravel filtration, which produces sparkling clean clear water in the heavily stocked tanks.

Jay has recently been in contact with the company, "Dive In", which offers written and video training courses for prospective pet store employees. He is considering offering this service within his region.

There are several towns larger than Campbell River on Vancouver Island, including the City of Victoria, but guess which is the only one with an aquarium club? Campbell River of course! - thanks to Jay and four friends who started the Campbell River Fish Club about eighteen months ago. They now have fifteen members, and meet each month in members' houses or at the Community Centre. The club has a website and a newsletter, "Fishy Times", of which Jay is the editor. Jay has written several articles, particularly about fish breeding and fish health, which may be seen on Aquarticles.com

So is Jason as "weird" as he thinks he is? Judge for yourself, but I couldn't help noticing that the shirt he wore in the above photos has the message "Just do it Canucks," which suggests that he has some interest in ice hockey and does not in fact think about fish 100% of the time. Definitely weird!

The following articles by Jason Shaw may be found on Aquarticles:
Angelfish
Some Tips on Breeding Angelfish
Breeding the Black Tetra
Dwarf Neon Rainbow Fish
White Cloud Mountain Minnow
Fish Health
Building a Fish Room
Setting up an Aquarium Maintenance Business, Parts I - IV