Only 10% of Staten Island Ferry Fish Survived First Year

Photograph after the fish tanks were unveiled last year by AllWaysNY on Flickr

Oh no: The Staten Island Advance reports on some sad news about the beautiful fish tanks in the Staten Island Ferry's St. George Terminal: Apparently only 40 of the 400 tropical fish have survived since being introduced last year.

Over the past 12 months, most of the delicate fish have died; some became the lunch of aggressive tankmates, while others were stressed from people banging on the glass, aquarium experts said. Aquarists have said the fish were also stressed because the constant lighting in the bright terminal kept them from having a necessary restorative sleep cycle.

The die-off prompted the SIcoLab artists' group to stage a "Fish-In" protest over conditions at the tanks last summer. There was also talk of rigging up curtains to darken the tanks at night, to help reduce the algae and give the fish a break. The curtains never came.

Additionally, the fish tanks' lids were corroded by salt water, so new ones are being made and the remaining fish "will be scooped out and quarantined, with the possibility they could be introduced into other aquariums if they are compatible with the existing fish." A new population of fish will be introduced later, but a source told the Advance, "We're not going to jeopardize any more fish [until all the problems are fixed]."

Only two weeks into the fish tanks' introduction last year, some were worried about fish dying off. And there was some uproar over the tanks' $750,000 cost (not including the monthly maintenance) and their hypnotic quality.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jen Chung in News on February 19, 2009 1:20 PM

Comments [rss]

Think2wice

They should've just used good old fashioned goldfish, tetras, algae-eaters, and kissing fish.

No need to recreate the Great Barrier Reef; seeing fish swimming are pretty no matter what.

NannyState

Time to donate those tanks to the Gowanus Aquarium.

r1b2

There are several huge tanks in Schipol Airport in Amsterdam. They are always clean and in tip-top shape. This is not impossible.

rdsizzle

I had a large saltwater fishtank once. One of my friends convinced me that he would take care of it. (I had just got my own place and he was still at his parents) Anyways, we spent so much time and money on that thing it was unbelivable. But yeah, we had to get all the live rock setup properly and shit and it took forever to get it right. Anyways, the thing leaked, fucked up the floors big time and that was the end of it...

valeriob

For more info, see:

http://tinyurl.com/akqfar posted 2/18/09

and http://tinyurl.com/bkhbop

valeriob

zOMG!

Save the Sea Kittens! Break the tanks and set them free!

nom nom nom.

MzEnigmatic

I have an instigatorial urge:

PETA has nothing to say about this?

barryap

Dammit, now you've set off their Google alert.

angry_pickle

No PETA alert because fishes aren't warm and fuzzy.

starrygordon

The main thing is to get the money spent so no one will suggest using it to house the homeless or something like that. Leaving fish out to die in a harsh environment seems like an excellent way of getting rid of money, because then you have to buy more and more fish. Choosing tanks that are susceptible to corrosion helps, too.

Rocknrope

Poor, poor sea kittehs.

moocowtoo

Why the uproar in the cost of it, I thought it was covered by a sponsor?

nomnomnom

Doesn't this always happen with fish in tanks?

tmz is evil

"Doesn't this always happen with fish in tanks?"

Absolutely not. Fish last a long time with proper maintenance. People just take it for granted that fish are disposable, because most don't take the time to really take care of them.

valeriob

Untrue. Starting a saltwater tank is not easy, and should only be stocked with hearty fish for at least a year.

The immediate introduction of delicate fish without the proper bacteria present would kill, oh say, 9 out of 10 fancy girly-man fish.

Trilby16

They should hire my hubby to restart the tank. He's got The Touch.

dkim2015

i havent seen anything positive about staten island in the news for the past two years. dead fish, hit and runs, racism, beatings, etc etc. all the inbreeding seems to make them more aggressive.