As they walk through the underwater glass ceiling tunnels, past stingrays and sharks, Alex Reeson tells Melanie Vella about the fun and fishy sides of his unconventional career.
The Malta National Aquarium is home to sharks, tropical fish, seahorses, lobsters and over a thousand other species. It is also Alex Reeson’s office. Alex is the chief aquarist at the aquarium, responsible for caring for these colourful creatures and their living spaces.
“I usually start work at 8am, however I’m on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week in case of emergency. I organise my team of six aquarists to prepare morning meals, arm them with cleaning gear and head to the aquarium,” he says.
Needless to say, his duties are as far-removed from your typical office job as you can imagine. One of the day’s priorities, for example, is ensuring that every single fish has its nutritional needs met.
“We’ve recently managed to train the fish to stick-feed, which means each fish eats from a target,” he says.
Scatter feeding tends to mean that the bigger fish overpower the smaller fish, so bigger fish like the sharks were growing more than others. Selectively feeding the fish with the specific food they need, like higher fat and protein foods, ensures each fish is cared for and grows in a healthy and happy environment.
Reeson said: “My team of aquarists gets excited about feeding the sharks. In fact, we now share this experience with the public by welcoming them to join us at 1pm for feeding time.”
Reeson also trains his young international team of six aquarists from Malta, Holland and England, to carry out daily health checks on the fish. A large part of this is done through observing fish behaviour, oxygen levels and looking out for disease.
“As an aquarist I’ve become in tune with the animals and their surroundings. I have to be alert to notice subtle changes and act on them immediately.”
The daily maintenance of the aquariums involves cleaning the tanks, either by scuba diving, snorkelling or with sticks, to prevent algae build-up.
The Malta National Aquarium has 26 tanks and 15 quarantine tanks with their own individual systems. “Every day we clean the windows, remove fish excretions from the gravel and sand, change the water of the tanks using a hose pipe and stop cross-contamination between every system through net dips,” Reeson says.
This is the less glamorous side of the job.
Reeson has been working in the aquatic industry for over seven years.
“My career developed from my passion for animals. When an opening came up at the local Sea Life Centre in Weymouth, UK, I took it. I volunteered in the quarantine department on the weekends and took related courses in tank design, fish disease, parasite identification and several others,” he says.
His duties are as far removed from your typical office job as you can imagine
Even though Reeson doesn’t hold a degree, he developed experience through self-teaching, research and on-site learning. Now, he is molding his team of young aquarists, aged from 18 to 24, who appreciate this unique opportunity to work in such a dynamic and educational environment.
“The one thing I love about working with animals is that I’m constantly learning. There are always new challenges to overcome and people making new discoveries. We work with a great team of vets from whom we’ve learnt a lot. I can never get bored. One day I can be checking to see what is wrong with a particular fish, the next day I can be cleaning out a tank for a new display,” he says.
What’s the catch? “Staying up-to-date with paperwork and computer records is the most challenging part of the job,” he admits. Reeson acknowledges the importance of having a recorded history of the origination of the fish, what it eats and its behavior, so that if there’s a problem it can be traced and dealt with, even though this can be tedious.
When new fish or animals are received, they are put into a quarantine aquarium for two to six weeks. Some fish are bought from tropical aquariums in England or Spain, others were brought in from fish farms around Malta.
“One of the reasons I came to this aquarium is because I became aware of over-fishing, undersized fishing issues and oversized fish in aquariums in Malta.” He adds: “By next year we plan to collaborate to raise awareness about the consequences of these practices. We will educate aquarium hobbyists about being aware of the full size a fish will grow once it reaches its adult size. This will influence their decision about buying smaller fish to ensure that the fish does not outgrow its tank. Certain species, like the red-tail catfish, are tiny when they’re young, but can grow up to 1.8m. This is why they are not recommended as pet fish because an aquarium should be three times the length of the fully grown fish.”
Reeson also plans to raise awareness about the effects of litter dumped in the wrong site, rather than recycled. This waste often ends up in the sea.
“I believe the Malta National Aquarium could be a catalyst for addressing these and other issues,” says Reeson.
A suspicious look suddenly creeps onto Reeson’s face. Condensation begins to fog up the glass of the aquariums and he immediately suspects that the air-conditioning system isn’t working. Reeson receives a phone call that the crabs being held in quarantine have to be moved to another aquarium before the temperature of the water begins to increase. “Just another day at the office,” he says as he rushes off to tend to the clawed creatures.