GONE FISHING
Dive into the world of New York’s aquarium obsessives
AROUND midnight the auctioneer threw up his hands in dismay. “Tough crowd!” he shouted. “Where are my saltwater people? Unbelievable!”
On the block, a stupefied yellow tang (above) — one of the world’s most popular aquarium fish, who prefers a brackish environment — swam suspended in a clear plastic bag. On his head was a starting bid of $10. It was a fraction of the retail price, which is $50 and up for a two-inch specimen.
It was business as usual at a lengthy Friday evening meeting of the Brooklyn Aquarium Society (BAS) where a crowd of about 100 hobbyists had convened for their monthly confab at the New York Aquarium in Coney Island.
It’s an ideal spot to plumb the depths of New Yorkers obsession with aquariums. The pastime manifests itself across the city in forms high and low, eclectic and chic (think massive, awe-inspiring displays at area hotels). Aficionados include local collectors with dozens of tanks to high-end interior designers and installers.
The sophistication of the aquarium craze has ramped up in recent years. “Back when I joined in ’74, this was known as a goldfish-and-guppy club,” says former club president Joe Graffagnino, a freshwater stalwart who has 37 tanks in his Dyker Heights, Brooklyn, home that are mostly used for breeding exotic fish, including the rare wild betta, a colorful variety with impressive fins. He currently pampers about 200 finned friends at a monthly cost of about $150, most of which goes towards his electric bill (for lights, pumps, filtration, etc.).
A century ago, fishkeeping was an aristocratic pursuit. Today, the 1 percent still holds claim to the coolestlooking tanks. The colorful (quite literally!) pursuit has even sparked a reality TV show on Animal Planet called “Tanked,” on which Neil Patrick Harris, Shaquille O’Neal,
Howie Mandel, Nick Carter, David Hasselhoff and Tracy Morgan have showed off their sizable at-home fishbowls.
But love of aquariums is hardly limited to the rich. The 1911-founded BAS is the oldest continually running club of its kind in North America, at times boasting as many as 500 members. Its ragtag meetings include a social hour, guest speaker and the main event: the live fish auction, which sometimes lasts into the wee hours of the morning. Proceeds go back into the nonprofit club to pay for speakers, field trips to regional aquariums and environmental conservation efforts.
Back on the high end, one of the tri-state area’s foremost custom luxury tank installers is Robert Bray, who began working in the industry at age 12. Today his business — House of Fins in Greenwich, Conn. — does millions of dollars a year in fish sales, new tank designs and routine tank maintenance, he says. He understands the allure.
“They’re very relaxing. Especially around here, we have such busy lives,” Bray says. “To get lost in an aquarium is a very nice thing.”
Bray’s estimated set-up costs for a 250- to 600-gallon marine tank in a home or office: $30,000 to $40,000. Expect to spend another $2,000 to stock up on fish, says Bray, although in his shop it’s not uncommon to sell a single $20,000 peppermint or masked angelfish.
His stock mirrors changing trends in aquarium contents. “Back in the ’80s, we used to do a lot of huge predatory fish: sharks and eels,” Bray says. “The tendency now is reef tanks — the coral, the shrimp, crabs, the colorful fish.”
House of Fins clients run the gamut from A-list celebs to Wall Street power brokers — for privacy reasons, Bray would only iden- tify one, Howard Stern, whose tank is rumored to be 7,500 gallons. Price tags can reach the millions. “We did a shark tank that was 27 feet long here in Greenwich,” Bray says. “That was a $1.4 million installation.”
But that shouldn’t frighten the fin-curious on a budget. D. Patrick Donston of Absolutely Fish in Clifton, NJ, says there’s room for everyone in this aquamarine avocation. Freshwater tanks tend to be smaller and thus cheaper to start up and maintain. Those into saltwater tanks, which tend to start at 55 gallons, can expect to pay more.
Once your tank is up and humming, don’t let your fish go belly up. The most common reason they’ll end up in that great fishbowl in the sky is due to overfeeding and infrequent water changes, which allow deadly ammonia and nitrates to build up, experts say.
For those who want only the occasional serenity of an aquarium but can’t make it to Coney Island, other venues offer worthy sights to ogle. The Kimberly Hotel (145 E. 50th St.) has a 2,300-gallon marine aquarium in its lobby with some 340 tropical fish. Midtown’s Dream Hotel (210 W. 55th St.) hosts a floor-through cylindrical marine aquarium that connects its lobby to a downstairs event space called Fishbowl. A few years ago, the city spent $750,000 to install two 8-foot-tall saltwater tanks with 400 fish at the Staten Island ferry’s St. George Terminal. And insiders say that Bloomberg LLP’s Lexington Avenue headquarters keeps impressive saltwater tanks on each floor and employs a full-time aquarist.
Fishkeeping is an overwhelm- ingly male-dominated hobby, and it tends to run in families. Marine Park resident Steven Matassa, current BAS president, is part of four generations of fin fans.
“My dad is 90, and I just had to cut him down to one large tank from eight because he couldn’t care for them all,” Matassa says. “My son is also into fish tanks.”
Matassa, who recently downsized from 20 saltwater tanks to two large ones, is on a mission to spread the gospel to the next generation of club members. In a community of aging traditionalists, this means pushing a few buttons.
“We’ve been trying new things to get young people interested,” says Matassa, who launched the BAS website a few years ago despite opposition. He’s trying to inspire collectors like his 7-year-old grandson. “Since he was 4,” Matassa says, “he could name all the fish.”