Fish have been an important part of Zach Ouellette’s life since he was 10. That’s when he started his first aquarium, with a 20-gallon tank he got from a yard sale.
Since then, Zach has remained fascinated by fish. These days, he curates and maintains the aquariums at Wellfleet Bay’s Nature Center. He also keeps his own lobster pots. In college at the University at Connecticut’s Avery Point campus, he majored in marine science. During school, he had the chance to intern at the Woods Hole Science Aquarium, an experience that led to a great contact and source of cool fish—aquarist Kristy Owen.
“She keeps a breeding pair of chain catsharks and gave me a juvenile this summer. They can be tricky to keep and don’t always do well, but ours seems to be well and is noticeably growing,” Zach notes, somewhat proudly.
For those who wonder how a shark interacts with smaller fish that live in the same tank, Zach says he monitors the fish for signs of aggression. If and when they get too big, they’re traded to a bigger facility.
The interaction of fish collectors is not very different from those who love rare stamps or coins—they make trades to improve their respective collections. Thanks to his success raising lumpfish (which attach to surfaces with little suction cups on their bellies in order to catch food that floats by), Zach was able to offer Kristy a few in exchange for a longhorn sculpin, which had also logged some time at the New England Aquarium.
Zach says some of his best scores have come during special trips such as the one he took as a volunteer scientist with NOAA on its annual fall bottom trawl survey. “Most of the species I picked up on that trip were from hundreds of feet deep off North Carolina,” he says.
In the past, most of the sanctuary’s aquarium fish have come from local waters. Zach figures he’s doubled the diversity with his various acquisitions.
It’s also been noted the tanks have never looked so clean and tidy. “I try to replicate the natural habitat,” he says.” No neon gravel and fake plants!” The water is well filtered and the finely textured white sand is the real thing—straight from Skaket Beach.
Zach says for him an aquarium is a window into another world. Thanks to him, it’s a window that for the rest of us is clearly fascinating.