Bosch Marine Aquarium

One of the joys in having your own place is that you can make a mess with your own hobbies.  We are going back the "old Muscat days" wherein one struggled daily with a marine aquarium.  Back then it was carrying buckets of salt water from the beach every week replacing the aquarium water, but thank heavens technology has improved since then with live rock, protein skimmers and ultra violet lights.  While one could now populate one's aquarium with store bought fish, this is not the "old Muscat days" tradition.  Hence considerable time, effort and funds and been invested in relearning how to catch and keep marine fish of a very small size.  In the technological advance noted above one should also include the advent of UTube as it was there that some hours were spent watching films on catching fish, the types of equipment and nets.

Khamis, our old fisherman friend, came over several times and discussions on the types of nets would continue with him making at least one version of a cast net for sardines but with smaller mesh. (This turned out to be too big to use for catching specimens among rocks, in coral, etc.)  In addition to several types of nets, there are also various types of bottles or bags to put the fish in once caught plus the blow up little boat that is tied to someone's waist and loaded with all the gear as we snorkel around.  Gloves are of course a must as are water shoes.  Flippers are carried in the boat along with the hammers, and are used when it is deep and we need to dive to reach the fish, but it is surprising that many fish can be caught in a few feet of water, especially at low tide.  Current supply of nets include at least 3 of various round shapes on varying lengths.