A Day in the Life of an Aquarist

I get up at 7am with my usual enthusiasm, well, as enthusiastic as anyone can be at that time of the morning.

After breakfast it's a lovely drive to work through the spectacular Snowdonia National Park and over the Menai Strait . No traffic jams for me, just clean air and fantastic scenery.

I start work at 9am by walking through the Zoo checking the life support systems that include water flow, pumps and filtration. I put the lights on and remove any uneaten food from the tanks. I make the necessary water changes, get the food out for that day's feeding, check the quarantine tanks and clean the glasses. By 10am we're ready for the visitors!

I usually take the chance of a quick cup of tea and chat to colleagues in the staff room and then it's time to do all the stuff that the visitors don't see! This can include analysing the quality, temperature and salinity of water in our seahorse and lobster conservation areas; counting the thousands of lobster larvae that may have hatched overnight; inspecting the female lobsters' eggs; harvesting rotifers to feed our newly born seahorses and backwashing the filters on our large tanks.

Lunchtime! Happily we have a Coffee Shop attached to the Zoo which means we can choose from delicious home cooked food every day.

After a yummy lunch it seems only fair to prepare the fishes' food. They get fed twice a week with top quality squid, together with the crabs and prawns we collect from the beach. This is done as a display and is our chance to chat to visitors as we hand feed the fish whose turn it is. My favourite is the sharks!

Next it's time to catch up with the paperwork. I update the zoo census and records and then reply to the emails and comments sheets. We look at every visitor's feedback and respond where appropriate.

Finally, I make a last check of the life support systems; switch off the lights and leave. No two days are ever the same; tomorrow may bring some interesting new specimens from a local fisherman, a film crew making a children's television programme, or a request for some consultancy advice on a new project; life is always interesting as an Aquarist!