fish as a career?

[sin]

hi ive posted 2 or 3 times now my name is nigel but most of my friend just call me sin different people have different reasons for calling me that but lets not get into it right now


what im interested in is what careers out there deal with fish?i would love to make fish my life deal you know?im totally fish obsessed and im starting college next semester so i was thinking are there any courses i should take?is there any fish stores around san antonio that are hiring so i could get some XP working with fish?i mean ive had 16-someodd years of exp with fish but those arent legal haha those were hobby fish.

ive put alot of thought about moving to corpus and taking a marine biology course they have there but ive heard that most marine biologists either work at sea world or just do research all day. neither of those sound good to me.i dont know im a picky guy but i just want to know what are the possibilitys and how would i go about getting into them?


also if it helps when im older and have more money than now i do plan on opening up a store dedicated mainly to saltwater but i will carry some freshwater stuff.but i was thinking i probabaly wont get that done untill im 50 or 60..ive got a ton of time untill then

[marcus_the_clownfish]

texas tropical had a sign posted that they were hiring

[txstateunivreefer]

well as far a college goes i can offer some advice im wrapping up my Zoology major and Chemistry minor as far as what you have heard about marine biologists its true the pay is low and your choices as far as careers are concerned is limited however the ocean is the last earth fronteir so it would be really interesting research. if you are interested in freshwater too contact stoneroller he is a aquatic biologist for TPWD and can give you some advice there. i think you are on the right path in making sure that its really something you want to do before you get in too deep. contact some folks that are in a position that you think you would enjoy, ask if you can follow them on their job duties one day to see if it is something you would like most say yes because they are so flattered. if you find out that you like it ask what education it takes.

[sin]

texas tropical had a sign posted that they were hiring


sweet ill give them a call thanks man




and to the other poster thanks man thats the other thing i was lookin for haha.

[aprilmayjune]

i was at sea world recently and the divers who do the fish feeding shows dont have any special education, just a diving certification. from there you can always go to animal training in another section of the park. that is what im trying to get into right now.

[sin]

really?eh i dont know if id want to do seaworld though.their tanks are too big hahaha.

[mathias]

a job at sea world I would think could take you places....

[aprilmayjune]

as long as i get paid to swim around with 1500 fish, I'm happy!

[Bill S]

Sea World is notoriously low paying. I used to hunt with an exec out there. His comment? "Why would we pay more, when every time we advertise a job they line up for it". A good friend's son worked as a diver for about a year. It got OLD. You are NOT allowed to interact with anything. And 50-55 degree water...

[sin]

yea thats why dont want to do that.i think im going to jsut work odd jobs untill my and my friend raise aneouhg to open up our own shop.weve both been talking about it for about ay ear now i think its time we got serius.

[mathias]

well if typing or spelling isn't something you need to run a shop you will be golden....


sorry I couldn't resist... wish you the best...

[sin]

lol yea i cant type worth a crap..

[aggie4231]

Being a grad from A&M with a degree in Marine Fisheries(marine biology). It is tough to find a job, and the pay is LOW. With TPWD, you are competing with guys who have Masters and PHds. Guess who is going to getthe job, not somebody with a B.S. I have had friends who applied for close to 50 jobs. See had 2 years of being a student worker with NOAA. The only folks who gave serious offers were in Alaska. She ended up with a desk job for a shipping company and is now teaching in Conroe.

I worked for a Aquarium Service company for a year, lets just say it ain't the best job and pay sucks. Then worked for an environmental lab for less than 6 months, sucked. Now I work for A&M in Port A in shrimp research. It has its good and bad moments. Now I have decided to go back to school to get a post-baccalaureate in Geographic Information Systems or Geomatics.

[sin]

yea i was thinking about getting a masters in marine biology but i dont really know thats alot of school id have to do

[aprilmayjune]

seaworld probably still pays more than what i make now.

[RayAllen]

Sounds to me that you dont know 100% what you want to do from school to starting a buisness. You just joined maast a couple of days ago and even said you know practically nothing when it come to aquariums and now you want to make it a career or buisness..... You are moving quickly through a very important life decision; take your time as many said Marin Biology is a tuff field to get into, but there are so many other types of biology fileds to get into that do have readily available jobs.

[sin]

yea im not going to be opening any buisness for a few years ive still got some college to finish up before im ready to start.but i want to get it all planned out so tht once i am ready i can pick it up and go.

and that is true i really dont know alot about teh tanks.i know the fich and i kow the corals but when poeple use all this talk about their tanks it confuses me.i mean i dont even know what a sump is...or any of the other stuff everyones telling me i need

Please no cursing.
-edited by c.mydas

[erikharrison]

www.melevsreef.com

have fun.

[sin]

wow that was a very informative site.

but what i dont understand is youve gotta make sure all your levels are right and stuff and im sure tehres stuff to test the levels but wheat can increase the levels of nitrates and stuff like that?

[RayAllen]

WOW, there are to many things to list. What you need to do is get your self a good book on aquariums both freshwater and saltwater. Water chemistry is extremely important to be sucsessful in either hobby. We could answer questions all day long but a book I think will help you out a lot.

[LoneStar]

WOW, there are to many things to list. What you need to do is get your self a good book on aquariums both freshwater and saltwater. Water chemistry is extremely important to be sucsessful in either hobby. We could answer questions all day long but a book I think will help you out a lot.

I totally agree. Get a decent, colorfull book. I really liked reading this one when I started out in the hobby:

http://www.premiumaquatics.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=BK-CMAS&Category_Code=Books

It will give you the basics...and from there it will help you when you do research on the forums.

As Erik posted earlier, Melev's Reef Site has some great information. Mark (melev) lives up in Dallas and is a big help on ReefCentral.

GARF is another great website in this hobby. www.garf.org

Some other forums I research on are:

ReefCentral www.reefcentral.com
ZeoVit www.zeovit.com/forums/
Ultimate Reef www.ultimatereef.com
Canreef Aquatics www.canreef.com

If you like to be ooo and ahhhh'd, check out the Large Tank forum on ReefCentral. Take a afternoon and read through a long tank build journal. You will be amazed at what some people can do with their setups. All that equipment may not ever pertain to you, but you will get a good feel of what a HQI setup is to a calcium reactor. Then it can always give you ideas on setting up your own system.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=252

[Ross]

I was looking into marine biology, i even went out with some guys from a&m corpus with them, it was fun....then i saw where they lived and i decided not to major in marine biology. I'm majoring in wildlife and fisheries management now...its gonna be awesome. I think i may be a game warden after i graduate.

[aprilmayjune]

game warden would be cool. i want to do so many things that i can't decide. i have changed my major three times in the last year. THREE TIMES! i would love to work with fish, i would love to be a doctor, i really want to be a wildlife biologist and work towards conservation in the rainforests and live in south america. and then i want to flip houses for a living. i've taken nursing classes too.

i think that is part of the reason why i've been going to college for 4 years and im only a junior! i guess you can never learn too much.

[RayAllen]

Fipping houses can be a side job. My wife and I plan on doing it on the side within a few years.

[aggie4231]

I was looking into marine biology, i even went out with some guys from a&m corpus with them, it was fun....then i saw where they lived and i decided not to major in marine biology. I'm majoring in wildlife and fisheries management now...its gonna be awesome. I think i may be a game warden after i graduate.

You will end up in the same boat as those guys.I did marine fisheries(basically a management type degree). I wasn't the best student though, but you still have to fight the hard battle of finding a job. Becoming a game warden is also harder than you think. I have heard of perfectly qualified guys apply more than 2 times, and never get accepted. Getting into TPWD is like trying to break into FT. KNOX.

[txstateunivreefer]

i second the fort knox thing however people have the same feeling about LCRA and i got my foot in the door im possibly gonna be starting a job in matagorda soon.... anyone want a full blown 110 system??

Biology is a tough course load too i go to SWT yea i know the party school however ill tell you what if you want to do science there is no such thing you will spend all 4 yrs on the books its not a cakewalk. im finishing up this semester and i look back and there was some tough classes that a scraped by on. if you do want to go the Bio course, my advise would be get a BS in straight bio... you will get a taste of all of the fields then specilaize with your masters, sorry to say it but you will need it to compete that is if you (no offence to any teachers) want to be any thing other than a HS science teacher. i say that because i have started the job hunt and options are scarce. and one more thing you can 2 biologists head to head. say one has a 4.0 GPA zero experience versus a 2.0 Biologist with years of experience and the experience will always win.

by the way if you are looking for some saltwater books i have plenty sitting around and ill pass em on to you if you would like my boss gave them to me when she broke down her tank LMK if you want em. there is plenty of info out there that can help you with your tank and also your choices in career path you just need to find it. you have found a great group of folks here that can help with your tank etc. so now with your job path i think you should re consider my idea of speaking with some folks that are in fields that you admire. if its a fish store owner that you want to be go talk with em ask em if they enjoy the life.

[Fish4life]

I've got a BS in Fish Biology from the University of Idaho. My advice is volunteer at a local hatchery and get experience. A job will soon follow. Keep you head up!

[Fish4life]

aggie, its not what you know, its who you know. Why would you want to work for the State anyway? The pay is horrible! Come work for the feds, they start at 35k-40k plus government beny's.

[aggie4231]

Actually I really work for A&M. But all of our money comes from doing research. I have looked at several fed govt jobs. the more money you make starting, you have to have advance degrees or alot of experience. that is just what ive seen. also, i know people who work for NOAA in galveston. Some were contract and some were perm. A few quit, and they didnt hire replacements. National Marine Fisheries Service just doesnt get that much funding in certain areas.

I don't care. I'm going back to school for GIS. I'll make some good money there.

[txstateunivreefer]

yea a GIS cert will do anyone good but your stuck in the same place without the valuble on the job training or experience the cert is moot. however i do agree with your comment that there is money in GIS. it is applicapble to most fields so there is a demand for it i know my father shovels out some $$ their way in his job working for chevron

[consuelo]

Two Cents worth here...I am a federal biologist, and do research on freshwater endangered species. I have 20 years in, and I make a good living. My boss is a GS-14 (look up Federal Pay Scale), and he has a bachelors degree. We recently advertised a job at the GS 7/9 level, and got two applicants. So its really a mixed bag-if you want to swim with the fishes every day-pay is bad. I spoke with two veterinarians at the aquarium in tampa, and they make about as much as the GS-9 position above. If you are willing to move, start at a temporary position to get your feet wet (pun intended), your options are many. I have a BS in Fisheries, and my MS was a limnology project. I enjoy going to work every day, which is about the most we can hope for-after all they don't call it fun, they call it work...;)

[Ross]

I was looking into marine biology, i even went out with some guys from a&m corpus with them, it was fun....then i saw where they lived and i decided not to major in marine biology. I'm majoring in wildlife and fisheries management now...its gonna be awesome. I think i may be a game warden after i graduate.

You will end up in the same boat as those guys.I did marine fisheries(basically a management type degree). I wasn't the best student though, but you still have to fight the hard battle of finding a job. Becoming a game warden is also harder than you think. I have heard of perfectly qualified guys apply more than 2 times, and never get accepted. Getting into TPWD is like trying to break into FT. KNOX.

Well i guess its a good thing I'm not set at staying in Texas, i'm not set on any state really.

[semperfimarine1]

well ill be darned. since i little ive always wanted to do something with the ocean. either workin at a aquarium maintaining the animals or working at seaworld doing animal training.

guess ALSO have to re think my major since all i hear is that with marine biology the pay isnt good at all.

guess ill stick with something in the criminal justice and either be a cop, border patrol, or dps.

or just stick with my second choice and major in criminal justice and then enlist as a officer in the MARINE CORPS

[Thunderkat]

Sounds like to me a degree in business would be in order for you. With a degree in business you can work at Sea World or open up your own fish store. It is a very flexible degree to start with.

[Richard]

If I were wanting to get a fishy degree I would pursue aquaculture. It is a field that you can find work and also would give you skills to eventually pursue your own venture if you wanted to. Harbor Branch might be a good route to go since you could intern at some of there commercial operations (ORA would be fun) and maybe get hired when you graduate.

http://www.hboi.edu/aqua/acted_degree.html

As for opening your own LFS...it's not like your going to make alot of money doing that.

[cpreefguy]

As for opening your own LFS...it's not like your going to make alot of money doing that.
How would you know :P