My big question on life

thefirethief

thefirethief

AC Members
Feb 15, 2006
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Scotland
Dont mean to be a party pooper and go all Mr Morals on you, but ever since Ive been thinking about setting up and planning a Reef aquarium, Ive had a few questions burning in the back of my mind that are putting me off. Im sure most of you have thought the same thing at some point.

Simple....


Am I right in saying that most marine fish, invertebrates and especially corals are not produced through aquaculture, and are actually wild caught?

Im aware that CITES listed species are not under threat from the trade. Im aware that trade in aquarium fauna can stop local communities relying on more enivronmentally damaging sources of income. Im also aware that the more knowledge and appreciation we have of something, the more desire we will have to protect it.

But heres whats bothering me. Is the trade of wild caught Fish, Invertabrates and Corals sustainable? I dont want to be part of something that is killing the very thing we love.
 
I agree with you completely, at least with fish. my policy is: born free, live free, at least for fish. it depends what you are talking about. i'd never, EVER buy wild caught fish, which is why the only fish i'm planning for my 10g FOWLR tank is a clownfish, since they are almost always captive bred now. but with inverts, it's not so bad, since they are extremely plentiful in most cases and have very simple brains or no brains at all, and don't really care much where they are. now this is in most cases, mind you. i'd never buy a wild-caught octopus, anemone, hard coral, nudibranch, or anything else I knew wasn't in stable numbers or was very hard to acclimate.
 
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Most clowns are actually tank raised from a size when they didn't even look like clowns, and were originally caught from the ocean at that tiny size. However you can buy tank bred clowns, but most clowns you see in fish and pet stores are tank raised.+

Your question has the same answer as wether or not fishing (in moderation) is sustainable. However I question wether or not these animals will be able to continue living in the actual ocean for much more than a few hundred years (at the most) becuase of man's impact on the world. Captivity may be the only hope for these animals if people don't smartin up and limit there impact on the enviroment.

Really, I doubt more than 20% of people actually know what there killing with all this polution and overfishing, ect. Captive reef systems are probably the only way people are gonna even care about and know what there killing - if they see it. Although they can go diving on a reef, many people (myself included) live inland and/or can not afford to go diving. Bringing it to them is the only way most people will see what a reef is.

The wild collecting of fish and invertebrates for aquaria adds very little impact to the ocean, compared to pollution, global warming and over fishing are the things you should be woried about.

thefirethief, you may not like it, but all of us here are involved in killing the very thing we love. We use the sewage systems in our citys (in most if not all cases), were contributing to killing the enviroment/oceans, we put anything in the garbage we contribute, we litter (hopefully not) we contribute, we drive a car, ride a bus we contribute, we burn fossil fuels we contribute, we buy pretty much anything we eat we contribute, we buy plastic we contribute, the list goes on and on.
 
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As hobbyists, we have certain obligations:

Buy tank-bred or tank-raised fish when possible
Never buy from a company that uses cyanide to catch fish
Provide our fish & inverts with an enviroment that is healthy for them

Just to name a few.
 
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