Man brings coral and reef fish into home!

[CarcharodonCarcharias]

It's a fair point, but all the technology that has been developed by the hobby and all of the science that has been discovered over the years is a direct result from the hobby. It has allowed people to do coral reef restoration, learn how to breed marine fish, and hobbyist are the world's coral seed bank. When politicians finally kill off all the reefs, maybe the hobbyists can help to rebuild them with the same biodiversity.

I disagree with the most exotic comment. The majority of people have the same variation of tank, with the same variation of fish and the same popular variation of coral. Coral strands that have more biomass on land than in the ocean, yet they haven't been in the ocean in years, if not decades.

I agree that the technology has made great strides with the popularity of the hobby. But that still does not prevent the corals getting harvested and fish getting taken out of the water in SE Asia for the aquarium trade. When this practice stops, maybe I will shift my opinion.

With regards to the exotic fish comment, people with sharks and rays in their tanks are certainly not helping with the cause.

I am not saying that marine tank enthusiasts are villains. I am just saying the practice of the entire trade industry makes me quite agitated.

But you have a point: When the day that human completely destroys the marine bio-diversity, it will have to rely on the industry help building it back up. Quite an irony.

 

[J322Y]

I'm not anti-aquarium, but this discussion reminded me of Lionfish in the Atlantic. I found an interesting article refuting the claim that they were released into the ocean during hurricane Andrew. Unfortunately the aquarium trade looks even worse in the light of this alternative theory.

 

[Amysterious Cat]

This could be a good conservationist idea to study fish
Don't know about uprooting coral and fish from their natural habitat though but a lot of aquariums do that, but it looks like he takes care of it well
But that's a lot of water to maintain under one roof though... hope it never floods!

 

[J322Y]

I was in Petco and stopped to check out the tanks. They label some animals as "aquacultured".

 

[CarcharodonCarcharias]

I was in Petco and stopped to check out the tanks. They label some animals as "aquacultured".

View attachment 425006

These actually are probably legit aquacultured fish. They are quite popular species and they've been know to breed in captivity for quite a long time now.

Again, I will echo the same sentiment of previous posters. If I want to see marine life, I'd book a trip and go diving.

 

[Dan]

I love to see Harlequin shrimp in certain place in Tulamben area. I won't name the specific location where they are as my DM told me there are some aquarists that fed them with startfish & net them out. They are no longer around there anymore. Sad.

 

[CarcharodonCarcharias]

I love to see Harlequin shrimp in certain place in Tulamben area. I won't name the specific location where they are as my DM told me there are some aquarists that fed them with startfish & net them out. They are no longer around there anymore. Sad.

Few years back, you can see an abundant amount of yellow box fish in Tioman. For the past couple of years, I'd be lucky to see one during a weekend trip.

 

[billt4sf]

I like this thread! I have been thinking for a long time about creating an aquarium once I can't (or won't) travel or dive any more. It's good to hear the issues presented FROM DIVERS rather than from hobbyists only.

- Bill

 

[halocline]

It's true that the reef aquarium hobby is perfect for inspiring lengthy and heated threads on internet forums, even more so than diving. There is an amazing amount of technical info and there has been a rapid development of ideas and knowledge in the hobby.

It can really take over your life, though. I don't miss that part of it!

 

[halocline]

I like this thread! I have been thinking for a long time about creating an aquarium once I can't (or won't) travel or dive any more. It's good to hear the issues presented FROM DIVERS rather than from hobbyists only.

- Bill

I'd be pretty careful about getting into it unless you are really ready to devote some time and money.

You can definitely start a reef tank without taking anything directly from the ocean. It's true that the aquarium hobby in general has had a negative impact (maybe disastrous) impact on some marine eco systems. (I believe the lionfish epidemic in the Caribbean is thought to have started from aquariums, but I'm not sure)

But I don't think that should stop someone from building an environmentally responsible aquarium. You probably need live rock that at some point was taken from the ocean, but you can stick with inhabitants that were bred/farmed in captivity.

Since you're used to the huge scope and space of actual coral reefs, you have to be prepared for the strangeness of seeing so much stuff crammed into a tank. I might go for a pretty simple set up and focus on a few nice coral colonies on a small rock pile rather than the common fill-the-tank-with-rock approach.