Feeling guilty about collecting

[beaker99]

Hi All
On my last snorkel dive I've come to realize that captureing a tropical, and putting it in an aquarium is like taking an eagle and putting it in a cage. For that reason I think I'm going back to fresh water aquariums. At least most, if not all, the fish in the fresh water aquarium trade are tank raised.

[motlot77]

there are tank raised saltwater fish.

[redox]

yes its crappy to take things from the wild, especially when it dies.But if you take something and put it in a safe environment you are actually prolonging its life. The ocean is a tough place to live. I have taken fish from the reefs and grown them to where they were too big and just simply put them back on the reef they were born on. Whats wrong with that? They remained safe for several years then.... its back to the frying pan:eek:

[thor32766]

yes alot of fish have a greater chance of dying from pedation in the ocean then in your home.

[haitwun]

Better to die of predation then expire in a fishtank. At least the animal is helping to feed another animal, in my opinion.

[pagojoe]

Depends on how you look at it. The interest you, and others, gain from you keeping an animal, as well as the education that you (and potentially others) gain, may benefit the species in the long run. Even if it doesn't, things live and die fast in an eat-or-be-eaten world. I'm not sure it's a sadder fate for an animal to be kept in a tank where it's cherished, admired, and fed than for it to disappear into the food chain in one gulp.

Cheers,



Don

[BecomesOcean]

The quality of life for some fish may be improved in captivity, provided they actually have a tank large enough to be comprable to their natural territory demands. It prolly is a nice thing not to have to worry about being eaten. If they could, they might thank us for that. Though I bet the food tastes better in the wild...

The main problem is that by plopping a wild-caught fish in our tanks we are 100% preventing it from doing what it was born to do – make more of itself. Any fish living in a glass box is dead to the life cycle out there. It can no longer contribute to the preservation of its species, it cannot interact with its natual ecosystem (keeping other species in check, sympiotic relations, etc.), nor can it provide nourishment for other species.

Even returning once-captive specimens to the wild is a classically bad idea. It has the chance of introducing disease and very likely after years of eating the food that magiaclly drops from the surface has fogotten necessary survival skills and will die quickly. The point is, once a specimen is gone from the ocean it's gone for good.

So what do I advocate?

1. Buy captive-bred species.
2. Buy captive-propigated species (fry or juveniles collected then raised into adults)
3. Don't buy the classicly difficult to keep species.
4. Research your species and abstain from buying threatened/rare species.
5. Try not to kill your fish and then buy another and another.