Are We Responsible Enough To Keep Marine Fish

[RasputinGrimm]

Hello all,

I am looking for some advice for if it is ethical that we should keep our marine fish. Recently our Blue Tang died from marine ich. We had only had him for around two years when I understand the lifespan of one in captivity is at least 8 years. My mother noticed that the blue tang had a white spot that looked like from rubbing around a month ago when our fish came back from being held in our specialist's shop (they had to be kept there whilst the tank was being fixed). She just thought it was aging. Our specialist only comes every two weeks and said only on the second visit back that it was diseased and that we should keep an eye on it. After a couple days we called for him to come look at it, but he did not have the time. A few days later the Blue Tang died. It was incredibly sad to see it lying on the bottom of the tank presumably suffering a painful death.

When we got the tank for marine fish three years ago, we were in no way marine aquarists and hoped that a specialist would be able to maintain the tank and fish. We have had no problems until now. However, thinking back, we have cycled through a number of fish that did not live back to their full captive lifespan. The Blue Tang was the last original fish we had. Our tank is 300 litres and we have about 8 fish at the moment. We have decided not to buy anymore marine fish having found out that nearly none can be bred in captivity and have to be taken from their reefs in the wild. I see people here who take their aquarium as a serious hobby whereas we originally wanted our fish as pets.

What is the solution to better care for our remaining fish? Should we find a specialist who can come to check on the fish every few days as opposed to two week? I might be able to buy and study how to use kits to check daily on their environment, but as the only one in the house who could take the time to do this, my medical condition might not let me care for the fish daily and indefinitely. The only benefit I can see for us continuing to keep the fish is that we have the surety we can afford to keep them as long as they need.

Thank you
Grimm

 

[Emma1234]

I liked your post. I wasn't a marine aquarist either when I started a few years ago. I've lost many corals, clams, shrimp and each one hurts. I've decided not to add any more. My advice to anyone of thinking of going into this hobby is to NOT DO IT, unless you have the discipline to take it super, super, super slow.

 

[heathlindner25]

I would definitely buy your own test kits and use them.

 

[tazdvl]

A fish only tank should be manageable by "a specialist" if by that you mean someone who comes over and takes care of your tank. Even if this specialist only makes it every 2 weeks. You can do about 2 hours reading some of the "sticky posts" in this forum to get a basic Idea as to when you might need to call the specialist in because something is going wrong. If you are willing to do that I think a Fish only tank is very doable for you.

 

[Stolireef]

This is a pretty heavily loaded question. The short answer is that nobody is truly a 'responsible' reef keeper if you measure the survival rate of fish and corals in our tanks. I don't care how amazingly good you are, you are still placing animals that are adapted to swimming in the ocean into a glass box on life support and some will not survive.

But, keep in mind that most fish (in fact, the colossal majority) never reach maturity as they are food for other predators. Similar conditions exist for corals. For that matter, the same is true for birds, bees, and just about every animal on earth other than humans. Even many (I suspect it's most but I haven't done the research) apex predators don't survive until maturity. Only the strong survive.

So, what is a truly responsible reef keeper? IMHO, it is a person who never stops learning about good husbandry, who does whatever is possible within the various constraints of budgets, technology, thoughtfulness, etc. to provide the greatest likelihood of survival for their fish and other pets. Here are a few things you can do and I won't say that I do all of these.

1. Try to buy captive bread fish and aquarium cultured corals whenever possible. To be honest, I will buy a wild fish but only from the most reputable companies. I only buy aqua cultured corals. This minimizes the impact on the ocean populations.

2. Carefully research your purchases. Are they compatible with your tank size, other fish, etc. There is a ton of information here on RC and in other places to give you the proper guidance.

3. Do proper maintenance. While opinions vary, you want to keep your parameters within some fairly narrow guidelines. Do regular water changes. Use good quality RO/DI water.

4. Learn the basic biology and chemistry of a marine aquarium. It really isn't rocket science.

If you simply want the tank as a decoration for your house and are willing to pay a maintenance company to handle all of the foregoing, that's fine. Just make sure they are reputable. As for references and go see other people's tanks that they maintain.

 

[RasputinGrimm]

A fish only tank should be manageable by "a specialist" if by that you mean someone who comes over and takes care of your tank. Even if this specialist only makes it every 2 weeks. You can do about 2 hours reading some of the "sticky posts" in this forum to get a basic Idea as to when you might need to call the specialist in because something is going wrong. If you are willing to do that I think a Fish only tank is very doable for you.

Thank you for your reply, I was wondering if I needed to be doing more than having the technician come round every two week such as using kits daily.

 

[RasputinGrimm]

This is a pretty heavily loaded question. The short answer is that nobody is truly a 'responsible' reef keeper if you measure the survival rate of fish and corals in our tanks. I don't care how amazingly good you are, you are still placing animals that are adapted to swimming in the ocean into a glass box on life support and some will not survive.

But, keep in mind that most fish (in fact, the colossal majority) never reach maturity as they are food for other predators. Similar conditions exist for corals. For that matter, the same is true for birds, bees, and just about every animal on earth other than humans. Even many (I suspect it's most but I haven't done the research) apex predators don't survive until maturity. Only the strong survive.

So, what is a truly responsible reef keeper? IMHO, it is a person who never stops learning about good husbandry, who does whatever is possible within the various constraints of budgets, technology, thoughtfulness, etc. to provide the greatest likelihood of survival for their fish and other pets. Here are a few things you can do and I won't say that I do all of these.

1. Try to buy captive bread fish and aquarium cultured corals whenever possible. To be honest, I will buy a wild fish but only from the most reputable companies. I only buy aqua cultured corals. This minimizes the impact on the ocean populations.

2. Carefully research your purchases. Are they compatible with your tank size, other fish, etc. There is a ton of information here on RC and in other places to give you the proper guidance.

3. Do proper maintenance. While opinions vary, you want to keep your parameters within some fairly narrow guidelines. Do regular water changes. Use good quality RO/DI water.

4. Learn the basic biology and chemistry of a marine aquarium. It really isn't rocket science.

If you simply want the tank as a decoration for your house and are willing to pay a maintenance company to handle all of the foregoing, that's fine. Just make sure they are reputable. As for references and go see other people's tanks that they maintain.

Thank you for your reply. Your last paragraph illustrates well what we initially wanted, but now I am not sure if it is enough and marine fish should be left to the hobbyists who are knowledge enough to maintain their fish daily.

 

[Timfish]

I am sorry for your loss. I always find it sad to see a fish die especially after having been successful for awhile and knowing it still had many mores years left.

As to keeping fish a counter question would be "Is it ethical not to keep marine fish?" We have dramaticly reduced the apex preditors on reefs. Research looking at baselines for healthy reefs indicate when the apex preditors are reduced the populations of small herbivores and planktavores increase while the overall fish biomass radically drops. It may be neccessary to remove certain numbers of certain species to help maintain healthy numbers for the over all ecosystem until we are able to restore the apex preditors.

The yellow tang situation in Hawai'i is an example. Some would have us stop all collection for ornamental purposes. But research ongoing since 1999 is showing in protected areas the yellow and kole tangs are increasing in numbers while other species, notably the Achilles tang are decreasing in protected areas. Stopping all collection of yellow and kole tangs could result in pushing the Achilles to being endangered very quickly. Is that ethical for us to do?

 

[ca1ore]

The bigger problem, frankly, is the extremely high mortality of the fish before one even gets to your tank. Buddy of mine who used to be in the business estimated that there was a 90% loss rate. Is that true, who knows, but common sense suggests it's high. But, we also don't really know the median lifespan of fish in the wild. Just because they can live to be X years doesn't mean the vast majority of them actually get there. My view tends to be that as long as the hobby behaves in a sustainable way, then ethics are a personal choice.

 

[CrayolaViolence]

Blue tangs usually need far more than 75 gallons (300 liters) stress can play a big factor into how long a fish lives. Was he the only fish in the tank?

 

[sde1500]

That you care enough to ask here is a good start. As others have said, do some basic research. I see no issue with you using a company to maintain your tank. Actually it's needed, pretty sure most fish stores would be out of business without their maintenance contracts. But learn on your own as well. I'd rather know what I need to do in an emergency or even just in a pinch rather than have to call and hope they have time to get out soon.

 

[bcb577]

My advice is,if you want something done right do it yourself.learn how to care for all your inhabitants yourself,do your own research,maintenance and such,sorry for your loss,and I'm by no means an expert,but I definitely I decided before I started that I was Ted to learn as much as possible which is never ending.I'm sorry for your loss,but forums like this,youtube and such,there's so much info on how to keep up on your own tank is a great experience.

 

[thelawnwrangler]

Hello all,
We have decided not to buy anymore marine fish having found out that nearly none can be bred in captivity and have to be taken from their reefs in the wild.

Thank you
Grimm

Depends on the fish- you can have a beautiful completely aquacultured tank

That is why I like the coral - you have to stay on top of your maintenance game to keep tank looking nice. In turn you have a good feeling that you are doing right by your inhabitants. The coral I like are mostly aquacultured zoas and LPS. I almost feel like I saved my 2 little clowns there are so many bred these days.

I think it is a good thing to consider if you are being responsible. You also have to realize sometimes you provide the right environment and is still the fishes time. I have found over time I am less and less interested in fish only systems.

The fear of the learning curve to understanding your system and processes is less steep then the actual learning curve.

 

[scooter31707]

I would probably say that most hobbyist are responsible when we first start the hobby. As time goes on things start slowing down like weekly water changes, cleaning inside the tank, etc. As stated earlier patience and researching is key in this hobby. Taking the right recommendations on tank size for certain fish will go a long ways. Researching on what fish are compatible with each other. Most new hobbies wants to go get Dory in their tank before reaching knowing tank size requirements and knowing they are very susceptible to ich. If newbies take the advice from this forum (stickys) and stick to it, it will take you a long way in this hobby. They have to learn that another hobbyist got away with it, don't mean it's going to work in their tank. Just my cents.