New copperband died

[Paul B]

We can keep them if we take care of their needs. I have swam with them and watched how they spend their day. It is easy to see that they can't eat anything large or tough. Their teeth are tiny and their jaws are very weak. They live by pulling worms and tiny creatures from holes in rock. I have had many of them and they will live fine if you give them enough worms.
I can't get them to live ten years like most fish but they do fine for most of the time.
I picked up a long nose butterfly this week and this one is healthy. Copperbands and long noses are basically the same fish with the same habits. I like copperbands a litle better because they seem to stay a little smaller and I think they are nicer looking.
I took this picture in Bora Bora.

This picture is the same place on the same reef. If you look closely at the bottom center you can just about see a moorish Idol which shares the reef with long nose butterflies.

 

[Aquarist007]

Greenpeace does whales very good. Fish are protected in the places where they are collected but again, if you have ever been to these places those laws could not be enacted. Most people on those Islands are very poor and need this business so they can eat.
I once saw an older gentleman on (I think St Lucia), he would go to the beach early every morning with a small boy who I think was his Grand Son. He would catch a few land hermit crabs, that are very common and use them for bait. He would fish for an hour or so for breakfast for him and this boy.
There is no Social Security, Medicaid or social services in any of these places that I am aware of.
Should he and this boy starve because he is eating the fish we want to put in our tanks to "look" at?
The guy selling the fish on the beach was also doing that as that was how he made a living. The fish he could not sell just rotted on the beach for the crabs to feast on at night.
I eat fish almost every day and I know that for every fish I eat there were many more that we call "trash" fish and are just discarded.
On the Island of Jamaica I have seen literally tons of corals that were drying in the sun ready to be bleached to sell to tourists.
I don't know if they still do that but many of the people on that Island have little more than a piece of plastic sheet to call home.
Should we forbid them to collect coral? What should we give them to do?
I would imagine that there are places where fish are collected that the people are not poor but I have also been to wealthy Islands like Aruba, Hawaii and the Caymans, I don't think they collect fish there as they are protected and the people have better lifestyles than I do in NY.

I don't know what the answer is but it would be great if instead of collecting these fish in the sea, the govt. or some other envirmentally concious organization would fence off areas of the sea to propagate these animals that we would like to use for our enjoyment.
Shrimp are farm raised as are trout and salmon, why not copperband butterflies.
There are hundreds of deserted Islands all over the globe that could be used for this purpose. None of those Islands have fresh water which is the reason they are deserted but if these places could be used to "farm" tropical fish and corals, it would help greatly to preserve the natural resources.
The fish would do all the work on their own, they would just have to be either fenced in or placed in large saltwater ponds connected to the sea so that the fishes natural foods could get in. Near by local people could be employed to collect the fish and mend the fences. There would have to be some sort of way to prevent the fry from escaping to the open sea but I am sure we could come up with something. Think about those livebearer enclosures we used to raise guppies in where the babies would fall through slots to be protected from the parents.
If anyone has a few spare million, I will go there and do it.

I agree that locals need to earn a living. I am referring to the use of cyanide that I doubt many locals are using to hunt fish with.
There are respected wholesalers on these islands that refuse to accept stock from fishermen that use cyanide.
To me that is where the control comes from--locally

 

[Paul B]

That is true Capn.

 

[reefer_newbie]

sorry for the loss...but these guys are tough to keep anyways...have kept one max for 6 months and then they stop eating for some reason and just die off

 

[small alien]

Very interesting thread. Thanks to all contributors.