Ugghh... some threads should just die and be forgotten....
Ok, no flaming here, but I am going to express, as politely as possible, the problems with these kind of threads.
I believe it was Oceanists that pointed out the "law of averages". Look at some of the things posted on this thread... keeping fish in unhealthy environments, keeping fish known to fair poorly in captivity, not doing water changes, not using RO water, not QTing fish, etc...
The bulk of these things are due to a couple of things: Selfishness and blatant disregard for life on the part of the hobbyist, and laziness by the hobbyist.
Originally Posted by Murph
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Its unfortunate in the fact that we are not exactly at a point in the evolution of the hobby where brave new territories are being explored. Just think; if the types of attitudes I see today where prevalent twenty years ago we would all still be running UG filters. :joy:
Murph, this post, with all due respect, is nonsense.... You're not "cutting" edge in the field of marine aquatics by throwing a fish into a tank and seeing if it will die. "Brave new territories" are being explored all of the time, but it's done properly... by people willing to do the work neccessary. Your Cleaner Wrasse eats frozen, that's great. How many Cleaners die because they don't? How is your Wrasse "evolving" our hobby?
What would you have done if the Wrasse didn't take to eating frozen? See, that's the difference between research and irresponsibility. A responsible "researcher" has a back up plan in case the "experiment" fails. You mention Mandarins... WE'VE ALL SEEN THEM STARVE.... That's a fact. Individual success doesn't change that. By posting "I've done this" you encourage new aquarists to try it because THE THOUSANDS OF FOLKS who have failed what you've tried don't post.
For every "look what I've done" thread there are countless failures left unsaid.
This isn't a game to one up one another. We're dealing with living creatures. As a responsible aquarist it is your obligation to behave responsibly.
If your neighbor threw a puppy out in the back yard in the snow and said "I think he'll survive in the cold and I'm sure he'll find enough scraps to survive" you'd call the local authoritites. Could the puppy survive? Well, in theory... I mean if we threw 10,000 puppies out in the snow I'm sure there would be success stories. Would that be research? Would that be furthering the hobby of dog owning? No, it would just be cruelty.... Why is our hobby different?
Originally Posted by Murph
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Its unfortunate in the fact that we are not exactly at a point in the evolution of the hobby where brave new territories are being explored....
I hope we're never at that place in our hobby..... not the way you all have described it. Not doing a water change doesn't prove anything. Not using RO water doesn't prove anything,. Success stories not using QT tanks doesn't prove anything. Keeping a Mandarin, Tang, Cleaner, etc. doesn't prove anything nor does it advance our hobby IN ANY WAY.
Our hobby needs to evolve to where fish/inverts/corals etc. are seen as living creatures. At that point our hobby will truly make an impact on preserving the wild reefs and habitats of the world.
What you all are describing isn't evolution, it's just the opposite.