At the risk of sounding like a real jerk, the resounding tone of this thread seems to be one of jealousy. Everyone here is pounding these people for spending too much on this or having fake that. It just almost sounds like we are jealous of the fact that these people can afford to spend the money on these tanks and are bashing them to make our more economical setups seem better. Don't bash me saying that "that's not what I think," I'm only telling everyone the way this comes across to me. No hard feelings intended.
I watched the segment on MSN this morning and my reaction was that they obviously spent too much, but I soon remember that there are two types of people that keep fish.
1. The people who view an aquarium as a decoration in their home. These are the people who care more about how the tank fits into the room decor, that are willing to pay someone to do all the work, etc. I would not stretch to call these people "hobbiests," as much as I'd call them "run of the mill aquarium consumers."
2. The people who enjoy their aquariums for the challenge, the hobby, etc. They are more concerned about getting the right equipment, treating disease properly, research, learning, etc.
The fact is that every hobby has people in both camps. One of the examples above was about cars. When you deal with restoring cars for example, there are the ones who buy junkers and spend their time and energy lovingly restoring them, and the ones to pay someone to do it and deliver the car to them when it's done. True, it hurts to see them get all the same attention that you do when they haven't done any of the work, but what it all comes down to is personal satisfaction.
I feel sorry for the fact that those people don't get to enjoy the hobby in the same way as we do, and feel sorry for the fact that they are probably paying too much, but most people don't accumulate 125K to spend on a fish tank by being stupid. They went in with their eyes open, just like we did. I assure you, they don't need or want my or your pity.
When I first got into saltwater, it really bothered me when I ran into the #1 people at my LFS. What I eventually realized is that their presence in the hobby notwithstanding, the vast majority of people who see your tanks are going to be people who don't have a clue either way, and would be equally impressed in either case. In a lot of ways, these #1s are giving you a boost because your guests see a setup in your living room that cost you $2000 but think you spent 125K.
The bottom line is that the people who do this are, for all intents and purposes, not in the same hobby as we are. They just happen to have a decoration in their house that looks like ours. We have no reason to fear or be jealous of these people because their interests are not the same.
To each is own everyone. To each his own.
