Originally Posted by Murph
Shark thats a pretty good description of what I believe to be the more common capture methods. IMO that or something similar should be stuck to the top of the new hobbyist section.
Its sometime difficult to see those new to the hobby struggling for answers to fish deaths blaming themselves when in reality a large portion of wild caught specimens are doomed from the beginning. Add some sloppy handling and poor holding tank conditions on there way to the retailer and chances of survival go even further in the tank. (no pun intended).
A vary good post shark and if you have been reading any of mine lately you know that I am having a hell of a time finding quality fish stock for additions I have made tank wise to my system. As of yesterday I finished moving all my soft corals to 75 gall addition and its really quite stunning though fish less. I think the corals are the only thing keeping me firmly in the hobby at this point.
That would also be my advice to new comers. Spend the money on some good lighting, emphasis on corals and forget about any fish but those bred and raised in captivity. If more of us do this the industry in general will have no choice but to clean up its act when it comes to these capture and handling methods.
Thank you. I agree it is important for newbie’s to know that not all fish are captive breed, with the majority of fish still to this day are wild caught. The death of a fish is not always the keepers fault. I/we were just fortunate or unfortunate, depending on how you look at it, to see for our selves the techniques used to capture fish. A lot of fish are now caught with corral nets (big circle nets) filled with enticements. Each fish is harvested with specimen nets and placed in its own little container, brought up to the surface slowly allowing the fish time to equalize itself by divers in scuba gear not free divers. I read a great article on this subject and how the industry itself has no standards for harvest, only now since the 2000 has a pre standard of harvest become the norm. Yet, stressful harvest techniques are still in practice today. To sit on any message board and preach that “one should only purchase captive breed fish is ignorant, ignorant in the fact that not all fish are captive breed and that will drastically lower the specimens to be kept. Not all fish reproduce in captivity, more research is still needed. I highly doubt any one who keeps any fish would argue that enough is know about aquatic husbandry. Getting back on the subject, any situation out of the norm is stressful on fish, even every day occurrences are stressful to certain fish. It’s an unfortunate situation with “tangs” but tangs are highly susceptible to stress and illness that coincide with stress. Pretty much every one who keeps saltwater fish learn early on that tangs are not a fish to be introduced to a new set up, but people new to this get an early and hard lesson on it. As to coral or fish keeping, not all corals are turn key. Even mushrooms as hardy as they are, I have seen with my own eyes the misfortune they come to with the unaware keeper. All corals have a special needs that must be maintained or under failure will arise. Fish keeping should really be the first step before advancing to coral husbandry. Honestly, if a person can not keep corals, odds are they are not going to achieve success with corals. Yes, there are the rare occasion when a keeper does have better success with corals then fish. For the most part, they are just setting them selves up for failure unless the tank has time to mature. Lets be honest, not to many people have the patients or the wherewithal to allow a tank to mature to the level it needs to be before corals of any sort can be introduced. Very few people know or fail to realize that certain corals do benefit from fish living in the same tank. Certain corals take nutrient from waste of fish. With all this being said, in my opinion no fish coral should be kept with out research, study and honesty about one’s set up
