Captive Bred Animals

[FishinInTheDark]

We all agree that buying captive bred fish is better for the environment. I thought that only a very few fish were being bred in the aquarium, but I found this site:

http://www.rcthawaii.com/propagating/specieslist.htm

I'm amazed! This is very promising for our hobby! Many of these are hard to come by still, but I bet it gets better in years to come.

TC,

Conni

[Condiman]

I believe in the beginning the only animals that we were able to keep were clowns. But now look at the large diversity that we are able to keep in our aquariums.

Kinda nice to see a section like this. I am not a big tree hugger but I do think a lot of being a bit of a conservationist. There is only so much in the way of natrual resources in the world and anything that can lessen the impact on our world is a good thing in my opinion.

I can really relate this to my first trips to the P.I. There used to be an increadible amount of marine life there and there still is but it has been seriously impacted but over the last 20 years by lack of regulation, conservation and less than ethical collection in many cases. You just dont see the abundence of life that was once there. I have seen the same thing in the Chagos Archepelago and Mauritis Island chain as well even though a lot of things in out hobby dont come from there very often. As small as both these areas are they couldnt sustain much in the way of a harvest.

As such I really do make a concerted effort to buy aqua-cultured items when they are available. 90% of my corals are Aqua-Cultured, about 30% of my fish and all but 60 lbs of the 350 lbs of live rock in my tank is "home made rock that has been seeded with the harvested live rock that I do have. I have sold a lot of home made live rock that has been seeded with live rock and I have produced a hundred or so frags in the 19 months I have been in this hobby. I am really hoping I can contribute more to the hobby than this in the coming years. As more people get into the hobby, I think its going to really tax the natrual resources that we do have available. JMHO.....

[gman0526]

That's a great link Connie!!! It comes to show that many people involved in our hobby do care about conservation.

Let's not be mistaken, is a difficult and monumental task to succesfully have most of the creatures that our hobby "requires" breed in captivity. But it can certainly be done!!!

[nbaker]

:o didn't know there were so many.

[fragged]

Have you guys seen GARF's set-up? If I could retire now and live out my days working in a facility like that, I'd die a happy man.

www.garf.org

[MikeS]

Living in Wyoming, (home of hunters, fishers, coal and oil :lol: ) I'm by no means an "enviornmentalist"....more like a consevationalist....

As long as we use "renewable" resources wisely, I think we'll be ok. As for the reef, harvesting it faster than it can renew is where we will get into trouble. As long as the reef is being harvested in a manner that allows for renewal and does not impact its health, I really don't have a huge problem with it. However, lines must be drawn, like only harvest certain amounts from certain areas, and only during certain times of the year, using sensible harvesting methods.

Mike

[gman0526]

I completely agree with Mike, it is more a matter of wisely harvesting resources.

[FishinInTheDark]

I agree with you, Mike, but here's the problem. . . Who will regulate reef harvestation? Who deems what "responsible" really is? NOAA? I shudder to think about more government control, but individuals will not be responsible either. A guy's got to make a living, you know? Possibly an international coalition would function, but I'd bet they would be influenced by big money lobbying (oil companies, tourism companies, etc.). I don't have an answer to this question. I am certainly not in favor of restricting all harvestation, but I bet soon it will be tightly regulated by some entity. That's why I think it's so exciting that we are breeding more and more in captivity. When wild specimens are taken away from us, or taxed so heavily that they're not affordable, we still have an option.

In the meantime, in order to delay what might be the inevitable, we may be wise to self-regulate where possible. That doesn't mean I wouldn't buy a collected coral or fish under any circumstances. It means that if I'm looking for a <insert species name here>, and I can find one that has been captive bred, that's the one I'll choose.

Again, I agree with you. I'm just glad there are alternatives!

Conni

[MikeS]

good points Conni.....I agree, buy captive bred specimens whenever possible....

Mike

[nbaker]

I agree with both Conni and Mike here, you both hit good points. Most importantly I hope those that keep trying to creat new captive livestock continue what there doing, because lets face it only good can come from it over time.