Well I, for one, was so excited to see that J&L had brought in captive raised fish. While they weren't exactly the ones I would have chosen (yes I know there aren't that many species that are being aquacultured yet), It certainly opened my eyes to fish that I chould be thinking about having in my tank. I mean an orchid dottyback is one beautiful fish, and hey I wanted a royal gramma but the dottyback is pretty nice
and aquacultured so why not, as long as its compatible with my other fish (yes Brad, I buy them because they are pretty :P). Now that I hear that they are sending shipments back due to low demand I am very disappointed.
Living here in Nanaimo, I have virtually no access to any livestock. I went down to Victoria this past Saturday and was absolutely horrified in one store to see at least one dead fish in each tank and one tank that had a large angel (not sure what kind) that had some sort of tumors growing all over it. Their reef tank had several bleached corals and a medium sized caulastrea that was selling for $459!! (I'm not quite sure if that was a typo or if it was one of those "rare" corals that victoria LFS love to carry). The last time I was in there there were no less than 6 dying rotting anemones in another tank that wiped out almost every coral that was in there including a couple of shrimp. I can honestly say that I am no longer interested in ever going to that store again. I would be scared to buy anything from there. And I have had this experience with another store in Victoria as well. Consequently I have one store left to go to in Victoria. (Vancouver here I come!
).
Now I really enjoy going into fish stores and having a look even if I don't buy (which I usually do). I have absolutely no problem paying $10 more for an aquacultured fish. NONE. Thats only because I know fish. I don't necessarily know tropical marine fish per se, but I know fish. I know that a aquacultured fish will take alot more stress and adapt to its new environment a heck of alot faster than a wild one and you know, if I go buy a wild fish and it croaks, I will want another one eventually which means a heck of alot more than the $10 I could have saved if I had bought the cultured one which more than likely would have survived in my tank. After my credit card recovers from my purchase at seacare (hey did you know they were having a sale??
). I will be getting an orchid dottyback from J&L (if they have any left).
Anyway, I'm finished ranting
Christy
PS. Somebody tell me if that LFS stuff I put in there is a no no.