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Originally Posted by Troy F
I still don't think they should be imported.
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Well .... unfortunately I think this could/should be said for a lot of things that get imported yet are routinely seen in the garden variety reef tank. Ultimately this is a selfish hobby, and I'm not sure that a lot of it can really be rationalized away -- instead we draw our own lines in the sand that we shouldn't cross. Banning the import of animals only serves to reduce the temptations that face us when we go to our LFS's. For better or for worse, although it realistically is more "better" than it is more "worse." It doesn't address our own selfishness. Ultimately it comes back to supply vs. demand. Where I am going with this, is an argument I realize I cannot win, but I want to say it nonetheless. I would much rather see a more educated average hobbyist, who makes informed decisions and carefully plans a habitat. I feel it is OK, for example, for
me to go out and buy an anemone, because I know that it is not a frivolous (sp.?) purchase, but instead because I know that I am planning a habitat tailored for
its needs ... rather than "OK I have a saltwater tank, now what can I put in it?". But the realistic side of that coin is, how often am I setting up these dedicated species tanks, versus to how often are these animals imported? Of course there's an imbalance .... so my argument is self-defeating. For my one anemone that "makes it" there are so many that won't, because the average Joe just doesn't take the care and attention that is required to make that happen. Anemone keeping is more of a science than an art; it's just that few are willing to commit to it 100% and nothing less than a full 100% is going to suffice and even
then it may not be enough because there are so many problems with the collection to retail process that an individual specimen might be too far gone by the time it's purchased. Thus it
is better that
I get disappointed, rather than see 95% devastation. For every anemone collected out of the wild, that is a symbiont or potential symbiont for a number of wild anemonefish, that are now screwed.
Thus until the day that these animals are not imported, it is important for the hobbyist who sees one of these animals offered for sale to ask themselves: Knowing that this is an animal capable of living upwards of a hundred years in the wild, am I willing to commit to this animal, and cater to its needs exactly? Am I willing to sacrifice other things in which I may be interested, in the case that there are incompatibility issues? Am I willing to spend the time to learn, spend the money, and make the appropriate sacrifices and so on? What about 2 years from now? What about 5 years from now? If the answer to anything of those questions is anything less than emphatic then, .... well please consider otherwise. Back to the supply and demand thing: the problem is the demand is too high, and that is the issue that needs to be addressed.
IMHO, of course.
PS. Thanks for listening
