Ultimatereef.com TOTM keeps a yellow tang in a 30gal...

[Slick Fork]

Originally Posted by gobytron

how do you figure?

Buying an aquarium is all of a sudden supposed to supply people with a moral compass of some sort?

all you're doing is imposing your own ideals of what constitutes optimum care on someone who likely could care less about your ideals....they probably hae their own to worry about.

If you were REALLY that righteous, you would not be in this hobby. period.

sorry, but the double standard stated earler in this thread is just so obvious that its best to accept that we are all responsible in some way shape or form of taking an animal out of their optimum environment and placing it in one built out of our own greed.

give it all the "optimum care" you think it deserves, it doesn't change a thing IMO, it's still a fish out of (ocean) water.

Sorry, but I really have to take issue with this post. It is certainly possible to provide reasonable care to most of the animals living in our custody and yes there is absolutely an obligation to do so.

We're not talking about people getting ****ed off because he's being fed month old supermarket Nori instead of frozen food, or stuck in a tank without zeovit or being told he's handsome every day, or whatever unique quirky preference you can read about on any given forum. We're also not talking about someone who picked up a tank and bought the yellow as their first fish. Common accepted knowledge and practices tell us that tangs need LOTS of swimming space and this guy has been keeping fish long enough to know better.

Lets switch it away from fish for a second, if you want to buy a pair of super high energy border collies I'm not going to sit back and criticise what kind of food you buy them, whether they're crated at night or not, etc. BUT, if you leave them locked in a 10x20 room or on a 10 foot chain in the yard, all day every day you can bet that people will get ****ed off and say something about it. This is the same thing.

When you purchase or accept a pet, and I don't care if it's a dog, cat, horse, fish, coral, etc. You accept the obligation to provide reasonable care for it... that means nutrition, air/water quality, exercise, and living space. If you can't handle that obligation you have no business whatsoever owning a frickin animal. It really is that simple.