New Fish

fishmaster · #1 11-13-2008, 04:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GreenSpottedPuffer

I can't believe anyone thinks this is cruel...jeez.

People get sooooo hypocritical in this very, very selfish hobby. Every single person on this board is selfishly keeping creatures, some of which are in rapid decline worldwide, in small glass boxes for their personal pleasure. Give me a break. The wasted energy and water in this hobby is embarrassing at the best of times and your worried about a single fish being kept in a tank set up specifically for it?

He has grown several colonies of sps for this fish to eat. He has a great tank size relative to the fish and is obviously dedicated to giving this fish a great chance.

Half the people here keep tangs in 65 or 75G tanks and this is a problem?

I think its great what you are doing sphelps and this is exactly why the hobby has come so far and we have the knowledge to keep some delicate species.

Thank you, I was going to post almost the same points. It's laughable how some people judge who is cruel and who isn't while they sit at home looking into their own box full of life taken from the wild. Get over it, we're all puting animals into a small home for our own pleasure. Do you honestly think you're better than the next guy because your tang is in a 6' tank and his/hers is in a 5' tank? How many fish die to get one that will survive in captivity? I'm guessing with some species, you wouldn't want to know.

GreenSpottedPuffer · #2 11-13-2008, 04:16 AM

There is one reason I DO think this is a bad idea though...

That tank is beautiful! Hope he doesn't devastate those nice sps. Even if he does though, it will be a great experience trying to keep this fish.

fishmaster · #3 11-13-2008, 04:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GreenSpottedPuffer

There is one reason I DO think this is a bad idea though...

That tank is beautiful! Hope he doesn't devastate those nice sps. Even if he does though, it will be a great experience trying to keep this fish.

Ahh, I'd rather have my SPS tank devastated by that nice looking file fish than AEFW's!!!! Seriously, you could loose it all tommorow with a pump failure or something. Might as well enjoy it!

justinl · #4 11-13-2008, 04:38 AM

I see the file fish! you have a gorgeous tank steve, I sincerely hope it can keep up. is the file always up and about like that or does it tend to be reclusive?

edit: thought just occured to me. If down the road, the SPS are obviously not keeping up and are receding, would you consider changing your lighting spectrum to 6500K or so to get increased growth? Obviously at the cost of losing the brilliant colours in exchange for brown sticks, as well as a likely horrendous algae bloom. you could probably control the latter with biological control (army of snails and a foxface maybe?)

Trigger Man · #5 11-13-2008, 05:06 AM

Wow is all I've got to say about your tank, it looks great in there. I hope the file fish works out for you and that the SPS keeps looking so good.

Delphinus · #6 11-13-2008, 05:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by justinl

thought just occured to me. If down the road, the SPS are obviously not keeping up and are receding, would you consider changing your lighting spectrum to 6500K or so to get increased growth? Obviously at the cost of losing the brilliant colours in exchange for brown sticks, as well as a likely horrendous algae bloom. you could probably control the latter with biological control (army of snails and a foxface maybe?)

I was just thinking the same thing. The best growth I ever had for SPS was with Iwasaki's, ... might be worth setting up a tank with quicker growing SPS under optimal PAR lighting for the sake of growing out the "food grade acros."

Hey why not, there are plenty of things we do for the sake of favouring certain animals...

GreenSpottedPuffer · #7 11-13-2008, 05:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Delphinus

I was just thinking the same thing. The best growth I ever had for SPS was with Iwasaki's, ... might be worth setting up a tank with quicker growing SPS under optimal PAR lighting for the sake of growing out the "food grade acros."

Hey why not, there are plenty of things we do for the sake of favouring certain animals...

I think this is a great idea. A frag tank of sorts with 6500K bulbs for growth. Figure out what he is eating the most and what is growing the fastest and grow as much as you can as fast as you can.

naesco · #8 11-13-2008, 05:34 AM

Interesting ethical discussion.

GSP/Fishmaster
Some non reefers are critical of reefers who keep fish and coral in glass boxes.
But reefers all agree that we than have an obligation to provide the optimum conditions for the fish and coral in our care. Nothing less is acceptable. Most reefers resist the urge to buy that colourful purple nudi or whatever because experts have already told us the survival liklihood. To attempt to justify such purchase for the purpose of improving the hobby IMO is nothing more than an attempt to justify a wrong purchase. The fact is that the advances that have been made in fish and coral care are not made by us on this or any other board. The advances in care are being made by scientists and fish and coral experts.

Justin, in fairness, I chose not to reply to his repost.

Sphelps, your tank is beautiful and your photography outstanding, but I would like to know what is happening now as you have had the fish for a few days.
Is he eating? SPS? Significant damage? Is he eating any other food?
How are your SPS reacting?
Would appreciate an update when you can. tks
Wayne Ryan

justinl · #9 11-13-2008, 05:51 AM

wayne, I am glad you're not getting all up in arms with me; my goal was not to incite anything. flame wars suck.

steve, one more thought, if you do decide to set a 6500k food-acro grow tank (doooooooo iiiiit

), Maybe present some brown sticks to the filefish without changing your display tank's lighting. I'd be interested if there might be a preference to slower growing polyps rather than fast growing polyps or vice versa. Wish we could somehow do a nutritional profile on the two to compare if the filefish does exhibit a preference.

superduperwesman · #10 11-13-2008, 06:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by naesco

The advances in care are being made by scientists and fish and coral experts.

I think some DIY people would disagree. I've seen a lot of randoms come up with new and innovative ideas that I think you could easily argue to having improved coral care

Plus who says scientists and fish/coral experts aren't on forums??

Plus the market demand, which is in part influenced by forums, is likely a reason why some scientists do research and likely how, in part, people become fish and coral experts.