Being a mandarin lover, I'd have to disagree on the mandarin fish. People should do more research before buying them, but IME, they are pretty hardy little guys. Ten years ago, I bought my third saltwater fish-a green mandarin. It lived happily for a little over four years (something ate a hole in its side to kill it). I had a six line wrasse in with it for a while in the early days and the mandarin nearly died of starvation, but recovered completely in about 2 months after removing the six line. I've had the one I have now for almost two and a half years and its as fat and happy as can be. The fact that they can be bred and raised tells me they are hardy enough for aquariums, as long as you have what they need.
I understand people have issues with some cleaner wrasses, too, but I was told it was cleaners from one particular location that were typically the problem (may have been an LFS BS, but I believed him). I've had my cleaner for well over a year (which I know is not very long) and it gets fatter everyday. It picks off of everything.
For the good of the hobby, people across the board need to be more responsible and research before buying something. People tend to want to believe they will be the exception, though (myself included)... Many things should not be collected for mass distribution, don't get me wrong, but we as aquarists need to put some of that responsibility on ourselves. If people quit buying a particular nearly impossible to keep alive coral, they will eventually quit collecting it. It all starts with education. Gotta love these boards.
