If we say that any animal that a lot of people can't raise because of societies own ignorance and stupidity, there wouldn't be many out there for anyone to keep. I can understand the argument, but because a handful of people don't know what they are doing with a certain animal is no reason to say it is better off not being kept at all. Some of us want to try harder things (and most of the time are successful). Any animal is susceptible to the owner not knowing what they are doing. Do you know how many damsels were used for cycling tanks back in the day and then flushed? I don't think rampant bad husbandry should be an indicator for a decision to remove something from circulation. After Nemo, all clownfish should have been removed from the
market, given the number of idiots that had to have a Nemo fish and the unscrupulous businesses that sold the packages and say 'Just add salt'. I know it would be impossible to regulate who is eligible for what (if there were rules that you needed to be so experienced for this type of animal), but as I stated before, this comes down to the responsibility of the people buying things. As Americans (and humans), we don't like to take any blame for our own screw ups (in the marine hobby, this extends all the way back to the collector, as may of the harder to keep fish don't ship well or are caught by less than harmless means-this can be controlled by the collector/exporter with a little research-maybe adding sand to the shipping bags with sand loving wrasses like leopards, for example)... No one wins there. To go outside the marine world, think of how many people have to have that ferret at Christmas time because it is so cute. They get it home without having done any research on the animal, then discover it may have a tendancy to nip when younger, and is a eating and pooping machine. Less than a month later in most cases, they are looking to get rid of it and the animal suffers because the owner who had to have it a month earlier and didn't do any research is stuck with something that they can't get rid of. So the animal lives the life of a laboratory animal-starts to starve to death and wastes away. I've rescued ferrets from these situations. They are loving animals that are a lot of fun, if you have patience and know what they need. Should they, too, be stricken from the 'for sale' section because of irresponsible idiot owners? If so, no one would be able to get any kind of animal because cases can be found with all animals similar to the ferret situation.
In my eyes, if something can be kept, even if only by a few dedicated hobbyists, the animals need to be studied to be better understood. It would be nice if there were a way to make people be more responsible, but we all know how lazy the vast majority of people are and how impulsive most people are. In an extreme society, the answer would be, "well, since they can't figure out how to be responsibile for themselves because they are too lazy to research something before buying, we should take it all away from them'. I hope to never live in that society (though we are closer and closer every day...).
Now, keepig a list of harder to keep corals for people who want to do the research and see if they can provide the requirements is a great idea. There are a good many animals that many just won't be able to keep based on experience and equipment. A list of harder to keep corals and fish would let them know they are getting into something a little more complicated (but once again, all lists are useless if we can't restrain ourselves from impulse purchases and research something first...).
I feel really badly for the animals that get purchased by irresponsble people, but this happens in every animal hobby. It's really sad, but in the marine hobby, you don't learn new things about the animals interactions for future hobbyist without studying the animal. Think about it. Ten years ago, Acropora would likely have been on this list because very few people were able to keep them for any amount of time. Now, if you look at how many people have tanks filled with acropora, just in the US (and from what I understand, European tanks are all sps, if Daniel Knop has any idea what he is talking about in his publications-I have to doubt him sometimes, though). I have a scientists mind and don't believe on giving up on something because others can't gain an understanding... Sorry if anyone feels flamed by this, but it all comes down to personal responsibility. We love to pass the buck and make excuses, but in the end it comes down to us. Blame who you want, but we all know where the fault lays (and seemingly, no one wants to ante up)... We are a society of blamers (this rant has come from years of pent up angst on the subject of personal responsibility-or the lack thereof-which I see less and less of each day). I try to be an optimistic pessimist...
