Fish Losses In The Hobby

[Mark Goode]

I've been thinking about the fish which have not survived my attempts at reefkeeping. Every loss was heartbreaking, and I feel guilty for every single one. I take some consolation from the fact that in some cases no action of mine caused their death, but they were still my responsibility.

I dunno why I feel the need to post this, I just do. Maybe it's a form of confession.

Fish I've killed over the three years I've had this tank:

Tiny common clownfish. One of the first two fish I put in the tank, it died within 3 days. A look at the body suggested starvation, and a discussion on here decided the fish was too small to feed on commercial aquarium food, and was likely moribund when I got it.
Thread 'Did I kill my Clownfish?' https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/did-i-kill-my-clownfish.927602/

Lubbock's fairy wrasse. Death from carpet surfing. No excuses, my own stupid fault. I ordered a mesh lid from Red Sea the following day.

Sixline wrasse. Swallowed by a whippet while carpet surfing (a couple of days after the fairy wrasse, lid not yet arrived). I wasn't quick enough to grab it.

Silver belly wrasse. Died several days after purchase, ugly brown discolouration developed around the fish's face. Pictures uploaded to this forum indicated its jaw was broken, most likely while trying to bury itself as the guy in the LFS was trying to catch it.
Thread 'Silver Belly Wrasse Not Doing Well' https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/silver-belly-wrasse-not-doing-well.1006368/

Small hippo tang. Killed by Springeri damsel shortly after being added to the tank. Aren't Springeri supposed to be nice?

Fire fish, one of a pair. These two were so shy the wouldn't come out to feed, or if they did the sight of another fish would send them back into hiding. One of them eventually emerged, and is now one of the most active fish in the tank. I assume the other one starved and became food for the CUC. I don't know what I could have done differently.

One spot foxface. This one isn't dead yet, but if it doesn't leave my new tuxedo urchin alone it very soon will be...

 

[BryanM]

aside from the no lid carpet surfing, this seems like a lot of bad luck.

fwiw, i prefer captive bred fish, they seem nicer and hardier... And I generally don't trust any of the LFSes around me, so I order online.

 

[OriginalUserName]

It's always heartbreaking to me. We pull these guys from the wild and subject them to all sorts of stress and many die. I feel personally responsible for all living things in my care. Crap happens though and don't forget that most wind up getting eaten in the wild over a given period of time as well.

IMO if you focus on buying captive bred and help to advance the hobby in general then those losses aren't for nothing. Inspiring others to actually care about wildlife is also a benefit we don't talk about enough. When you see a young child stare in amazement at your tank I like to think they will grow up and decide to help preserve all of this.

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

It's always heartbreaking to me. We pull these guys from the wild and subject them to all sorts of stress and many die. I feel personally responsible for all living things in my care. Crap happens though and don't forget that most wind up getting eaten in the wild over a given period of time as well.

IMO if you focus on buying captive bred and help to advance the hobby in general then those losses aren't for nothing. Inspiring others to actually care about wildlife is also a benefit we don't talk about enough. When you see a young child stare in amazement at your tank I like to think they will grow up and decide to help preserve all of this.

In agree with everything you have said except that “most wind up getting eaten in the wild”. What I see in the wild is lots of healthy, grown, thriving fish. I’m sure some get eaten but I don’t think it’s most. I think that’s what we tell ourselves to help us feel better. I’m sure the mortality rate from being captured, transported and placed in environments where disease is rampant is much higher than the mortality of being eaten in the wild. I don’t have hard data to show you but it seems intuitive.

Just as we can no longer harvest rock from the ocean, I hope the day comes when we can no longer harvest fish from the ocean for ornamental reasons. The hobby must shift to all captive bred. And as we (humans not hobbyists) continue to destroy the earth and the coral reefs, maybe we can give back by releasing some of those captive breds into the wild to help replenish and atone for all the ones we have removed.

 

[OriginalUserName]

In agree with everything you have said except that “most wind up getting eaten in the wild”. What I see in the wild is lots of healthy, grown, thriving fish. I’m sure some get eaten but I don’t think it’s most. I think that’s what we tell ourselves to help us feel better. I’m sure the mortality rate from being captured, transported and placed in environments where disease is rampant is much higher than the mortality of being eaten in the wild. I don’t have hard data to show you but it seems intuitive.

Just as we can no longer harvest rock from the ocean, I hope the day comes when we can no longer harvest fish from the ocean for ornamental reasons. The hobby must shift to all captive bred. And as we (humans not hobbyists) continue to destroy the earth and the coral reefs, maybe we can give back by releasing some of those captive breds into the wild to help replenish and atone for all the ones we have removed.

Yeah you may be right. That's just an assumption of mine. Now I'm going to have to see if I can find some research on it. I would say that I'm positive that the average mortality for wild caught is worse than if they had stayed in the reef, but that includes a lot of irresponsible owners who bring the average down.

That last part is one of the reasons I am in the hobby. I really worry that our wild reefs might not be long for this world so our corals and fish might wind up being the bulk of what is left. Even better if we can seed back depleted areas.