I wanted to cry... Pictures will explain.

[Kworker]

I was in a gift shop when I was away. Due to my unfortunate experience of knowing what real hard coral skeletons look like when they're dead, these are all real.

 

[CUNAReefer]

That is so sad. I can only imagine the look I would give the sales person when they would ask if they could help me.

 

[Kworker]

That is so sad. I can only imagine the look I would give the sales person when they would ask if they could help me.

Whats even more sad is that this is only about 1/4 of what the store actually had. I told my girlfriend we had to leave the store because I couldn't stand it.

 

[rayn]

Sad. But yet we as salt water keepers take the brunt for destroying the reefs.

 

[tyler1503]

Whats even more sad is that this is only about 1/4 of what the store actually had. I told my girlfriend we had to leave the store because I couldn't stand it.

Had a similar experience recently. There was coral skeletons, dead starfish and clam shells. I felt really uneasy and had to leave.
Imagine if they were "domesticated" animal skeletons like dogs or cats. PETA would go mental, but for some reason aquatic life isn't as important.....

 

[BSA Corals]

Wow that is a sad sad sight :(

 

[Aqua fire/medic]

Sad. But yet we as salt water keepers take the brunt for destroying the reefs.

+1000

 

[Reefcowboy]

As much as it's sad, the aquarium trade is much,much worse. Everyday oceans are scavenged for corals and a small portion make it to our houses alive.
I love the hobby, but we gotta have aqua cultured pieces only in the near future.
I was at a Fish store in NJ when the owner had to stop talking to customers to go outside meet an old white van with blacked out windows. The employee I was talking to whispered to me those were illegal suppliers. My car was parked next to it so I was able to see inside. There were bags and more bags of huge rocks covered with coral, zoas, mushrooms, and other corals. These guys would throw the bags inside boxes with no care, and that was pure animal cruelty.
I never went back to that store, but we witness all the time stores getting caught buying illegal corals from the wild.
Sorry to be a bummer, and don't mean to hijack the thread but us consumers encourage people to predate the ocean floors. This is a horrible scene on the pics

 

[Kworker]

Definitely agree that we have an impact on the reef. However, at least from our side there is starting to be some assistance. The reefs appear to be dying off due to climate change rather than collection these days, with knowledge from reef keeping I would assume there is much more known about requirements these coral really need to survive.

I also wonder, what is the actual demand of wild coral these days? It seems that there is a lot of cultured corals for sale/advertised, and a lot of people on local forums selling frags of their own corals at real great prices. So, not even bringing up fish which is a completely different side of the dilemma.. how much of a effect do we have with coral collection these days?

Also what would the comparison of gift shops that have coral skeletons be compared reef shops? I would assume there is many more gift shops in tropical areas that sell skeletons than reef shops. The gift shops appear to only sell showcase sized skeletons, whereas reef shops only generally sell a small colony due to pricing.

Just some thoughts.

 

[bengeeee]

Just as bad as taxidermy but I don't like that either!

 

[tigerdragon]

In my local club we have a program called DBTC (dont break the chain). We can get a frag from a member there are requirements to this a pic must be taken upon receipt, reg updates, piece must be fragged twice within one year then the original pc you got belongs to you. This is our small part to aquaculturing and not destroying our reefs. Its a great program.

 

[jgarrison]

that's horrible :(

 

[ReeferRookie]

Not that i think this is right cuz its not but we keep animals in our tanks h. Shrimp. Who we keep starfish for to feed them. Most reefers talk bout cutting their legs off letting.it regrow to cut it again. Were just as bad as they are

 

[JFrar]

getting to apoint where our hobby could be at least 75% aqua cultured if not 90+% would be awesome, and a great acheivement of responsibility in our hobby... even better if we got to the point where we were working with organizations to put our corals back in the ocean.... i would donate coral frags of mine that are outgrowing themselves in my tank for a cause like that

 

[ReeferRookie]

Take one replace one that would.be interesting

 

[wrongpolo]

Savannah, Ga, Am I right

 

[joeseeypuhn]

I Burst into tears :( :(

 

[joeseeypuhn]

But nice idea (also currently that is illegal where I live)

 

[mps0813]

Ha.. Not for nothing, but if you went into ANY LFS or SW shop twenty years or so, THAT was pretty much what you'd be purchasing to aqua scape your tank. The hobby has come a LONG way since I put up my first SW tank @1989...

 

[TheSaint216]

Some of those pieces would look great as live rock. I would a bought some.