Reef Aquarium Ethics and Sustainability

[jerburton]

Hi Everyone!

Although I have only recently become a member of R2R, I have been a hobbyist for quite some time and worked professionally in the industry for a handful of years. I haven't had a tank up for a number of years but am getting the inkling to start up again. My aim is not to have this devolve into a political debate, but would just like to get some input, feelings, and moral dilemmas from other hobbyist about the sustainability of the hobby and the ethics involved with taking creatures out of the ocean.

Are there any fully "aquacultured" tanks out there? Did you face any challenges?

What could we do better as an industry to help the world's natural reefs?

Thanks!

 

[Devaji]

this is just a great topic one I am very interested in. I struggle with it daily. oneone hand a really do love my reefs but one the other I do feel bad about taking aninals from the wild just for my enjoyment. I like to think they have a nice happy life in a cozy resort setting. but maybe that just me justifying it.

I would like to see more support from governments to help with aquacultered. I think if they could get behind it to help support there natural resources it could be a win win for everyone.

 

[boozeman27]

Following. I plan on nothing but captive bred fish and frags or aqua cultured corals. I'm also using a dry rock that does not come from the sea. Trying to do this hobby with little to zero impact on the real world. I think it can be done easily. Am I wrong?

 

[jerburton]

this is just a great topic one I am very interested in. I struggle with it daily. oneone hand a really do love my reefs but one the other I do feel bad about taking aninals from the wild just for my enjoyment. I like to think they have a nice happy life in a cozy resort setting. but maybe that just me justifying it.

I would like to see more support from governments to help with aquacultered. I think if they could get behind it to help support there natural resources it could be a win win for everyone.

Agreed. There are some pretty cool programs out there (one comes to mind in the Keys where they are trying to reintroduce more "heat tolerant" corals back to the reef), but I think we are way behind the curve in terms of protecting/growing our natural reefs.

 

[jerburton]

Following. I plan on nothing but captive bred fish and frags or aqua cultured corals. I'm also using a dry rock that does not come from the sea. Trying to do this hobby with little to zero impact on the real world. I think it can be done easily. Am I wrong?

I think a completely "aquacultured" tank is reasonably possible at this point, which is a testament to how far we have come already. Can I ask what your primary motivations are for that decision?

 

[boozeman27]

I think a completely "aquacultured" tank is reasonably possible at this point, which is a testament to how far we have come already. Can I ask what your primary motivations are for that decision?

Just that I had multiple tanks before use lfs live rock and buying every pretty fish my lfs got in regardless of compatibility. Same with coral purchases. Seemed like everything died (sooner or later), it was just a matter of time. The fault lies with my ignorance and impatience. This time around I am going into this hobby with a different, more educated and patient, mindset. I have been planning for months on end and I intend on zero impact on the real world. I want to treat this tank like I do my cats, which is part of the family . I would never stop by the pet store, pick one up, and if it dies, go, oh well, I'll just get something else next week.

 

[norfolkgarden]

It is a wonderful concept. And with proper fish choices you can do an absolutely beautiful Reef with fully compatible fish and corals.
You simply need to limit your fish choices to captive-bred and then further limit them to compatible fish.

Our 75-gallon has;
Two clownfish, a captive-bred black clownfish otherwise normal and a captive-bred Brilliant Orange clownfish.

Three captive-bred Banghai Cardinals.

Three captive-bred ORA neon blue cleaner gobies and two ORA neon gold cleaner gobies.

You can find captive-bred dottybacks such as the Orchid or strawberry or diadema.
We have a strawberry dottyback and a diadem dottyback.
Cannot swear that they were captive-bred.
Also they don't like each other, but there are two hundred pounds of live rock in the tank and plenty of hiding places for both.

A yellow damsel for flatworm control. same as the dottybacks, should be available captive bread but I can't swear that this one is.

Guaranteed ocean caught are the 6 line wrasse and the flame hawkfish and 2 Royal Gramma's.

In a large enough tank you could stretch the ethics with maricultured blue tangs that are caught in the one inch range before they become food for most other fish. They are held in captivity and trained up to eating prepared foods and grown to a larger size before selling.

Getting beautiful aquacultured or maricultured corals should be effortless at this point.
You simply need to be willing to limit yourself to those that are. But you can certainly have a beautiful tank within those limits.

BTW, the dottybacks are large and the Royal Gramma are still tiny.
The Royal Gramma's hide in holes that the dottybacks cannot get into when necessary, and 99% of the time it is not necessary.

Most of our tank mates don't like each other but there are plenty of Pathways and caves to avoid each other and everyone is still well under 3 inches. most are under 1.5 inches.

A captive-bred Clean up crew would be a separate issue.
We have half a dozen smaller brittle starfish and serpent starfish.
Five Turbo snails under an inch, 5 astraea and one nesarius (sp) and one money shell cowrie.
A half-dozen blue leg Hermits, a half-dozen dwarf zebra Hermits and 2 Scarlet Hermits.
I'm sure these were all wild caught but if you take the time to add enough empty shells to your tank you can keep most of the hermit crabs around for 5 years like we have.
We started with about a dozen dwarf zebra and a dozen blue legs and five Scarlett hermit crabs 5 years ago.

We no longer have any dwarf cerith snails because the blue leg Hermits stole the shells.
The blue legs killed the dwarf ceriths even when they had similar size empty shells available.

If you live in a big enough city you should be able to find plenty of dry rock or live rock available on Craigslist without having to order more direct from Fiji or wherever.

Look forward to hearing about your tank build as you progress.

What size tank will you be working with?

 

[boozeman27]

I am down to 2 choices. 525XL Reefer or a 160 Elos. Both about 140g totalish.

 

[jerburton]

I am down to 2 choices. 525XL Reefer or a 160 Elos. Both about 140g totalish.

I have an Elos system 70 and I love it but alas it is currently empty. The new red sea tanks look really nice too.

 

[VR28man]

I think it's absolutely possible to have a tank composed completely of aquacultured (grown in tanks) or maricultured (grown in reservations in the sea) livestock.

If you don't want to go dry rock or artificial rock, you can get maricultured rock from various vendors in Tampa, Miami/the Keys, and (lesser availability) Fiji and Indonesia.

There are most kinds of corals, clams and anemones (basically everything popular) that are aquacultured or maricultured, . Many fish can be aquacultured, but sometimes collected price beats aquacultured (there've been a few fish where aquaculture has failed like that).

I think the worst thing, to be honest, is mass retail collection of fish. For instance, the yellow tang: as I recall over 200,000 per year are collected from the Kona area of the Big Island, Hawaii - which is supposedly sustainable. However, the quantity makes them an easy target for those who pillory aquaria for "damaging the reefs" (in reality, global warming and especially poorly thought out development and tourism are far more damaging), and in particular the fact that the tang has to pass through like five stages before ending up in the aquarist's tank. And their low price and availability means unprepared people often (not always) buy them, endning up inevitably with a massive percentage of the tangs dying within a few months of collection.

Collection of fish will be inevitable until we can breed or mariculture just about everything we want to keep (very hard since many species are poorly understood, and have complex life cycles in the sea). That being said, I think the negative effects of collection can be mitigated by 1) ordering as direct from the supplier as possible [which is why in my future tank I'm trying to buy a good number of fish from KP aquatics, and other collectors who sell direct to retail customers] 2) being judicious and careful in what you buy 3)researching and caring for the fish well.

 

[jerburton]

I think it's absolutely possible to have a tank composed completely of aquacultured (grown in tanks) or maricultured (grown in reservations in the sea) livestock.

If you don't want to go dry rock or artificial rock, you can get maricultured rock from various vendors in Tampa, Miami/the Keys, and (lesser availability) Fiji and Indonesia.

There are most kinds of corals, clams and anemones (basically everything popular) that are aquacultured or maricultured, . Many fish can be aquacultured, but sometimes collected price beats aquacultured (there've been a few fish where aquaculture has failed like that).

I think the worst thing, to be honest, is mass retail collection of fish. For instance, the yellow tang: as I recall over 200,000 per year are collected from the Kona area of the Big Island, Hawaii - which is supposedly sustainable. However, the quantity makes them an easy target for those who pillory aquaria for "damaging the reefs" (in reality, global warming and especially poorly thought out development and tourism are far more damaging), and in particular the fact that the tang has to pass through like five stages before ending up in the aquarist's tank. And their low price and availability means unprepared people often (not always) buy them, endning up inevitably with a massive percentage of the tangs dying within a few months of collection.

Collection of fish will be inevitable until we can breed or mariculture just about everything we want to keep (very hard since many species are poorly understood, and have complex life cycles in the sea). That being said, I think the negative effects of collection can be mitigated by 1) ordering as direct from the supplier as possible [which is why in my future tank I'm trying to buy a good number of fish from KP aquatics, and other collectors who sell direct to retail customers] 2) being judicious and careful in what you buy 3)researching and caring for the fish well.

Great points VR. As someone who worked in a retail position in the hobby for a few years, I felt that my most critical role was in education. Unfortunately the advice was not always taken. I am by no means perfect and have lost my fair share of inhabitants and learned some tough lessons because of it but it could certainly be frustrating at times. We are coming along way in terms of keeping and growing coral and my hope is there will be more programs for reintroduction or things like "cut a frag/plant two frags". I do agree though that unfortunately there are A LOT of fish that find there way into ill prepared homes/tanks and wind up down the drain because of it. Its not an easy topic with a lot economic influence beyond just the moral ones. Great thread so far guys!