this is a hobby, not mother nature. We take these animals out of nature and try to coax them into our artificial environment trying to play mother nature knowing very well that we will kill a percent for our selfish pleasure. If you want to enjoy reefs in mother nature, then you will need lots of money to afford the travel and snorkel/scuba costs.
It's totally misguided to blame the high cost on premium corals as the reason the poor and needy cant have reef tanks when affordable corals are readily available, and when the lights and other equipment needed to run a reef tank dwarf the cost of affordable corals
If you truly believe you know under privileged kids with medical issues that can benefit from a reef tank, start a thread, explain the situation and seek donations. I assure you the community will rally around you, send gear and live stock and it will happen.
Hello,
Lets start with the first paragraph and I’m speaking professionally (on said issues not you per say), but these corals had no issues until, humans (society, pick a country ) started with pick an option, crashing into them, waste, over harvesting, now has put them on the red list. This was all do to humans, not to mention releasing non reef creatures in a reef. Sadly we won’t stop until they are extinct just like other species. Climate change has also diminished them and it’s again mostly do to humans. There are several scientific papers to prove this.
In terms of cost to go see aka barrier reef or the reef in Belize, and others, price is no different than what people do for typical honeymoons etc. if it was so expensive then why are they some of the top tourist attractions? Yes flying from Boise to Australia and visiting the reef is actually cheaper than even my 240 gallon set up (dollar wise). Yet some can get nano tanks or all in one tanks for 650 roughly, but that’s not including water, rock, sand supplies and then corals. Then when they want coral, or don’t have a lfs how many corals do you see for 30 dollars. (Probably a few but let’s add shipping now it’s 100). But the prices of lights and corals, equipment, supplies Are not cheap. This probably goes with dogs, horses, pick a pet. But still you said “we kill for selfish pleasure”. Hate to say, if you think we kill just corals for selfish pleasure, add fish, cats dogs, animals we have made extinct aka some rhinos, soon tigers. So maybe again society problem with money and greed is the root cause. If a rhinos horn wasn’t ivory and worth 20,000, people would probably not have killed them off. The same will happen with fish and corals we will keep raising the price, and eventually we will run out of them.
How is it misguided that I say poor and needy can’t have a tank? Let’s see a decent reef tank that grows all corals softies lps and sps, get going under a 1,000, including stocking the entire tank. Let’s make it even more fair let’s say they want a walt Disney, home wrecker some special zoas. Now to be fair I have lots of no name cheap corals and my tank to me is gorgeous. So could they do the same yes, but hey are still 35 each min at my lfs. So can you show me how one starts a tank on a min wage job and you may not live in Idaho but I do. Yes my profession pays more but min wage here is 7.25 and guess what a high wage here is 10 dollars an hour. Idaho ranked 48/50 for the worst in pay as of 2019. The main person at my lfs who has worked there for 7 years still doesn’t make over 10. I’d say this is more of a society probelm, because sadly anything under 32,000 in Idaho is considered poverty. Yet house prices, gas prices, are similar to Portland and Seattle markets, except they have much higher min wage.
How about this come work in the trauma center I do, and see for yourself. Let’s visit the cancer center here with kiddos and see what happens. 99% or the tanks we have in places are individually owned, and that person usually hires the lfs to maintain it. Yes they want them all, but as usual there is no money in the budget. Yet we all know hospitals make insane profits. I have asked Ecotech and hydra to donate lights, I was laughed at off the phone. I have found three so far that have actually followed through. Not to mention how long it takes, and the amount of paper work and department heads one has to go Through. You make it sound super easy and it’s very hard actually. People always say the community will rally around, those in need. Come see people who are in the er constantly and can’t get a place to stay or even a shelter. There is one shelter for males and three for females. Sadly males get very very little support, and 90% it’s well go find s job. Some that does apply to but others really do need assistance. The average for a person to get ss disability takes 4-5 tries with appeals, (including one who had no legs). Still think the rising prices are not s probelm, i am curious to see what you see daily.
But do to the fact corals and fish are mainly produced by Mother Nature why charge money? We saw what money did to Tigers and rhinos, and you don’t see the symbolism here?
