Would you buy fish pictured out of water?

[Back where it all began]

Disgusting. Not a chance to get my money.

 

[Thaxxx]

I guess it also kind of shows the size if the fish in someone's hand ️

 

[mickeysreef <*))))<]

fish out of water is a very bad picture. whether it's good or not for the fish is really irrelevant to me because fish out of the water is not a good picture of the fish. I don't care what they say or why they say it because fish out of the water does not give me a clear view of what the fish looks like.

if you want to sell me a fish then take a regular picture so I can see everything. otherwise 99% chance I will not buy. I am not buying not because I think you are hurtig the fish but I am not buying because I cannot see what I am getting. so if you have a very expensive fish you want to sell me or anyone else... take a picture that accurately represents what that fish looks like. out of the water is not accurate.

 

[Zionas]

Agee!

 

[Fishingandreefing]

Glad you posted this, I found a few vendors do it and I was wondering why and it bothers me a bit. Same with people holding a piece of coral out of the water while making a video. Both mostly will not die but just bothers me.

 

[BighohoReef]

You are questioning handing fish in a hand , we put them in a glass box

The question is: Would you buy a fish from a store that takes pictures of them being handheld.

 

[Angel_Anthias lover]

Would the fish not be held in someones hands from the point of collection in the wild anyway?

 

[BighohoReef]

Instead of a photo, especially an out of water photo, I would rather prefer a 1-minute video of the fish in its tank, ideally during feeding. A still photo, whether in the water or out of water doesn't really tell you much about the fish, and an out of water picture can hide injuries and other issues.

Umm GENIUS! I think this idea is something they all should think about at least for high-end fish while feeding. I can imagine it is tough for a large order though, I was at a LFS yesterday and they had a ton of fish come in. I couldn't imagine what video production would have looked like... 1 min for 100 plus fish is a lot of time. Liveaquaria has some posted but not for all.

 

[LOVEROCK]

Dude you get the idea behind this...stop trolling and add something real to the conversation.

Trolling ? Look at your comment

 

[BighohoReef]

Would the fish not be held in someones hands from the point of collection in the wild?

That's a good question, I know for our one of our LFS that they do the following to add. Empty fish and water in to tubs, drip acclimate, net catch and release to tank, for the ones that can't be netted they get scooped up in a plastic tupperware. Beyond that though goodness knows what happens between the ocean catch, packaging to wholesaler

 

[Chincaca]

It depends. I'm in freshwater aquaculture. Some of the fish we sell are large up to 22". We use a product called tranquil that knocks the fish out. We do that to move it safely, check the fish for any abrasions or sores, and sometimes a client comes to the farm and want a good look over of the fish. But we don't photograph them out of water.

 

[BighohoReef]

Glad you posted this, I found a few vendors do it and I was wondering why and it bothers me a bit. Same with people holding a piece of coral out of the water while making a video. Both mostly will not die but just bothers me.

Agreed, though sadly I'm sure at some point in the logistics chain they get manhandled (at least what I'm calling it)

In a way, I feel it's similar to the hands in the tank question? Is it bad or not bad? I prefer to take precautions to not crash the tank or kill something because I accidentally had soap or a cleaning product on my hand. I also know lots of folks that do it and have healthy thriving tanks.

 

[joec]

Considering that I'm an avid fly angler and we have a movement called "Keep em wet" - don't remove them from the water when you remove the hook and release vs a "grip and grin" moment with the camera I'd say No. Nothing good comes from handling a fish. You get slimy, they get stressed.

I get this but concern can be species specific. Some species are much tougher than others. I walleye fish and they are relatively bullet proof. Taking them out of the water for a bit wont hurt them. When I catch a musky fishing for walleye I never take them out of the water as they are very sensitive

Trout are very sensitive and great care should be taken with them.

I catch channel catfish often when Walleye fishing. You can take those out of the water and hit them with a baseball bat (just making a point), and they will be fine

The worst thing to ever do is take any fish and use one of those Boca style grips and hold the fish vertically, not a good idea

 

[Mr_Knightley]

I absolutely see nothing wrong with it, and would gladly purchase from a vendor who takes pictures this way. The time it takes to photograph hundreds of fish underwater is immense! It can take me up to 10 minutes to get a decent picture of a single fish. Another thing to think about is that the fish, for one, has been manhandled a whole lot more than we really realize, with netting and shipping and such. Another thing to think about is that, when you are transferring a fish to it's aquarium after acclimation, it will have to come out of the water, no avoiding it. It is safer to transport a fish in clean, wet hand than it is to do so in a net, as nets are very abrasive and a flopping fish can easily scratch a lot of slim off i a net.
Another big thing is that they only hold them for mere seconds out of the water, about the same amount of time you would need if it were in a net, and the pictures clearly show very healthy fish in the first place.
In all, I would feel no guilt what so ever by buying from one of these vendors, as most (not all) clearly demonstrate that they really care for the fish they sell.

 

[TriggerFinger]

Genuine questions...not being a smarty...To everyone who is offended by seeing a fish out of water...how did your fish get from the store to the bag you took it home in? how do you get them into your tank? Am I missing something? I’m wondering if you are also claustrophobic?

 

[kapnkush608]

I read in an industry best practices co-authored by sea dwelling creatures that exposure to air can cause physiological damage that can take 30 days or more to recover from even if just a few second of exposure.

 

[kapnkush608]

Here is the doc.

 

[kapnkush608]

Genuine questions...not being a smarty...To everyone who is offended by seeing a fish out of water...how did your fish get from the store to the bag you took it home in? how do you get them into your tank? Am I missing something? I’m wondering if you are also claustrophobic?

Following best practices it's caught under water > transferred under water to holding > caught and bagged underwater at holding facility > released after acclimation at store underwater > caught and bagged underwater at store > acclimated at home and released into tank with acclimation water

 

[BighohoReef]

I absolutely see nothing wrong with it, and would gladly purchase from a vendor who takes pictures this way. The time it takes to photograph hundreds of fish underwater is immense! It can take me up to 10 minutes to get a decent picture of a single fish. Another thing to think about is that the fish, for one, has been manhandled a whole lot more than we really realize, with netting and shipping and such. Another thing to think about is that, when you are transferring a fish to it's aquarium after acclimation, it will have to come out of the water, no avoiding it. It is safer to transport a fish in clean, wet hand than it is to do so in a net, as nets are very abrasive and a flopping fish can easily scratch a lot of slim off i a net.
Another big thing is that they only hold them for mere seconds out of the water, about the same amount of time you would need if it were in a net, and the pictures clearly show very healthy fish in the first place.
In all, I would feel no guilt what so ever by buying from one of these vendors, as most (not all) clearly demonstrate that they really care for the fish they sell.

My thoughts e

Genuine questions...not being a smarty...To everyone who is offended by seeing a fish out of water...how did your fish get from the store to the bag you took it home in? how do you get them into your tank? Am I missing something? I’m wondering if you are also claustrophobic?

It's not so much the fish out of the water part because we all have to do what you are saying, I just do it with a net or a plastic bin, I personally try not to touch the fish (unless you talk to my clowns who constantly pick at me when I'm tank cleaning. It's more about handling the with your hands, out of the water to take a photo... why not photo them in the water? and in my case seeing folks handle fish with their bare hands to take a photo, again a personal preference I just have a hard time with seeing that image and I was putting the question out there to folks, in hope that it would help me get past my bias.

 

[ThRoewer]

Umm GENIUS! I think this idea is something they all should think about at least for high-end fish while feeding. I can imagine it is tough for a large order though, I was at a LFS yesterday and they had a ton of fish come in. I couldn't imagine what video production would have looked like... 1 min for 100 plus fish is a lot of time. Liveaquaria has some posted but not for all.

Among the Reef is doing that for many of their fish and for sure upon request.
I somewhat doubt it would be more of a hassle to take a 30 second video of a fish while in the quarantine tank versus catching the fish, putting it into a photo box, wait for it to calm down, take the picture, and edit it.
But LifeAquaria and Diver's Den cater more to the uneducated crowd and flashy pictures sell better than a not so flashy video that would give you a far better impression of the fish's condition.