Fish collection

[hcs3]

marine fish are being bred by "fish farms" nowadays, but not to the % we would like to see. check out www.orafarm.com - just one of the many "fish farms" for marine ornamentals. if you'd like to get involved in keeping marine fish or even corals, the best place to look is Reef Central (link in my signature). i moderate a fish care forum there, as well as write monthly column for fish care in the reefkeeping.com online magazine (also in my sig). if you have and specific questions, LMK and i'll be glad to answer them.

dee, it sounds like the hobby has made great strides in animal husbandry since you left the trade. fish foods are well researched now, and in most cases, when kept in suitable habitats, marine fish in captivity live longer than their wild counterparts. of course, we still have a huge percentage of people that don't care for these fish like they should be, but the knowledge is there, they just need to research their fish and provide the suitable habitat.

HTH

henry

 

[Dee]

hcs3 once bubbled...
dee, it sounds like the hobby has made great strides in animal husbandry since you left the trade. fish foods are well researched now, and in most cases, when kept in suitable habitats, marine fish in captivity live longer than their wild counterparts. of course, we still have a huge percentage of people that don't care for these fish like they should be, but the knowledge is there, they just need to research their fish and provide the suitable habitat.

HTH

henry

I happily stand corrected. Reef Central is an excellent site and full of information for keeping freah and saltwater aquariums. What I would like to see changed is pet shops who tell people just starting out that salt water aquariums are just as easy to keep and maintain as fresh ones. Hopefully they'll visit Reef Central to learn how to do it!

 

[hcs3]

Reef Central is an excellent site and full of information for keeping freah and saltwater aquariums.

one correction. there are no discussions of FW aquariums at reef central. the website is strictly saltwater, with a large emphasis on reef systems, not just fish.

henry

 

[Dee]

Sorry...must have my sites mixed up!

 

[Hooked4Life]

Yes, collection any type of fish/coral is illegal in most countries. Many of the true Reef Keepers have been propagating corals for years now. IMHO it is a lot more natural to keep fish in a reef tank then in a SW fish tank with plastic ornaments.

Here is my 54 Gallon Reef Tank. There are many other pictures on my web site.

 

[hcs3]

Yes, collection any type of fish/coral is illegal in most countries.

illegal? not at all. restricted? yes.

the USA has the tightest regulations governing the collection that i'm aware of thus far. i'm sure some of the small, insignifigant (to the hobby) islands in the indo or south pacific may have banned it, but as a whole, the major supplying islands (fiji, phillipines, marshall islands, etc) still allow it unrestricted.

with that said, you can still go out and collect fish and corals from the florida keys. at last count, 61 collections facilites were in operation in the keys, and another 45 in california. they are not allowed to collect rock, but corals, algae, and fish are fair game. any corals attached to rock are not to be removed from the rock, but the rock is supposed to be chiseled away until only a small portion of the rock is left ~ 1lbs of rock per coral.

HTH

henry