Man brings coral and reef fish into home!

[Dan]

Not for me. I do have 50-gallon freshwater aquarium with African Cichlids and 200-gallon above ground pond in the porch with goldfish. However, I live near Houston. After seeing what Harvey can do to the city, forget having such aquarium. It's way too much work. I rather travel the world & dive to see them in the wild.

 

[J322Y]

Not for me. I do have 50-gallon freshwater aquarium with African Cichlids and 200-gallon above ground pond in the porch with goldfish. However, I live near Houston. After seeing what Harvey can do to the city, forget having such aquarium. It's way too much work. I rather travel the world & dive to see them in the wild.

True, although I'm not sure what I would do if I could afford to do both...

And now to hijack my own thread:

 

[TMHeimer]

We had a small salt water aquarium when I was a kid. The fish always died. It's hard to keep everything "balanced"--much more so than with fresh water. So, we took some water from Long Island Sound and put some periwinkles and maybe other snails in there. Man those things thrived even in Long Island Sound water (maybe it was cleaner then?). Could actually be cleaner now I suppose, but I've heard the lobsters are all gone--at least in the Western part of the Sound.

 

[tridacna]

I have discovered yet yet another downside to the coral reef hobby. Good luck selling your house when you want to move!

OTOH Not many people can ID fish like us hobbyists can in the Indo Pacific! Or get as excited when spotting a fish we know! No one could understand why I was pointing to a juvenile hawkfish or a Firefish in the Phillipines. Or why I was so damn excited after the dive.

 

[agilis]

I have discovered yet yet another downside to the coral reef hobby. Good luck selling your house when you want to move!

OTOH Not many people can ID fish like us hobbyists can in the Indo Pacific! Or get as excited when spotting a fish we know! No one could understand why I was pointing to a juvenile hawkfish or a Firefish in the Phillipines. Or why I was so damn excited after the dive.

I saw two very small Blue Angelfish yesterday while casually snorkeling for 20 minutes in Barnegat Bay not far from the Lighthouse and the CG station. Many Butterflyfish, mostly Spotfins and some Foureyed, and a few tiny Trunkfish were also clustered around the same dock. A couple of Seahorses were busy hunting down prey. I now live less than a half hour from the lighthouse, most of that spent crawling up LBI.

 

[MichaelMc]

I've maintained a 55 gallon planted freshwater tank. If I got a new one I would want an integral sump, not one below. Failure is too much of a worry. There are cut off mechanisms, but 'all in one big basin' adds peace of mind.

Very cool tank though.

 

[TMHeimer]

I saw two very small Blue Angelfish yesterday while casually snorkeling for 20 minutes in Barnegat Bay not far from the Lighthouse and the CG station. Many Butterflyfish, mostly Spotfins and some Foureyed, and a few tiny Trunkfish were also clustered around the same dock. A couple of Seahorses were busy hunting down prey. I now live less than a half hour from the lighthouse, most of that spent crawling up LBI.

Yeah it's amazing those tropical fish zooming up in the Gulf Stream. A couple of years ago I saw a bunch of Triggerfish right here in Nova Scotia. Thought I was back in the Gulf of Mexico. Some folks in RI go out and net the tropicals to bring to aquariums, since all of them will die when the cold weather hits.

 

[CarcharodonCarcharias]

I've been an avid aquarium hobbyist since my high school days. I've never had the desire to start a marine tank. Granted, a lot of the fish and corals in the trade are now farm bred. But that still does not take away the yearning for individuals looking to add the most exotic and rarest species to their display. Having witnessed the kind of devastation that aquarium trades had caused and it is still on going, I cannot help but develop a hint of contempt for the marine aquarium and the trade itself.

Even with my freshwater set up, now I am happy with pedestrian grass and tetra tank.

 

[CuzzA]

I've been an avid aquarium hobbyist since my high school days. I've never had the desire to start a marine tank. Granted, a lot of the fish and corals in the trade are now farm bred. But that still does not take away the yearning for individuals looking to add the most exotic and rarest species to their display. Having witnessed the kind of devastation that aquarium trades had caused and it is still on going, I cannot help but develop a hint of contempt for the marine aquarium and the trade itself.

Even with my freshwater set up, now I am happy with pedestrian grass and tetra tank.

It's a fair point, but all the technology that has been developed by the hobby and all of the science that has been discovered over the years is a direct result from the hobby. It has allowed people to do coral reef restoration, learn how to breed marine fish, and hobbyist are the world's coral seed bank. When politicians finally kill off all the reefs, maybe the hobbyists can help to rebuild them with the same biodiversity.

I disagree with the most exotic comment. The majority of people have the same variation of tank, with the same variation of fish and the same popular variation of coral. Coral strands that have more biomass on land than in the ocean, yet they haven't been in the ocean in years, if not decades.

 

[tridacna]

I just have to look at the progression of my tank over 20 years to see how much innovation and new technology has been introduced because of the marine hobbyist. If you think that things can get heated on SB, you should read the old threads on Fishforum. Paradigm shift did not go easy and there were many bloodied egos and "interesting" discussions going on when we changed to Foam Fractionators and Calcium Reactors. Boy, we were dedicated to the hobby. Anyone remember the debates between Albert Thiel and Craig Bingman? Charles Delbeek, Julian Sprung et al were frequent contributors. Dem was the good ol days.