Marine life in captivity

[StingRob]

Talking about pet store... have you seen that 4x4 cages dogs and cats are spending their first 3-4 months of life in?? They're getting 1/2 walk per day if they're lucky. Most of them develop muscle problems because of lack of exercise...
I agree fish are different but I hope you got the point.

Alot of the marine life in aquariums in your local pet store are bred in captivity, raised and sold in the pet stores.. they aren't taken directly from the ocean. But of course they used to be taken from the ocean.........

 

[badassbill]

I have been keeping salt water fish for the majority of my life. This is not an easy answer. I believe with education, avoiding the nemo phenomenon, and pet stores policing themselves aquariums can be great things. The reason I got into diving was to start seeing these creatures in the wild. My main concern, and one constantly debated in the aquarium community, is wether we should import certain species of animals that are known not to survive well. Cuttle fish (sp?), for example, usually die during shipping and rarely live past 1 year. Certain corals also, never do very well and mysteriously die after a certain number of months. Should sharks be kept when they typicaly outgrow their tanks within a year? However, I have had a Convict Tang, sea urchin, Purple tang, blennie, and a sebae clownfish for well over 4 years now in the same tank.

BTW...for what it's worth...by far, the most fascinating creature I have ever come accross is an Octopus that I had for about a year. SMART animal.

 

[YCW]

Alot of the marine life in aquariums in your local pet store are bred in captivity, raised and sold in the pet stores.. they aren't taken directly from the ocean. But of course they used to be taken from the ocean.........

Unfortunately I do not think that is the case in our country. I once saw a local aquirium owner unpacked their "goods": marine life in quite a number of small plastic bags wrapped in foreign newspapers and packed in a couple of cheap styrofoam coolers. When asked the owner would not disclose where the fishes were from, he simply just mentioned that they were imported.

I think Malaysia has quite a good policing policy in protecting marine life from being captured from the reef, where most of our reef systems surrounding our islands are gazetted as marine parks. It is against the law to capture any marine life from these water. However, I am not sure about our neibouring countries though....

Maybe someone can help me out here. My concern is, are marine life being captured indiscriminately? How many types of marine life are being bred and raised in captivity successfully? Can anyone point me to some good web sites with that info? Notice that most of the aquirium owners will probably sell their fish to anyone, regardless of their knowledge in raising marine life in aquiriums, especially after the success of Finding Nemo? From my understanding, it is not easy maintaining a marine aquirium. How long would you guess the chance a "Nemo" surviving, in the hands of a seven-year-old boy, who's parents got him the fish after watching the movie? Very curious and interested in finding out more facts. I sure do hope all the marine life in our local aquirium shops are bred and raised in captivity...

 

[badassbill]

Right now there are about a half dozen to dozen species of fish and inverts bred in captivity. Clown fish, "Nemo's" are one of them. I have 4 of them now, and have had them for close to a year. Fish stores are well aware of the problems with selling kids nemo's, and do not do so. I'm sure it was a royal pain in the ass to explain it a hundred times a day to the kids and their parents. A marine aquarium, as long as you don't get involved in corals, is actually no different to keep than a fresh water aquarium. The only difference is your initial outlay of money is more, and when you do water changes you add the salt.
Marine life in the past was collected with cyanide. It stunned the fish and allowed the diver to capture it. As you would imagine this was very harmful to the fish and the reefs. This practice, while still done in some parts of the world, has been almost completely banned. There is a huge push to breed the various species, however, a lot of times the captive fish are more expensive than the caught. I always get the captive because of the easier aclimation and adjustment to tank life. The aquarium industry, for the most part, is very aware of the enviornmental aspects and it's challanges. For more info...try: www.reefcentral.com
Bill

 

[Pierre Siquet]

Quote:
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By the same token we can not forget that a great amount of scientific knowledge and know how was geathered by amatour aquarium hobbyists whitch in the long run will help us to preserve our oceans.
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Well, if we look at the global picture, aquarium hobbyists have generated thousands times more harm than benefit to marine life. I am an aquarium hobbyist (fresh water and ex sea water), as well as scientificaly (fish farming) educated. To assume that nonscientific experiences of hobbyists can really contribute to scientific knowledge is sometimes true, but just represents a microscopic part of real scientific works. Aquarium hobbyists can surely not represent a positive contribution for the environement, nor a consequent contribution to the scientific research, although they would like to believe it.

that is all the difference between hobbyists and pros.

 

[ams511]

I don't think there is an easy answer to this question. First, does the aquarium hobby do more damage to the oceans than rampant overfishing? No one keeps whales in tanks but yet they were hunted to extinction. Second, is the aquarium hobby to blame because some individuals harvest fish in an environmentally unsound way. I don't think so. However, marine aquariums are alot of work and most pet stores downplay the expense and time involved. So some people get into it that really shouldn't.

 

[armyscuba]

As long as I can get to it with a Speargun..I'm not concerned where it lives....

 

[scubapolly]

so a follow up to that would be: What do you think about aquariums? Not home types but the public aquariums.

They are an absolute necessity. People who don't dive don't know how cool the stuff in the ocean is, and that it should be protected. I am currently teaching high school biology, we just got through the chapters on invertebrates and fish. I brought in my Humann reef id set, and my kids were blown away. They had no idea of the variety of fish, they had only seen stuff kept small personal aquariums, and fish they had caught at local lakes. Seeing their excitement I offered the kids extra credit to go to the local public aquarium, initially they kids all complained about the $16 admitance fee, but once one kid went and came to school all excited the next day, just about every kid is headed to the aquarium. They are all getting excited and are asking tons of questions about underwater stuff. One kid has sent in an application to volunteer at the aquarium, another has signed up for SCUBA lessons, and 2 others have decided to major in marine biology. These kids haven't cracked a book the whole year, and they are asking if they can do extra credit projects on marine animals that the aquarium doesn't have so they can learn more.
Additionally I am a volunteer diver at the fore mentioned aquarium. The aquarium donates money to conservation groups, our current pet project is sea turtles. We havea loggerhead in one of our exhibits that was injured as a hatchling, and likely would have died in the wild, but is having a great life at the aquarium.

i think aquariums are more important than zoos, but cause a simple vacation to just about anywhere, you can see some of those animals, most people will never have the oportunity to see the animals in the aquarium in the wild.

If anything I think we need stiffer regulations on the personal aquariums. We have a couple of animals at the aquarium that came from people getting fish, who quickly grew too large for their home tank. We've gotten to the point where we can't take anymore pacu or nurse sharks, becasue their are so many people with these fish that grow to be gigantic. There also is a pretty persistant problem of people dumping their aquariums into local waterways when they can no longer take care of them. If you have the chance you need to watch Deep Sea Invasion.

 

[scarus]

As an ex-professional aquarist and a current gub'ment fisheries scientst, I tend to agree with many of the posts here. Most of the time the potential for harm is in the capture methods (bleaching, blasting, etc.), not in the actual keeping of marine animals. What do most animals spend their lives seeking in nature? Food, safety from predators or unfavorable environmental conditions, and the opportunity to reproduce. I would argue that the absence of the third does no harm to the individual captive animal, and any responsible husbandry facility--whether that is John Doe with a 25 gallon tank or Sea World or the National Aquarium in Baltimore or tanks in a research facility--provides the first two in abundance (although brief aquarist caveat for novices--generally far better to underfeed than over--happy to answer questions on this if anyone wants).

Having said that, I have NO experience with marine mammals and harbor the suspicion that they might need a little more out of life for their well-being, and are therefore not suited to captivity. Although having said THAT, I think Keiko would have been better off at his last U.S. home, the Oregon Coast Aquarium, where he was healthy and happy.

 

[Mako Mark]

I have a two and a half year old daughter who will quite happily watch "Buscando Nemo" (searching for Nemo) twice in a row every day of the week. She knows and can identify a dozen different fish and the difference between the sharks and the whale.

Does she understand that that is where Papi works? I dont think so, she has never seen me go diving, but I know that the first time I find a mask small enough to fit her, she will become an advocate and protector of the marine environment.

Marine fish in tanks, Nemo confronted that issue too, only two of the fish in the evil dentists tank were from the sea. I think the educational value has an immense potential.

I would rather my daughter learns about Nemo, than a large purple dinosaur with magical powers and a bad singing voice.