Tanked

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I like that commercial. My friends remind me I was like that when I had my fish stores. It isn't necessarily profitable, but as those that know me on this forum, I have some difficulty in keeping my mouth shut.
 
I like that commercial. My friends remind me I was like that when I had my fish stores. It isn't necessarily profitable, but as those that know me on this forum, I have some difficulty in keeping my mouth shut.

I wish more store had people like you running them.. I was at a lfs in Gainesville fl and heard the guy telling someone with a 55g tank that a trigger would be fine in it.. Sigh.. I like that commercial as well though.. 'Hes got saltwater tanks, fresh water tanks, brackish tanks.. That fish? No, your not ready for that fish' lol
 
It's really hard. Not that long ago, I was the guy who wanted the school of tangs in the 55 gallon. We all follow a learning curve, I just hate to see semi loads of fish daily going into the land fill world wide. The environmentalist will shut us down if we don't do a better job of maintaing and creating our own stocks. I am a diver and have very mixed emotions about my own hobby.
 
I am a diver and have very mixed emotions about my own hobby.
Exactly why I got out of the business. It was exciting in the beginning, but It made me sick how many corals went through my tanks. The reality is, just being in this hobby is destroying the reefs. Aquaculture or not, eventually, your beautiful tank is going to provoke someone else to start one of their own....and so on, and so on....
I do hope they close the reefs to us. We have enough corals right now (if we keep them alive) to share with everyone. The problem is fish......we can't breed many, many species we see in this hobby as of yet.
 
My sons girl friend is a biologist that just came back from Indonesia. She worked with natives and their fragging lagoons they use now. It is a step in the right direction for corals, but as X said, most fish are different. Those angel fish and tangs we all have all bought were kidnapped off a reef somewhere. The best anyone can do right now is treat the death of one of these creatures as a sin and try to stay within your abilities and expertise for the fishes and the hobby's sake. It's why Tanked may tank us all.

If I were an environmentalist, I would show ATM tank pictures before and after. Nobody would argue that was a waste of some hard to find fish. Just the shot of a dead regal angelfish floating amongst the rubber coral would do it. I have been called the Tang Police for good cause. I am disturbed by one hobbiest after another that ignores basic guidelines because it must not apply to them, or they didn't research the purchase at all. They kill off fish over and over again and that will eventually blow back on us all, just as Tanked is going to. Most people don't understand why we need to do this anyway.
 
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It's really hard. Not that long ago, I was the guy who wanted the school of tangs in the 55 gallon. We all follow a learning curve, I just hate to see semi loads of fish daily going into the land fill world wide. The environmentalist will shut us down if we don't do a better job of maintaing and creating our own stocks. I am a diver and have very mixed emotions about my own hobby.

Don't feel bad for diving. It's likely that you have more respect and appreciation for the environment because you get to closely observe it. The same for people who hunt, as long as they don't waist meat.
 
But hunting has already felt the sting of regulations. Here at least in the US, you can serve jail time for collecting or shooting the wrong thing. Imagine those regulations placed on fish and coral. If a fish or coral gets placed on the endangered list, you will not be allowed to breed it or have it under any circumstances unless you are a researcher with proper permits.

Irresponsibility of a few creates regulations we all have to live with, no matter what it is.
 
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There are already regulations on some species....like Rhizotrochus Typus for instance.
If they catch you grabbing one, you are in trouble, however, you can have one in your possession and not be touched. There will always be people pushing the envelope if money is involved. You just have to stop it all together I'm afraid.

....but that brings potentially more danger to the reefs. The locals in Indo take much better care of their reefs now that they are a source of cash. If the corals become worthless to them, that's what they will be treated like. .....
 
Yep. They talk about repopulating their reefs, and they do some of that, but the live coral trade brings in the cash.

One thing though that may save us, some species are just going to get hard or impossible to get, even if still legal. But I have watched coral going from "very difficult to propagate" to being almost as easy as growing petunias. All in the past 20 years. With our ability to duplicate reef conditions, coral farming is a good investment. It doesn't take all that much, something X has pointed out for years. We tend to over complicate the process.
 
Interesting. What species did you see this happen with? What was nearly impossible 20 years ago that's a joke now?
 
I would say acropora is a good example. Were you aware 20 years ago that you could break one apart and super glue it to tiles and it would grow brand new colonies? I never heard of it back then, but I am from Missouri, not much ocean here. In fact flower pots were considered the coral of choice because they lasted 6 months before they died. Only very advanced hobbiest grew SPS, now folks grow it in 7 gallon nano tanks. While I didn't mean to claim its a joke, it did get exponentially easier.
 
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They were state of the art in freshwater back when I started. Guess folks still use them today. Getting old has only one advantage, perspective. We have come a long way in a few decades.

LEDs

Protein skimmers and the Berlin method using live rock

Good heaters and chillers

Good salt

RO/DI water!

Circulation augmenters, like fans and pumps

Filtration media, we had charcoal and filter floss, period.

Foods

Accurate test kits, we had ph strips.

and a host of other things.
 
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:x I feel like such a noob.. Honestly though, I really appreciate the advice that people like you and mr. X give, and I thank you. I hope to be in your position one day giving advice!
 
I don't know about anyone else, but I believe in Karma...what goes around, comes around.

These guys know that they are the grim reapers of the hobby and they are just going for instant gratification and promotional advertising. Someone should do a story and follow up on their tanks to get an understanding out there, of what really happens to the fish after the show concludes.

I think their rising star would diminish rapdily, and rightly so.

I don't watch tv so not familiar with this show but scanning through this thread which caught my attention this sounds like a good case for an investigative reporter. A good story broadcasted would quickly bring the "glory" down or at least raise some questions and public awareness.
 
I don't watch tv so not familiar with this show but scanning through this thread which caught my attention this sounds like a good case for an investigative reporter. A good story broadcasted would quickly bring the "glory" down or at least raise some questions and public awareness.

I agree with you. I just hope that a reporter would show both sides of the story. What if cases where a lot of fish die are very few, and when they do it is when the client demanded to have it set up right away. If the news gets ahold of it it is unlikely we will hear a fair representation.
 
I agree with you. I just hope that a reporter would show both sides of the story. What if cases where a lot of fish die are very few, and when they do it is when the client demanded to have it set up right away. If the news gets ahold of it it is unlikely we will hear a fair representation.

A "good investigative reporting" is just that, my Friend, unbiased and showing ALL the facts, letting the public to decide whether it s good or bad. I do not know one personally but there are many people on this forum. Someone out there may have just the right person.
 
Some of the tanks are no longer in their original places, but, not necessarily because they failed. The phone booth tank ended up in my LFS because the people moved back to NY. I just bought lights from a person here that had a 2500 gallon tank installed in their house by ATM. (They are the same couple that owned the 702 motoring tank made out of a car. That tank is also being sold because they sold the business). It is beautiful and doing well. I did hear that the Serendipity tank (gumball machine) failed due to algae because it was outside.
 
I always wonder how they access the tanks to do water changes, etc. I'm sure someone is hired to maintain the tanks. I have a 20 gal and complain about water changes at times!!! So I can't imagine the work needed for a huge tank such as the church's.

The one with the church has a whole team of marine biologists on hand to take care of it and quarantine. That one I'm sure is getting taken care of.
 
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