Now that we are in a more nutural forum im sure your responses will be a bit more even. Not many
SW folks look in the
FW forums.
I have had both types and I still do. When I had exclusivly
FW tanks I wasnt bothered with learning more than the info I could get from my
LFS. When I started a
SW tank I was veryinterested in learning as much as I could. Mostly because of the economic commitment that is involved. Getting into
SW has greatly increased my overall knowlege of the aquarium hobby as a whole.
Some comments that have been made here seem to be made 'off the cuff' with little real background into both types. To compaire the two one really needs to have a decent level of knowlege about the two. Other comments seem to imply a desire to see genetic enhanced fish in the
SW hobby. The vast majority of
SW hobbists are VERY interested in the natural reef systems and having geneticly engenered fish would be less desirable than having fish with a natural coloration.
Much less is known about
SW fish than
FW fish. There have been
FW fish farms for decades to help make the
FW side of the hobby very self sustaning where there is very little wild fish collected and used in the hobby. Regretfully
SW farming methods have not kept up with
FW so many more fish are wild caught and introduced into the hobby. Those of us
SW folks whom are very serious about the hobby are very interested in purchasing captive breed fish/corals when possible as well as sharing '
frags' with other hobbists so as to lessen the impact on the wild reefs. The degree that conservation is important to
SW folks and education in general to
SW folks can be seen in the fact that the annual conference of
SW hobbists thats being held in
DC is going to focus exclusivly on conservation and education aspects.
Its unfair to comair the two as they both have their merits. There is no ONE tank that fits everyones wishes, and desires. I can tell you that every single person that walks into our house is drawng right away to our two
SW tanks. Unless they happen to catch a view of my little girl first.