personal Aquarium

I just read the topic about public Aquariums and I was just wondering what you guys think about personal aquariums at home or at your office? I personally don't agree with them. if you take the animal from its natural habitat you should have a good reason not just for your pleasure. share your thoughts with us

Thanks,

Mohammad Tavakoli

Freshwater aquarium - fine

Saltwater aquarium full of captive raised corals and fish - fine

Saltwater aquarium full of wild net-caught fish - fine

Saltwater aquarium full of wild net-caught fish and harvested corals - questionable

Saltwater aquarium full of wild cyanide caught fish and wild harvested corals - bad!

Fish are a renewable resource - if they are managed well (most aren't of course). If you eat fish, then it's hypocritical to question someone's aim to keep them as pets, IMO.

The average price of reef fish sold into the aquarium trade is many $$$ per pound for the fisherfolk. The average price of reef fish sold into the live food fish trade (caught w/ cyanide) is much less, and less still right to the fish market. Which would you prefer?

Cheers

James

personally I won't keep an aquarium because I prefer to see them in their natural habitat. Always felt sorry for the fish that are at the aquariums in airports - particularly at the SQ lounge in Singapore and some lounges in Beijing airport. But I guess I don't feel strongly enough to say that having an aquarium is wrong if one wants to keep them as pets. I do enjoy looking at them when I see them.

What is intriguing is that some people have these kind of aquariums for feng shui purposes in their homes and offices. Never understood the logic of that. How can anything captured be good feng shui?

MJ

thanks guys but james I dont understand why you think kepping an aquarium in your home is ok. put a fish a small glass just to enjoy watching them? I personally believe that every thing in nature is made for us to enjoy it and use it but sometimes I the feeling that we are destroying it not using it so I prefer the fish to be sold as food that as decoration.

Thanks,

Mohammad Tavakoli

Mohammad,

You're certainly entitled to your opinion. Some fish don't "belong" in an aquarium and some thrive there. Terry Siegel - editor of Advanced Aquarist magazine has a A. frenetus clownfish that he's kept for almost 15 years. I doubt their life expectancy on the reef is that long...so maybe Terry's fish got a pretty good deal!

Clownfish generally stay in one place (very limited movement once they settle) so I think that's one reason they do so well in aquaria.

You'll notice that captive raised fish are at the top of my list. Most clownfish aka nemo can be captive grown fairly easily.

Cheers

James

Keeping fish is also one of my interests. Because of the cost and organisation involved, I never made the switch to seawater. I found that the cichlids (and especially from Lake Tanganyika) are very interesting (if not in looks, they are in behaviour). I would like to visit the lake as well someday....

I feel a bit guilty on the energy costs involved to filter and heat the tanks (On the other hand: I don't drive a SUV and fly 2 times per year for my holidays.), but not so for the fish. I take good care of them, make sure the tanks are large enough to cope with the species or combination of them. I dont have any wildcaught fish (although a pair of Julies I have was bred in a pond near the lake, and my Tropheus parents were).

Gerard