[Bettatail]

Six Re: Fish trade

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Without going into extensive details, remember that aquarium fish serve as ambassadors to their wild kin. Without keeping fish and animals in captivity, many wild populations would be disregarded.

The amount of people that care and are proactive about fish and keeping them have achieved much more than I think you know. There are species maintenance programs for endangered goodieds from Mexico as well as care and interest about damning in rivers that hold rare species (such as those being built in China and South America). If we didn't have captive animals, as pets or in zoos, no one would see and therefore learn to care about them and want to help them. Not to mention want to change their lives in order to better strike a balance between us and nature- fish keeping can certainly do all that.

There are some fish who give their lives to the cause.

I used to feel the same way you are. I worked fish retail for 4 years and became fed up with a lot of the customers who just thought fish tanks were "moving pictures", not a responsibility. But I became more involved in the proactive part of the hobby and found myself to feel much better. I'm going to suggest that you do the same. Help others learn about the fish and get them to care. Join a club, go to meetings, speak on a topic. That's part of the reason you joined the forum, isnt it?

(roseline shark? endangered by hobbyists?
and how about marine species for marine aquarium keeper?)

I agree, Six, more people get into the hobby means more awareness of the wildlife conservation. But the best way to preserve the nature and species is to setup nature reservations, breeding programs by hobbyists or by commercial breeders are not quit enough, and what hobbyists do is not a DUTY but meanly out of their PENCHANT, and these programs are bias, selective, and commecialized(fish farms in Malaysia do a terrific job on preserving those demanding aquarium species, bias, but at least some endangered species could be saved from the nature habitats being destroyed by human activities or depleted through wild-caught for aqua trade--roseline shark). There are other species not as colorful as the ones we see in aquariums, they will disappear before someone pay attention to them. As a hobbyist myself, I understand my limit, and the contribution I can do to preserve the nature species is to support those who make wildlife conversation as their duty, they are hobbyists just like us or not hobbyists. they have my gratitude.
--try to do my best to keep my fish live longer, or breed them, I am just a hobbyist, my penchant is my duty.
Semper Fi

 

[Bettatail]

I am not a nature conservation expert, I am just a hobbyist.

The fish trade and its extensions- commercial breeding programs for hobbyists is bias, and selective, but I am not in the position of rejecting it. It is just not enough to protect and reserve the nature fish species. let's leave the jobs to experts, that is why I said I support them.

People try to preserve the nature do it as their duty, hobbyists preserve the nature(for certain species) because their penchant;
People try to preserve the nature raise fish without manipulating their identities, hobbyists raise fish selectively(albino? parrot? flowerhorn?);
people try to preserve the nature provide captive fish an enviroment as close as their origin, hobbyists raise fish with no intention to release them back to their natural origin.
people try to preserve the nature treat all fish the same, hobbyists have too much like or dislike toward certain species on their appearances or their behaviors.