Does Sucess Bring Irresponsiblity?

[wizardgus®]

Ok, opening myself up to flames here if it's only me...

Lately I've been wondering about this. The more success I have with my tank, the more I'm tempted to try more difficult inhabitants. In the past 2 months I've added an H. crispa and a CBB to my tank. The CBB seems to be doing quite well (I did make sure to get a net-caught Australian one from Marine Center) the Sebae I'm not sure is going to make it yet. :( It has been in there less than a week.

But, a few months ago I wouldn't have even thought to try either one. Is this a common thing with the hobby?

[rvitko]

Jay- Someday we will know how to keep Dendros, Goniopora and Moorish Idols. It is because people who have plenty of experience and a little bit of intuition dare to do so. I am ashamed and angry when newbies do this and irresponsible vendors sell them on it. I also don't like people who think they are no it alls because they have a beautiful SPS tank for 2 years. By asking this question your the type of gut that will figure out how to keep a crinoidea and so I would never advocate banning these animals from the hobby. I had a good friend who kept a Blue Ringed Octopus and while I thought he was crazy the thing thrived in his refugium for a little over a year and was really cool- it was how we culled our mantis shrimp and teddy bear crabs at the shop- just give em to Joe. The only ethical question is how do we keep novices away and allow the experienced and genuinely educated hobbyists to experiment.

[Agu]

Jay,

In my case I'm seeing a cycle regarding the animals I keep. At first it was "easy" animals, as I gained experience my interests moved to more difficult and exotic animals. Where they came from wasn't a concern to me, keeping them alive and healthy was the major issue.

Now I'm trying to remove a flower anemone hitchiker because it's the only non captive propagated coral in my tank. Going with all propagated corals is my new challenge, and some days it's hard not to buy something wild harvested from the LFS. But at least I no longer worry about them dying .

ime,
Agu

[Wolverine]

When I was first starting out on these boards, I saw someone on another board say this: "When you truly and completely understand every reason why you should not get an anemone, then you might be at the point where you're ready for one."

As I see it, more experienced reefers have the opportunity to recognize the needs (and to research the needs) of the more difficult animals. If they have success, they're also more likely (far from guaranteed) to be able to recognize a reason, furthering our knowledge in the hobby.
Also, as you get more experienced, you can more quickly recognize the signs of an animal that's doing poorly, and are more likely to react appropriately and more quickly to treat it.

Dave

[dendronepthya]

I agree. Newbies are far worse than experienced hobbyists. Dendronephthya, Scleronephthya, and all sorts of other non-photosynthetic corals and gorgonians have a "doomed" label on them. I've tried a few, they all died. I think the difference between a beginner and an advanced aquarist is if the advanced aquarist is going to try it again, they are likely to design an entire setup specifically for the difficult animal rather than dropping a new one where the old one died.

While I am not planning on doing so, I think it would be interesting to create a setup specifically for non-photosynthetic corals that employed a multitude of plankton reactors, and large non-shearing wave devices. Something like a large reverse carlson surge device. It might also be interesting to have a network of airline tubing in the substrate to occasionally aggitate the sand bed releasing detritus into the water column (Fossa and Nilsen talked about detritus being a possible food source). These sorts of projects in my opinion are the type of thing a sufficiently experienced person ponders before buying a challenging species. I do not see that as being more irresponsible.

[SPC]

I like others started out with a mixed bag reef tank of soft corals. After one year I decided to go with all Caribbean animals. After 2 years I am still working to get some mushrooms, star polyps, button polyps, a pair of banggai's and percula's out of the tank:D . The reasons I decided to go with a biotope from this area are:

1. I could talk directly to the diver in order to gather information on what environment the animal came from. This seems important to me as I believe that many of our animals die/don't thrive because they are in the wrong environment. The water parameters may be outstanding in our tank and perfect for those corals that require low organics. On the other hand, many other corals may find this environment too sterile for their needs. Depth, salinity, temperature etc... are also important considerations in my decision.
Also, through talking to many natives in this area, I was able to pick a collector with a great reputation and one who net catches only.

2. The collection of certain animals for the aquarium trade in this area, seems to have little impact on thier wild numbers. The area around South Fla, Keys, and Southern Gulf Of Mexico have been studied to death, and I feel confident that my impact is minimal if science is saying this is not a problem.
IMO the same cannot be said for many of the Pacific animals we keep simply due to the lack of reaserch that has been done in many of the areas.

3. I was born and raised in Miami. :D

4. I can purchase Fla aquacultured rock, once again with the advantage of knowing what environnment it came from and that the animals on this rock are a part of this biotope.

5. When I am in Fla, I can pick up some snails, crabs etc.... and know that they fit within my biotope.

OK, so what does this have to do with the topic of this thread, darned if I know:D . I guess what I am trying to convey is that I think I went in somewhat the opposite direction from what Jay is saying as far as available research on the animals I am keeping.
This research does not necessarily insure that one can keep these animals in a closed system however, even when knowing depth, temperature, etc... I find that there are still plenty of variables, as well as future possibilities, to keep me from getting bored.
Steve

[drtherc]

I think this is the very nature of aquarium hobbyists.

I started out with a goldfish bowl, moved up to koi pond, then added a real tank, then got a s/w FO set up. Once I learned how to take care of that, I'm building a reef (in process now). I'm sure that, once I get that going well, and learn to care for inverts and corals, I'll want to study and try with more exotic corals or inverts.

As someone said, the true experienced hobbyist will study, research, and learn what makes an animal thrive, and a newbie may not. Some will, and those will turn into experienced reefers.