If you were to ban one fish from the hobby what would it be?

[ClownSchool]

That's very fair. Anything like that should not be allowed in. Would be much better for the US saltwater hobby if fish had to pass health inspection by people who actually know what they are looking for before being allowed into the US. The same should be done with freshwater fish and reptiles. Tens of thousands of animals would be saved every year just by preventing sick/diseased/starved animals from being imported. The reptile hobby is the perfect example of this where in just Michigan alone at least 1000 various cheap imports still loaded with ticks and other parasites are for sale at one of the various reptile expos every weekend. 90% of those animals won't live past 30 days in captivity.

Irresponsible hobbyists are to blame by creating demand through ignorant selfishness. Oscars are a great example.
Since importing them, they’ve been released into the wild and decimated native ecosystems around the country.
Lake Okeechobee is only one example that had its bass and speckled perch populations eradicated due to irresponsible hobbyists who released their invasive ‘pets’ and destabilized the ecology.

 

[pasquale petrovia]

Moorish Idol for sure. I have been keeping fish for 37 years and kept a yellow tang for almost 30 years and a majestic angel for 18 years. Many fish for 15 years. My best Idol lived only 2 years. Most under 1 year

 

[Panky]

generally aren’t hobbyists) about what does and does not survive in our aquariums. They should have a list of target species and a list of inappropriate species. Don’t pay them for animals that don’t survive

Why Clarkii Clowns?

The devil!!! Mean and hard to catch

 

[flying4fish]

I have loved this hobby my entire life, so much so that I earned a Ph.D. in coral reef fish ecology. But it has always bothered me that the trade will sell anyone anything he/she might want, regardless of the level of expertise of the hobbyist or the unique diet of the fish. There are a number of fish that are readily available that are simply not going to survive in an aquarium. And some are collected in very unethical ways. Did you know that mandarins are collected by spearing them with a tiny spear made from a bicycle spoke? The ones that survive and heal are the ones shipped to us...mainly to die because they starve to death. So I'd like to see the industry regulate themselves by growing some balls and a conscious, but if that's not possible then I would support a black list of species, that are more likely than not, going to die.

 

[TWYOUNG]

Any Yellow Tang. They have no personality, they’re aggressive, they’re a plain yellow fish, they’re v e r y overrated. Change my mind.

Like come on, couldn’t you have a different yellow fish? It’s like every man and their dog has a yellow tang and when you ask “can you think of a yellow fish” nobody mentions other fish outside of yellow tangs.

I love mine. Captive bred. It's bright yellow color really stands out against my black backround. Doesn't bother anybody. Eats nuisance algae. Out swimming instead of hiding like my White Tail Bristletooth or getting all dramatic, freaking out, turning camouflage and looking like he's about to die like my Foxface lol!

 

[Whispers]

Six line wrasse

 

[AaronFReef]

Adult wild regal angelfish after my attempt to get and feed one and learning that you really truly can’t make a fish eat. It’s not all about effort. Tried everything I could shy of putting it in a mature reef tank since I have a tank full of fish treated with chemoprophylaxis I didn’t want to void the effort of.

 

[Roatan Reef]

Irresponsible hobbyists are to blame by creating demand through ignorant selfishness. Oscars are a great example.
Since importing them, they’ve been released into the wild and decimated native ecosystems around the country.
Lake Okeechobee is only one example that had its bass and speckled perch populations eradicated due to irresponsible hobbyists who released their invasive ‘pets’ and destabilized the ecology.

Yep, as an owner of fresh and saltwater tanks....I would add...pacus, striped Raphael catfish and a few other species of catfish...heck...go to SeaWorld and see the Striped Raphael Catfish...things literally get up to 6' long.

 

[N1Husker]

I have a yellow tang, he’s not aggressive. I never liked yellow tangs, every one I ever saw looked skinny, undernourished. I saw the most beautiful one at my local Petco, he was a perfect, healthy beautiful fish. I bought him and I’ve had him for a few years now. The fish or invertebrate that I would ban would be the sand sifting sea star. They just starve to death.

 

[SebM]

Cleaner wrasse. It's impossible to cater for their needs in a tank. I got a tank-bred one and it was doing extremely well. It was cleaning numerous other fish and it ate pretty much everything I offered... frozen, flake, pellets. It looked healthy for 4 months and then lost weight, got weaker and weaker over the course of 6 weeks or so and stopped eating & cleaning. It then disappeared until I found it dead in a powerhead.

Unless you have a 400 gallon tank with 20 massive tangs which the wrasse can clean pretty much 24/7, this amazing fish with their amazing personality should not be kept in a tank. It seems clear that even if they eat food you offer them, their nutritional needs cannot be met.

 

[L0L_Z]

corralivore and pod specific eaters. They are almost impossible to keep.

 

[Dave1993]

Valenciennea gobys no 1 does research b4 buying them including me

 

[A Young Reefer]

royal dotty backs, did you see anyone keeping them successfully in a tank with other reef fish?
no? exactly my point, most people confuse them with royal grammas and it ends up like adding a rabid Pitbull to a pit with golden retrievers. I have tried a royal dotty back, you could imagine what happened.

 

[SebM]

royal dotty backs, did you see anyone keeping them successfully in a tank with other reef fish?
no? exactly my point, most people confuse them with royal grammas and it ends up like adding a rabid Pitbull to a pit with golden retrievers. I have tried a royal dotty back, you could imagine what happened.

We actually have one and no problems at all. Both clowns and the bicolour blenny keep him in his place

 

[A Young Reefer]

We actually have one and no problems at all. Both clowns and the bicolour blenny keep him in his place

It didn’t touch my clowns but it harassed my every other fish to death.

 

[olonmv]

The lionfish……it’s decimating our (US) costal waters and killing everything at will since it has no predators to keep them in check.

 

[Dave1993]

The lionfish……it’s decimating our (US) costal waters and killing everything at will since it has no predators to keep them in check.

watched a video people were trying to teach sharks to eat them dnu if it worked or not

 

[olonmv]

watched a video people were trying to teach sharks to eat them dnu if it worked or not

This doc dropped my jaw on how versatile the fish is.

NOVA | Ocean Invaders | Season 49 | Episode 16 | PBS

Meet one of the ocean’s most beautiful and destructive species: Lionfish.

www.pbs.org

 

[Mark Goode]

I'd ban things like this:

 

[Dave1993]

I'd ban things like this:

where in the UK is that from