Is a "wake up call" needed, or am I just being grumpy?

[KoleTang]

I think the main problem is that people take down their tanks so quickly, all that was featured in the build thread was the equipment. Giving the illusion that all we talk about is equipment.

What the hobby needs is to be more treated like an art. Like bonsai, koi, and japanese planted aquariums. Those things all take years to get to success. We need more longevity.

 

[vlangel]

I think the main problem is that people take down their tanks so quickly, all that was featured in the build thread was the equipment. Giving the illusion that all we talk about is equipment.

What the hobby needs is to be more treated like an art. Like bonsai, koi, and japanese planted aquariums. Those things all take years to get to success. We need more longevity.

I agree 100%. I saw a beautiful tank featured once that was similar dimensions as mine. I began to follow the thread to see how they got the color they got. Then a centerpiece acro died and then they stopped posting pics. Next thing I knew they declared that they were bored with the tank and was tearing it down! I was so sad. Was it only so they could have bragging rights and hear everyone say how beautiful it was? What about the animals, weren't they attached to them as pets? I don't understand that.

 

[dallasg]

I agree 100%. I saw a beautiful tank featured once that was similar dimensions as mine. I began to follow the thread to see how they got the color they got. Then a centerpiece acro died and then they stopped posting pics. Next thing I knew they declared that they were bored with the tank and was tearing it down! I was so sad. Was it only so they could have bragging rights and hear everyone say how beautiful it was? What about the animals, weren't they attached to them as pets? I don't understand that.

i agree, i am devastated when one of my fish/corals die, no different to dogs/cats

what i do notice is that the larger aquariums dont last long, i think people under estimate the cost of all their gadgets etc. i myself fell trap to that 2 years ago, we forget inflation etc, and here in SA we have to budget for Rand / Dollar exchange

 

[Railcar79]

Alot of what I see is that people buy technology so they dont have to learn the animals. Look at the Apex for example, I hear so many times, the apex can do it all, run the tank entirely on its own. Another internet personality on saltwater, who runs a youtube channel sold "Ultimate guide to tank cruise control". Everything technology brings makes it easier to raise the animals so knowing them doesnt matter, and when the tech gets too expensive, or in some cases runs out, they post it all for sale and say they have done it, not once knowing the animals they kept. I see many people talking about their $1000+ light systems, and how they corals grow like crazy, but their colors suck. An acan from my tank turned a ugly green, where it was pink in my tank. He didnt understand why. When i told him it was his Radion LEDs he said no way they were the best most expensive LEDS and the coral just sucked, since everything else grows like weeds.

 

[vlangel]

i agree, i am devastated when one of my fish/corals die, no different to dogs/cats

what i do notice is that the larger aquariums dont last long, i think people under estimate the cost of all their gadgets etc. i myself fell trap to that 2 years ago, we forget inflation etc, and here in SA we have to budget for Rand / Dollar exchange

The cost and the work! I had a 125 FOWLR and a 90 reef 2 years ago. When my mother in law became bed-ridden and I became her full time care giver I chose to break down the tanks before their care started to suffer. The large WCs were too much with my new responsibilities. It was a difficult decision though, I had a lot of fish that were over 8 years old but I couldn't keep them in the 36g bowfront I downsized to.

 

[Tradewinds]

Scott, thought provoking article, another winner in my opinion.

I could still listen to music on an eight-track, but in today's world it is more enjoyable for me to listen to it digitally. Techies fund the research and development of new products, which in many cases advances the hobby and helps create a better environment for the sea creatures we keep. I don't see why technology and biology should be thought to be at opposite ends of the spectrum, unless the hobbyist is obsessed with one over the other, which brings us back full circle to the point of your article as I understand it.

One reason I think we see more hardware posts is because it is easier for the average hobbyist to post on this topic. To post something "new" on biology takes more time, effort, and research.

 

[Paul B]

I do agree with you that most reefkeepers of the day are caught up in the I have the latest new gizmo or the most expensive hard to find coral on the market syndrome.

I agree. So much is written about controllers, skimmers, reactors, test kits, LEDs etc. that people lose track of the most important aspect of this hobby, which is keeping these animals healthy. If we are not feeding correctly no amount of gizmo's will help.
I am fed up to here (my hand is under my chin) with people asking about ways to train a fish such as a mandarin how to eat pellets, corn flakes, Cheerios, TV dinners etc. The fish was designed to eat pods or something that is about the same as a pod and little else. If we understood their digestive system we would realize it is not built like us. It can't eat a T Bone steak in the morning or a bunch of pellets and be fine for the rest of the day. It barely has a stomach as it doesn't need one which is the reason it eats a pod every 8 seconds. Mandarins are one of the easiest, least maintenance, disease resistant fish there is if we just let it eat what it was designed to eat. Copperband butterflies are another one. They were designed to eat live things such as worms, not pellets or some freeze dried concoction and even if we teach it (or force it ) to eat pellets, it probably will not live on them for 10 or 15 years like a fish such as that is supposed to live.
Speaking of fish longevity virtually all of the fish we normally keep with the exception of seahorses, pipefish and some small gobies or cardinals live at least 10 or 12 years with fish such as tangs, angels and even clowns living into their twenties. Keeping a fish like a copperband for 3 or 4 years is like a human living to be a teenager. If we can't or won't feed a fish what it was designed to eat, I feel we should not buy it and leave it for someone who could take care of it. How many people buy a Moorish Idol because it was eating flakes in the store? I have been keeping them for 40 years and they all ate flakes, they would eat cardboard if you put clam juice on it but Moorish Idols have other problems besides food.
Of course gadgets can make our life easier and we all have them, but we should not lose track of the fact that the fish don't really care how much we spend on technology. They just want to eat and spawn. Which brings me to the last part of this rant. If you have two fish, male and female and they are not spawning, those fish are not very healthy. All healthy fish spawn and they do it all the time. My clown gobies spawn every two weeks or less as do most of my fish. No, copperbands, tangs, angels and other egg scatters normally will not spawn in a common home aquarium as it is just to small for them. But most other fish including mandarins, pipefish, clowns, gobies, seahorses and cardinals will.
When someone (including myself) posts that a certain fish spawned, most people will be amazed and congratulate them. But that is what fish normally do and what they should do, and they will if we feed them what they are supposed to eat, not what we have at the moment. OK, I'm done. :israel:

 

[uniquecorals]

Amen, Paul!

-Scott