First I would like to appologize to Marry as this is not a species- specific post and I am not sure where else to put it as it does relate to the origional topic. As a newcomer to the hobby and very new to the idea of these forums I figure I will add my 2 cents worth and likley upset a few people while doing it. First, I do not know if I support the idea that these species should be banned outright for import. I feel that there are certianly people out there who would endure the price/headaches of setting up tanks to house some hard to keep fish. I know of one person who has just set up a VERY large tank to keep a shark housed. Granted this person has far too much money, but he has shown that he is willing to spend it to keep his fish happy and healthy. That being said, alot of fish undoubtedly die in tanks because of the lack of knowledge/greed of the LFS. I was told for my second coral that the gonipora was an easy to keep piece and that the bleany was a good pick for my third fish (they are both still alive and doing well after 5 mos
) I do not attribute this to skill so much as luck and realize that may people are not so luck and both may well die before the new year. I would really like to see "cards" provided with the fish to the LFS which they could display or "brochures" to distribute giving the care requirements (light, tank size, ease of care, feed etc...) and have people decide for themselves if it is suitable for them. We have care instructions for cloths (put there so I can avoid dry clean only,) and I can even go to my supermarket and get cards on the care and cooking of fruit, but no such thing exists for hard to care for fish species??? I know if I went to my LFS or had a copy of the card available at an on-line store I would look at it first and take it's recomendations over the clerks. Some stores may choose not to post the cards or make them available to the customer, but very soon I believe that people would question why and what they were hiding and eventually avoid the store or pick up the cards elsewhere. I realize that all this info on care is in books/ online, but many people, myself included are not so smart when the first buy fish and try to maintain a reef
. My respect goes to those who were smart enough to research all their purchases. Anyhow, even if it is decided that legislation should ban the import of certian species this would be a good way for the industry to show that they are trying to solve some problems on their own and to do so voluntarily (after all printing is not overly expensive now, perhaps tack on 10 cents per fish or coral.) One other suggestion which falls short of an outright ban would be making animals with very specialized requirements a special order item. Most people who special order an animal know the requirements and feel that they have a set up which allows keeping it healthy as they are likley going through extra trouble/expense to order it. Yes, I know that this may have to be legislated as many owners would not like to stop importing good sellers. Sorry, no suggestions for fish with high mortality rates in shipping.
Just my long 2 cents.
[ December 12, 2001: Message edited by: danny150 ]
[ December 12, 2001: Message edited by: danny150 ]</p>
