Mark,
I see your point, but I don't think it should be up to hobbiests to be the main experimental testing grounds for "impossible to keep" animals.
For the most part, I think, hobbiests are susceptible to slick marketing and bad advice. I would rather larger, technologically based companies (Aquamedic or Aqualine, for example) be the ones to identify the needs of difficult animals, and develop products to suit. Only THEN would I support lifting the ban on the animal, and as a result hobbiests would be more successful as a whole.
I rarely see hobbiests that perform scientifically based studies that identify the needs of difficult animals. Instead, I see instances where some one will say "I don't do any water changes, I add whatever I want when I want, and all my corals thrive!"
I think that just increases the frustration level of aquarists that are trying to follow good reefkeeping practices, and winds up hurting the hobby, and a lot of animals die for a reason that no one can identify.
Mitch
[ December 15, 2001: Message edited by: Carpentersreef ]</p>