Ever felt guilty about owning a fish caught from the ocean?

[Azedenkae]

No, not really. So long as there *should* be ample room and care given. The whale thing for example, I don't like if it hurts itself and is kept in a small place. But that applies to our fish too. If someone has a fully grown sailfin tang in a 10 gallon and somehow is hurting it, yeah I would feel bad for that tang. Conversely if the whale is well taken care for and seems to be doing pretty fine, even if it has to perform circus acts, then I am like 'eh whatever'.

 

[jrill]

Nope,never felt guilty about eating them either.

 

[Cwentz758]

I don’t feel guilty about having them for many of the reasons stated above. I also look at it from the view “If I don’t buy it someone else will” and that someone may be someone right off the street with zero knowledge on keeping a tank and then the fish is kept in bad conditions or dies due to poor conditions OR they get lucky and the person is very diligent.

Where this hobby makes me feel bad is when I come on here and see people panicking because they’ve got this two week old tank packed with fish and things are dying or sick. I feel bad for those fish and the ignorance of some of those people. I understand they’re on here looking for help to better the fish BUT why didn’t they research first? How many people on here would just go buy a dog with out doing any research on the breed or long term care and needs? I feel people mentally think of them as “just fish” and they jump head first into just dumping water and fish and calling it good when in reality this hobby is a constant science experiment and ever changing. That’s where I feel bad in this hobby.

 

[jorwill]

I don't feel it is eventually much different then household pets such as dogs or cats. I do everything to keep my fish stable, happy, and free of illness. The ocean would more or less condemn them to eventual death by being eaten or not and they live long happy lives in the ocean. Who knows...

 

[Turkey head]

I don’t feel bad for the conditions of my fish. I research a lot and try to provide good conditions. Where I do feel bad is that I have concerns about harvesting from the wild and sustainability. Not just for the creatures I have but in general. I get captive bred when possible but obviously most aren’t captive bred yet if ever.

 

[azazello]

No, I don’t

 

[vetteguy53081]

They should feel guilty !! They eat better than I do (scallop, squid, clam, shrimp,etc), vitamins, aminos, more room in THEIR house than I have) and get visual checkups Daily!!!

 

[jackalexander]

I don’t believe so, think of clownfish. Once they host an anemone, they don’t venture out farther than 4-5” from it unless it’s feeding time. In the wild, it’s the same situation.

 

[Stigigemla]

Every time I see an aquarium fish swimming in circles, eights or any pattern repeated many times it makes me sad.
It is wrong tank for that fish. A bigger tank and/or more diverse structure will make the fish happier and have something else to inspect instead of just being bored.

 

[casey012293]

I do not feel bad. I come from a hunting family where I realize that as long as things are taken from nature responsibly and with awareness of impact, the longer term will give more benefit to the wild populations as more money and attention will be created by those practicing at home. In some cases, captive populations may end up being used to re-populate dwindling wild populations in both fish and coral.

 

[Jon Warner]

Please don’t hate Just watched a video about a killer whales being taken from the wild and made into circus acts. And the whales basically hurting themselves because there not happy. So half of my fish are captive bred and other I believe wild caught. I have a beautiful 4 foot tank amazing conditions. Care and parameters. However my flame angel poppy. Eats and interacts but she swims counterclockwise around the tank in the late afternoon and I believe she does it because she does not like being in a box. All my other fish love life and make me very happy. Anyone else have some guilt for keeping wild caught fish? I’m doing my best

A lot of aquarium fish wouldn't survive to adulthood in the wild...

Having said that... I don't like seeing full size adult Queen Angels and other breeding size fish collected.

 

[Rickybobby]

I’m the op. This post wasn’t to discourage I just felt like bringing the subject up when I saw my flame angel swimming around the tank in a way that seemed that she wanted more. She and all my fish have a great life. I do my very best. It was good to see others perspectives to help my with guilt also to educate me about other things that benefit the fish. When my dory grows to a larger size I will invest in the waterbox 220.6 to make all of her dreams come true

 

[Mastiffsrule]

Here is my philosophy,

No one will truly know what fish are thinking or feeling, so how would we know if we should feel guilty or not. Is the fish really happy and we did good and should feel good? Or is the fish just living an existence and we should feel guilty? Only the fish knows. The rest is for the individual to interpret.

One person looks at a 180 gallon tank with 2 clowns and says they are happy with the room and food and does not feel guilty. Another person goes to an aquarium with a 5000 gallon aquarium and see a tang 1.5 foot long in great health and say that is terrible and does feel guilty. Whose right

Ehh..

 

[HB AL]

I feel just as bad when I eat a fish out of the ocean, in fact its so bad I'm selling the boat, all the fishing equipment and the tank............. sorry I lied!

 

[Dcal]

I'm kinda the same. Obviously, I feel bad for those fish that are with horrible owners or supply chains but as long as it's sustainable fine by me. I do think as a community our goal should be to work towards 100% captive bred

Captive-bred could also help in the eventual restoration of reefs that will only become more messed up as climate change continues

 

[Rickybobby]

Well brs did a video today on this very subject

 

[1337TANKHAX]

It is definitely a moral quandary. This hobby teaches invaluable lessons if you're passionate & paying attention. Lately social media has fueled the "skittles candy rainbow" aesthetic, & I've noticed a trend of more rare & colorful coral becoming more available. The "candy" pieces won't be there for divers to view & study if the trend continues. I also believe that a portion of the new generation of reefers might actually give a crap & could potentially revive dwindling reefs through aquaculture. If you truly take care of the animals in your aquabox to the best of your ability, & if your goal is to learn for the betterment of biology, the net will be positive. I hope.