More on my Reefkeeping Philosophy.

atoll · May 11, 2016

Go to any LFS as a new comer to the hobby and ask how to keep your fish healthy they will probably tell you about water quality, feeding and filtration. These are all very important of course but what you are unlikely to hear about is IMO another to rank alongside those and that is natural environment.
I have already posted about why I keep small fish on here and the replies seem to echo my philosophy on my reefkeeping. It was heartening to read others shared my views on keeping our fish and to some extent corals.
Many fish species will be stressed if not given an environment similar to what they enjoyed on and around the reef. The mental health of our fish is as important as any and we all know what happens to stressed fish they become less resistant to various diseases that can inflict them.
I choose my fish species for my aquarium with much care and thought about not just their care but their tank mates and the environment from where they came. Fish that are found in shoals or pairs I mainly keep as such however my reefscape is equally important as anything I also provide.
My ethos and approach is to provide a complete a package as I can to provide the best I can reasonably achieve for them all. This way of reefkeeping has stood me in good stead for over 35 years and my fish mostly live long disease free lives.

McMullen · May 11, 2016

Thank you for this post! It is often very difficult to educate without being critical. When we walk into a LFS or search online vendors we are looking at animals taken from different oceans and different depths. We all need to put more foresight into our tanks!!

happyhourhero · May 11, 2016

I like to mix things I catch myself here in the gulf with my Indo-Pacific reef inhabitants. Its cool to me that they eventually learn to love the cleaner shrimp station.

atoll · May 11, 2016

McMullen · May 11, 2016

Beautiful mixed reef!!

Regikier89 · May 13, 2016

What if you have a LFS that has all captive bred species? I'm a real new comer as in I only have a tank. Still waiting til I gather all the information I can to feel comfortable.

McMullen · May 13, 2016

A tiger born in a zoo is still a tiger!

atoll · May 13, 2016

McMullen said:
A tiger born in a zoo is still a tiger!

Just like a baby born in an asylum is still a human being

atoll · May 13, 2016

Regikier89 said:
What if you have a LFS that has all captive bred species? I'm a real new comer as in I only have a tank. Still waiting til I gather all the information I can to feel comfortable.

One day that may be the situation but I think we have some years to go yet but we are getting there. I personally know of no FLS here is the UK who sell only captive bred stock only some and especially corals. There are only a handful of captive bred fish available so far..

Regikier89 · May 13, 2016

atoll said:
One day that may be the situation but I think we have some years to go yet but we are getting there. I personally know of no FLS here is the UK who sell only captive bred stock only some and especially corals. There are only a handful of captive bred fish available so far..

Oh ok. That makes sense. I thought there were more captive bred out there. It really is cool keeping such wild creatures.

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michellejy · May 13, 2016

Regikier89 said:
Oh ok. That makes sense. I thought there were more captive bred out there. It really is cool keeping such wild creatures.

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Unfortunately, saltwater has a long way to go to catch up with freshwater when it comes to captive bred fish.

Tehreefer · May 13, 2016

atoll said:
Just like a baby born in an asylum is still a human being

Yet captive bred clownfish do not host nem's as they do in the wild, so it may be a clownfish but it's behavior is altered.

McMullen · May 14, 2016

I've seen captive clowns hosts nems?!

In fact, a fellow club member has a harem tank. He purchased 9 or 10 babies and slowly one by one they're all learning to host........still very small too.

Tehreefer · May 14, 2016

Of course they will but it's not as strong of a natural instinct as their wild counterparts, and some never do host.

I did not say they won't, I said not as they do in the wild.

McMullen · May 14, 2016

Perhaps the further away from wild parents the more they lose natural instincts. Genetically watered down....

Isaac_P._Martinez · May 15, 2016

Tehreefer said:
Yet captive bred clownfish do not host nem's as they do in the wild, so it may be a clownfish but it's behavior is altered.

It's usually because reefers choose nems that they like and not normally hosted by the clown species. This is usually my experience with situations like that. I have been caring for SW aquariums for the better part of 13 years.

atoll · May 16, 2016

Tehreefer said:
Of course they will but it's not as strong of a natural instinct as their wild counterparts, and some never do host.

I did not say they won't, I said not as they do in the wild.

Why what's the difference you have observed between captive bred clowns hosting a nem and clowns hosting in a nem in the wild ?