Conscientious Marine Business Practices (8/8/04)
Thanks for your reply. <You're welcome.> The brittle star is not of the green variety. <Good. Not to bad-mouth the greens though--I have two in a tank with fish too big for them to mess with.> It is
a bluish purple on it's body and dark yellow feet. <Sounds pretty. I am a big fan of these and other echinoderms.> The reason I ask for more in-depth reading material is I own a pet shop that has sold freshwater fish for 20 years. <Congrats on the longevity of your business.> Lately we have had a large request volume for saltwater fish, so I decided I had better start up a tank and learn as much as I can so I can carry saltwater at my store and be able to properly educate my customers (we're not a "sell it so it can die and they can buy more" pet shop, we typically have less than a 10% loss rate with livestock sold to customers, because we spend copious amounts of time educating them, and explaining water chemistry and testing water for free.)  So far I have had
my tank set up for 4 months, and I haven't lost anything yet, except some little "alien" like creatures that came all over a bunch of plants I got, but I think they became food. <These small things do tend to come and go depending on conditions, predation, food supply, etc.> Thanks again for your advice, and I look
forward to reading more on your site. <Great to hear of your conscientious business practices. I'll bet this gives you a truly loyal customer base. The hobby needs more retailers like you. I think you'll find the books I suggested very informative. You might want to start stocking "The New Marine Aquarium" by Michael Paletta for those who are interested in SW to start learning. My LFS sells it at cost to all new SW hobbyists. Step two is "The Conscientious Marine Aquarist" by Robert Fenner. These are a great start for most folks. I'd also suggest "Reef Invertebrates" by Anthony Calfo and Robert Fenner. Scott Michael's "Marine Fishes" is a great pocket guide to the most common fishes in the hobby, though many think his minimum tank-size recommendations tend to be too small. "Reef Secrets" by Nielsen & Fosså is also a great beginning reef book. The others I mentioned previously are much more advanced. Best of luck to you in expanding your business. Steve Allen.>

Aquariums to save species
Bob,
  I remembered a paper on endangered reef fish, and made a few small
modifications:
Coralisters,
  I have to disagree with the basic premise of the original question about
using an aquarium to save reef species.
  First, coral reefs are in grave danger around the world.  Coral species,
however, are not.  There are a few very rare species of coral that are in
fact in danger, but nobody seems much concerned- for example, on the
Pacific coast of Panama there are 2 species of coral currently known from 4
colonies each.  If that's not endangered, I'd like to know what is.  These
numbers are published, and yet as far as I know, no one is in the slightest
bit interested in listing them as Endangered Species.  CITIES has a list
for Endangered Species (Appendix I), but they are not on it.  Instead, all
corals, including those whose populations may be in the billions of tons
(estimates, anyone?), are all on the Appendix II list of CITIES, so trade
is permitted, but permits required.  The reason for this?  To try to help
countries control the trade in corals for curios to gather dust on shelves
in homes, or to stock aquariums, to avoid the wholesale destruction of
reefs (i.e, to save reefs, not species).  I remember hearing that dynamite
and dump trucks were used to collect corals in Florida years ago for the
shell shops; there wouldn't be much left there if it was allowed to continue.
  As for other species on reefs, relatively few fish, mollusks, or other
macrofauna are probably at risk of species extinction.  A study of reef
fish found only 5 species that were critically endangered (2 of these
probably already extinct), one that was endangered and 172 that were
vulnerable.  Some macrofauna may already be commercially extinct, like the
biggest giant clam, Tridacna gigas, but the species is not close to
extinction.  Without action maybe it will be, but can we use it like the
Spotted Owl in the US Pacific Northwest to protect entire ecosystems?  It
doesn't require healthy reefs to live, and is easily bred in mariculture.
  I would guess that almost all of the world's coral reefs could be
"destroyed", that is 99% dead, without loosing hardly any species of
macrofauna.  A few individuals of each species are likely to survive on
most reefs.  (maybe we need some serious research to see how far I'm off
the mark) Might loose some microfauna- I understand there are some
amphipods with extremely restricted ranges.  Shall we try to save entire
coral reefs by adopting the slogan "Save the amphipods"?  Un-charismatic
microfauna may not help much.  Reefs themselves are far more charismatic.
  Secondly, a home aquarium set up by a beginner is not going to help save
endangered species; however, it could be used to help extinguish species.
Yes, corals can be grown in aquariums and fragments spread to other
aquariums and potentially returned to the wild.  Yes, more people are
learning how to do this.  Yes, that's great.  But the reality as far as I
know is that you have to know what you're doing, lots of people don't know
yet, and fish shops continue to sell large quantities of live coral and
fish because many or most home aquariums continue to be death traps- live
things go in, dead things come out.  This is particularly likely for a
beginner, but also includes many or most public aquariums with large
budgets- do you really think they breed every fish species they have on
display enough to replace the fish that die?  No way.  Sad, but true.  This
does not diminish all the great things that aquariums, public and private
do, for education, getting people to love the animals and be concerned for
their protection, etc.  But those good things don't change the fact that
most aquariums are net consumers of living things, not producers.
  So my advice is if you want to get an aquarium, get one because you
think its beautiful, but don't delude yourself into thinking you're helping
to save a reef or a species.  If you want to help a reef, get a freshwater
aquarium instead, and switch from that gas-guzzling monster you (may)
drive into a highly fuel efficient vehicle.  (the sequence is said to be:
burning fossil fuel produces greenhouse gas (CO2) produces global warming
produces coral bleaching produces coral death)  So far, I know of no
indication that people in developed countries or wealthy people in
developing countries are at all inclined to give up big vehicles; on the
contrary their popularity is increasing.   -Doug
Hawkins, J. P., C. M. Roberts & V. Clark.  2000.  The threatened status of
restricted-range coral reef fish species.  Animal Conservation 3: 81-88.
Douglas Fenner, Ph.D.
Coral Biodiversity/Taxonomist
Australian Institute of Marine Science
PMB No 3
Townsville MC
Queensland 4810
Australia
phone 07 4753 4334
e-mail: d.fenner@aims.gov.au
web: http://www.aims.gov.au

<Sue, with Doug's permission I am sending this bold statement along for your consideration in running in an upcoming FAMA editorial. Please do respond to the "other" Mr. Fenner (no relation that we know, surprisingly enough), and send him a copy of the issue if/when it is inserted.
Bob Fenner>

We are collectors in Costa Rica and would like to discuss some future pos...
We have been shipping Costa Rican Marines for 12
years to Canada and The US . We have just completed an
expansion and now have over 5000 gallons of salt water
capacity and feel confident we can service a few more
customers with the same top quality and consistency as
before . If you would like to discuss terms with us .
or wish to see a price and inventory list I would be
very happy to send one  out to you . We have new
services into the U.K that make this option feasible
where it was not before . Hope to hear from you soon
Catalina Castro
<Thank you for your offer. I will gladly help you (for free) locate other markets. Who do you regularly ship to in the U.S.? Can you provide me with an idea of what your typical/annual stocklist looks like? Are there expensive restrictions like air freight that might influence an importer/transhipper's buying from you?
Bob Fenner>

Re: We are collectors in Costa Rica and would like to discuss some future pos...
I am having problems getting emails out so you may get
2 similar emails . Any ways . Thank you for responding
so promptly , That sounds great . I am not clear are
you a transhipper or a wholesaler ?
<Actually, and thank goodness for your facility with English, more of an "expediter"... A content provider in the trade, interest... mainly a consultant and friend in/to the trade these years... A much more hands on person a decade back... But do get around and know many of the folks in the industry still (attend most the large domestic, international trade fairs,  go visit several countries a year visiting collecting facilities... And am always agreed to help people make the trade better>
We are awaiting freight rates from our broker and once I have those I
will forward them to you . In some cases our clients
have been able to negotiate a better price from there
end with the airline  especially when you are in their
hub , in your case British airways.<Really? Even to Los Angeles, Miami, Chicago...?>
If you have strong contacts with them perhaps that would help. One
concern I have is Packaging . We now ship in
Styrofoam boxes with a waxed Cardboard liner . I
understand that Europe and GB do not permit non
Biodegradable packaging . . Do you have some
suggestions in that respect ?<Ah, will check with my friends at Tropical Marine Centre. Do you trade with them currently? I am actually in the U.S.A., in California.>
We work here on quotas
imposed by the ministry of fisheries , For example
each diver is allowed 50 fish per species per month .
<Sounds like a good principle>
I have 7 divers so I would have the capacity to
produce and export 350 Holacanthus Passers for example
.( water permitting of course )  I have 3 more divers
I can put to work should the demand warrant it . . At
present we ship to Marine Enchantment ( TO ) Exotic
Marine and Marine Life Design  ( Miami ) Marine
Brokers of Atlanta , High Brite USA ( LA ) We will be
dropping HB for problems in collecting payments &. Sea
Dwelling Creatures .  ( LA) They know us as Villas Las
Cascadas but we have just made some changes in our
company and from now on will be known as C 2 C
International S.A. I will forward to you by Fax ( Need
your Fax # ) <858-578-7372>
a price and inventory list . This will be
an approximation of what you could expect +/- on a
biweekly basis  I look forward to your reply and as
soon as I have rates , schedules and your fax # I will
forward that and price / inventory list to you . I
hope this can work out . For us the time has come to
move into Europe . Looking forward to your feedback .
Catalina Castro
<And I will begin now to send out our correspondence via email to parties I know to be of help and possible business contacts for you.
Bob Fenner>