Actually, so fucking many species of fish are disappearing from nature’s ecosystems, especially rivers and streams because of things like poisonous chemicals/pesticides.
The fish hobby is a way to preserve nature. Take it from Heiko Blehr, a German researcher, author, photographer, and filmmaker. He is best known in the scientific community for his contribution to the exploration of fresh and brackish water habitats worldwide. He literally wrote the textbooks for caring for many of the most famous and sensitive fish like discus and has traveled the world many times over and discovered thousands of new fish species.
Here is a great documentary on him and how he does it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3KccNiFIVQ
here is the time code for what I’m referring to: https://youtu.be/S3KccNiFIVQ?t=2554
This is the disaster, even in Costa Rica, I was with my dear friend who lived there all his life as a geologist, we found seven creeks, not one fish. All poisoned. Barbasco is the poison root natives use all over the world to kill all the fish. You have to beat the root in pieces and squeeze it and pour it into the river and the fish die, so they don’t have to catch them. The fish float to the top.
I’ve found this problem all over the world. The native people don’t have hooks or nets but they have poison.
and those aquarists who say you shouldn’t take the fish out of nature, leave them in nature, they don’t know what they’re saying. This is really disappointing, because I cannot see one place on this planet so far where really nature is protected.
downvote me all you want, nature is dying and it is up to us to preserve these creatures and protect them from climate and ecosystem disaster. But nooo, leave the fish in nature so it can die to poison or a decaying ecosystem and get completely wiped out. One of the world’s leading researches is totally just full of shit tho right?
Being an activist for something you don’t understand can easily do more harm than good and spread false information.
Axolotls are nearly if not already extinct in the wild. Hobbyists and researchers are the only thing keeping them in existence. Everyone adores seeing my axolotls and get emotionally invested in them almost immediately, which provides a very tangible in person thing for them to think about. It’s a good jumping off point for talking about what’s happening with lakes and rivers.
There are some things we shouldn’t take from the wild. Like I believe sourcing completely natural live rock is unethical as corals have it hard enough and it’s super easy to farm our own live rock. Some things it’s fine and can even help preserve them or teach people about conservation. I learned so much back when I took care of a marine tank. I have a much stronger understanding of how intricate and fragile our ecosystem can be and people should be allowed to learn and see that for themselves
But captive axolotls are not really true axolotls, they are different from the near extinct wild ones (they have a bit of tiger salamander mixed in). And this really only holds true if people breed their wild-caught aquatic animals - otherwise you are just grabbing a living being from its home and putting it in a tiny cage. There is a place for wild caught fish, but it doesn’t seem very kind to remove them from their habitat to languish in an aquarium for a fraction of their normal lifespan, which is undoubtedly what happens a lot…
Leaving them in nature to die and keeping them “safe” by preserving them in captivity is 2 sides of the same coin. Either way their natural lives have been robbed from them.
Not saying we should do nothing but just keep every species alive in special zoos and aquariams sounds dystopian and it feels like a stretch to call keeping animals in captivity “preserving nature”.
what about the boring fish? the non flashy or special ones who have cartoons made about them or some niche scientist’s interest? you’ll still eat those right?
I do agree with you, but people shouldn’t get pets, especially exotic ones, if they don’t have the money, skills, and time to ensure the animal’s physical and mental wellbeing.
Way too many people believe that you can just get a goldfish, put it in a small bowl and feed it and it’ll be fine, when in reality, goldfish need a huge ass aquarium that has to be cleaned regulary and get the water changed, other fish to keep it company, something to do, hiding places etc.
