Ocean gathered corals.

[Azure Phoenix Reefing]

Hello fellow reefers. I may have a somewhat ethical question for you. Recently I bought a gorgeous, small, piece of Euphyllia paraancora. Being curious where it came from, I contacted the retailer. A well known, European store. They were very helpful and honest in there answer, saying that the coral came from the sea, instead of a coral farm or aquacultured frag system for example. Now, I am very new to the hobby and guess I have to get used to the idea of corals gathered from the seas.

 

However, I do care greatly for our oceans and their fragile ecosystems and I am wondering how the Nano Reef community thinks about this. The thing is, being so new, I have not met many fellow reefers yet to swap or buy frags. I have visited several (inter)local LFS's and I can't say that their livestock and aquariums looked healthy and well cared for. The online retailer on the other hand received many great reviews and my experience with them so far is  really great. The packaging is awesome, everything I ordered was alive and well and they were very helpful and responsive as well.

 

So, here is a penny for your thought(s) 🙃, please let me know how you think about this and if I am overly concerned or if my worries are justified.

 

[mattitheowl]

I'd say it's down to your own individual ethics.  Personally I don't want anything that's been taken from the ocean.  I've made sure that everything so far has come from a tank.  But if you choose to have something in your tank that's from the ocean and you are OK with it, who am I to tell you you're wrong. As long at it isn't endangered and/or damaging the local environment it's been taken from I can't really say you're doing anything wrong.

 

If you don't but it, some other punter will.

[Joevember]

I always try to buy aquacultured fish and corals. There are some stores that sell elegances that they propogate themselves, and I bought both of mine from them.

I'd never buy a scoly because of the fact that they can't be propogated efficiently... and the fact that they start at $150.

If people take too much out at a rate unsustainable rate, then it puts our reefs in danger. Percect example of the tragedy of the commons.

[Azure Phoenix Reefing]

@Joevember & @mattitheowl Thank you for your honest and kind replies! Guess that is my idea as well. When I started reading about keeping a reef aquarium, back in 2018, I never read much about where exactly all the corals and fish actually came from. Seeing the decline in natural reef health, the bleaching of the Great Barrier Reef (and other ones as well) and general trouble the marine ecosystems seem to have, I assumed most of the livestock would be aquacultured.

 

So after receiving my first coral, last week, I started thinking and wondering where it came from. Finding out it came from the ocean, was kind of a shocker. But had me wondering if I were the only one seeing it like that. Now knowing this, I will keep it in mind when I go look for new corals and will contact the vendor/importer beforehand, because they also sell many aquacultured corals.

 

On a side note, do you guys perhaps now of any projects concerning the well being of the oceans? Say for example, where the aquaculture corals and return them to the reefs? I'm from Europe, but still, I'd love to read up on them and learn about how they try and help out our seas.

[mcarroll]

google the term "mariculture".....there are lots of folks doing this.

 

Jonathan Bird's Blue World has an episode about one place:

 

[Azure Phoenix Reefing]

Will do @mcarroll! Thanks for the tip!

 

I have watched quite a few of Jonathan Bird's videos last year. I used to dive, however I have been on a hiatus for about 15 years now. Hoping to find the time soon to pick it up again and because of that, I started watching his videos. 🙂

[Alyciac327]

I am planning a nano reef based on my personal ethics, which are very rigid, and this was a topic that came up for me this week.  Until yesterday, I honestly thought it couldn't be legal to take Coral from the oceans, as all the reefs are dying.  I was surprised when the guy at my LFS told me he's disappointed Indonesia banned taking Coral from the oceans and now you can *only* get them from Australia. He exclusively takes his Coral from the ocean. It really took me back because I always thought that people in this hobby were happy to leave the ocean as is out of respect.  Maybe I'm still misinformed and there is more to be said about this topic. I'm open to learning more. 

[SaltyGallon]

Old thread but an interesting question and one I've thought about. For me it's tank raised corals only, I figure the ocean's got enough crap that it has to put up with already e.g. plastics and climate change. That's a hard one too... Plastic waste is bad for the ocean but the amount of single use and general plastic we have in this hobby is nuts - but not once have I seen the issue acknowledged anywhere 🤷‍♂️