Morality and Fish

[IanWR]

Originally Posted by jorjef

Tiring fast. All the moral gibber jab about what's best for fish, supplying the best "habitat" the best tank conditions to make their little lives more bearable in a glass box makes me want to puke. WE ALL are guilty anyone who thinks they are doing a fish a favor by offering the best living conditions possible has a very fogged thinking.

I get what you are saying. There are people who seem to suggest that keeping pets saves them from a miserable life in the wild. That is clearly silly. And yet I think there is a middle ground between "pets are fully sentient" and "pets are objects". I have similar feelings about cattle. Yes, we keep them to kill and eat them. Yet I don't think that means we can treat them any way we feel like. I feel like we owe them proper nutrition, a modicum of space so they don't go crazy, and as quick a death as we can manage. So in an aquarium context, it means (for me) not being cavalier about the critters I keep. I don't lose sleep if I buy a coral and it dies, but I do attempt to create conditions that it could thrive. And that means researching, asking for advice from those with more experience, and making reasonable choices with what I buy. I don't feel foggy, but maybe I'm out to lunch? Maybe with a few more years under my belt I'll feel differently.