Puffer eating clownfish

[Red Coral Aquariums]

my2rotties;
I have just read this thread through and am sorry to hear about your unfortunate circumstances.
On another note puffers are so much fun to watch and feed and they have SO much personality, congrats on your purchase.
As far as the "I will never go to that store again." the responsibility is ultimately on you to research your purchase. LFS's should give you responsible advise but in the end it is your decision.
We have a Spiny Puffer that a customer had purchased in town when it was very small but as it grew; fish in his tank started to disappear. So if you are interested in a tank of puffers we have an excellent one that can be hand fed ( but will eat anything that will fit in it's mouth) for a very good deal.
Kevin

[sphelps]

Originally Posted by GreenSpottedPuffer

Why would you take it from the ocean AND feed it a horrible diet?

You said you used to feed your puffer goldfish, not that you used to give him goldfish treats. Either way its wrong and when someone is relatively new to the hobby don't give them advice like that unless your clear about it.

For entertainment my friend, the same reason I setup and anyone else sets up a saltwater tank, not because its the humane thing to do. And like I said it wasn't the diet.

I never told anyone to feed their puffer anything, I simply made the point that puffers will most certainly eat other fish which seems to be related to the topic. So I'm not sure why you would say what I said was wrong?

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

Originally Posted by sphelps

For entertainment my friend, the same reason I setup and anyone else sets up a saltwater tank, not because its the humane thing to do. And like I said it wasn't the diet.

I never told anyone to feed their puffer anything, I simply made the point that puffers will most certainly eat other fish which seems to be related to the topic. So I'm not sure why you would say what I said was wrong?

You inadvertently did give that advice. At least someone (I know I took it that way) could mistake your comment for being advice on feeding a puffer. I just think you could have been more clear and actually have included some details...like it was a treat maybe.

All I did was make sure people understood how horrible of a diet that would be. The you cleared it up but started an argument instead of leaving it at that. Sure taking fish form the ocean is worse than feeding them a bad diet by why would you even go there...you knew that was not my point. I have no problem with fish coming from the ocean or I would not be in this hobby.

I think you do an amazing job with your tanks and people respect your opinions. That makes it even more important that you are clear. I did get a PM right after that BTW asking how to feed goldfish to puffers and another asking if it was ok to do.

I agree to a point with this posters views on keeping large fish but I have to agree, I couldn't do it myself if I felt quite so strongly about it.

My opinion is that there are species that should not ever be in LFS unless someone orders them specially. I also think every other species should be brought in as small as possible and safe. There is generally an ideal size for most species. For example I would say porcs should only be brought in 5" and under. Or...Naso Tangs, again under 5" or so. There is a huge difference between a fish that has be "raised" in a tank and one that has grown in the ocean. The younger the fish, the better they adapt generally.

I do not blame LFS for this alone by any means. I said earlier about that large tang that if it sits there and no one buys it, I bet the owner will not bring them in again. I think I said it would be ashame for it to die but it would also save many others...in theory anyways. It all stems form the collectors and lack of collection laws.

My father lives in Singapore and dives almost weekly throughout South Asia. I go a few times a year to join him and the **** you see go on down there would probably make most of you feel terrible about how you fish get here. The large fish are the worst to see.

Anyways, I do kind of agree that the original poster has a lot to sort out about how they feel about captive fish. This is not the hobby for you if you don't feel most fish are doing well in aquariums. Its a selfish hobby and you have to be ok with that. But I also think some people are being a little harsh with there crazy drawings and all out attack. Im not saying you are though, sphelps.

[sphelps]

GSP, I agree with what you're saying but it's up to everyone else to properly interpret any information given online. I can't be held responsible for any wrong interpretation regardless of my experience.

I agree that there should be limits on fish sizes brought in but unfortunately it's not that simple. LFS's know what fish to bring in and for the most part I believe they do there best to bring in what's reasonable. The problem is there are no standards for the actual size of a "small", "med" or "large" fish and it varies from supplier to supplier and you don't always have control to what exactly they ship to you. In a perfect world this would be different but as we all know this world isn't perfect but I for one am willing to except that.

I don't think Wes was personally attacking anyone, I think he's a good hobbyist and simply sticking up for the hobby in general and the people that make it all possible for us, our LFSs.

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

Originally Posted by sphelps

GSP, I agree with what you're saying but it's up to everyone else to properly interpret any information given online. I can't be held responsible for any wrong interpretation regardless of my experience.

I agree that there should be limits on fish sizes brought in but unfortunately it's not that simple. LFS's know what fish to bring in and for the most part I believe they do there best to bring in what's reasonable. The problem is there are no standards for the actual size of a "small", "med" or "large" fish and it varies from supplier to supplier and you don't always have control to what exactly they ship to you. In a perfect world this would be different but as we all know this world isn't perfect but I for one am willing to except that.

I don't think Wes was personally attacking anyone, I think he's a good hobbyist and simply sticking up for the hobby in general and the people that make it all possible for us, our LFSs.

I still think if you post on an open forum you do have to be careful and be very specific I understand people have to make well informed decisions but in many cases when someone experienced from this board or any other says something, people do take it as well informed advice. Really not a big deal, I was just trying to make sure people don't start feeding freshwater fish to puffers.

As I said, I do not blame LFS at all. I agree its people who buy the fish that are more to blame and also collection laws. IMO there should be laws not to limit actual species (unless endangered or threatened) but to limit what size can be collected. Problem is, too many people want to buy large fish instead of having the patients to grow them.

I don't know...seems like very personal attacks from Wes. Or at least that he was taking things very personal. I just think he really could have gone about that whole last post in a much better way. Telling people they have to "draw a line" and decide how they feel about their dilemmas is ignorant at best. The fish for food analogy made me laugh...some people make a distinction between food and pets.