Posted by Jase:
It's not a need, but a challenge. If we didn't ry different things, we'd all have tanks full of star polyps and damsels.
If I could provide the correct food for the above fish, just as easily as I can provide food for my anthias, then where's the problem?
First of all I don't see where you are differentiating between need and challenge. The worlds coral reefs are in trouble and this hobby is one reason for this. This hobby is also an easy target for those wishing to ban all imports. By keeping coral eating fish with coral they eat, we are just giving these people more ammunition. The average person is not going to care if you raised the coral from a frag, all they are going to know is that some hobbiest actually feed coral to their fish. Many others BTW will be asking where that frag came from originally. In the end all imports will be banned, and I can't say I could blame them if our hobby chooses to be this irresponsible.
As to your damsel and polyp analogy
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Steve
It's not a need, but a challenge. If we didn't ry different things, we'd all have tanks full of star polyps and damsels.
If I could provide the correct food for the above fish, just as easily as I can provide food for my anthias, then where's the problem?
First of all I don't see where you are differentiating between need and challenge. The worlds coral reefs are in trouble and this hobby is one reason for this. This hobby is also an easy target for those wishing to ban all imports. By keeping coral eating fish with coral they eat, we are just giving these people more ammunition. The average person is not going to care if you raised the coral from a frag, all they are going to know is that some hobbiest actually feed coral to their fish. Many others BTW will be asking where that frag came from originally. In the end all imports will be banned, and I can't say I could blame them if our hobby chooses to be this irresponsible.
As to your damsel and polyp analogy

Steve