we humans collect stuff from plastic traffic cones to real live Elephants and everything in between it’s a bit weird when you think about that
But we have always brought in things from nature to our homes to decorate them such as holy and ivy during cold northern winters way before it was a Christmas thing
Now it’s much easier to decorate our homes with exotic and unusual items such as aquaria without thinking about how the items were sourced
I get videos sent to me from fish collectors and one that I don’t agree with is the amount of clown loach taken from the wild knowing that they will never grown to full size in the average home aquarium
and most will simply die, and because there are so many collectors and the fish are easy to catch the price is on average is only $0.50 (USD)
Another thing I find strange about aquascaping is why do a lot of designs try to replicate terrestrial scenes instead of celebrating aquatic ones ? Mountains scenes especially seen favourite, therefore the need to use rock that is taken from mountains etc by the tonne and shipped around the world
What is the ecological cost of this ?
What is the cost to the planet of the average aquarium or aquascape ? Tropical fish flown half way across the planet, hardcore ripped from tropical forests, mountains, beeches, quarries, not to mention how the “special” substrate raw materials are from or how it’s made
So unless we are breeding endangered species to repopulate the wild habitat or educating people about aquatic life can we say honestly hand on heart or hobby is eco friendly?
No, I can’t say that
When I first got into fish keeping in the 70’s there was no thought at all about any of this it was an age of discovery, wildlife programmes, all glass aquaria, heaters, special aquarium lighting
all dazzling things I could spend my pocket money on or put on my list for birthdays or Christmas
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