Cyanide? I never knew!

"One of the most destructive practices is poisoning reefs with cyanide or other toxic chemicals to stun the fish so that they can be captured live. The chemical mixture is squirted into reef crevices and the reef is broken apart to harvest the fish. Many of these fish die before or soon after they have been sold. Some estimate up to 80% of fish harvested this way die before they ever make it to a home aquarium."

-Sustainable Aquarium Keeping

My Pops was telling me this the other day that upwards to 80% of all live caught marine fish die before they reach our aquariums. We must all take the time to question our LFS as to the who and how they are obtaining their livestock.

 

The best question to ask is "Where" they are caught. A lot of countries have banned this practice, and if found doing so face several years of prison time.

 

Yeah, it was much more a problem of the past. It still takes place in some areas of collection, but not nearly as widespread as it once was.

 

FA124/FA124: The Ornamental Fish Trade: An Introduction with Perspectives for Responsible Aquarium Fish Ownership

 

The onus is on us as aquarium keepers to pay attention to the fish that we are keeping, and to fully research (as best we can) the origin of the fish we are buying. If we dont at least make the effort, we are equally as guilty of the crime in my opinion. No one can be perfect, and mistakes are made, but the effort should be made in advance. Avoid fish from origins with known bad practices, and also avoid really rare things. I try my best to buy captive raised corals. That is harder to do with fish granted, but try to stay with domestic livestock (FL, HI, etc.) as I think that is a bit safer as well. Again, as best you can, it is not always clear cut unfortunately

 

all the stores in my area get their stock from seagrest farms. which is one of the highest esteemed wholesalers around.

 

They have been using cyanide for years. I've never known them to squirt it into crevices Luke tgat though. When I have seen it used, they just blanket the area and scoop up the fish that float up. Cheaper that way as you don't need divers to touch water. Electrical shock is also commonly used in this way.
And your LFS will have no idea how they are captured, as they have never spoken to the boats/divers. The fish change way to many hands for that. In the 48 or so hours it takes for the fish to go from ocean to tank, the process often times works like this: Fish are harvested by whatever means by the boat crew, boat crew sells fish to distribution company, distribution company sells fish to exporter, exporter sells fish overseas to importer, importer sells fish to distribution company, distribution company sells fish to retailer.

 

Yup, thats why you need to consider origin when you by it. You can not guaruntee that fish from US coastal waters have been caught properly...but there is a better chance that they have been. Same with many caribbean islands, etc. No guaruntees, just really playing the odds and doing your best to make as good of a decision as possible. So go for the hawaiian yellow tang vs. a yellow tank from the phillipenes, etc.