Hey all,

I've kept aquariums for nearly 15 years now but have only plunged into the reef side of the hobby for the past 4 years or so. Having been raised by two hippies (bless em') they and I were extremely weary of the impact that reef keeping had on ecosystems of our oceans. Finally, I started some research and have now decided that the best way to help is to encourage aquaculture amongst our fellow reefers.

What is aquaculture? It is defined as the rearing of aquatic animals or plants. Where do you come in? Well, start talking to your LFS. Ask them where they are getting thier corals, get that phone number and find out where they are collecting and whether or not there captive propagation involved in thier process. START DEMANDING CAPTIVE BORN CORALS!!! The more we propagate our own coral, the less that will be collected from the wild. If we reduce the demand for wild collected and increase demand of aquacultured corals, we will reverse the ballance.

On a more personal level you can help by setting up your own propagation tank. This is a great way to not only help out wild ecosystems, but also grow corals to fit where you want them. Fragging and starting new colonies is a great way to expand your coral collection and even make a little money on the side (all of the money that goes into my aquariums is made by selling corals)

If anyone has any questions on how to set-up a prop tank, how to frag colonies, or different methods of aquaculture just let me know and I'll give/find answers.

I'd love to hear everyones opinions on this matter!

- Eben

Eben, what a great discussion! I too worry about what impact our hobby has on natural coral reefs. The main killers of natural reefs are anchoring, over-fishing, and pollution caused by factory and large corporation waste dumping.

Although, live capture of fish, inverts and corals plays a role in the decline of coral reefs as well. Aqua-culture and more mari-culture (culturing large amounts of animals in the natural ocean) are two things that are catiching on big time!

Aquaculture really is becoming the thing of the future, especially considering the shape fish and coral polulations are in right now.  Banggaii Cardinals are probably going to get put on the CITIES list, so there's another one we'll have to rely on captive breeding for.  The LFS I work at only carries captive-bred clowns and dottybacks, and we try to get our hands on as many captive-bred things as we can.  Most of our coral is aquacultured, as is our liverock.
The local reef club in my area, Grand Rapids Marine Aquarium Society, is also doing an excellent job of stressing the importance of aquaculture.  They recently had a frag swap and many of the raffle prizes were donated by ORA.  To show the variety of things possible with aquaculture, here is what I won in the raffle: a baby T. gigas clam, a clarkii clown, an orange skunk clown, and some blue Xenia.  Other prizes included more clowns, dottyback, and coral propagation kits.

I agree.  I haven't gotten into reefing yet (still setting up my tank), but I would rather buy aquacultured corals over "captured" ones.

That's great to hear! If you all want to find out how to propagate your corals efficiently and safely you should visit a site called "Garf.org". This is a non-profit research foundation (Geothermal Aquaculture Research Foundation). They have tons of articles and research data from thier experiences propagating many, many generations of all types of corals. I have tried many of thier methods and have been especially successful with the propagation of Zoos, Xenia, and Mushrooms. Maybe we can all get an aquaculture trading ring going. That'd be nice to see. The less we collect, the less impact we make. And if we take those corals that are collected and we propagate them, well that's just as good! If you all are ever in the market for some 100% aquacultured corals just contact me. If the tank is overflowing, it's free by me. I'll let you guys and gals know when I'm full of Xenia.

"Save a reef, grow your own!"

Cool, thanks for the offer Eben, we may take you up on that :-) GARF is a really great institute, their bulletproof reef aquarium was featured in Mike Paletta's book "Ultimate Reef Aquariums." The tank is only 55 gallons but has more coral in it then you can imagine, all stuff GARF fragged and grew.