Coral & Fish agression- the End Game

[rayray]

Its bittersweet, like when your kid leaves for college: you learned how to keep all these fish & coral and they grow big, then start to kill each other. Without constant trimming, changing the rockscape, tank upgrades you would be left with 1 mean fish and 1 gigantic coral, and a trail of dead fish who were bullied to starvation, coral skeletons that were stung to death, shells of expired cleaning crews.

How do other reefers deal with this?

 

[JOSE CASAS]

I wish I had this issue at this point in time........if the tank is big enough this wont happen lol

 

[watchguy123]

at my tanks happiest times, almost impossible to keep up with trimming. When corals are in the zone and your tank is tweaked to that sweet spot (whatever that magical, mystical spot is), growth is incredible and hard to deal with all the frags--really no joke. Also as you trim, a colony will inevitably either break in half or dislodge from the aquascape, both issues are a pain to deal with. Most of those "problems" get resolved by moving out of that sweet spot, either by boredom and reaquascaping or issues under the category, stuff just happens (things like operator error, equipment failure, pushing the envelope, vacations, on and on...)

Dead fish or dead coral are awful. These are all beautiful creatures that we have chosen to be responsible for and when they die or languish, it is really hard. I don't wish to be misunderstood, I enjoy eating fish ( not from my tank!). But these critters were taken from the ocean purely for our enjoyment and so to have them die is just bad on so many levels. There does seem to be an endless supply, but we all really know that is not true. The reality is that mortality is high in reefing. It's always great to hear about a twenty year old fish in someone's tank, or a reef tank that has been around a long time, but those examples seem to be the exception and not the rule. The majority of my current fish have been with me for some years but there are far too many fish that I have not been able to keep alive for many reasons. The same reality is true for coral. It's a good thing that you can't hear moans or screams through water ( that may be a bit too extreme on the morbid)

There are moral and ethical considerations in reefing. How one values life and beauty is a very personal issue. I'm sure there are lots of views and perspectives

So ultimately, I am, to my own dismay, somewhat callous on the mortality issue. I try to be conscientious in terms of reefing. In addition, to all of the factors listed above, it is incredibly expensive to lose any of these creatures. So like everyone else, I try my best to be vigilant with my reef keeping skills. And I read all these threads, looking to find some glimmering thought that will enlighten me to ultimately improve my tank.

That also means, I peruse through a variety of bizarre and inane thoughts and comments along the way. Probably makes my life richer for it. But I am undoubtedly impressed by the variety of thoughts (or lack thereof) shared on the forum daily.

 

[rayray]

I could do a 1000g fowlr forever, but the cost and work of a 225g reef for a decade is restrictive for most people.

Im coming to see captive reef life cycles like the natural reef. Some newbies never get their tanks off the ground, like a small ocean reef that doesnt last 100years. Some old reefers with their large tanks are like tropical reefs around islands that have evolved to old age like when the volcano has gone quiet for too long and its over. Tank crashes are like sever storms that wreck the reef but actually clear the way for something new. The great barrier reefs are like wholesalers that somehow just keep pumping out wonders- how to they do it, LOL?

 

[gonumber24]

For me, the solution to this dilemma would be to move somewhere in the tropics and live close to shore, preferably ocean front with my own natural reef. Then, I could go out into the reef whenever I wanted to enjoy it. Frag corals, obtain different stuff from different areas on the island, and put frags in the reef off my house, etc. I would avoid importing anything not already established there, however, to avoid the obvious issues.

 

[rayray]

a pier at Waikiki had 50 gallon tank with 2 "impossible-to-keep" starfish in it. all that was needed was a 1000 gph pump, 6 feet below, in the sea. it brought up all the food, new water & everything else needed. when the starfish got too big, they simply tossed them back into the water and replaced with a new starfish from under the tank. baby starfish were climbing up the return pump tubing, volunteers.