OUR DEDICATION TO HUMANE PRACTICES AND THE ENVIRONMENT
There is more to a fish than its price. In fact, a higher price can (not always, but can) indicate that responsible and more costly collection, holding, shipping and acclimation practices were utilized with respect to a given animal. Stress is the cause of the majority of fish sickness and death in captivity and can result from a variety of circumstances including sub standard water conditions, improper diet, aggressive tank mates and poor collection and shipping practices. Fish have relatively simple immune systems in contrast to the multi-tiered systems of higher life forms so when they become stressed their immune system becomes quickly compromised making them more susceptible to parasites, bacterial and fungal infections. As long as they remain relatively stress free, their immune systems will generally be able to fend off these harmful organisms which are present in almost every marine environment. While water quality, diet and aggression can all be controlled and monitored by the aquarist, where and how your Fish, Corals and Invertebrates are collected, housed and shipped cannot. It is therefore of critical importance to purchase your livestock from a reputable source who makes every effort to ensure that their offerings traveled through a monitored, environmentally responsible supply chain.
Life Aquatic’s holding facilities maintain impeccable, chemical and medication free water quality. Our fish receive a varied and highly nutritious diet, complete with vitamin supplementation. Though we house many different species together in large tanks to condition them to captive life in a community environment, we are careful not to place fish together that are known to be natural enemies or sources of aggression. Once introduced we carefully monitor the interactions of the various individuals and separate any fish that are causing undue stress to themselves or others.
The one item we (or anyone else) cannot entirely control is the collection, holding and shipping methods used to get our fish from the ocean to our store. The truth is; it is impossible to know for sure if humane and environmentally friendly practices were followed for any given animal. What we can do however, is take numerous steps to minimize the chance that any of our offerings were improperly collected causing injury or unnecessary stress on the animal or our environment.
This is not just “lip-service”. Here are the actual steps we take: (Read More)
Purchasing in this matter is certainly not the cheapest way to get a fish from the ocean to our store, but the cost of a fish is really immaterial if the fish doesn’t live, infects the rest of your tank’s inhabitants or destroys our oceans. In our opinion it is much wiser to pay a bit more for a fish that is likely to have been collected responsibly. The fish will be healthier, will become used to captive life quicker and will likely live much longer than a fish of unknown origin. You can also sleep well at night knowing that your purchase was made with the utmost respect of our fragile environment.