It is a sad, sad hobby
Marc Kochzius (http://www.reefbase.org)
One thing that has always bothered me is the negativity among the reef aquarium hobbyists. Or, to be more precise, among some of the more visible and insistent experts, old timers and their fanboys.
Hobbyists are often blamed for bad husbandry practices and lack of knowledge for the animals they keep. This habit is common in online discussion forums, a major media for modern reef aquarists. Even some authors of blogs, aquarium magazines and books seem to have very limited respect towards an average hobbyist. Some of the more arrogant ones seem to even take us as complete idiots that should not be allowed to keep any kind of organism in captivity and the advice and information (most of the time opinion, really) is presented like a parent would present his or hers advice to a child. I know what is best for you, you do like I say! Of course most of the experts are nothing like this and many of them are extremely important part of the community. The real experts, I mean.
I disagree strongly with this depressive description of an average hobbyist: based on more than 10 years of experience in online forums I can say with confidence that the majority of us hobbyists are truly trying our best to provide the optimal care for the organisms we keep or would like to keep. I have never quite understood the logic behind the idea that by scare and distrust you would somehow make the poor hobbyist a better or “enlightened” aquarist. I guess the people using these tactics imply that they know how to take care of the animals in question but the low-ranking hobbyist asking the questions should not even be interested.
The unfortunate fact is that the reef aquarium keeping can be practiced in a less-than-serious way. There is a certain part of the community that is not motivated in improving their skills or gaining more knowledge, some might not even be interested in being aquarists at all. Although I disagree with their motives and objectives, I don’t see why the huge majority of hobbyists should be vilified because of them.
James Oliver (http://www.reefbase.org)
An other particular form of pessimism is the almost compulsive need to deny any success some aquarist might try to claim. I’m sure everyone has read the line about how you can’t say you are successful until you have kept an individual for n years, where the n is always the time the aquarist has kept it plus one? This is so idiotic idea that I don’t know what to say. What committee decided these time frames and at what meeting? If the animal is healthy and grows, what other criteria should be met? Are you yourself a successful aquarist by these same standards? What data you used to come to these conclusions? Could you please compile a comprehensive list of these time frames for each species so that the rest of us don’t need to read these boring comments? And finally, would you please stop already? If you can’t get excited from other aquarists’ accomplishments or you are not interested in learning about a captive care of an animal just don’t say anything. This way the rest of us can keep improving.
The last one I want to mention is the trump card for The Brotherhood Of Pessimism: the combination of the two above mentioned negative ideas: first you are told that it is ridiculous for you to think you have succeeded or that you should stop being so thrilled about it because you have only had the specimen for n months or years. It doesn’t matter if it has grown or reproduced. But there’s more: even if you were lucky (it has to be luck, doesn’t it) and somehow managed to keep it alive (it must be suffering though), it is totally irresponsible to tell others about it because they are so stupid that they all will now run to the closest fish store and buy one. Oh the humanity!
“Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge”, Charles Darwin
That is so true and great points! All of these people had to start somewhere and to say no, just because — is not fair at all. Granted many people get in the hobby and try to keep things they have no idea about, BUT if you do the research take into account the risk and plan accordingly then go for it!
On Yahoo! Answers the “saltwater expert” with thousands of answers told a person there is no way to keep saltwater coral or fish in a small 10g tank. There is less room for error, but hasn’t the nano-reefing community done away with that idea? Some of the most amazing tanks I’ve seen were 10-20gallon nanos!
You are not alone but don’t let that sour you too much in the hobby. It is bloggers like us trying to get everyone away from the negative and often wrong thoughts perpetuated on forums and message boards.
Brian