Captive breeding; Diversity vs volume
Taking a page out of the annals of early efforts to breed freshwater fishes ..... many advanced hobbyists are now breeding a wide variety of marine fishes ..... and many of these are not yet commercially viable or available in quantity if at all ....
this begs the question:
Do we need a million clownfishes or 25,000 each of 40 other species?
The answer is self evident .... since it's doubtful that an even smaller number of clownfish survives in captivity more that a year or two at most.......
WHY? ... unfortunately ... aquariums do not take care of themselves ... they do not meow or bite your ankle when neglected ... they do not piss & shit on the rug when not attended too properly .... and when they die from neglect it's conspicuous and in most cases even illegal!
but aquariums are often a precursor to a sewage dump .... the victim of ignorance and the mass merchandising approach of the aquarium industry .... after all ... you can't sell more of them if they live too long ....
The effort to develope commercial methods of production are misguided .....
more importantly a diversity of captive bred species should be produced in smaller numbers and sold at higher prices to acheive the status of an expensive pedigree dog or cat in the eyes of the aquarium owner ... only then will true advances be made in captive marine breeding techniques and prices will drop at the same time diversity is increased .... preserving otherwise soon to be extinct species due to the plunder & destruction of mankind. the same applies to a number of threatened freshwater species.
Are lab created hybrids a replacement? No.
Techniques for the husbandry of marine specimens by individuals should be disseminated to encourage hobbyist driven advances in the field of marine ornamental aquaculture.
Commercial production techniques can follow in these footsteps.
.... this will enlighten a larger number of mankind and educate them on the secrets of maintaining ecological & environmental balance and the conservation of nature.
There's no money to be made without consumption ... and no growth in consumption without waste ...... so here we all are creating garbage to make money and money to make garbage .... but if we replace consumption with conservation we are improving the quality of life.
So what is more important? All living things on our our planet? or each of us individually?
"Saving our Planet one Fish (or aquarium) at a Time"