Butterfly fish sp. facing extinction

[mattb]

Interesting read.. funny how they blame the aquarium industry.

http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1268095/butterfly_fish_faces_possible_extinction/index.html

[morty]

Pratchett is obviously talking out of his *****, and is going by old trends in specimen collection. I think most collectors now know what species are obligate coral-eaters and stay away from them. I have never seen that particular species in a store, ever. (However there are some stores still buying species that have poor records in captivity, like moorish idols, or species that require special tanks, like panther groupers, and I wish they would stop encouraging that market.)

[mattb]

I hear you... but regardless of this specific species, collection of obligate feeders IS happening, you've mentioned some. You should see the list of butterfly fishes that ARE being collected. (As well as purple queen anthias etc etc etc). There are a good 15+ species of butterflies available to LFS, most are challenging to keep at best....

It comes down to the consumer being educated on these...