News this moring that Indonesia shut down the entire aquarium trade starting today 5/4/2018. No more exports of any type, coral, fish, anemones... nothing. Not even any local trade within the country. It's been said that 80 to 90% of the imports come from Indonesia.
This is after Walt Smith International is shut down. Many heard about the 1st shut down in Fiji but there were two more and the last one looks to have put him out of business. And the present shutdown in Hawaii means prices are about to skyrocket and supply will become more and more scarce.
There is an all out attack on the marine aquarium hobby by environmentalists and we have no voice and are the easiest target for them. Things are changing and changing fast. It's really got me sitting here thinking about my future in this hobby. I have a good bit of money tied up in my systems. Is now a good time to get out and sell everything while it still has some value or keep plugging away and hope for the best? I feel like the latter is like putting your head in the sand and hopeing things get better.
I've wanted to be in this hobby for a long time. Recently I had to ability to make it happen and now I looks like I may have gotten it too late. When many of the fish we keep die we'll only be able to replace them with the ones that can be tank bred. That rules out all tangs and most other fish we keep. Have a system crash? Well that could be the end for you. No way to replace the corals without mortgaging the house.
It's a sad day to say the least.
This is after Walt Smith International is shut down. Many heard about the 1st shut down in Fiji but there were two more and the last one looks to have put him out of business. And the present shutdown in Hawaii means prices are about to skyrocket and supply will become more and more scarce.
There is an all out attack on the marine aquarium hobby by environmentalists and we have no voice and are the easiest target for them. Things are changing and changing fast. It's really got me sitting here thinking about my future in this hobby. I have a good bit of money tied up in my systems. Is now a good time to get out and sell everything while it still has some value or keep plugging away and hope for the best? I feel like the latter is like putting your head in the sand and hopeing things get better.
I've wanted to be in this hobby for a long time. Recently I had to ability to make it happen and now I looks like I may have gotten it too late. When many of the fish we keep die we'll only be able to replace them with the ones that can be tank bred. That rules out all tangs and most other fish we keep. Have a system crash? Well that could be the end for you. No way to replace the corals without mortgaging the house.
It's a sad day to say the least.
