Jestersix

Tang police = ethical husbandry and propagation of marine life

Roc

Roc

Guest
BARcard
I have seen a lot of posts lately about how BAR members are not the "Tang police" which is fine I guess, but as I thought about it, isn't being the tang police really just someone looking out for the "ethical husbandry and propagation of marine life" which is this clubs mission statement........

I'm wondering if it was a conscious decision by the club, or just a common sentiment shared by members?



Over at NCRC I'm known as the tang police, so I guess I don't share that same sentiment, but I can also know my place, so if as a club the discussion about tangs in tanks that are to small is considered "bad form" then I can follow along as well
 
bookfish said:
I will have to tell you what I think in person. Stopping by?
Click to expand...

Not this weekend, I got all the kids and we gonna go out and do some stuff, but I will ask you when I do come in
 
Hey Roc, Just wondering here.. I have a yellow, a purple and a red sea tang in my 215 reef all getting along very well together for over a year. I don't plan to add any more tangs. What do you think about that?
 
JAR said:
Hey Roc, Just wondering here.. I have a yellow, a purple and a red sea tang in my 215 reef all getting along very well together for over a year. I don't plan to add any more tangs. What do you think about that?
Click to expand...


That you have twice as much tank as I do and the same number of tangs, so commenting by saying anything other then "Your right on track" would mearly be setting myself up for a huge fall....LOL



I don't wanta get off that I am some sort of expert, hell I just started a thread asking about adding a trigger to my tank, however over time I have noticed A LOT of posts saying "We arn't the tang police around here" in threads where ppl were keeping very large fish in very small or not large enough tanks.
 
I think it's one of those things where "it's not what you say, but how you say it".

A lot of times people declare "Tang Police" when the ethical husbandry advice is given in such a negative way that the message gets lost in what's perceived as a personal attack.

We try to be supportive without being authoritarian or abusive. Maybe we're too PC (Hi Jim! :D )

This kind of relates to one of my sig lines, "Yes, you are doing something stupid and people here are trying to help you." :D
 
Mr. Ugly said:
I think it's one of those things where "it's not what you say, but how you say it".

A lot of times people declare "Tang Police" when the ethical husbandry advice is given in such a negative way that the message gets lost in what's perceived as a personal attack.

We try to be supportive without being authoritarian or abusive. Maybe we're too PC (Hi Jim! :D )

This kind of relates to one of my sig lines, "Yes, you are doing something stupid and people here are trying to help you." :D
Click to expand...


Yea I can feel that vibe, but at times I have seen threads with tons of core members of the club, offering advice which is obviously being ignored and it just keeps coming never turning to something as straight forward as your sig line. Maybe it's because the average reefer here has a lot of experience, not sure, but I have been sitting at my computer frustrated as if I saw full grown dogs contained to small cages only it's happening with fish, and I feel the need to say something very point blank. Then again I have been warned several times (well at least a couple) for being TOO abusive, so maybe thats just my nature.
 
This is the thing...

When the club is just 5 guys hanging out in someone's livingroom, everybody knows where everybody else is coming from. You can be totally non-PC and outrageous. You can call each other things that would get you shot on E14th in Oakland.

When the club gets to be bigger, then you have to start paying more attention to how you come across so that you don't alienate new people that might take something the wrong way. Turning off the new folks is a good way to keep from spreading your mission.
 
And it doesn't matter if you're talking to a friend ( like Lord Stainless himself who posted above!) or a total stranger, the tone is often taken in the most negative sense. This is just the way text communication is. For example, if you read my Lord stainless comment but didn't know I was Norm's friend, you might think I was an Ahole. (you may already know this to be true but this is a hypothetical example wherein I'm supposed to be a nice guy)
 
Well there are a lot of fish that should not be in a reef tank, in fact if you ever go scuba or snorkling you can see what these fish are simply by mentally chopping up a little 6 foot by 6 foot by 6 foot chunk of the water and seeing what fish move in and out of that area. BTW that'd be the equivalent of a 1600+ gallon tank. Now what you'd see is quite a few fish do that, tangs being one of them (every species, even the tiny bristle toothed tangs). Now you look at the fish people keep (often the larger ones) and you see these really are not suited to a "small" box.

So you could go that level of policing, which would have you yelling at a lot of people myself included.

Now people have had tangs (and other larger sized fish) in largish (150+ gallon) tanks without any issues for many years, so maybe it is something that can be done even if its not the natural swing of things.

So the end result is you really need to pick your battles, there are some members on this board that can get tons of advise contrary to what they want to do and they'll completely ignore it, some that will heed the advise as well. I know if I see a tank, like a redsea max 39 or something with a tang in it I will say something, but like Norman says its how you say it that matters. Having a reputation for yelling at everyone who does something stupid typically doesn't get things done productively (and I've been guilty of being on both sides of that fence myself).

So I don't really see anything inherently wrong with being "Tang Police" its just a matter of what kind of police officer are you going to be, someone who pulls someone over for speeding and tells them to keep it slower next time, or one who hits you with a tazer for jaywalking on a street with no traffic?
 
Roc said:
Over at NCRC I'm known as the tang police, so I guess I don't share that same sentiment, but I can also know my place, so if as a club the discussion about tangs in tanks that are to small is considered "bad form" then I can follow along as well
Click to expand...

Just busting your stones here, but weren't you the guy considering putting a Humu Humu trigger in a 120g?

Imus, I think it is pretty much on a case by case basis, if someone obviously has no facilities to care for such an animal they are going to hear about it, I don't think I need to point out specific cases.
 
FWIW – I post here exclusively because of the environment. I’m not saying I was blasted at other sites, far from it. It’s just not enjoyable reading and learning when you have to wade through pages of flame wars or “purposely” misunderstood posts.

-Gregory
 
r0ck0 said:
Did I start all this? I should have never put that trigger in my tank.
Click to expand...

Not at all, you were very clear about your intentions, it's more so a question I have always wanted to ask the BAR community as like I said at my home club site I am basicly the person whom everone expects to say something when ppl have tangs in 15 gallon tanks.

And yes Jeremy I was the one considering a piacaso trigger, however I did post about it BEFORE I went out and got one, not a thread saying HEY EVERYONE LOOK WHAT I DID........
 
The X police are when people trash people for doing something they don't think they should do. BAR members have opinions, but think that people should look at the info and opinions and make up their own minds instead of simply being told what to do. I guess it might be a difference between people understanding and people joining in lockstep.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top