Sadly, almost all MO life is considered 'disposable' by most hobbyists, regardless of its lifespan. I attribute this to mostly the price of the animals due to the economy of scale (shudder) and the prevailing attitude that killing animals is just part of the hobby. Sure there are some out there that pride themselves on how long they can keep something alive, but they are few and far between. Apparently, the tenure for people in the hobby is generally 2 years, so we aren't talking about people who keep animals long term. Expensive corals are even worse, as people will routinely spend hundreds of dollars on tiny fragments over and over again until they get one that 'sticks' or until something more sexy comes along or until they cannot get another fragment. Sadly, the 'cut flower' mentality is alive and well regardless of price. This is not to say that some people and groups are really trying to change that, but it is an uphill battle. Maybe you are right about the potential lifespan, but I see hobbyists shelling out money week after week, month after month, for fish and inverts. And lets not forget about the horrible 'bag lot sales' that still occur with shocking frequency - some people would rather spend 40 dollars 5 times to get an animal that lives than spending 90 dollars once to get a healthy animal from a reputable vendor in the first place. Perceived cost is crazy town.
When I, and then Daniel and I, were breeding S. bandens regularly at home, we had problems selling the animals for simply what it cost to raise them, never mind any compensation for time. And this was for 2 and 3 month old animals. Maybe more people would be into them now, but I have the feeling that most would still balk at the reality price. People just don't seem to want to spend the money on short lived animals - when it really seems that because they are short lived they should cost more due to all the problems getting and raising them. I could raise S. bandensis at home, but I just don't think the market is there to make it worth the time investment. I think raising from eggs more than doubles the cost, but am too tired to run the math properly.
We do know how to raise S. bandensis, its just that no one is willing to do it on any scale because of the time, cost and space it takes. When I say cost, its really food. Its not about knowledge IMO, its about cost, which brings us full circle. People are willing to spend $120.00 plus shipping on wild cephs, but not $50 plus shipping on captive reared animals because of some perceived cost benefit, and I find that very odd. A wild animal is a gamble, a captive raised one is less of a gamble, or at the very least a more understood gamble.
And, more importantly, as a community that has an ethical stance, shouldn't we be getting behind captive breeding where ever we can regardless of the cost? Does it really make sense to coax new to saltwater ceph hobbyists on how to keep difficult wild caught animals or through the difficulties of raising cuttles from eggs in a salt water system? The results are often dismal - saltwater is not easy, never mind saltwater cephs. Or does it make more sense to direct them to somewhat more expensive, but significantly easier to keep captive raised animals?
Thanks for reading!