Is owning a salt water tank bad because those kinds of fish and coral are diminishing in the wild?

Question

Ive heared that reef/coral life is becoming virtually extinct. Is that true? And does owning a salt water tank contribute to the problem?

Answer 1

Coral Reefs are declining worldwide from a variety of causes: pollution, elevated water temperatures, physical destruction of reefs, and over-fishing. Collection of fish for aquariums is typically not the cause of coral reef declines, but this practice contributes to the other problems, and some of the more popular fish species have been collected to the point where their populations have seriously declined.

As Lorax says, purchasing fish that are breed in captivity avoids the environmental problems. The link describes the effects of tropical fish collecting in Hawaii.

Answer 2

Use (buy) only captive raised fish, and cultured live rock in your setup and you are well on the way to being a good environmentalist.

Hope this helps,
Lorax