Captivity Or Wild ?

[jackson 10]

I have thought about this question for a while now and have never bothered to put up a post about it...

most of the fish we all buy from any fish shops come from suppliers but do they breed them themselves in big tanks etc or do they import them in from tropical hot countries ?

Is there any tropical fish in most fish shops that actually come to the shops straight off for example lake malawi or the river amazon etc

any ideas on this ??

 

[rabbut]

Depends upon the fish.... If it's easy and/or profitable to breed them in captivity, that's what happens, otherwise it's wild caught... Neons and Cardinals sources vary by time of year and Plecs tend to be wild. Livebarers and a lot of new-world cichlids are captively sourced

 

[pippoodle]

my brigitte rasboras i have on order are wild caught and so will the hasbrosus corys i have on order

 

[Jazzzz]

Hmm If i new it was wild i couldn't buy them morally

I think my goldfish, platies, wcmms are deffo captive bread. the honey gouramis and julii cory's though would be interresting to know oh and black neon tetras

 

[jackson 10]

do you think for example if you bort i wild guppy and put in into a tank with captive born guppies would it be different in the way it acts ?

what if you could order a malawi straight from lake malawi and put it into a tank lol it would be a feeding frenzy for the wild malawi even if the fish where much bigger than him ..i think its a good idea to breed malawis in captivity as it wil kinda nuturlises there killer instinct even though its always in them but i just think they wil be able to get on with more and more fish over years to come as ive noticed alot of malawis these days in lfs in tanks with fish i thought that they would definatly try and eat ... .

you may look at that paragraph and think what is this guy on about malawis are predatory killers but if you look at this may way say malawis in a tank for years and years being fed flake food and bloodworm and then there babies being fed flake food and there babies being fed flake food and so forth

they will stop relying on there natural instincts due to being handfed by us and therefore stop killing for their food , dont get me wrong as ive alredy sed their instincts are always there and you will get some of them still killing but i bet 90 % will start to become tame

what are your thoughts ?

 

[Colin_T]

Virtually every freshwater fish you buy is captive bred these days with the exception of some of the South American catfish (new and unusual plecos, etc).
African rift lake cichlids are generally local bred as are killifish. Livebearers are local bred but not in large enough numbers so most still come from Asian fish farms. Rainbowfish are mostly captive bred, either locally or from Asia or Europe (Germany, Belgium).
Barbs, tetras, rasboras, angelfish & discus are all bred in huge numbers in Asia.
Goldfish are either locally bred or more likely imported from Asia. The best quality fancy goldfish usually come from China.

 

[badenmate]

isnt it illegal in the uk to import anmials into the uk there was that progam a few days back about parrots being imported from Brazil and it was illegal. but it would be cool to have wild cuaght tiger barbs ina tank they would be mental even captive breed ones seem like there on drugs so if there from the wild the will be on double amounts.
i have read in a book though that wild fish are really choosey over water conditions.

 

[Truck]

if its illegal then why are our fish in our tanks?

 

[Colin_T]

Wild caught parrots are different to wild caught fishes. Basically there is more info about birds and when people start smuggling macaws and amazon parrots out of their homeland, the authorities get upset. Many of the parrots are on the endangered or threatened species list due to habitat destruction and illegal poaching/ black market sales.
Wild caught fish aren't as threatened, although some are, but they can rebuild their numbers a lot quicker than a bird or mammal. Most birds and mammals are lucky to produce a couple of healthy young per year. Fish can produce hundreds of young every year. This factor alone helps fish recover quicker from over exuberant collectors.
Having said all that, some fish are illegal to take from the wild. The Galaxy Rasbora and Melanotaenia boesemani are two fish that are kept in captivity but not meant to be taken from the wild due to low wild populations.

Wild caught fishes need water chemistry that closely resembles that from which they came. Captive bred fishes are much more tolerant of variable conditions. This can be easily seen in angelfish. They naturally occur in soft acid water, quite often with lots of tannins in. Captive bred angelfish will live and breed in soft acid water, right through to hard and alkaline.
Captive bred fishes are usually more resilient when it comes to temperature fluctuations. There are plenty of fish (livebearers are one) that naturally occur in tropical areas, yet the locally bred stock can quite often survive in cool or even cold water.

 

[pippoodle]

i'm only getting my brigitte rasboras wild caught as i cant find anyone who has them captive bred , thats available to me
they will be going in the hex tank with some pygmy corys so hopefully i will find out about captive breeding and give it a go so i can sell on some tank bred ones and then hopefully more people will do the same
my hasbrosus aswell can only be wild sourced at the moment for some strange reason my lfs has tried breeders but they only have pygmy not hasbrosus