My Thoughts On Taking Endangered Wild Fish

[Captain Retardo]

Why the heck do people take endangered wild fish? I know that they are in it for the money, but they have to know, soon they wont be making a profit off of these fish! Can't they hold aquarists back for a while, until a reasonable amount of fish are back?

I have heard the White Cloud Mountain Minnows are extinct in nature because of fish catchers, but there are thankfully millions in the aquarium business!

I'm just mad because I hate when anything goes extinct. (except mosquitoes)

 

[phlawed]

Why the heck do people take endangered wild fish? I know that they are in it for the money, but they have to know, soon they wont be making a profit off of these fish! Can't they hold aquarists back for a while, until a reasonable amount of fish are back?

I have heard the White Cloud Mountain Minnows are extinct in nature because of fish catchers, but there are thankfully millions in the aquarium business!

I'm just mad because I hate when anything goes extinct. (except mosquitoes)

its not always the fish catcher that cause them to be endangered...

take redline torpedo barbs (or shark whichever), when discovered is what already almost extinct. But by raising the fish in fish farms, they are now back on the rise saving the species from extinction. So its actually good IMO to help save them from extinction.

 

[Captain Retardo]

Okay, there are exceptions...

 

[dwarfgourami]

Quite a few exceptions, actually, particularly when it comes to Central American fish. Endlers are one species that are thought to be extinct due to pollution, lots of goodeid species due to pollution and lowering of water levels- but they survive in the aquarium hobby. There is an interesting article by a goodeid breeder in the livebearer forum (posted by neonplatys) about what hobbyists can do to help preserve the fish.

I hadn't heard about the WCMs but that is outrageous, particularly as they are perfectly easy to breed; there should have been no need to take them from the wild after the first few batches.

 

[phlawed]

you might be suprised at how much some fish farmers look into these things as said above. I agree that there are some that could care less and rush to make a quick profit. But, some do watch the populations carefully for many reasons. The main being, if the fish does become extinct and are not able to be farm bread, then they just lost all profit on that fish forever. Which, is not a good sign for buisness hehe

 

[Fella]

I think you'd be hard pushed to find anyone who thinks taking endangered fish from the wild is a good idea...

 

[phlawed]

I think you'd be hard pushed to find anyone who thinks taking endangered fish from the wild is a good idea...

I agree to some with this....as some fish do not bread well or at all outside the wild....but for those that do...i see no wrong in trying to repopulate a endagered species by captivity.

 

[Nevergone815]

i agree. to an extent i see it as alright to take wild fish that CAN be bred in captivity and save the species.

what i would like to see though, is more programs to up the native population. like WCMM for example. there is none in the wild but a zillion (literally) on the market to be sold at any given time, and even still more in reserves at breeding farms. why not make an effore to start to reintroduce these fish back into the wild? like take the goodeieds and clean up their environment (fix the problems in their natural environment) and let the endangered species thrive again in the wild, instead of just letting them die out there and keep them in home aquaria.

a bit off topic is the canadian goose. it was actually put on the endangered species list a while back because of overhunting, and even almost extinct. well the geese made a miraculous come back, and now that's all i ever see. (i live in the northeast US). it just shows you how a little intervention and help can replenish a species to thriving numbers.

why can't we do that for fish?

 

[LoachLover]

The good part about RESPONSIBLE fish keepers that know what they're doing keeping endangered species is they could possibly breed them and bring up populations. It's not wise to have them in the main stream fish market though, some 5 year old could pick one up if they had the money.

 

[Dorkhedeos]

well, it all depends on who finds the fish. some people who find rare fish breed them so there will be more of them.

 

[IovaykInD]

I guess there's always positive and negative reasons to it. Positive, being saving a lot of species of fish that would otherwise have gone extinct. Negative, being irresponsible fish keepers killing somewhat rare fish because they have money.