Ponder this O Forumites !

[Back in the fold23 8]

Gary mentioned in another thread that he thought our aquarium fish were tougher in the olden days . I agree with that . How many of you old timers in the hobby know anything about what I am now going to ask ?
How many varieties of our fish were wild caught back in the 1960’s and before ? And also , when did large commercial fish farms really take off ?
There’s a chapter on Wholesale Breeding in “ Exotic Aquarium Fishes “ by Dr. William T. Innes with a few pictures but those operations don’t strike me as being capable of supplying an awful lot of fish to what was then a thriving hobby .

 

[GaryE29 27]

In North America, we got our fish from Florida farms - they tended to be smaller operations. Some of the modern farms in southeast Asia are listed on the Singapore stock exchange. They're massive.

Wild caughts were very common in the 1960s, but farmed fish were a set small number of species. TB wasn't as common, and antibiotics weren't used to accelerate growth. Neither were hormones.

As well, some of the wonderful species that were available from about 1995 to 2010 hadn't ever entered the hobby yet, or if they had, they hadn't been brought commercially. As we expanded our knowledge we expanded what we could succeed with. Within the world of wild sourced fish, we have many more delicate and demanding species now compared to 50 years ago. But we also have fewer easy to track down choices than we did 15 years ago. I see us as on the wrong side of a hill in the hobby.

I have noticed an anecdotal improvement in the health of some farmed fish recently though. I think they have learned they cut too many corners in search of profits, and they've had to adjust.