SHOULD WE KEEP FISH CAUGHT FROM THE WILD?

[aberdeen aquarist]

i agree, who brought this up in the first place?
this topic was about aquarium fish, not food fish!

 

[Timmy]

Well, as I'm having haddock for me tea tonight I wondered if it would be the honourable thing to resign from the forum - sounds like I'm OK though

Quick edit to make relevant to thread:
If anyones interested a google on lake victorian cichlids would turn up good examples of where hobbyists have been able to help endangered species by breeding in aquariums with the long term plan on returning to the Lake when it is safe to do so (the problem in the Lake is introduced predators).

 

[Jae1525]

Ok back to the tropical fish...

There are many tropical fish caught in the wild that I would love to take care of but I have gone to the best lengts I can to make sure I find out the sources of the fish I keep!

I would love the Royal Whiptail featured in my avitar picture but I cant get hold of a captive bread one so I'll just stick to captive bread corys.

I just think that if we cant breed them in captivity then we dont rly know how to look after them 100%, more like 75%.
I do however agree with captive fish if they are for the research of breeding and better understanding of their species, but, I dont think the avarege Jo fish caretaker like myself has a right to keep them for pleasure.

Mabe a licensing system should be put into place for experienced fish keepers?
An exam maybe?

 

[Timmy]

Jae125, I can see where you're coming from but I still stick by my view that if native people weren't catching and selling fish thereby making money to feed their families then they'd probably be doing something more destructive to get the money. If they know some little tributary is a good source of cardinal tetras and hence money then they are going to protect it.

Cardinal Tetras are a good example as they are virtually all wild-caught but they don't seem to be rare therefore their ecosystem is probably OK. And from what I've seen the quality of wild caught Cardinals is way better than the skanky looking Neon tetras we have nowadays (from fish farms).

 

[CFC]

I would love the Royal Whiptail featured in my avitar picture but I cant get hold of a captive bread one so I'll just stick to captive bread corys.

You should be able to get hold of a captive bred Sturisoma aureum (royal whiptail) without much trouble, all the Farrowella and Sturisoma species breed readily in the right tank conditions. Most corydoras species with the exception of bronze and peppered corys are still wild caught although some species such as C.sterbai are now being bred in far east fsh farms with the use of hormone injections.


Another thing id like to bring up again is how the hobby helps with conservation of fish stocks, how many people are actually aware that the redtailed black shark Epalzeorhynchos bicolour is extinct in the wild and the bala shark Balantiochelius melanopterus is close to extinction too both due to a decline in their habitats? Both these fish are still common in the hobby and the species only still exisits because of it.

 

[NinjaSmurf]

Ok, I just want to know where my post went!! Anyways, as I posted before but I think it got lost... maybe wandered away... I think we should take fish out of the wild, as long as we don't over do it, do it in a eco-friendly way, and the local people get paid to do it. We have to take some fish just to restore the fishes blood for crying out loud, and don't give me the whole 'inbreeding is safe!' BS because look how fragile your average tank bred fish is compared to the wild ones. And they won't 'miss' their 'friends'. People buy a couple fish at a time and often from different stores, so maybe those fish have 'friends' in the tank at the store, I don't see anyone buying the whole tank so they don't leave any 'buddies' behind. We should breed them, but I think half should go back, the other half be sold as pets, and let the locals do it, they need the money, so it works out for everyone. And eating fish and keeping fish is not being hypocritical, you don't yell at a farmer for eating a burger because he keeps cows do you?

 

[wuvmybetta]

I keep a lot of wild caught fish, I see nothing wrong with it. I personally didn't request that somebody dive into the Amazon and pluck some fish out for me, but what's done is done and I'm not going to turn away from them when I know I can cater to their needs.

Marines and some deep water freshwater fish like Frontosas go through hell to be caught . They go through decompression which is very stressful to them when done slowly and even more stressful when the fishermen use needles to decompress them.

 

[Jae1525]

Hay CFC.

I have never seen a Royal whiptail before in any of my lfs and the surrounding ones.

One of my lfs store guys said they were caught in the wild!
If I had one it would honestly be the only fish I would ever need (besides my shrimp who arent rly fish)!

You know when you see sumthin that just does it for you? (not in a sexual way)
I would travel to london for one but I think it would be cruel to transport a fish that far just for my own pleasure.
Have you got one or seen one?
How much did it cost? (not rly an issue I would sell my left kidney for it)

 

[SilverDollar_03]

of course, fish have to be removed from the wild to start to be aquarium bred in the first place. but i think that wild fish should not become domestic like that. its not fair at all. my opinion is that only aquarium raised fish should be kept!

 

[CFC]

Hay CFC.

I have never seen a Royal whiptail before in any of my lfs and the surrounding ones.

One of my lfs store guys said they were caught in the wild!
If I had one it would honestly be the only fish I would ever need (besides my shrimp who arent rly fish)!

You know when you see sumthin that just does it for you? (not in a sexual way)
I would travel to london for one but I think it would be cruel to transport a fish that far just for my own pleasure.
Have you got one or seen one?
How much did it cost? (not rly an issue I would sell my left kidney for it)

Maidenhead aquatics at Weybridge in Surrey regularly has them in stock at a cost of around £15 each, i have kept the species and had them breed but at the time had no spare tank for raising the fry so they were eaten as soon as the males brood care ended when the eggs hatched. I wouldnt worry about transporting fish, how do you think they got into the country in the first place? Even the fish that are not wild caught are bred on mass in the far east and then shipped into the country. I have on a few occasions bought fish via mail order and have had them sent up overnight from cornwall and all the fish have arrived healthy and no more stressed than they are from a normal purchase.

 

[K-Holed]

I'm sure I've seen a Royal whiptail in Manchester. It was either Wing and Fins or South Manchester aquatics. I can't be totally sure as I've been round so many in the area

p.s. What would you say is the best LFS you've been to in Manchester?

 

[Jae1525]

Then the hunt begins.

If anyone has any info of a royal whiptail in the manchester area or knows where I can get one mailed in from I would lick their boots clean after a yomp around the local sewage works!

Feel free to e-mail me with any details!

Thank you!

 

[Jae1525]

As for the aquatic shop I've been to in manchester it would be hard to say.
I've been to wings and fins loads and then manchester pets n aquatics (a bad one) then one in reddish, denton, bury, congleton, the usal garden centres, brookside, wilmslow etc.

I suppose the best of the lot has to be the one just near my house in hazel grove on the A6. It's a rly decievingly small shop front but has a lot of tanks upstairs! Marine, cold and tropical. I was so supprised when I went in! They have had the most interesting stock of fish I have seen ranging from butterfly fish to discus and most importantly singapore flower shrimp (sold as mountain shrimp. Duh) All the fish seem to be in good condition 2!

The worst is cascade garden centre in bury! We got a dwarf gourami that developed a bacterial infection then we took him back and they said they would treat him. In the mean time we got 2 flame dwarf gourami and they now both have Ich!!!!! THEY STILL HAVENT GOTTEN BACK TO US ABOUT THE OTHER FISH AS THEY SAID THEY WOULD!

What would you say the best lfs is in manchester K-holed?

 

[K-Holed]

lol well I used to work in Wings and Fins so I may be biased there ... recently the owners have moved to spain so I don't get alan ranting at me anymore, which was kind of useful ... South Manchester aquatics looks okay, although I haven't actually bought anything from them. I was a little concerned that all their betas can be found floating in plastic bags with their plants! They are the only two that are really close to me in Heaton Moor (apart from a couple of small ones further up the a6 and one in reddish) I'm going to try and get to one in wilmslow today, its called something ocean, I forget.

 

[Jae1525]

Hope the wilmslow fish place was good for u k-holed!
I stopped bein lazy n found the name of my lfs. Here are the details...

Seaview Pets & Aquatic Centre
235, London Rd Hazel Grove Stockport Cheshire SK7 4HS.
Tel: 0161 487 3404


I bought me a new tank today! More fish to come! It's the biggest I could fit in my house at 80 US Gal/ 67 Uk Gal.
Just have to wait for it to cycle
I feel sorry for my black widow tetra! There like space monkeys! Ev time I need to cycle a tank there first in! I need to pay em danger money!