What's Your Views Of Wild-caught Fish

[timmystood]

Hey Guys

Just thought I start a nice (pleasant) debate on people's views of wild-caught fish for sale in most aquatic shops.
I personally can see the positives and negatives to the wild-caught fish. On the plus side it allows for people to own slighty rarer fish and if kept correctly it can mean the fish actually get a better lifestyle than that of the wild. However, on the downside of course there are things like over-fishing of a species (galaxy rasboras being known for this at the moment) and also the ethical issue of taking a fish out of say the River Congo, flying it over to Britian to end up in someone's tank.

Just interested in your views.
TIM

 

[matug]

i dont see anything wrong with flying fish over if they are kept in good conditions when they get here. I can see where you are coming from though

 

[luque]

personally i think it's wrong. they should not really be taken from there environment into a tank.... but saying that with the right care e.g a good size tank not overcrowded it's not that bad aslong as its not overly done. maybe take a few and breed them

luke

 

[Josiah]

The only thing I don't like about it is that one day they are swimming around and then the next they are in a small tank(compared to there previous home). That's my only thing.

 

[tmack]

Hey Guys

allows for people to own slighty rarer fish and if kept correctly it can mean the fish actually get a better lifestyle than that of the wild.

TIM

That "rarer fish" is the key to me. If it's rare because it's only found in a very limited habitat and could be wiped out, then I'd say no. If it's rare because it's new to the aquarist, but in nature is common and widely distributed, then I'd give a yes. You also have the potential for parasites & diseases brought in by wild caught fish, but we can have that with tank raised as well, so that may not be a good argument against it.

If no one's seen it here's a recent post on the galaxy rasbora situation:

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=182115

 

[Gatorbait]

Do redtail black sharks breed in aquariums? I'm not sure of that but I've read somewhere that they are all wild caught. There are probably a few more fish we take for granted that are wild caught. So be careful before you say you're 100% against it just in case that's true.

I know there are species of piranhas that won't breed in captivity and the only way to have them is to get wild caught.

I'm all for it if it doesn't hurt the species or environment in some way.

 

[dthoffsett]

As long as they aren't overfished, I don't see a problem with wild caughts, although personally I've never bought any because I don't want to deal with the chemistry and feeding issues that some have. Or the price. It would kill me to lose a 40 or 50 dollar fish, another reason I've never tried saltwater.

 

[mlawson]

It think it is OK, so long they don't go over the top and overfish.

 

[timmystood]

One deeper reason it could be a positive thing is for the good of the local area. If a certain area has a high-demand fish that is wild caught then it boosts the economic situation within that area. The locals are paid to catch the fish etc. So in that way it can be good. Also, some of the funds from wild caught fish will be used to improve their natural environment so that there is always a constant supply to the supplier.

 

[fishboy619]

which ever way you look at it, in the beginning, all fish were once wild caught. i prefer to keep tank bred fish, but often end up getting a wild caught fish. i belive we can take fish from the wild, research and study them, breed them sucessfully and introduce it to the fish trade with no ill effects on the wild species.galaxy rasboras as a great example of this, if we had taken only a small handful then studied them, we could have missed out on the possably extinctsion of this fantastic fish, but instead, human greed caused us to remove hundreds of them at once, lots dying in the process, and not giving them enough time to breed and reboost numbers. if fish were cared for properly in exporting, it makes me feel better, knowing huindreds of fish that have dies to supplie someones tanks with a colorful fish is what gets on my nerves, its all the stress, one minuet your swimming around happily, then the next, netted, bagged, shipped and transfered into a new tank sort of upsets me, like i said eariler, i tend to stay away fro wild caught, but then again,i know myself, if i do buy a wild caught specimen, atleast i can give it the best care it can have. atleast it wont go into an overstocked tank or with aggressive fish.
its something people tend to ignore, out of the way is out of mind, they are only fish, it doesnt matter. treating them with respect goes a long way, realising that wild species have to survive the catch in order to survive doesnt take more than common sence, i think they should be a ban on over catching, only so many fish can be caught per month/year/ whatever.
ever way, its not going to change, wild caught fish are always going to be for sale somewhere, as long as an owner gives it the best care and looking after, i see no harm.
species like the galaxy rasboras could have become a sucessful fish for many fish keepers, now and in the future, but overfishing and human demand has caused this fish to decrease in numbers hugely, possabily ruining it for future aquarists.

 

[dwarfgourami]

The flying across the world does not in itself seem much of a divider between wild-caught and captive-bred fish, as most of the captive-bred fish are flown in from Singapore and similar places. Your lfs, after all, is not breeding its own neon tetras.
The shock between different water- well again, I imagine that could be as bad for a captive-bred fish being flown across the world.
The shock of being taken from a river and dumped in a tank- I wonder if we sometimes overestimate a fish's ability to learn from "what they are used to", a captive-bred giant danio is still going to have the urge to swim fast in the current that has evolved over generations in this species, the fact that this particular fish has never seen a river is not going to mean that he can free himself from his natural instincts. Naturally, some evolutionary results are going to happen in generations of captive-bred fish too, but slowly.
For the rest, I agree with previous posters: it needs to be done sustainably. But if a sustainable industry is allowed to flourish, it can actually encourage people to look after their local streams and pools. And people like the livebearer fanciers who go looking through Mexican streams for goodeids do a very important job in high-lighting environmental problems threatening the fish.
Personally, I prefer to buy locally bred fish when I can, and to breed my own when I can. But I would not necessarily refuse to buy a fish because I knew it was wild-caught- I'd buy a group of them and try to get breeding

 

[Gatorbait]

which ever way you look at it, in the beginning, all fish were once wild caught.

Excellent point. That pretty much sums it all up for me.

We ALL have fish species that were wild caught so if you own an aquarium with fish in it, you would be pretty hippocritical to be against wild caught fish now.

 

[timmystood]

...a captive-bred giant danio is still going to have the urge to swim fast in the current that has evolved over generations in this species, the fact that this particular fish has never seen a river is not going to mean that he can free himself from his natural instincts...

That's very true. I didn't really consider that point. Fish don't lose their natural instints, like you say. However, it doesn't know any better, where as the wild-caught fish do! (assuming they have a decent memory). A wild caught fish will know that it is in a completely different environment to the river it came from and, as a result will be much more shy and prone to disease because of constant stress.

which ever way you look at it, in the beginning, all fish were once wild caught.

Excellent point. That pretty much sums it all up for me.

We ALL have fish species that were wild caught so if you own an aquarium with fish in it, you would be pretty hippocritical to be against wild caught fish now.

Yeah but if you follow that theory then we are all inbred. I'm related to you! After all, we envolved from Adam and Eve right?!

 

[Gatorbait]

...a captive-bred giant danio is still going to have the urge to swim fast in the current that has evolved over generations in this species, the fact that this particular fish has never seen a river is not going to mean that he can free himself from his natural instincts...

That's very true. I didn't really consider that point. Fish don't lose their natural instints, like you say. However, it doesn't know any better, where as the wild-caught fish do! (assuming they have a decent memory). A wild caught fish will know that it is in a completely different environment to the river it came from and, as a result will be much more shy and prone to disease because of constant stress.

which ever way you look at it, in the beginning, all fish were once wild caught.

Excellent point. That pretty much sums it all up for me.

We ALL have fish species that were wild caught so if you own an aquarium with fish in it, you would be pretty hippocritical to be against wild caught fish now.

Yeah but if you follow that theory then we are all inbred. I'm related to you! After all, we envolved from Adam and Eve right?!

True, true. Don't cloud this thread up with facts. I thought I was on to something there.