Wild/natural/not Manmade Fish

[Stewartb]

Someone mentioned to me the above were different in colour to those species interbred a fair bit by man in that the colours were different (perhaps more subtle and although not so colourful when young better when adults) and also stronger eg guppies. Does anyone have more info about this and do you know of a list of them?


Thanks

Stewart

 

[Wills]

Interesting question!

IMO it kind of depends on the source of the fish and the type of the fish.

Wild fish are often the most colourful - apart from when a strain of that species has been line bred for colour. So guppies are a prime example where you have multiple incredible coloured strains. Where as the wild strains are quite grey and with a colourful tail. The bright colours would not occur in the wild as they would be a beacon for predators saying eat me eat me eat me!

But then lets compare that to the popular tetra strains, like Neons etc the ones in some shops that have been bred and bred and bred with no quality control end up quite bland and somewhat grey over all where as the wild ones are stunning blue and red. These fish need the colour in the wild though so they can see each other in murky waters and create a large school which attempts to dazzle predators.

The same in bigger fish - Geophagus are a good example the ones you see in most shops mislabeled as G.Surinimensis will on the whole pale in comparison to wild caught Geophagus.

Then you get man made fish like Flowerhorns and Parrots which are controversial at best but they end up being very colourful because there is a lot of control over how they look without having to worry about how they are affected by predators.

And a further issue is dyed fish which you need be careful of.

For me most wild fish are best or close to wild generations (f1, f2 etc) There are exceptions to this for me, the blue Angel fish spring to mind and Electric Blue Rams.

.... So in short it depends on the type of fish.

Wills

 

[Lufbramatt]

Lots of fish don't really represent their wild cousins- bettas, guppies, fancy goldfish, the various colours of angelfish, koi, certain long-finned tetras, they've all been bred to enhance certain characteristics. It's no different to the different breeds of domestic cat and dog- you don't get wild labradors or poodles

 

[OldMan47]

What kind of fish are you talking about Stewartb?
I keep lots of fish that simply do not occur in the wild, but my fish are considered endangered or threatened according to the IUCN standards. If you are talking about my fish, you have not a leg to stand on. Without people like me, these fish would not exist at all. Sorry but I refuse to treat my fish as expendable. On the contrary they are the only way I know of to preserve these species. Unless you can present my fish as simply an expendable subset of the species you are whistling in the dark in my opinion.

 

[Lufbramatt]

I don't see any negativity about "manmade" fish in the OP? he just wanted a list of what sort of fish don't occur in the wild. It doesn't seem to me that he was trying to have a dig at anyone?

Over in the UK there are a fair few people investing time and money to save rare breeds of sheep and cattle that are dying out because there are other breeds that are more efficient to raise for food or wool. Obviously rhere is no wild equivalent of many of those types of animal but it doesn't belittle their activities at all and I don't think anyone here claimed that sort of thing was bad.

 

[Stewartb]

What kind of fish are you talking about Stewartb?
I keep lots of fish that simply do not occur in the wild, but my fish are considered endangered or threatened according to the IUCN standards. If you are talking about my fish, you have not a leg to stand on. Without people like me, these fish would not exist at all. Sorry but I refuse to treat my fish as expendable. On the contrary they are the only way I know of to preserve these species. Unless you can present my fish as simply an expendable subset of the species you are whistling in the dark in my opinion.

I don't really know what you are talking about, I was just asking for info.
Are all fish in shops available as a wild or F1, F2 version eg Platties, Swordtails, if they are is it better re colour and hardiness to buy these (generally)?

 

[ParadiseGuerrero]

not nessesarily better to buy wild- they can often be more sensitive to water chemistry because they would have been living in there ideal environment and may not be able to adapt. However it is true that some breeds (e.g. guppies, neons) have been over breed so they breed for colour but not particularly hardiness. For the most part wild caught are less colourful because they don't want to be seen by preditors. Hardiness i think varies more species to species depending on if they've been over bred (so wild caught may be stronger) or are generally a picky species (so tank bred may be stronger and more adaptable).
Then you consider things like the betta splendens which really can't be said to have a wild counter part to compare too; if it did, the tank bred would certainly be more colourful, hardiness I don't know.
Really it's hard to say what's best tank bred or wild caught I think it varies to much from species to species and also in how bred the particular man-made strain is. Not to mention personal preference on the colour.

 

[Juggler75]

I remember my first tank in my teens and guppies were considered bomb proof. Now shop bought ones seem quite fragile apparently. Would that be because they are too far removed from their wild cousins? On the other hand fish like rams are apparently considerably hardier if tank bred.