View Full Version : Cardinal Tetra Farming
clayt101
06-05-2004, 9:22 PM
Does anyone know if Cardinal Tetras are being commercially farmed, or all they all wild caught? I know Neons are farmed.
Thanks:)
cgrabe
06-05-2004, 11:40 PM
It's a mixture of both. They are being farmed, but not in enough quantity to satisfy demand. So many are still wild-caught. I'd love to get some after I rebuild my tank but I suspect I'd have trouble finding them around here.
bennubird
06-06-2004, 12:32 AM
cgrabe
If you're in the DC area there are a few aquariums with a nice selection. I've seen them as recently as last week. I hope to pick up about 10 to 20 for one of my tanks in the next week or so.
As far as I know, I think MOST Cardinal tetras are indeed caught. My information may be outdated though. The price of Cardinals is not so high that I'd believe that they were wild caught were I buy from.
fishypoo2
06-06-2004, 9:45 AM
Are any of you familiar with Project Piaba?
Project Piaba is a conservation project set up in Brazil to help create a sustainable ornamental fishery in the Rio Negro. Basically, if people buy wild-caught fish from here, the peoples of the rainforest will catch fish at a sustainble rate rather than chop down trees, mine gold, or cattle ranching (which are very destructive to the environment). Their slogan is "Buy a Fish, Save a Tree" and shows that the sale of wild-caught Rio Negro ornamental fishes (especially the cardinal tetra) supports the rainforest and economy of the Rio Negro basin. By the way, the Rio Negro is the largest tributary of the Amazon River.
What I am saying is that farmed Amazonian fishes pose a threat to not only the economy of a lot of Amazonians, but to the rain forest as well.
:)
cgrabe
06-06-2004, 1:42 PM
Originally posted by bennubird
cgrabe
If you're in the DC area there are a few aquariums with a nice selection. I've seen them as recently as last week. I hope to pick up about 10 to 20 for one of my tanks in the next week or so.
Oh really? I'm about an hour and a half to two hours from DC and was hoping to visit the national aquarium and zoo in two or three weeks. I'd never really considered going that far to buy fish, but I'm sure I'd find a much better selection in the DC area. Do you have any recomendations?
clayt101
06-06-2004, 3:09 PM
Fishypoo2, let us know when the Project Piaba website is up. I'd be interested in seeing how to determine if the fish I buy are sustainably caught.
Google on "Project Piaba" and you will get 600 hits - there is lots of info out there.
fishypoo2
06-06-2004, 7:34 PM
It might be a bit before projectpiaba.org is up, we're having a few problems with uploading and finishing the site. Plus, it takes time.
In the mean time, you can go to http://www.angelfire.com/pq/piaba or http://finarama.com/projectpiaba
Mostly any wild-caught cardinals come out of Barcelos and Manaus (the two major points before the fishes are imported in various countries). The way to tell is if you know your fish is wild-caught, look at the blue stripe. If it extends all the back, it is from the Rio Negro (Barcelos & Manaus). If it only goes part way (like in my avatar) it is a Venezuelan fish (not necessarily bad, but not concerning Piaba).