Wild collecting

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captmicha

Le tired.
Dec 6, 2006
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Maryland, USA
What are your thoughts on taking fish from the wild when the same species is being successfully bred in captivity?
 

authmal

Pseudonovice
Aug 4, 2011
2,621
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Phoenix, AZ
My preference, broadly speaking, is to buy the tank raised specimens. It's one thing if an informed, careful, person captures a specimen of such a species, but I'm sure you know that most people are neither informed nor careful, resulting in damage to the location or even the ability of the population to sustain itself. By buying tank raised specimens, there is none of that risk. There is also a lower chance of parasites and a higher chance of success with tank raised specimens, just because they're raised in controlled conditions.
 

67chevelle

Basset Hound
Jul 30, 2008
2,286
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What's the point? Leave the wild fish in the wild. A lot of people feel like wild fish give them some sort of stigma for owning them. I think these people should get over themselves. Does a wild caught fish give you anymore enjoyment from that fish? I would hope not. And if it does, there is something askew with your way of thinking. That's my opinion. I think what fish are in the wild should stay there. Even if there are more than enough to collect for hobbyist. Breed them in farms. Keep the lines clean, and you should not have any problems with farm raised fish.
 

platytudes

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Nov 4, 2006
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It all depends. If done sustainably, I think it is fine. Google project piaba and you'll see there is some great work being done in this regard in the Amazon. Places like Myanmar? Not so much.

67chevelle, when you say "stigma" I think you mean "prestige" or a similar word...
 

platytudes

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No problem :) Don't mean to be a smartypants, I just realized the other day I had been misusing the word "scruples"...lol kind of embarrassing! Especially when most of your friends are English majors.
 

Slappy*McFish

Global Moderator
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Feb 18, 2002
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No problem :) Don't mean to be a smartypants, I just realized the other day I had been misusing the word "scruples"...lol kind of embarrassing! Especially when most of your friends are English majors.
Just curious...in what context did you incorrectly use the word 'scruples', platy. :D
 

captmicha

Le tired.
Dec 6, 2006
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Maryland, USA
Agreed with the first two posts! That's exactly the way I feel.

If the species are facing extinction in the wild due to threatened habitat and someone's going to swoop in and gather what's left to at least keep the species alive in captivity for, hopefully, later reintroduction, I'd be for that.

I know things like Project Piaba are better than a free for all gathering and/or illegal poaching, but I'm still not a fan. Yes, I know the indigenous people need $ and this prevents (for the most part) bad harvesting practices but I still prefer wild life to remain in the wild. I wish there was another way and no, I don't have a better answer. I recently attended a seminar about a similar project being developed in Africa for Lake Tanganyika for the cichlids. I wonder what the speaker thought of us since so many people in the club cherish their wild caught specimens...
 

SubRosa

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Jul 3, 2009
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Another consideration is that often over the course of decades in captivity fish change. Killie people, who id their fish by date and place of collection of the original stock are often amazed when someone gets back into a collection site which was previously cataloged, collects the same species as the previous expedition, and yet the fish look different current captive populations. I myself a few years back got a bunch of wild Rosy Barbs as contaminants in a shipment of Drape Fin Barbs out of India. They were small which I use to soothe my ego since I do pride myself on my id skills, but I had to look them up on Fishbase to id them. Rosy Barbs. I've worked in the tropical trade almost nonstop since 1981 and I've netted more Rosy Barbs than I care to count. These were significantly different! Every Rosy Barb most of us here have ever seen has scales far larger than a wild Rosy.
 

platytudes

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Nov 4, 2006
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LOL Slappy :D It was a while back, but I ate something that fell on the tile kitchen floor (truth be told, I do this all the time, unless it falls in one of those godforsaken places like the part of the floor that is under the overhang of the cabinets, or on the carpet where it instantly becomes covered with cat hair) and I said, to my dinner party company, "Don't mind me and my lack of scruples." Whether or not to eat something that is dirty (you're welcome, immune system!) isn't really a matter of ethics or principles, so not quite the right word here. Or so I was told :p:
 
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