Ethics of wild caught fish vs tank bred
- Thread starter PuppyFluffer
- Start date
yes, oscars were introduced into FL by the gov't as game fish, although irresponsible fish keepers i'm sure have added to the population, and i believe that several of the other introduced fish were from flooded fish farms not just hobbyists. peacock bass were another introduced fish but i don't know of their source(although i would suspect gov't as well since they're such a popular game fish)
I am all for tank bred as long as they are bred right. The problem is that there are certain fish that a prone to being injected with hormones and other stuff to help their coloration. The chemicals and the additives that are added to the fish are harmful and greatly reduce the life of the fish. I had both an asian farmed german blue ram and a wild caught german blue ram. The wild caught one IMHO looked a lot better in its natural coloration. The tank raised one had problems from the day I brought him home. He ended up dying of an unknown cause while the wild caught one is health as can be.
See, but I think that if the fish had not been injected with hormones he would have been just as or even more hardy than the wild caught.
Lupin
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Actually, Asian fish farms do not only inject hormones just to change the sexes of the dwarf gouramis and "improve" the coloration of the blue rams. Please remember they will employ other methods that are much easier. Of course, dyeing by injection is still done with the ever popular "painted" glassfish and acid soaking most likely on the Yasuhikotakia modesta but they also lace the foods with hormones for the dwarf gouramis and rams.
Not to mention Peacock cichlids. For every jaw dropping fish coming out of Asia, there are 100 atrocities of misguided science and the desire for a greater profit margin.
That's not necessarily true either SchizotypalVamp... It takes alot of conscientous and careful breeding to maintain quality vigor, form, finnage, and color in our domesticated fish. This is something that seems lost on most of the commercial fish breeders in the world. As a result, we are left with increasingly dull fish, propagated for profit rather than quality, and even in the hands of local breeders, wild or wildtype blood is often necessary to produce quality fish out of commercial stock. Wild blood is not necessary for the continuation of our hobby, but it would be a serious blow if we were to lose access to wild stock. The important thing as hobbyists, is to use our money to speak for conscientious practices whenever we can.
That's not necessarily true either SchizotypalVamp... It takes alot of conscientous and careful breeding to maintain quality vigor, form, finnage, and color in our domesticated fish. This is something that seems lost on most of the commercial fish breeders in the world. As a result, we are left with increasingly dull fish, propagated for profit rather than quality, and even in the hands of local breeders, wild or wildtype blood is often necessary to produce quality fish out of commercial stock. Wild blood is not necessary for the continuation of our hobby, but it would be a serious blow if we were to lose access to wild stock. The important thing as hobbyists, is to use our money to speak for conscientious practices whenever we can.
Well, I meant out of a conscientious breeder, really 
, cause a substandard breeder inevitably produces bad stock. I completely agree we need to speak for conscientious practices both in breeding and collecting.
, cause a substandard breeder inevitably produces bad stock. I completely agree we need to speak for conscientious practices both in breeding and collecting.
Fish farms can't take all of the blame though. Wild fisherman can also be just as bad or even worse imo. Although this primarily applies to saltwater fish, the practice of sodium cyanide or "cuscous" collection and dynamite fishing has basically destroyed reefs and their inhabitants all over the philippines and indonesia.
The International Marinelife Alliance (IMA) estimates that Cyanide kills an average of 50% of the fish exposed and more than 90% of cyanide fishes die before they reach the home aquarium. This mortality rate is due to Cyanide, weeks of starvation, parasite loads, metabolite burn from transporting and holding fish in polluted water, lack of oxygen and shipping stress. They purposely don't feed these fish because it costs money to feed for one, two, the fish will deficate more, polluting the water even more, and three, many fish cannot digest their food. This is believed to be a result of the cyanide syndrome because studies have shown that the fishes tend to die shortly after eating their first meal, or they refuse to eat and slowly starve to death. On top of that these methods are also used to catch food-fish, fish intended for human consumption, which helps to increase the usage of these methods.
Though it is now illegal to cyanide and dynamite fish in Indonesia, there are still many fisherman who choose to employ these methods. Imo, these people are far worse than the ones injecting fish with hormones as they are not only killing the fish, they are also destroying the reefs and therefore most, if not all, the marinelife in the area.
The International Marinelife Alliance (IMA) estimates that Cyanide kills an average of 50% of the fish exposed and more than 90% of cyanide fishes die before they reach the home aquarium. This mortality rate is due to Cyanide, weeks of starvation, parasite loads, metabolite burn from transporting and holding fish in polluted water, lack of oxygen and shipping stress. They purposely don't feed these fish because it costs money to feed for one, two, the fish will deficate more, polluting the water even more, and three, many fish cannot digest their food. This is believed to be a result of the cyanide syndrome because studies have shown that the fishes tend to die shortly after eating their first meal, or they refuse to eat and slowly starve to death. On top of that these methods are also used to catch food-fish, fish intended for human consumption, which helps to increase the usage of these methods.
Though it is now illegal to cyanide and dynamite fish in Indonesia, there are still many fisherman who choose to employ these methods. Imo, these people are far worse than the ones injecting fish with hormones as they are not only killing the fish, they are also destroying the reefs and therefore most, if not all, the marinelife in the area.
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BigFishKeeper
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