Ethics of wild caught fish vs tank bred

I have a few wild fish that I caught in the Amazon with my friends: A 15'' RTC, 12'' Silver Arowana, and a whole school of 12'' pacus and redhooks. I keep them with my tanK RASIED FISH AND THEY ALL ACT THE SAME. But the wilds are always hungry!
 
Most of the time I would recommend tank-bred if you can get them. After a few generations of captive breeding, fish become more adapted to tank life. Discus are a good example. Wild caught fish often do poorly in well lit tanks, and don't tolerate harder water very well.
Wild caught fish are often sought by breeders, as a way to keep the gene-pool strong.
 
Interesting discussion. Thanks for all the feedback.

I was in a PetSmart store talking to the head of the fish department and I asked where they get their fish. He told me they come from their breeding facility in Ohio. I asked if they were all tank bred and he said yes. None of them were wild caught.
 
I kind of doubt that there were NO wild caught fish at PetSmart. Do they sell tetras (neons, rummies, cardinals)?? If so, they were almost definitely wild caught, as success breeding them in captivity on a large scale has not been achieved.
 
Neons are successfully bred on the asian farms, rummies and cardinals are still widely collected as they are cheaper to import from S. America than the farm bred fish from Eastern Europe.

I believe that the question should be more focused on locally bred vs. pet store fish. The hardiness and treatment of many of the farmed fish and wild collected fish you will find in the pet store is suspect and often the cause of problems. If you can get your fish from local breeders and hobbyists you and your fish will have a much easier time. Ethically you are also supporting what should be regarded as "best practices" IMO.

No, I don't breed fish.
 
I can't believe that Lupin didn't mentioned the much beloved loaches! lol

There have been very few successful tank breedings of most species so almost all are wild caught.
 
The loach exception is Y. sidthimunki, all in the hobby are bred using hormone injection. The wild population in the original area are thought to possibly be extinct although now found in another area(s). Recently a hobbyist in GB bred a few without hormones, very exciting!
Weather loaches are raised for food in some places too.
There are other hormone bred loaches in some of the former Soviet block countries with strong suspicions of hybrids (too bad).
 
BigFishKeeper said:
I have a few wild fish that I caught in the Amazon with my friends: A 15'' RTC, 12'' Silver Arowana, and a whole school of 12'' pacus and redhooks. I keep them with my tanK RASIED FISH AND THEY ALL ACT THE SAME. But the wilds are always hungry!
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dude, i'm sorry but i have a very hard time believing that, isn't your biggest tank only 110g? you'd need somewhere around 2,000g for those fish.
 
mr.key said:
Neons are successfully bred on the asian farms, rummies and cardinals are still widely collected as they are cheaper to import from S. America than the farm bred fish from Eastern Europe.

I believe that the question should be more focused on locally bred vs. pet store fish. The hardiness and treatment of many of the farmed fish and wild collected fish you will find in the pet store is suspect and often the cause of problems. If you can get your fish from local breeders and hobbyists you and your fish will have a much easier time. Ethically you are also supporting what should be regarded as "best practices" IMO.
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I have never seen farmed neons, rummies or cardinals at any of my LFS or chain stores, so I was unaware farm-bred neons were readily available. I guess you are correct that it must just be cheaper to import them in most cases.

I agree emphatically that getting fish from local breeders, when possible, is the best choice both ethically and for quality.
 
captive bred vs wild
there are problems with both.

wild fish do need to be added back to the line as over breeding has cause issues we have all seen.
with weak immune systems..particularly neons.
I am sure eventually we will see these issues with many captive bred species.

in some cases the captive species may be the only ones left ..
 
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