Conservation status and Livestock

[strayner]

When buying livestock, do you consider whether or not they are wild caught or tank raised? Endangered or Threatened status?

For example, the white cloud mountain minnow (Tanichthys albonubes) is said to be extinct (http://www.springerlink.com/content/512721778718n18k/) in it's native range, but are tank bred for the aquarium industry. Or what about reef dwelling fish that are captured in the name of the aquarium trade, potentially upsetting some balance? For example, algivorous fish that are needed to control algae in order for corals to survive.

Basically, does it matter to you if a fish is threatened or endangered and does that affect your livestock choices? Why or why not?

Share your thoughts!

Edited August 17, 2010 by strayner

[Jayba]

Being realtively new to the whole cichlid genre, I stay away from any fish of importance!LOL!

[AvianAquatics]

Definitely! I don't buy wild animals since it will deplete their population somewhat in the wild. Like you said the white cloud mountain minnow, even though it's gone in the wild I don't feel bad buying tank bred ones. But for fish like the Zebra Pleco and Blue Eyed Panaque I wouldn't buy them no matter how enchanting they are.

[werner]

Can anybody say Galaxy Rasbora?

[Evolution]

The white cloud is not red listed at all in any way that I could find. It is a "new population" that is threatened and that threat has nothing to do with the hobby. Rarely does the hobby threaten wild populations. Most often wild populations become extinct or threatened because of habitat loss or destruction. When we see that a species has been compromised because of over fishing or because of poor fishing practices resulting from local fishermen trying to meet the demand of the hobby, we are lead to believe that in most cases the hobby is causing the decline in all species the world over, and simply it is not. Our hobby protects a great deal of species from total extinction. Our hobby does more good than harm.

The red tail black shark (Ephalzorynchus bicolor) has been extinct in the wild for years and that was do to habitat loss. If it was not for the hobby this fish would be gone forever. If the RTBS was not a popular aquarium fish it would be extinct completely just like so many livebearers and other North American Cypriformes that were not blessed with pretty colours to entice this hobbies vanity.

The zebra pleco was being over fish and it was a dangerous task of catching these beauties, but they certainly could have been a sustainable resource for Brazil, but the real threat of the zebra pleco is not the hobby at all, but a damn that threatens to completely dry out their area and threatens them with extinction. If this is going to happen, then when the water level drops they all need to be collected a distributed around the world into breeding programs to prevent it from going completely extinct.

Without this hobby so many fishes would be gone or soon gone forever, such as the several popular aquarium species of rainbow fishes of Indonesia, the Victorian Lake cichlids and the many mollies, guppies, swords, and platies of North America.

[CursiveDuck]

That's an interesting thought right there, I haven't really thought about it much at all. But in practice I try to avoid wild caught fish in principle because ones bred and raised in our city water tend to have better survival rates for myself. Though I have some fish that are definitely on the endangered list, but as evolution said a lot of fish are saved cause of our hobby, so I guess that means I avoid Wild Caught, but don't mind owning endangered species lol.