What Species Are Captively Bred?

[rich]

A friend of mine is setting up a tropical tank and we decided it would be best if he didn't take species that were taken from the wild. I think White Cloud Minnows are captively bred as they are though to be extinct in the wild. Also Neon tetras (from Czech Republic?). Does anyone know of any others?

 

[Spooky76]

lol - nearly all are mate.

Most fish you and me buy are captively bred I think.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

I think neons are taken from the wild, as are cardinal tetras, although i could be wrong.


There are many captive bred and wild caught fish sold in the hobby, but before we can start suggesting fish, what are the measurements (length, width and height) of your friends tank?
How much does your friend understand about water quality and cycling tanks too? If he is not familiar with these things yet, he could end up accidentally killing the new fish he gets. A good article on understanding water quality and cycling in new tank set ups;

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=10099

.

 

[CFC]

lol - nearly all are mate.

Most fish you and me buy are captively bred I think.

Actually the large majority of fish are taken from the wild, in most cases it just isnt cost effective to breed them in captivity when compared to collecting from the wild, the exception to this is things like the most common Cichlid species which readilly breed and dont need to be seperated from their fry and a handfull of other fish which are reared on farms.

 

[demonmagus]

I read i PFK that cardinals are hard (ish) to breed, when the rio negro floods there is a MASSIVE population explosion, and it doesn't affect the wild stock to collect them. Also I believe most puffers are taken from the wild when young (not sure on this one though)

 

[DarkEntity]

Most if not nearly all Puffers are wild caught, as are most Marine fish afaik. Bristlenose Plecs, Killis, Kribs, Juwel cichlids etc are commonly tank bread.

 

[eschaton]

If you buy the following, you're pretty much guaranteed captive-bred stock

All livebearers (duh!)
Most Chichlids, South American & African
Essentially all Killifish
Bettas
Common Gourami species
Most Corydoras
Neon Tetras
White Cloud Mountain Minnows
Zebra Danios
Most barbs
Crayfish
Cherry Shrimp
All true freshwater snails

The following are common species I believe are almost never captive-bred

Kuhli Loaches
Hillstream loaches
Otocinclus
Siamese Algae Eaters
Wood/Bamboo Shrimp
Amano Shrimp
Nerite Snails
Most (but not all) cardinals
Small fish like Boraras and Microrasbora

Generally, the rarer the fish, the harder they are to breed in captivity. I've read though that something like 80% of all fish sold in the freshwater side of the hobby are now captive-bred, which compares very favorably to the salt-water side of the hobby, where only around 6% of species are captive bred at any level.

Honestly though, in a lot of cases I'd say wild-caught versus captive bred is a wash. Most captive-bred tetras and gouramis, for example, are bred on fish farms in Asia where they are pumped full of drugs their whole life. I don't know the details, but I wouldn't be surprised if the death rate for captive-bred neons shipped from Singapore is higher than for wild-caught ones shipped a shorter distance. Things like Killifish, Livebearers, and Chichlids, when they are captive-bred, are generally bred locally though, and are an excellent ethical choice.

 

[england]

the price of fish says a lot about where there breed....imports like for example a shovelnose 5-10cm about £30<import>
a oscar 2-3inches £3.00...<captive breed....convicts<50p>CAPTIVE

 

[Rex740]

Cherry barbs are extinct from the wild but are sold in stores. They are also easy to breed i think.

 

[Bignose]

Cherry barbs are extinct from the wild but are sold in stores. They are also easy to breed i think.

Cherry barb's aren't extinct in the wild. They are on the "red list of threatened species" list where they are described as "vulnerable." You were probably thinking about the red tail black shark, which is listed as extinct. The aquarium trade is a least partly blamed, though "there is no documented evidence to support this" (Kottlelat and Whitten, Freshwater biodiversity in Asia, with special reference to fish World Bank Technical Paper No. 343, 1996). Habitat modification is most likely the largest contributor to their extinction.

 

[kubora666]

ì had no idea red tail black sharks were extinct...i had one that grew HUGE my friend owns an LFS and as said previously ALL cichlids are captivity bred. even some of the rarer ones. but still some are shipped from the wild.i think Geophagus's are commonly imported.but yeah i have bred the following cichlids and supplied them to LFSConvictJuwel cichlidFalse jade eyeGold severum.if somehting is highly priced, extremely large, and or colourful chances are its stolen from the wild =)ì had no idea red tail black sharks were extinct...i had one that grew HUGE my friend owns an LFS and as said previously ALL cichlids are captivity bred. even some of the rarer ones. but still some are shipped from the wild.i think Geophagus's are commonly imported.but yeah i have bred the following cichlids and supplied them to LFSConvictJuwel cichlidFalse jade eyeGold severum.if somehting is highly priced, extremely large, and or colourful chances are its stolen from the wild =)

 

[starrynightxxi]

The only fish that are definately not wild caught are those that are extinct in the wild (ex: black sharks), and those that have been obviously cultivated (ex: longfinned/fancy betta splendens). Also, endangered or protected species (ex: zebra plecs), though I wouldn't be surprised to find some black market trading (black market fish trading? )

Many other fish, though they can be/are bred in captivity, are also often wild caught.

 

[rich]

Thanks for all the replies, eschaton I will give your list to him and let him choose with the caviat from CFC. He's not having a huge tank so neons etc. will be the order of the day and I won't let him add any fish until the water quality is good. He is taking some of my old water to help him as well.

Interesting comment about the flooding. Does this happen more now with global warming or less?

I have no doubt the mortality rate of captive bred fish is high, but is it better than taking all the wild stocks? Are we over concerned, are there many more in the wild than we could possibly take? Do they breed quickly to fill the available space?

 

[The-Wolf]

the only fish that you can 100% gaurentee are captive bred are those that don't appear in the wild in the first place,
in other words those that mankind has created.
veiltail betta splendens and leopard danios spring to mind

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

If you buy the following, you're pretty much guaranteed captive-bred stock

All livebearers (duh!)

Not all livebearers are captive-bred, as far as i am aware only really the common ones are like guppys, endlers, mollys, swordtails and platys. There are a lot of fish which fall under the catagory of "livebearer", check out the rare livebearer section for more info .