wild-caught fish (reply)

[anggrek@juno.com (Tsuh Yang Chen)]

On Mon, 16 Feb 1998 08:39:05 -0800 Darren Hanson <DJH@vrd.com> writes:

>I'm not sure if you've ever tried to breed some of the catfish and 
>tetras you imply would become unavailable if not for wild collection,
but 
>many are readily spawned, and are even marginally profitable at current
>prices. In fact, my fiance and I do quite well with just a few dozen 
>tanks raising 3 or 4 species of corydoras catfish (primarily "pepper
cats" 
>and "albino cats") and we have spawned several different tetras and
danios
>in the past. We don't do the tetras very often because our return from
>the cory's is greater relative to the cost of food (for parents and 
>fry) not to mention labor. We know a fellow breeder in Northern CA that
is 
>doing quite well with Synodontis multipunctatus and recently heard that
>another breeder is having some initial success with Syn. petrocola.
>
>My point is, if wild collection were cut off, most of the species we 
>see in stores today COULD be captive bred. The question is whether or
not the
>demand at the inevitably raised prices would be sufficient to ensure a
>continued supply.
>
>-- dj
>

i agree that many tetras and catfish can be bred in captivity but that
number is small compared to the number of species that are available in
the hobby, at least from my observations.  asides from corydoras,
iridescent sharks and synodontis, i don't think many other catfish are
easily bred and in commercial quantities (some of the more prized plecos
and pimelodids for example).  as you point out, breeding many fish
(tetras for example) is not cost-effective when they are readily
available cheaply via wild -collecting (the local people in the amazon
get paid US$ .01 -- 1 cent -- for 10 cardinal tetras, for example, and by
the time they reach nyc stores they are $1.99 each!).  at that rate, no
one is going to breed them and be able to make a profit.  

and as i said, studies have shown that the collection of cardinal tetras
have not in any way diminished their numbers in the wild considerably. 
that is not to say that we should take a cavalier attitude about this
issue.  my main point is that wild-collecting in itself is not
detrimental or "bad," specially if done in a sustainable and reasonable
way.  once a wild-collected fish gets taken, it should be treated as
kindly as possible.  and since many wild-collected fish do not adapt well
to captive conditions, we should definitely encourage captive-breeding of
all species.

tsuh yang chen, new york city