Why Buy Wild when Aquacultured is cheaper?

[Maxx]

http://www.themarinecenter.com collects rare and unusual fish and inverts and sells them to hobbyists all over the US. Several folks with great systems have boiugth from them in the past nad had great things to say about them, 64Ivy bought his Muelleri butterfly from them...
They put out a weekly email list of the specials they have...this week they sent out a notice that they had an Interruptus angel for sale.
http://www.themarinecenter.com/interruptus.htm
These angels arent cheap and TMC wants $1200.00 USD for theirs.

My question is why would anyone pay more for a wild caught fish when a facility in Hawaii is breeding these and other rare or difficult angels for less money?

http://www.rcthawaii.com

RCT has expanded their operations, as they now offer colini and multibarred angels for sale also....

This is the future of the hobby. I seriously believe that in the next 10 years or so, US hobbyists will be severely restricted in what can be purchased.

http://www.orafarm.com is another place that is active in captive brreding of marine fish and inverts.

Nick

 

[Krish]

Cool links Nick thanks for sharing! I agree with you...Why buy wild caught fish when you can catch them for free or have me catch them for you

 

[Scooterman]

I also agree why damage farther nature when we can grow our own, good job Nick, thanks.

 

[spongebob lover]

Kewl Nick .
I agree too.

 

[MikeS]

This is the future of the hobby. I seriously believe that in the next 10 years or so, US hobbyists will be severely restricted in what can be purchased.

Agreed...every instance of calupera off the coast of California and every lionfish spotted on Caribbean reefs brings us that much closer to tight restrictions on our hobby...I also belive that soon only aquacultured animals will be available, and will also be area restricted, to prevent wild introductions...

MikeS

 

[Maxx]

Whats interesting to me was the list of fish that have been bred in captivity on RCT's website. I didnt realize that maculosus angels had been captive bred.
Hopefully the aquacultured side of the hobby will begin to take off here and become much more successful and eventually less expensive. Its kinda catch 22 right now though with fish. It cost so much money to breed and raise the larval fry that the profit margin on these fish cant compete with the wild caught...so no one buys them. because not as many people are buying captive bred fish due to the high cost, no one wants to invest in captive breeding programs of marine fish. Because the profit margin on captive bred fish is so low, and no one wants to invest....not many people are doing it, and the cost remains high.....
vicious cycle.
Hopefully it will end here soon , before the legislation makes it more restrictive.

Nick

 

[spongebob lover]

well dood i think that it's awesome that people are breeding this fishes as well as corals.
One time i was reading an article that said that in the future, the only way our kids will see corals will be through a picture which i don't know if i'd believe that because there's so many of us already keeping corals, breeding fishes.
i wish now that someone would start breeding tangs too or atleast i don't know anyone but that would be so awesome.

 

[Krish]

Hey Nick...A friend of mine who owns the LFS here wanted him and I to try and get a permit from the Government for us to have our own fish farm. I think if it worked and we carried through with it, it would be a great thing. Typically the fish we as hobbyist tend to want for our aquariums is something that is not generally considered as a food source for human cunsumption. I mean, who wants a tang for dinner? It would be like the government was just "lending" us a few fish they don't really care much about anyway, to get things going and after they have successfully bred, we can return them back to the wild (if the need be)and continue with our "own" offspring. The same with corals...You find that after a violent storm or something caused by "mother nature" you can find nice pieces of corals broken away from a reef in excellent shape which could be harvested. It's a long road ahead if we were to go through with it, but definately something worth doing if stock could be transported over seas cheap enough to be worth it for you guys over there. I mean you guys have seen a few of my posts, I can go off of shore and get basically anything any of you would ever want and not cost a dime to get, but a little bit of gas on a 21x7 island. The resources are here...Enough for everyone in the hobby to be able to have the things they want at a reasonable price and not deplete our waters streching over 700 islands. It's just the fact that if the government is willing to let something like this happen. I would love to do it for the simple fact that I think it is rediculous the prices you guys have to pay for marine life when, for some of us (like me) we can go in our backyards and get these same things without a problem...Believe me when I say, if there was something I could do I would and I will...

 

[edgerat]

I would pay double for the aquacultured ones as well because they are much hardier than the wild caught stuff. Same with corals, leave the colonies in the ocean and aquaculture instead!

 

[Krish]

I would pay double for the aquacultured ones as well because they are much hardier than the wild caught stuff. Same with corals, leave the colonies in the ocean and aquaculture instead!

You couldn't have said it better edgerat...A prime example is with sea-horses. Wild ones are almost impossible to keep unless given live food, but aquacultured ones are now eating frozen foods! Too bad you have to start somewhere which is with "wild caught" and then you have to keep breeding and breeding and breeding to get them to where you want them...

 

[Krish]

Another little thing I wanted to point out too though from my observations living here in the Bahamas and having kept "wild" caught fish is that these same "wild" caught fish, within themselves are still not so much the same. Here's what I mean...

I've used this example here before and I'll use it again because it is a prime example, but any marine hobbyist here in Nassau (which is only a small handful) knows for a fact that you can only keep butterfly fish caught around Rose Island. Rose Island is only a 10 minute boat ride off of the mainland of Nassau and if you catch a wild butterfly there, i'd say 50-75% of the time they will do o.k in your tank and you may even eat get 1 or 2 to eat formula 1flake food. On the otherhand, if you catch a butterfly anywhere around the mainland, they are sure to die within a week or two. The only way you could possibly be able to keep one alive off of the mainland is if you go down to the beach every few days and pick up rocks in shallow water covered in algae, parasites, critters etc for them to munch on, but no-one is willing to do that just to keep a butterfly and still don't seem to make it. Any ideas why this is so in such a close proximity? I have no idea why, but just found that to be interesting. You've got the majority of aquacultured fish being hardier than wild, but then again you've got wild being more hardier than wild within the same species and within pretty much the same proximity...Just thought I'd share that

Go Bears!

 

[spongebob lover]

you know krish that's very interesting about the butterfly fish and i hope someone can tell us the answer .
I think it'd be a great idea if you start something like that because yes it's crazy how much you have to pay for fishes and inverts now days and they sometimes don't even last months sometimes.
i agree with Edgerat, i rather pay double for something aquacultured than something wild .
After that said .... *wispers* Go Seahawks .