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SB580 (total ban on all aquarium fish collecting)

There have been two examples provided of a situation where the aquarium trade alone was responsible for the extirpation of a fish species from the wild. I'll add one more-- Cherry Barbs are extinct in their natural waters, but very prevalent in hobbyist tanks.

Hmm, if they're so common in the pet trade but extinct in the wild, why does no one breed them to release? Or is there some problem (pollution, development, etc) preventing this as a solution?

(Just curious, as I have some white clouds myself. Feels odd to have a pet that's extinct in the wild.)
 
Breeding in captivity to release into the wild is always problematic, but even more so when habitat degredation is also a component of why a particular species has become extirpated in all or part of its natural range as it is in many fish in the area of SE Asia.

Fish that are bred in captivity have often been in captivity for so many generations that many of their wild instincts (predator evasion is a good one) aren't present anymore. Because the generations for common tropical aquarium fish are so small, even a fish that has only been kept in captivity for 100 years may be 200 or more generations removed from the wild. Compare this to most cornsnake lines which can be traced to wild caught snakes in the 60's, 70's or even 80's. Many of our commonly held aquarium fish can, by generations alone, be considered domesticated.
 
First its reptiles, next fish, rodents, birds and then dogs and cats.
Its just a stepping point on getting animals band as pets.. nuf said
 
Breeding in captivity to release into the wild is always problematic, but even more so when habitat degredation is also a component of why a particular species has become extirpated in all or part of its natural range as it is in many fish in the area of SE Asia.

Fish that are bred in captivity have often been in captivity for so many generations that many of their wild instincts (predator evasion is a good one) aren't present anymore. Because the generations for common tropical aquarium fish are so small, even a fish that has only been kept in captivity for 100 years may be 200 or more generations removed from the wild. Compare this to most cornsnake lines which can be traced to wild caught snakes in the 60's, 70's or even 80's. Many of our commonly held aquarium fish can, by generations alone, be considered domesticated.

Oh, I see. It didn't even occur to me that they would lose that wild instinct. Never really thought of fish as 'domesticated.'
 
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