Availability of Captive Bred Marine Fish and Cultured Corals in the UK.

Tony Thompson

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Some time ago I made the decision to try and source all my livestock from Captive Bred Fish Stock and Cultured Corals. My choice in no way condemns or condones any other sustainable and ethical choices. It is simply my own choice.

Due to my experiences and sometimes, seemingly uphill struggle to find Captive Bred Fish, particularly within the UK. I decided to highlight and promote the availability of Captive Bred Marines and Aqua cultured corals within the UK hobby. I have been researching the project for some time now and have managed to make some progress with a number of contacts within the UK wholesale and Retail Business.

I would like to gauge the level of interest from fellow reefers , particularly within the UK and Europe, who would like more information on the subject of Captive bred stock and sustainability in general.

In my experience they seems to be a lack of awareness within the UK scene as to what species are available and at what price retail.

The two main wholesalers that I have contact with are:

EcoMarines, who regularly deal in a number of Captive Bred Species including stock from Biota Palau.

TMC who I understand have access to the huge catalouge of captive bred species from sources in the USA including, ORA and Quality Marine.

If you are interested in this topic or would like to share information please feel free to contribute. If there are any Suppliers from Europe, USA or worldwide who are able to ship to the UK then please post your information to this post.

Although they are many debates about the pros and cons of Captive Bred v Wild Caught and Cultured Corals v Wild Collected and so many other aspects of the hobby that include sustainable practices. I would prefer if the discussion remains subjective and relevant to the topic heading.

Thanks in advance for any interest or support you can give this topic.

Tony Thompson, Sustainable Marine - Reefers UK
 

UKBred LTD

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UKBred Ltd are a new company breeding fish and inverts for the UK aquarium trade. We only supply shops, but are looking for new customers at the moment. You can contact us on Facebook, or [email protected]
 

Gweeds1980

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I buy captive bred where possible (though I am a tang addict, so is impossible there, notwithstanding a few yellows a couple years back).

I have a good contact at TMC who tells me any TMC stockists can order from their massive captive bred list. My question is why don't LFS promote this? As TMC are wholesale only, surely it comes down to stockists to raise awareness?
 

petestewardson

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Hello.

I've not started a tank thread on here yet but before Christmas I started to plan a nano tank. I have a Red Sea Reefer Nano that I aquired a long time ago that has sat empty. We have been renovating our house and last weekend is the first time I've been able to place the tank in a suitable position.

One of the goals I've set is to only stock it, as far as possible, with tank/captive bred stock.

Corals aren't an issue as these are widely fraged and farmed. I can use frags from my own main tank that were themselves frags originally as well. I'm using Reel Reef man made rock as well so again that's not really a huge problem.

But then it gets really difficult.

Fish - Well it seems the only UK available fish are various clownfish, and the odd goby. Gweeds1980 you mention TMC have a massive captive bred list, do you know what is on that as they only mention clownfish and neon gobys on thier website? It seems in the US there is more choice, but I'd be very interested to hear of any uk/EU stockists with a bigger range.

Then CUC it's near impossible. I've had a few aquarists offer a few snails that have bred in their tanks, I've got nassaruis snails that are small so will have been bred in my tank, and my Trocus snails did once spawn and I did see a few baby ones once but not since. There are brittle stars and fireworms in my tank that I could transfer over as well. But other than UKbred above trying to raise cleaner shrimps, I'm not aware of much else.

Pete
 

highendofthelow

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UK captive bred fish is a massive problem. I think we are severely held back by the ability to produce live food in small strains to feed some of the larval fishes.

For example, I have a pair of spotted mandarin that spawn reasonably regularly, however, when you read about raising the eggs into larvae and then into settlement, it calls for an XS rotifer strain (SS) that I cannot source in the UK. This is a massive limiting factor in the tank bred development. Further to this, I have previously intended to get dwarf seahorses, something that are meant to breed very happily in captivity ("like rabbits" has often been used to describe their breeding habits) however with the ban on importing smaller seahorses (I think its <4 inches but I cannot remember quite where I got this figure), they are hard to come by and breeders seem to have gone silent- they have a short lifespan, I suspect they have died out in the UK with many of the last stock being closely related in a very small gene pool.

I think PRICE is the major factor of this in the UK. The hobby has become more driven towards "cheaper" fish rather than quality, tank bred etc. In the 7 years in the hobby myself, there are a lot more "shed sellers" that seem to get imports and can sell fish without the overheads that shops have, driving the prices down, and therefore the market for tank bred has struggled- why pay £50 for a tank bred mandarin when Joe Bloggs has one at his shed/shop etc for £25 that's wild caught?

I also think the information for hobbyists has moved away from forums so much in the UK (many of the smaller UK based forums have been dissolved into larger forums, or simply stagnated), with far more of the blind leading the blind, or self professed "experts" on Facebook giving poor/ misleading /old school information, with more progressive members being trolled etc. There doesn't seem the drive for information in the UK than it would seem in other countries. Even something as simple as magazines are pretty much non existent, and magazines that were, were far inferior to the US offerings- we have been importing and reading US magazines for a long time. This lack of information may lead to lack of knowledge of needs for tank bred as well as lack development in the "average joe" hobbyist.

Liz
 

VR28man

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Thank you, Liz. My wife may take a job in the UK next year (we live in the US). A bit depressing, but still good to know. I will prepare myself. ...... :D
 

PeterLL

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Hello.

I've not started a tank thread on here yet but before Christmas I started to plan a nano tank. I have a Red Sea Reefer Nano that I aquired a long time ago that has sat empty. We have been renovating our house and last weekend is the first time I've been able to place the tank in a suitable position.

One of the goals I've set is to only stock it, as far as possible, with tank/captive bred stock.

Corals aren't an issue as these are widely fraged and farmed. I can use frags from my own main tank that were themselves frags originally as well. I'm using Reel Reef man made rock as well so again that's not really a huge problem.

But then it gets really difficult.

Fish - Well it seems the only UK available fish are various clownfish, and the odd goby. Gweeds1980 you mention TMC have a massive captive bred list, do you know what is on that as they only mention clownfish and neon gobys on thier website? It seems in the US there is more choice, but I'd be very interested to hear of any uk/EU stockists with a bigger range.

Then CUC it's near impossible. I've had a few aquarists offer a few snails that have bred in their tanks, I've got nassaruis snails that are small so will have been bred in my tank, and my Trocus snails did once spawn and I did see a few baby ones once but not since. There are brittle stars and fireworms in my tank that I could transfer over as well. But other than UKbred above trying to raise cleaner shrimps, I'm not aware of much else.

Pete

Just wondering if people have any further thoughts or answers to the question in bold? It's been something I've been trying to understand because I'm told they can order from Biota and ORA, yet none of the LFS seem to be able to get a list together apart from clowns and a goby or two
Cheers
 

s_spowart

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I have been trying to get tank bred, the fish shops occasionally but rarely stock them, yet you can find them on US, and EU sites. I have ended up with a pair of clowns, and a few Bengai Cardinals tank bred in a 200 Gallon tank. As it is so difficult I am concentrating on the corals which are much easier to get cultured.

I actually wondered how easy it would be to go get them from either the US, or Germany and bring them back to the UK. Obviously I would go for a holiday, not just for a fish, but if I could pick up the fish on the last day and bring it back how easy would it be getting it through customs. Short of going to Germany with a van, and hiding a box of fish behind a load of diving and camping gear and hope they dont ask me to unload at the channel tunnel lol.
 
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