Captive bred fish: Does it matter? Does it matter to you?

[Hermie]

all my fish except my first are captive bred

I wont buy wild caught anymore because I am way too impatient to Quarantine them in a separate tank

 

[Spare time]

Captive bred fish: Does it matter? Does it matter to you?

Many saltwater fish retailers offer both wild-caught and captive-bred fish. Sometimes there is a price difference – does the pricing impact your decision? It has been said that nearly 90% of saltwater fish in the aquarium trade are wild but it appears that more and more fish are being captive-bred each year. Tell us in the thread below if you think that the tension between captive-bred fish and wild-caught fish? Let us know if you think it matters and if it matters to you. We believe this is an important and encourage everyone to be respectful as you share your perspectives!

Photo of captive bred yellow tang by @PacificEastAquaculture

We realize that over time perspectives may change. Whether this is due to a change in culture, availability, information or other reasons, sometimes thoughts and ideas on topics morph and shift. Here is an R2R article about captive-bred vs wild-caught fish from 2017. Have opinions changed since then?

Are Captive Bred Fishes The Only Way?

Nowadays it’s not uncommon to see a hobbyist say, ‘I’m only stocking my tank with captive bred fish.’ Of course, their heart is in the right place, and it’s understandable why most people would think this is the best route forward for wild reefs...

www.reef2reef.com

These days I'll likely only buy captive bred fish since I don't like the casualty rate of capturing wild animals

 

[Joe.D]

I’m new to the hobby - have had my tank up for about 6 months. I have a mix of CB and wild caught in my tank.

I was leaning toward trying to go all CB, but after reading the article posted by the OP, I’m not sure it matters when you take everything else into account - carbon footprint, shipping from captive breeders halfway around the world, etc.

 

[Badboyan93l]

Captive would be more ideal. The only difference is the price, but the quality will still be the same, if the LFS decides to add em to the same parasitic system, and IF they’re separate chances are they’re sharing the same filter system. ‍

 

[PatW]

I prefer captive bred fish.

1) There are no worries about destructive collecting methods.
2) Captive bred fish are usually US based so you do not have the multiple hand offs of wild caught fish with the fish getting stressed and suffering mortality at each point along the way.
3) Captive bred fish are likely to be disease free.
4) All captive bred fish know is food that is commonly available so there is no learning curve for them.
5) Captive bred fish are aquarium raised so that is their “normal” environment.
6) Captive bred fish are going to be juveniles. I have bought fish of relatively short lived species. And the adult fish can be well into their expected life span.

Now there is a limited selection of captive bred fish. But the selection should increase over time.

Something I learned years ago in the fresh water hobby was this. I knew a local fish store guy. He had the best fish in town. Some stores significantly underpriced him. But I found that it is much more cost effective in the long run to by the healthiest best cared for fish that you can get. The survival rate is far higher. Also the fishes ability to thrive is much greater.

 

[davidcalgary29]

I'm all for captive bred fish...with the exception of the matted filefish. Stealth Ninja corallivores with no appetite for aiptasia? When almost all other filefish are so much lovelier and more personable? Ugh.

 

[LPS Bum]

Captive bred is a great option (hardier, more sustainable, etc), but they're usually a lot more expensive and your options are pretty limited. Personally, I don't have any problem with importing and keeping wild caught fish, but I do wish more wholesalers quarantined them before sale.

 

[Braveheart!]

I currently buy all my fish at local stores. Since, both stores currently only carry wild fish I have little choice. But both are looking into captive fish

 

[Rewd]

Just like many here, I'll take the captive bred option first, if one is available to the market. I have two pairs of captive bred clowns in 2 different tanks, CB biota coral beauty, CB yellow clown goby, CB striped fang blenny and a CB bengai cardinalfish. The only exception to this rule was the aptasia eating filefish. Anecdotally, some think the CB variety isn't as apt to eat aptasia and my problem was so bad I wasn't willing to risk getting a dud.

 

[MiniCoco]

I voted for the option that I prefer to buy captive bred (CB) whenever possible. I also have to be honest with myself and realize that if a particular species was a must have and was not available as CB, I may be tempted to purchase wild. I would definitely research how that wild caught specimen was caught and other pertinent information such as is the fish on a watch list, etc.

 

[chipz]

I prefer captive bred whenever possible because they are better acclimated to living in our aquariums, and are used to frozen/pellet foods. Unfortunately some of my favorite species aren't widely available captive bred (yet!), and those I keep an eye out for "used" from other hobbyists. But I definitely do buy wild caught occasionally -- mostly when I feel confident that they come from a sustainable operation. It can be really hard to get information from most LFSs on where/how/when a wild caught specimen came from, and I wish that making that information available was more of a norm in this hobby.

 

[Itsadeepbluesea]

I prefer captive when possible

 

[MoparMike97]

I'm all for captive breeding efforts but until breeders actually enact some quality control and manage to get CB offerings to match their wild counterparts, I won't be buying them.

I understand occasional defects slipping through the cracks, but the sheer number of deformed CB fish you see for sale is frankly frightening and clearly shows the majority of large scale breeders are more concerned about making a quick buck then selling a quality animal.

For those who may not have read it, the late-great Jake Adams wrote a great post about the quality of CB fish;

Can We At Least Talk About Captive Breeding Defects? | Reef Builders | The Reef and Saltwater Aquarium Blog

If a farmer grows a certain quantity of produce like fruits or vegetables, they can’t reasonably expect that every single fruit will be of sellable quality. The same principle applies to farmers that…

reefbuilders.com

 

[Mr Fishface]

I love the idea of captive bred. Price is definitely a factor though. Yellow tangs at $165 is better than when they were $400. Thats a price I could justify saving for. The hard part is how few fish are still captive bred. Biota has been making large gains and I hope their progress continues!

 

[Arcticreef]

Let's face it. The carbon footprint and impacts of marine tanks is horrendous. And I dare you to tell me differently from the salt water we throw down drains, to the online purchasing, boxes and polystyrene containers etc and not to mention the power consumption used for all the life support systems. We need to shift to CB fish as much as possible. And I will take flack for this comment, but if we can't afford the increase in prices for CB then we should reconsider if this is the hobby for us. We MUST do what we can to lesson our impact. It also starts with the fish catchers in the countries that supply fish. Their governments need to support more local hatcheries. This will lesson the impact on the fishermen's livelihoods and the reefs' futures as we shift away from destroying the reefs. And for the record, it's not an easy shift to make as a hobbiest, especially when you live in remote areas and are dependent on online stores that may not carry many CB fish. Let's think a bit smarter about all our purchases and decisions going forward. I know I need to.

 

[Zionas]

Totally support captive bred, especially angelfish which are my favorite of all marine fish.

 

[Iccis Linn]

Am I the only one who think wild fish are more resilience in long run ?
In my opinion and observation wild fish tend to do worse in first a few weeks but after it's period they're bulletproof as hell. Not like captive one which tend to do worse in any type of disease or tank crash or unexpected situration.
Everytime unexpected situration like change selinity or temperature or power cut... happened most of the time captive breed one died.

 

[MamaP]

I too prefer CB and wish we had more options for them. I do have some wild caught fish, due to the lack of availability of many CB options. Interestingly, most of the FW fish I buy actually are CB. I don't know if they are easier to breed, or what, but it would be great if there were more CB SW options!

I also personally think that CB should actually be less expensive than wild caught, not more expensive, simply due to what all is involved in collecting and shipping, etc. (Not that I think breeding them is easy or inexpensive, just comparatively speaking). I think it should be more about being sustainable than trying to make money anyway. If they can make the seafood we eat more sustainable, there should definitely be more sustainability for the sea creatures we don't eat, but those just my idealistic opinions, I suppose.

 

[Sean Clark]

I would rather have a healthy fish over any other fish. I don't care where it comes from. That does not mean that I don't care about whatever you want to come at me with. That just means that I would rather have a healthy fish. Don't read into it.

 

[Mark Bradley]

I understand the environmental benefits of captive bred fish. The farms play a key role in this potential success - the downsides can easily be seen now, in the tropical world, in such fish as Guppies which have definitely lost their hardiness.