Does Captive Breeding remove the difficult reputation of certain species?

[Zionas]

I firmly believe that captive breeding is the future of our hobby. One question that has occurred to me for a while is whether captive breeding would remove the difficulty associated with certain species and make them just like the easier species of their group / family?

For example species that are often considered to be hard to get eating / hard to adjust / prone to disease like Copperbands, Venustus and Colini Angels, Regal Angels, even Moorish Idols and more sensitive Tangs. Would a captive bred specimen become an easy to keep fish compared to their wild counterparts and make them just as hardy as say, a Clownfish?

Which brings me to the topic of Clownfish. It seems to me that their reputation as a hardy beginner fish mostly comes from the fact that they’re mostly captive bred these days. Wild caught ones are much trickier.

Bali Aquarich is captive breeding some awesome species of angels. I’m especially keen on their captive bred Goldflakes, Venustus and Colini. These three are often considered to be touchy / hard to adapt, so I wonder if given good care these captive bred specimens would be just as easy as say, a species with a better reputation like a Flameback.

Would captive breed Yellow and Purple Tangs be even easier to keep than their wild counterparts, already considered as the hardiest among all Tangs?

 

[Tamberav]

No not entirely. A captive Copperband will still be a Copperband which can be easily bullied and may still be a shy or slow eater in our busy reef tanks.

People have loses with the yellow tangs too. Probably because shipping and handling is still a big stressor.

A captive bred mandarin may arrive healthier to start which is great and might accept prepared foods to be target fed. However they still have short digestive tracts and still need proper care. They are easier but not no maintenance unless the tank can sustain them with pods which then a wild one would be able to be kept too.

If the fish is hard to keep due to only collection practices then captive bred would definitely fix that issue.

 

[Zionas]

I see. I wonder whether it’s more collection issues with many of the harder angelfish, or whether it’s because they’re inherently difficult due to other reasons. What about say wild caught specimens mostly being difficult due to internal parasites and susceptibility to pathogens? Would captive breeding fix that?

 

[zalick]

Only if they somehow are selecting for specific traits during success breeds. (Or natural selection works it’s magic and those traits that make them difficult to keep are maladaptive to tank life prior to breeding age). Merely captive breeding alone won’t necessarily make fish hardier or easier to keep.

 

[Tamberav]

I see. I wonder whether it’s more collection issues with many of the harder angelfish, or whether it’s because they’re inherently difficult due to other reasons. What about say wild caught specimens mostly being difficult due to internal parasites and susceptibility to pathogens? Would captive breeding fix that?

Probably not as most people mix wild fish with captive bred and plenty don’t QT everything wet. If it is a fish that suffers more readily from velvet like an Achilles, captive breeding won’t make its mucus coat thicker or make it not need lots of oxygen.

Some people struggle simply because they don’t feed fish well. Like Copperbands being offered just mysis.

 

[Zionas]

Yeah I guess I’m not sure if I will still consider the captive bred specimens of these trickier dwarf angels. I do know that Bali Aquarich are big in the business and one of the best at what they do. Would you take a leap of faith and try it yourself?

 

[Tamberav]

Sure but I also would take the leap with wild fish. Lost the first wild Copperband I tried but my second is thriving.

As long as you have the set up to meet their needs in behavior and feeding. This includes choosing tank mates too.

 

[Zionas]

That’s good to know. Do you know which country your Copperband was sourced from?

Yeah I can find wild ones too but they come in a bit too large for my liking plus they aren’t necessarily all that cheaper than the captive bred ones, at least not the Venustus. A captive bred one would probably run me 160-170 bucks while a wild one would still run me 120 bucks.

 

[Zionas]

I see. Regarding Clownfish it seems as though many people struggle with wild caught Clownfish while captive bred ones are universally accepted as good beginner fish. I wonder if it’s the gene selection over decades of breeding Clownfish (don’t get me started on the designer varieties, a nice pair of Darwin’s like your profile pic will do me good) or something else.

 

[jrill]

I would think it would. We have seen that in many freshwater fish that have been breed in captive farms for years. Fish that in the wild need low pH but do fine and breed at farms with a much higher pH etc.

 

[ClearRain]

Captive bred will definitely do better in a home aquarium than their wild counterpart. They are used to the conditions of an aquarium because they've been raised in that environment. You still have to consider what makes a difficult species difficult to keep, but a captive bred will be easier to deal with because they will adapt more readily to different tank conditions.

 

[Zionas]

I heard for some of the dwarf angels that come from deeper waters, the fact that they are secretive (which might mean the use of drugs) plus decompression issues and maybe just general difficulty adjusting to captive environments (lighting levels, etc.) plays a big part in why they’re considered difficult.

As for some others like certain Tangs it’s susceptibility to disease and need for lots of flow.

 

[Zionas]

Having said this I think Bali Aquarich grows their fish to a certain size before selling, I think anywhere from 6 months to a year before selling.

I’m not sure if the harder angels are really harder because they’re inherently more fragile or just because wild ones are hard to feed.

Not sure what captive bred Mandarins are like but I heard they’re actually very resistant to disease it’s just their diet.