Skunky wrote:
I know that for some areas of the world, their only income is from
catching fish for the trade, but at what price, some fish have already
seen dramatic drops in numbers, one in particular I'm led to believe is
the Zebra plec, yet I still see them for sale, why?

I know a few of you keep Marine fish and inerts etc, which the majority
of are wild caught I believe, personally I feel it should be banned. I
know there are controlled catches around the world, but for some reefs
etc, the damage has been done and some of it irreversible all because
of high demand by the trade.

Being actively involved in raptor conservation in the U.K, I can
foresee for different reasons, the future of certain species of
tropical fish doomed! I know there are quite a few species of fresh
water fish struggling to maintain numbers due mainly through habitat
loss and pollution here in the U.K

Well, my personal take on wild caught fish (and I have owned some in the
past and plan to again in the near future once I rid myself of certain
roommates (search for my recent disaster on alt.aquaria)) is that I only
purchase wild caught fish I know that I can breed in my tanks. My thoughts
are that I should contribute to the local hobby by breeding these fish and
distributing them to the LFS and aquarium societies in the area. I tend to
prefer F0 and F1 for my breeding tanks to avoid the possibility of
hybrids. Still has the possibility of inbreeding, but it's really the
purity of the species that I'm more concerned with. Anyways, in this way,
as some other respondants have mentioned, the species can be maintained in
the hobbyist/industry field even if it becomes "extinct" in the wild.

One quick note as for damage, I have seen one damaged wild-caught fish
from the rift lakes. In my last batch of Neolamp. similis, one female
definately had a damaged swim bladder. She couldn't really swim without
slowly sinking even if she put a ton of effort into it. I always wondered
if she suffered from pressure issues when caught or if it was a later
infection/etc that caused the problem. She didn't seem to be unhappy from
it. She had her own little spot in the colony and defended the fry
(although not as adeptly as the others). I miss my little "clown" as I
called that female *frowns in her roommate's direction*.