Is buying Wild caught worth the extra money????

Good questions!
I would say from my own experience that WC vs. TR is a matter of availability first and preference second. This can go both ways, in that you can be looking for TR and have only WC available (often with gobies). And, you could be looking for WC for breeding an unusual species but can only come across other hobbyists who have fry for sale because the importers aren't providing WC.

I typically look for TR fish, even though I have WC cyps, gobies, and multies. The reason I look for TR is that I assume they are better adjusted to life in a glass box and that they are relatively free of exotic pests that WC sometimes carry. There is quite a bit of difference between my WC and their fry with behavior. TR are less skittish, and sometimes more colorful.

I also appreciate the sustainability of this hobby, particularly when compared to the salt water industry a few years ago. They are getting better... but still too few species can be bred in captivity, and reef raids and subsequent high mortality are hard to prevent.

lloyd said:

darkside: i believe your logic exposes the troubling demand this hobby has for wild caught sources. a breeder is not really being responsible, until he has construed a method of self sufficiency for his livestock. and so long as we continue to dump our fish into TR buckets, consumers will never value them.
species cypho. 'burundi' is a great example, of how we managed to bugger up a perfectly good variant. what was once a grand fish, just a few years ago, is already assumed a mutt in the hobby. if your only foreseeable option for breeder stock, is to pull from a lake, then you are sadly missing my point. IMHO.

Click to expand...

There isn't anything wrong with my logic. There is no reason to genetically track fish beyond F2 as the traits will be fairly homogeneous. There are very few people who have the means (and almost none who have the inspiration) to line breed successive generations beyond the F2. The demand from the general public to secure quality fish isn't there, so large scale breeding operations won't pedigree their fish. Unfortunately your arguments about fish sources misses my point entirely unless you can demonstrate to me a reason (genetically) to track homogeneous fish through successive generations.
I'll address your concerns anyway, as for pulling from the Lake (we'll use your Front example), it is expensive, but its not like collecting for the aquarium hobby has that much of an impact on the fish population. In fact the amount of fish pulled from the lake with an aquarium as a destination is minuscule compared to the amount of fish harvested for food. There are beaches in Tanganyika right now that have more that $100,000 worth of cichlids spread out on the beach drying for local consumption. I realize this isn't your point but we should always evaluate the environmental impact of fish collection on a case by case basis, as the cichlids of lake Tanganyika are a far different case than say the "galaxy rasbora".
As for tank raised fish, there is nothing wrong with fish that don't have a generation label on them. How do you plan on making consumers value fish that have these generation labels and pedigrees? There simply isn't a demand for this from the average hobbyist so there is no reason to start a specialized supply. Not only that, but the general public do not have the tools to equip themselves with an understanding of the 'genetic' labeling of fish. On average how are people going to respond to a $20 fish that's labeled "F3 back-crossed to F1, Burundi"? People don't even understand some of the less technical language used in genetics (For an example: Number6's frustration at misunderstood terminology can be seen here http://www.cichlid-forum.com/phpBB/view ... 6&start=15 ). If there is confusion about the definition of a hybrid, then there is no point in labeling fish beyond what is now common (F2). Your intentions are noble, but at this point in time I can't see any reason to construct pedigrees beyond personal interest and experiments with line breeding.