# wild caught, f1,tank bred whats the big difference



## suffolk bloke (Jun 15, 2008)

i am shortly going to start a new tank i have one at the moment with malawi's and i want another but my problem is what to stock it with,my big question is are wild caught fish that much if any better than a good tank bred fish or is it just a whim that HEY I HAVE WILD CAUGHT FISH ITS SO MUCH BETTER THAN TANK BRED boast about where it came from,frankly i am not bothered if it comes from the moon its the look i am after.they are s much more expensive but i can only get them online so no chance to see them other than a photo.i have a reputable place to buy them from so please apart from its african roots whats so good about them :-?


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## Number6 (Mar 13, 2003)

Personally, I prefer tank raised as long as I know that A. they are pure species and B. they have been properly bred (minimal inbreeding and outcrossing).

The only time I'd bother with wild caught is if I couldn't find pure strain tank raised.

I do enjoy F1 fry *IF * the breeder had a large group of that fish simply because it's simple to avoid sloppy breeding practices as there has only been the one owner...

If I'm not breeding the fish to sell fry, I would never buy anything other than solid looking tank raised fish.


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## chapman76 (Jun 30, 2004)

I'm pretty much on board with number6.

If I was planning on breeding and selling to fish to stores or in volume, I would search for WC or F1 because I would have confidence in their purity.

I have only bought WC when I couldn't get F1 or tank raised of high quality. Most my fish are F1, but that is because the breeder I typically buy from happens to have WC stock and a lot of fish.


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## kb3781 (Jul 22, 2008)

Would you rather have a wild caught horse or a thoroughbred?
I'll take the thoroughbred. The only difference with fish is that you don't always know if your thoroughbred is really a thoroughbred. If only fish breeding was documented as well as horse breeding


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## why_spyder (Mar 2, 2006)

I like to go with F1, F2/tank-raised.

Most of the species I am after aren't readily available around here, so I end up buying more F1/F2 stock than tank-raised stuff. There are a few species I like that are more available and I will gladly take a good tank-raised strain from them.

It used to be I was all about trying to get wilds. Then I'd get some - get bloat in the tank - and lose the fish. That was a waste of a good lot of money. Besides, when you buy wild you are still risking getting fish with bad traits. Not all wilds look good.


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## nick a (Apr 9, 2004)

It really all depends on a number of variables--one answer does not fit all.



> just a whim that HEY I HAVE WILD CAUGHT FISH ITS SO MUCH BETTER THAN TANK BRED boast about where it came from


While I guess there may be some out there with this 'tude, I would posit that among most folks with any seriousness involved in the hobby that isn't the case.



> are wild caught fish that much if any better than a _*good*_ tank bred fish


That is the quantified modifier #6 mentions. Too many times, farm/tank bred fish available are questionable at best. Look through just this site alone to find the numerous posts which highlight that issue. With ANY questions open on a particular breeding group, I cannot pass on offspring to other folks with integrity intact.

My preference for WC or F1 (from a known and trusted source only) in part springs from the simple desire to eliminate as many variables/questions as possible and to render my ability to give a fellow fish fan a batch of offspring with the absolute highest confidence that they are what I say they are.


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## suffolk bloke (Jun 15, 2008)

thanks to everyone for their input on this issue,i think i have gathered that good tank bred fish can look the same as wc but if you want to breed and sell fish on you are better off with wc or f1 so you can rest easy your fish is what it should be. :thumb:


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## copasetic (Nov 26, 2007)

For your own personal pets F1 or tank raised are the choice for sure.. For a breeding colony you want the genes of wild caught.. tank raised fish will be much more friendly from the start and seem to be hardier. Not that i dont love my wilds but their fry have the better personality. I work on that too making them not shy.. *** seen some awsome quality F1's be very shy because they come out of a dark basement fish room.


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## Fish_Dude (Aug 13, 2006)

Wild Caughts are good for breeding. It seems to be the only fish I can find of some species too..

But I don't like them in general.. why?

- parasites and diseases

- getting wild caught doesn't always get you the best fish... it might be in the lower 25% of the species, you don't get to choose

- less tolerant of water conditions(such as lower PH and hardness)

- Behavior... a wild caught fish in captivity may behave differently than one that is tank raised.

I personally tend to get nicer fish that are less prone to 'dropping dead' with a tank raised fish... and I can often get a better example of the species. I have yet to come across an adult C. Travwaswe that isn't wild caught. Same with an adult Tyranochromis.

But for breeding, you can get more for an F1 fish in general... so a pair of nice wild caught breeders can get you more valuable fry.. however.. it's often harder to get wild caughts to breed in captivity.


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## why_spyder (Mar 2, 2006)

nick a said:


> Too many times, farm/tank bred fish available are questionable at best.


This is an issue I have seen around this part of the Midwest - especially regarding some species of mbuna and peacocks.


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## chapman76 (Jun 30, 2004)

why_spyder said:


> nick a said:
> 
> 
> > Too many times, farm/tank bred fish available are questionable at best.
> ...


Can't agree more. LFS in general suck around Michigan. We used to have a lot of really good breeders in Michigan that had large operations, now with the economy, many have left or just gotten out of the hobby. Another by-product of the financial situation of the country.


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## nick a (Apr 9, 2004)

> and I can often get a better example of the species


While in general agreement with most of the post Fish_Dude, I can't quite say that's been my experience---I'm actually not quite sure what would be a better example than one directly from the lake?

Unless you're meaning that tank raised quite often exhibit brighter colors and grow longer fins etc.... because they've been 'pampered' all their lives; then I could agree with that. However they can also exhibit other traits from that 'pampering' such as 5"+ demasoni....that aren't representative of the actual lake population at all.

An example of the reasons to go for WC groups; Look up what used to be Cyno. sp Mbweca
http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/species.php?id=1737. Look at Darcy's pics in the profile and at my pics in the species article. Most of us believed that those were representative of this species. Most of this stock was derived from Florida fish farms. I never could quite understand what the cause of the discrepancy was from pics Ad published--maybe a trick of underwater photography?---until I got a group of WCs recently available.

Compare this pic to the profiles & to Ad's pics from the lake--looks to me like these WCs are much more representative of the actual lake population. Which would you rather have fry from?


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## F8LBITEva (Nov 9, 2007)

^^^^ wow!


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## why_spyder (Mar 2, 2006)

Isn't _C_. sp. Mbweca now _Met_. sp. Mbweca?


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