Why are tank bred more expensive than wild?

**hockeyhead019** · 01-26-2011, 06:07 PM

Hey everybody,

Just curious but why would the tank bred species be more expensive than the wild species?

I'm looking at cardinal fish (bangaii to be specific) and I know their overfished so I'm looking for tank bred ones and they're an extra 10 bucks... I know it isn't a lot and I'm not saying it's gonna stop me from getting tank bred lol but I'm just curious why that is?

**Cliff** · 01-26-2011, 06:17 PM

I think for most fish it's due to the time it take to breed and raise the fry. I think for most SW fish that takes a lot longer FW fish. More time = more money

Plus from what I've heard, Bangaii are starting to be a endangered fish so supply and demand is not in our favour.

**hockeyhead019** · 01-26-2011, 06:57 PM

Yea that's what I'm saying, since they're endangered wouldn't the price for the wild ones sky rocket? Or does business just not care?

Also I do understand the part about the availably, I guess there's a ton of people who can catch them and not really a lot who can breed them and raise them successfully

**Sasquatch** · 01-27-2011, 01:39 AM

Tank bred fish are more expensive because more effort goes into getting them to the retailer. Reproducing saltwater fish isn't easy to start with and many species grow fairly slowly.

Wild fish are cheaper mainly because of the relative ease of catching them and the low wages/prices offered to the fishermen. Even if the fish are getting rarer in many cases, locals know where to get the ones that are left. Also, if there are fewer, the locals get paid more, so it's that much more incentive to get those that are left.

Be wary of cheap fish though. If it looks too good to be true, it's a good bet that it's been caught with cyanide, a practice you most definatly don't want to encourage.

**Lady Hobbs** · 01-27-2011, 02:59 AM

I agree. By the time these rainbowfish fry grow up large enough to sell, I'm going to want $100 each! Gawd but they are small! LOL I am so not wanting to mess around with these things for 4-5 months.

**ILuvMyGoldBarb** · 01-27-2011, 10:24 AM

It's a combo of time, effort, and expense. Raising captive bred marine fish take all 3 of these things in abundance. Most marine fish go through a planktonic larval stage, making them very difficult to feed for the first few weeks, and they need large amounts of cultured foods. As they increase is size they need food that increases is size as well. Since all these foods have to be cultured, you pretty much have to have them ready to go when the parents spawn. That being the case, you need to keep the food alive and the cultures going. You then need clean water for water changes.
A friend of mind had his Maroon Clowns breed, and he decided to raise the fry. In addition to the tank he had for the parents and fry, he had an additional 7-8 10gal tanks going just for live cultures.

**hockeyhead019** · 01-27-2011, 03:46 PM

Yea it's starting to make sense now, that the money in breeding and raising SW fish just isn't there since it takes so much time... would be a good business to get into though if you could do it with success and just have staggered groups so it wasn't like you'd be waiting months between batches...

However I do understand that the difficulty, morality rate, and just the overall time it takes would make this very unappealing to people... its a shame though :/

**Cliff** · 01-27-2011, 04:03 PM

Look up how yellow tangs reproduce

I read a long article once on a study that was completed on how yellow tangs reporduce. I didn't understand it well enough to explain it here, but I do remember when they added up the costs for the study, they would have needed to sell the fish for around $400.00 to break even. A little over inflated as this was a study, but it would be really expensive as compaired to catching them in the ocean.

**hockeyhead019** · 01-27-2011, 05:09 PM

Well I mean I think that cost could be vastly reduced, if you did things in huge quantity and had the lowest mortality rate possible, granted it'd be very difficult and I'm not saying there's a ton of money in this but I think it'd be kinda cool to do, I mean tanks and tanks full of breeding SW fish would be a pretty cool sight haha

**ILuvMyGoldBarb** · 01-27-2011, 10:26 PM

Originally Posted by Cliff

Look up how yellow tangs reproduce

I read a long article once on a study that was completed on how yellow tangs reporduce. I didn't understand it well enough to explain it here, but I do remember when they added up the costs for the study, they would have needed to sell the fish for around $400.00 to break even. A little over inflated as this was a study, but it would be really expensive as compaired to catching them in the ocean.

The cost of the Tank alone would drive the price of the fish through the rook. lol