Appeal of wild fish?

[aidensmomma2000]

I was think about how there seems to be a desire to have wild caught Africans, and wondering why there seems to be a market for this and not others?

Just curious and hoping to learn more.

Cheers!

[blueturq]

I think it might be because their has been lots of hybridization with africans (particularly mbuna).  So by getting a wild fish it generally means that it's a "pure" species.

Hybrid or not they should still be cared for in the same way IMO.

[mseguin]

Seems odd to me to assume wild caught fish would be pure. If anything they seem to be more likely to me to be hybrids, especially if the live in similar lcoations to the fish they typically hybridize with. The number of varieties of each speceis would seem to belie any kind of genetic stability.

[gvv]

Seems odd to me to assume wild caught fish would be pure. If anything they seem to be more likely to me to be hybrids, especially if the live in similar lcoations to the fish they typically hybridize with. The number of varieties of each speceis would seem to belie any kind of genetic stability.

:lol: The assumption is: wild caught are pure :lol:
Do you know why there are so much cichlid varieties in the rift lakes?

[mseguin]

Speciaition. But that would imply a huge amount of genetic variation, which doesnt make it pure (in a genetic sense). After all, the term species is a human invention and how many variants should actually be called species.

[Sue]

The different variants (subspecies, and species) formed in the wild took  thousands of years of geographic separation to develop.  In captivity the cichlids get mixed  with closely related fish from all over the lake and we end up with hybrids. The wild caught fish (species or subspecies) should retain the undiluted genome of the fish living in the area (island, reef, excetra) where they were caught.

[dannypd]

Seems odd to me to assume wild caught fish would be pure. If anything they seem to be more likely to me to be hybrids, especially if the live in similar lcoations to the fish they typically hybridize with. The number of varieties of each speceis would seem to belie any kind of genetic stability.

:lol: The assumption is: wild caught are pure :lol:
Do you know why there are so much cichlid varieties in the rift lakes?

LOL, its true, but with lake caught fish, we have the strongest (usually.)

Call it darwin effect....