Thread: cleaner wrasse
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Old 04-12-2009, 03:51 AM
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True enough to your point, but I did not take them out of the wild and if they were not readily available I would not have one. How many people on this forum have these fish and have not admitted to it?
Actually, by purchasing this fish, you have encouraged demand for it- you ARE responsible for removing it from the wild.
Galaxy rasbora were readily available for the aquarium trade at the same time they were being exterminated in their original location... retail availability doesn't guarantee that wild populations are undamaged.
If we aren't careful, these fish will become completely unavailable- to our tanks, to the oceans, to the biosphere as a whole. And they're too important a species to risk driving to extinction, IMO. When/if someone manages to cultivate them in captivity, I might consider buying one. Otherwise, it's pretty unethical.
I heartily wish that some serious CITES restrictions on these fish would make them more or less unavailable to the public.
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