wild fish

lightning

Large Fish
Dec 30, 2002
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Texas
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#1
do fish caught in the wild behave any differntly than fish raised from captive parents ?
ive seen several places that have fish caught in the wild, i mean going from a large environment to 55 to 100 gal has got to put some kinda impact on the fish.. right ?
 

Dec 29, 2002
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#2
You can call me mean, but I think fish really don't have much for a thought process. eat -> eat -> reproduce -> swim -> swim -> swim -> eat.............some defend territory and other things like that, but mainly...they don't think about much :D but as far as going from a ponk/lake/stream to a smaller sized tank...you may be right as far as it impacting on them. On that note though, it may just be water conditions and surroundings that may "pause" their natural behavior. To me a fish, or rather any animal, thats taken from the "wild" will not act or behave as they did while in captivity. Fish though, I'm not sure about. :)
 

geKo

Large Fish
Jan 28, 2003
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Louisville ky
#3
lol i would have to agree with circuitdragon even tho someone will come along with some info on how fish think and sound all smart i think hes right...
 

SoulFish

Superstar Fish
Oct 22, 2002
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#6
i know many many many people with wild caught africans, the agression varies in wild caughts but they are generally more agressive, my guess would be more competition for food and mates in teh wild, but it depends on the fish, if you get a more peaceful type it will still be more peaceful

forgot to add that in teh wild they have much larger territory and when stuck in aquarium theyre forced to have much smaller one
 

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toodles

Large Fish
Jan 6, 2003
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#7
I've caught some of the native fish in the past....bluegills, pumpkinseed, and some gambusia. The only major difference I noticed is that they will be very skittish the first week or so until they get used to being in a tank and having a large strange shape come around the tank too! Once they get the idea that you mean food, then they behave like any other fish.....

You have to remember that when this hobby started, ALL of the fish came from the wild. Some have managed to become domesticated, some haven't.....either way, there are drawbacks to both sides. Some fish are never quite comfortable in the aquarium and won't breed or thrive, others that have acclimated to captive life lose out on some of their basic instincts. Look at some angels that consistantly eat their eggs, some fish that will breed with other species......

Intelligence wise, well there has to be something there, although for the most part not that much. I would guess that predatory fish have more smarts than say a tetra.....fish that hold a territory more so than ones that don't (after all, they have to remember where their territory starts and stops!).
 

Jan 19, 2003
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#8
I've owned wild and captive bred dwarf cichlids. Wild caught tend to be stronger, more nervous , more agressive and often better parents. Blue rams for example have a bad habit of abandoning their eggs - this is the result of years of separating parents from young and eggs in bulk breeding programs. I don't think wild caughts would do that.
Wild caught rams, discus etc. are reputedly much fussier about waer conds tho'.