Clown Loach breeding and export study
- Thread starter ewurm
- Start date
Phew, finally read through the lot.
Very interesting indeed, in part I find the difficulty of captive breeding interesting but also all the info on capture techniques and the process of growing on tiny clowns in ponds for future sale. Great thread
Very interesting indeed, in part I find the difficulty of captive breeding interesting but also all the info on capture techniques and the process of growing on tiny clowns in ponds for future sale. Great thread
Just wow on prices since ive last been into the fish hobby. Ive always told myself I wanted a monster tank dedicated to just those loaches.
Love CL's unfortunately in SA they are very very expensive, I have kept some in my 6ft tank years back, restarted a few years ago with a 4ft tank, recently decided to look at them again and almost had a heart attack when i see that the Prices had gone up 4 to 6 x what i payed per CL years back.
Here in SA when i kept them they were around R30 each ($2) at the Time, now they average around R160 each ($10.66) US Dollars in ()
Just to note its been about 6 years since i kept CL's
Interesting vid, thanks for posting. It is common knowledge that clown loaches are bred using hormones, but that hatchery surely can't be supplying fish on an export basis? It looks more along the size of the research stations in Sumatra. With approx. 50 million clown loaches being exported each year out of Borneo/Sumatra combined, it would take thousands of hatcheries that size to meet the demand of consumers.
I have probably posted this more than a few times over the years.....
"Until now, there has been no direct cue that wild stocks of clown loach are critically endangered, but it is generally considered that the collection of juveniles in the wild is over-intensive (Olivier 2001). Reported around 20 million individuals fifteen years ago (Ng and Tan 1997), the number of clown loach juveniles exported annually was estimated at about 50 millions in 2009 (Satyani unpubl. data). This figure is even probably an underestimation of captures, as a significant but variable proportion of fish die rapidly from handling and transportation and is not considered in export estimations."
https://uved-formation-aquaculture....ile/Chromobotia+induced+breeding+ALR+2012.pdf
So unless someone has figured out a way that is cost effective enough to breed, raise to sellable sizes, and export world-wide, the true number of wild clown loaches being collected each year may in fact be currently well in excess of 50 million.
Add to that the current value of monster clown loaches, as in those that are in excess of 10" (mature breeding size), and the pollution that is currently taking place in this species natural habitat (gold washing and rubber tree plantations) and this species may not be that many years away from being all but wiped out in some of its natural waterways.
"Until now, there has been no direct cue that wild stocks of clown loach are critically endangered, but it is generally considered that the collection of juveniles in the wild is over-intensive (Olivier 2001). Reported around 20 million individuals fifteen years ago (Ng and Tan 1997), the number of clown loach juveniles exported annually was estimated at about 50 millions in 2009 (Satyani unpubl. data). This figure is even probably an underestimation of captures, as a significant but variable proportion of fish die rapidly from handling and transportation and is not considered in export estimations."
https://uved-formation-aquaculture....ile/Chromobotia+induced+breeding+ALR+2012.pdf
So unless someone has figured out a way that is cost effective enough to breed, raise to sellable sizes, and export world-wide, the true number of wild clown loaches being collected each year may in fact be currently well in excess of 50 million.
Add to that the current value of monster clown loaches, as in those that are in excess of 10" (mature breeding size), and the pollution that is currently taking place in this species natural habitat (gold washing and rubber tree plantations) and this species may not be that many years away from being all but wiped out in some of its natural waterways.
