A few years back, I'd be able to find most fish I was looking for simply by trawling through most larger online retail stores, or requesting orders through my LFS and local wholesalers. Nowadays it seems as though it's virtually impossible to find even half the fish I'm looking for, unless I play the waiting game and somehow end up getting lucky. Fish stores seem to be slowly deteriorating in quality (though they never were really comparable to private importers and breeders IME), and I've watched several close down in the last decade or so. Importers don't seem to be getting as wide a variety of fish anymore, with several either going out of the business altogether or downsizing significantly. New species aren't being imported as much as they were in the late 1900s -early 2000s, and the ones that are don't seem like much other than a slightly recoloured version of a preexisting species, in my ignorant eyes. It seems as though each passing year brings along more export restrictions, collection bans, keeping bans, etc. It's been getting harder and harder to source large groups of uncommon fish for lower prices; and oftentimes I find myself passing over fish that have been on my wishlist- and bucket list, too- simply because the prices are so oddly foreign to me that it's rather difficult to comprehend, and I subconsciously ignore the modern rarity of said fish, assuming that I can better prices elsewhere. I don't know how many times I've ended up mentally bashing myself for passing up deals that seemed terrible at the time but are now practically impossible to even comprehend.
On the contrary, tank-bred fish seem to be more prevalent nowadays, with dropping prices and wider selections. Not sure what to think of it, to be honest; I'm personally much more fond of WC fish, especially for breeding projects, and will intentionally go out of my way to pay more for them, even though there might be hundreds of tank-bred specimens on the market. But nowadays, it's coming to a point where it's virtually impossible to buy wild-caught over tank-bred, simply because the difference in cost is far beyond any reasonable justification on part of the WC fish- for instance, people have been selling mature WC L183s for literal hundreds- just recently I've seen three proven trios go for $600 each!- while small captive-bred specimens can be found for as low as $20 per fish (and ~$100 per CB adult, it seems).
Now I'm left wondering what the future of the hobby will look like; it certainly doesn't seem like many of the younger generations seem to be interested in the nuances of fishkeeping, and with fish selections seemingly on the decline, what will the next few decades have in store for those dedicated fishkeepers still around?
Or maybe I'm overthinking the whole thing and nothing of much significance is really happening.
It doesn't seem like just fish, either; a lot of other things (like power tools and lightbulbs, and cast iron skillets for that matter) seem to be lowering in diversity until it's just those few "big name" brands that practically hold a monopoly over a store (and of course, it's problems with bankruptcy, increasing manufacturing costs, problems with supply reliability, increase in transportation costs, etc. Applies to fish as well, I reckon) But since I put more focus into fish instead of frying pans, I figured it'd be worth asking about the future of the hobby.
Any thoughts?
On the contrary, tank-bred fish seem to be more prevalent nowadays, with dropping prices and wider selections. Not sure what to think of it, to be honest; I'm personally much more fond of WC fish, especially for breeding projects, and will intentionally go out of my way to pay more for them, even though there might be hundreds of tank-bred specimens on the market. But nowadays, it's coming to a point where it's virtually impossible to buy wild-caught over tank-bred, simply because the difference in cost is far beyond any reasonable justification on part of the WC fish- for instance, people have been selling mature WC L183s for literal hundreds- just recently I've seen three proven trios go for $600 each!- while small captive-bred specimens can be found for as low as $20 per fish (and ~$100 per CB adult, it seems).
Now I'm left wondering what the future of the hobby will look like; it certainly doesn't seem like many of the younger generations seem to be interested in the nuances of fishkeeping, and with fish selections seemingly on the decline, what will the next few decades have in store for those dedicated fishkeepers still around?
Or maybe I'm overthinking the whole thing and nothing of much significance is really happening.
It doesn't seem like just fish, either; a lot of other things (like power tools and lightbulbs, and cast iron skillets for that matter) seem to be lowering in diversity until it's just those few "big name" brands that practically hold a monopoly over a store (and of course, it's problems with bankruptcy, increasing manufacturing costs, problems with supply reliability, increase in transportation costs, etc. Applies to fish as well, I reckon) But since I put more focus into fish instead of frying pans, I figured it'd be worth asking about the future of the hobby.
Any thoughts?
