why dont zoos/aquariums have really exotic and rare fish?

[vitaly]

i was just wondering. i keep seeing really exotic and cool fish in private hands here on the net. How come none of the zoo's or public aquariums have anything like that. they all seem to have the most common fish. most of the super exotic knive fish, archers, mudskippers, and others are not even that expensive (relatively speaking).

 

[seedubs1]

Seems like most are geared to kids. What's the incentive for them to keep that kind of stuff when kids don't care.

And I'll agree.....I was dissapointed last time I went for the same reason. All they had was common stuff that I see at the LFS anyway.

 

[bbortko]

A lot of rare fish a harder to keep and unable to breed in captivity. Also most people enjoy fish but are not in the hobby, a lot of what is common to what people in the hobby is unheard of to the general public.

 

[Noto]

Many zoos and aquariums actually keep very rare animals "behind the scenes". The Nashville Zoo, for example, has a number of rare Chamaeleolis species that they do not normally keep on display, as they are trying to propagate them and a zoo display is not the best place to do that. Similarly, the Tennessee Aquarium has programs to rear and re-introduce many rare aquatics: http://www.tnaci.org/animals.asp. If you ask nicely at your local zoo or aquarium, they may show you some of that stuff.