Wood Cat Collection
- Thread starter fishguy1978
- Start date
I am a catfish collector as well. Not sure what your resources are like but over time I've found it best to keep species only tanks. And if they aren't compatible, individually keep single fish in adjacent tanks.
Also all fish are not the same. Individual fish stand out due to behaviour - personality and physical differences. So naturally prices are not the same either. I find it best to buy a large group of hand selected promising fish, grow them out and over time & observation, selectively reduce down to the ones you want. Time is something you can't get back.
Sorry, my post was meant to constructively help you to avoid your problem. It would have been better to start with 20 fish. And if your intention is to breed, find another like minded hobbyist to raise 20 fish as well.
It's much easier to find new homes for bigger healthy fish you don't want than to try to find the opposite sex and size to your fish. And for breeding, multiple pairs or a group will improve your chances much more than a single pair.
Also all fish are not the same. Individual fish stand out due to behaviour - personality and physical differences. So naturally prices are not the same either. I find it best to buy a large group of hand selected promising fish, grow them out and over time & observation, selectively reduce down to the ones you want. Time is something you can't get back.
Sorry, my post was meant to constructively help you to avoid your problem. It would have been better to start with 20 fish. And if your intention is to breed, find another like minded hobbyist to raise 20 fish as well.
It's much easier to find new homes for bigger healthy fish you don't want than to try to find the opposite sex and size to your fish. And for breeding, multiple pairs or a group will improve your chances much more than a single pair.
Not sure how rare these are in your country. I would not buy such a low quantity unless they are very hard to source. And when buying, do get all your fish from the same source at the same time so you get the same strain even if you can't accurately identify them. Do have a long hard look to see if several different strains - sizes - differences have been mixed during the collection/import/wholesale process. Don't add more fish from other places later.
If your not out to breed them, it doesn't matter what sex, size, condition, variant they are of course.
If your not out to breed them, it doesn't matter what sex, size, condition, variant they are of course.
I had hoped for a breeding group but I also like the smaller catfish species so it was a score either way.
This is an interesting statement, which is complete opposite to what I would expect when breeding any species. If you know what you have then I would always try to get different genetics as fish from one source have always the chance of being related.
What is the reasoning behind this statement?
Quite normal to be surprised as out crossing to wild stock - new blood is the default message for most fish clubs, shops and inexperienced breeders. It's much easier to push that message instead of getting hobbyist fish keepers and casual breeders into how to educatedly breed. And much better for the ornamental fish industry generally to keep buying fish.
However mixing in new unknown genetics is the last resort - worst case scenario for dedicated breeders. Some have been trying to improve their fish for generations (human generations). With proper care and selection, there shouldn't ever be a need to bring in new genetics. This principle applies to all fish, not just heavily developed lines.
Captive bred fish are always going to be different from wild caught fish. Even the process of choosing what individuals to buy from the aquarium shop means you are selectively breeding.
The most famous example is the electric yellow cichlid. Multiple hundreds of thousands originally from 7 individuals.
However mixing in new unknown genetics is the last resort - worst case scenario for dedicated breeders. Some have been trying to improve their fish for generations (human generations). With proper care and selection, there shouldn't ever be a need to bring in new genetics. This principle applies to all fish, not just heavily developed lines.
Captive bred fish are always going to be different from wild caught fish. Even the process of choosing what individuals to buy from the aquarium shop means you are selectively breeding.
The most famous example is the electric yellow cichlid. Multiple hundreds of thousands originally from 7 individuals.
