Galaxy Rasboras a threatened species

CaysE · 02-23-2007, 09:06 AM

I received this in my email today from Practical Fishkeeping, and felt it important to spread the word. I've loved these little fish since I first saw them last year, but never got around to purchasing any.

"Dear Reader,

When I saw the first photographs of the Galaxy rasbora back in September last year, I was astounded. It was clear that the species had massive commercial potential. And since its introduction the global response to the fish, and the demand for it, has been unprecedented. Fishkeepers around the world have been after this species and each has been buying them by the dozen.

Sadly, when this fish was first introduced, we didn't know what we do now. New details emerged last week which revealed that the species is from a tiny high-altitude wetland microhabitat. The initial supplier tried to keep the location under wraps, but a number of other collectors found it and have flattened the vegetation in which the fish lives. The catch has decreased to just a few dozen fish per day.

Given that the species has now been successfully bred by a number of fishkeepers, I feel that the hobby now has a resposibility to stop importing this species and to concentrate on its captive-breeding. Hopefully, if demand declines, the habitat and populations will recover and the species will live on. Fingers crossed.

Matt Clarke
Website Editor"

http://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.u....php?news=1197

franksaquarium.com has already stopped carrying them in hopes of obtaining captive bred specimens. liveaquaria.com has not carried them I believe, or is no longer. Hopefully other online providers will follow suit, and those of you reading this can help spread the word to your LFS. Ask them at the very least to stop offering them for sale and hand them a printout of the above article, and if possible, breed whatever remaining fish they have.

They are beautiful fish that I hope to own one day, but as far as I'm concerned, that will only happen if their species continues to thrive and breed in captivity. The before and after pictures of their habitat in the above news article are disheartening, to say the very least.

**Fishfirst** · 02-23-2007, 10:01 AM

disheartening but good that we've managed to breed these in captivity.

**TheOldSalt** · 02-25-2007, 09:29 AM

Why is Practical Fishkeeping emailing you?

Anyway, the demand for this fish is only going to continue to skyrocket. That's a given.
Luckily, it should be fairly easy to spawn, and since the demand IS so high, many fishfarms will probably devote some effort to the mass-production of this species.

As it happens, there are already a great number of common hobby fish which are already extinct in the wild, or nearly so, and they have the pet trade to thank for their very continued existence. You wouldn't believe some of the fish on this list, never suspecting that fish so common in our tanks no longer swim free. ( for examples: Cherry barbs, white clouds, even Bettas! )

That said, while I don't think we should try to discourage the keeping of this fish outright, I do think that we should take sme steps to make sure that thes we do get imported are sent mainly to the breeders for now and few others. We should also not sell or buy them in limited number, that is, in useless numbers for establishing breeding groups. The Roseline barb, for example, comes to mind; very expensive, many people were only buying one or two at a time, and this was wiping out the species faster than anything else. These few fish couldn't breed and that wasn't doing them any good at all. This fish can be saved, though, if a deliberate effort is made to do so but it'sgoing to take some major cooperating among a lot of people who really, really, don't have a good track record of working together.

eon17 · 02-27-2007, 12:30 PM

man that sucks i am never buying those fish unless i know they are captive bread

**Fishfirst** · 05-16-2007, 06:44 PM

These guys were finally classified... Celestichthys margaritatus or Celestial Pearl Danios. Yes... DANIOS... DNA evidence suggest that these fish are not rasboras but a type of danio.

flamingo · 05-16-2007, 07:15 PM

Honestly, they are awesome little fish, I was just shocked to see them explode everywhere all of a sudden. My local lfs just got some in (from the label on the tank) next time i'm in i'll see what happens. If she has any left, i'd love to try and breed them. Otherwise, i'll refer her to the article.

Like most others have said countless times, it's really not surprising to see this happening from the high demand.