anyway to tell if wildcaught or not?

[onefishtwofish]

found on c/l. sure a beauty

Huge 5 inch Wild Cought Electric Yellow Labchromis African Cichlid $20

[Keri]

Short answer: without papers you can't tell unless it is from a reliable source.

[Keri]

I should add that if it is the fish in the pic, I think it's very pretty.

[Keri]

Ahhhh wait.... nope.... 3rd pic down, that's the same pic (google image search)


Colorful tropical fish pictures,Electric Yellow Labidochromis, Labidochromis caeruleus


lol, sorry, sometimes I recognize pics

[onefishtwofish]

good eye and memory..........................thanks

[charles]

found on c/l. sure a beauty

Huge 5 inch Wild Cought Electric Yellow Labchromis African Cichlid $20

you can't.

But for fish like yellow lab, most likely they are not. The reason behind it is collector is not going to waste gas and other expense to collect fish that fish farm is massively producing. Yellow lab has been in the hobby for so long it is ultra rare to be from some wild caught source. I have only known one group in the last 5 years that was imported from the wild as the collector went there and brought the group back himself. I am not saying it is never going to happen, but chance is very highly unlikely.

Some goes with some F1 fish. I see advertise fish like F1 yellow lab, F1 frontosa burundi, F1 german red, etc. If you believe someone actually have a wild caught group to produce those F1 fish, you should really ask where the group comes from. Chance again to have those is very very low. Unless someone wants to triple or 4x the price to special order some wild common fish to be collected specific for him/her, it is highly unlikely those are not wild or F1.

And the last example F1 german red is just for fun. At one point, someone trys to sell me some F1 german red as he was sold a wild caught group of German red. I kindly explained to him that his fish is not F1 and he got so upset that he paid an arm and a leg for the wild caught group. He did not know the german red is man made; therefore, there is no F1 or wild fish.

[onefishtwofish]

good info charles.

[-DC-]

you can't.

But for fish like yellow lab, most likely they are not. The reason behind it is collector is not going to waste gas and other expense to collect fish that fish farm is massively producing. Yellow lab has been in the hobby for so long it is ultra rare to be from some wild caught source. I have only known one group in the last 5 years that was imported from the wild as the collector went there and brought the group back himself. I am not saying it is never going to happen, but chance is very highly unlikely.

Some goes with some F1 fish. I see advertise fish like F1 yellow lab, F1 frontosa burundi, F1 german red, etc. If you believe someone actually have a wild caught group to produce those F1 fish, you should really ask where the group comes from. Chance again to have those is very very low. Unless someone wants to triple or 4x the price to special order some wild common fish to be collected specific for him/her, it is highly unlikely those are not wild or F1.

And the last example F1 german red is just for fun. At one point, someone trys to sell me some F1 german red as he was sold a wild caught group of German red. I kindly explained to him that his fish is not F1 and he got so upset that he paid an arm and a leg for the wild caught group. He did not know the german red is man made; therefore, there is no F1 or wild fish.

agreed 100%

[RD.]

But for fish like yellow lab, most likely they are not. The reason behind it is collector is not going to waste gas and other expense to collect fish that fish farm is massively producing. Yellow lab has been in the hobby for so long it is ultra rare to be from some wild caught source. I have only known one group in the last 5 years that was imported from the wild as the collector went there and brought the group back himself. I am not saying it is never going to happen, but chance is very highly unlikely.

Hi Charles, if that was Kyle you were referring to it was 8 yrs ago, not 5. I know as I bought his first batch of F1 fry back in 2004. At that time there were several other groups of wild Labidochromis Caeruleus "Lion's Cove" that had also been imported via the now defunct CRLCA out of Guelph ON, but since that period I haven't heard a lot about WC labs being imported into Canada. F1's can still be had from a few of the past imported WC groups, but finding actual WC yellow labs for sale would be fairly rare in Western Canada.

BTW - the reason that wild Labidochromis Caeruleus were & still are seldom collected is due to the effort it takes to collect this species in the wild. They are small fish, seldom found in groups, and are typically found at depths of 75 feet or more. There are very few mbuna species in the hobby that aren't being bred in massive numbers on farms in Florida, but there are still those that want wild specimens for their breeding projects. The late Stuart Grant didn't show any interest in collecting them in the wild until he realized how much importers were willing to pay, and at that time they were retailing at $100 a pop, if you could find them. Overall mbuna seem to be a lot less desirable compared to several yrs ago, which has meant an overall decrease in all wild mbuna being imported over the past few yrs, including the infamous yellow lab.

Below is a photo that Kyle took of a tank full of WC labs in the late Stuart Grants fishroom. Just thought I would share it as it's probably the only photo of a tank full of wild Labidochromis Caeruleus "Lion's Cove" that most hobbyists will ever see.





HTH

[charles]

it was that long ago? Yup, that was kyle.