Banggai cardinal - Threatened Species.

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The Banggai cardinal, Pterapogon kauderni, is among the new additions to the 2007 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

Pterapogon kauderni has been classified as endangered in the 2007 Red List because its small population has suffered dramatic declines in recent years due to over-collecting for the aquarium trade.

Practical Fish Keeping - Sep 07

FYI -

 

They are all tank breed and raised now days . Damn saltwater guppies ..

 

CITIES refused to add them to the endangered list.Red listing them is meaningless and as many as can be caught in the wild are being caught.Many aquarists are buying from local breeders,but many retailers sre selling wild caught fish and sayinhttp://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/pfk/pages/item.php?news=1297g they are captive bred.

 

CITES rejects proposal to protect Banggai cardinal | Practical Fishkeeping magazine

 

I know several banggai breeders who sells to wholesale suppliers. As for LFS's, 75% of them will tell you what you wanna hear to make a buck.

 

I could fill a book with lfs horror stories I have heard,this week lol.There WAS an lfs here in town that put these little signs on the tank if the fish were captive bred.The only problem is he had the signs on tanks with yellow tangs in them.When I pointed it out to him he told it was his help that put the sign there and took it down.45 minutes later the sign was back up and he was the only one there lol.

 

Actually a place in Hawaii is breeding yellow tangs, flame angels and all sorts of other tangs and angels, but they consider their breeding program trade secrets cause they are doing it for the money and not for the enviroment.

 

I wish they were all tank bred now but they aren't. There's plenty of wild ones still being collected and they've gone the way of the elegance. Just don't live for any real length of time.

Easy way to tell tank bred from wild, until of course unscrupulous dealers catch on, is price. My tank raised from ORA cost me three times as much than wild caught. However, they always live with no problem. So, when compared to the wild caught which always die, did they really cost me three times as much?

 

We've got a great lfs near us that is constantly breeding them - it seems like every other week, they've got a new group of 30-50 that just hatched, and that's been ongoing for at least the 5 months we've been going there. I can't speak to the issue of endangerment other than to say that there seems to be no problem with captive or tank breeding, and with that being the case, why would anyone want or need to buy a wild-bred one?

If it's appropriate, I'd be happy to provide the name of the lfs (too new here to new if it's appropriate to provide names) - I don't know if they're set up to ship live yet, but they're great and worth a visit if you're in this area (Northern California) or a call to see if they'll ship.

By the way, ours was one of the first fish we put in our tank, and ours (we believe a female) is doing great - tame, good with her tankmates, growing like crazy and a beautiful addition to the tank. Everyone who sees her assumes she's a vicious fish - they look a little daunting - but totally the opposite.

 

Good news they are being bred so easily...that should take pressure off wild ones.