Baby Indo Dats Galore

[islandguy11]

I've been conversing online with a dealer at Bangkok's Chatuchak market regarding possible acquisition of another fish, just saw this video on his FB page, new batch of what he's calling Dats has come in -- not sure how many are in there but it's certainly hundreds and hundreds.

I shot him a message asking him if they were NTT's and out of curiosity whether they were wild caught or farm bred -- he replied they were wild caught Indos (which I myself can't verify from looking at the fish, they're too dark and sorry the video quality is pretty poor).

Personally I have no idea whether this video symbolizes the potential downfall of the species in the wild like the Siam Tigerfish or whether it indicates the wild population is thriving and easy to collect big numbers.

 

[fishhead0103666]

If they were able to collect that many at that size then one would be able to reason that the population is doing well and is producing lots of dry, no?

 

[Hendre]

Loads of fry is easy, lots of them surviving to adulthood is another story.

 

[islandguy11]

If they were able to collect that many at that size then one would be able to reason that the population is doing well and is producing lots of dry, no?

As mentioned I'm really not sure Brian. It could be the case that there are good natural stocks of Indo or NTT at this time, I really don't know, but it does raise the question: if we keep harvesting a fish (that can't be easily if at all bred in captivity) at this rate, is it sustainable? With the Siam Tigerfish this clearly has not been the case; with NTT's, Indo's, etc. I guess it remains to be seen.

And of course I'm not taking a holier-than-thou moral stance -- otherwise my recent acquisition of a wonderful little NTT would be hypocritical to say the least -- just raising the question while showing peeps what about 500-1000 baby wild caught Dats at the market looks like.

 

[islandguy11]

Loads of fry is easy, lots of them surviving to adulthood is another story.

Indeed Hendre, though of course that's the case with quite a few monster fish (e.g. Arowana, Stingrays, some Puffers, Knifefish, Frontosa & Clown Loaches for some peeps, even Oscars and Flowerhorns if you don't take proper care of them), which is why many are probably better suited for more experienced fish keepers. And even then *hit happens, we all make mistakes or have bad luck sometimes -- you can pamper your beautiful new Asian Arowana all you want, but in the blink of an eye you can lose a $500-$1,000+ dollar fish because of one stupid mistake (e.g. not blocking off the top of an internal corner filter), as I recently screwed up. Live and learn.

But all of that isn't actually the thrust of this video post -- as per above reply to fishhead0103666 it was more about ecological/sustainability questions related to a species many wish could be bred easily in captivity, but which is clearly not happening as of yet, at least not on any proven wide-spread scale as I learned from others on this sub-forum who know a great deal about Datnoids; this video (plus statement from fish dealer at one of the world's largest aquarium fish markets) shows they're correct.

 

[Gage Zamrzla]

This brings me back to the, "Baby Tiger Boom of 2012". Such a fun time though even at the time and looking back at it I've had many thoughts about the sustainability of the species with so many young fish being collected. It's hard to say because most of us will likely only ever get to see this side of it and not know how big a pool these hundreds and sometimes thousands of fry were caught from and how many remain in their natural habitat.

I recall some exciting news of a farm having successfully bred ST last year I believe though I haven't followed up in the last few months to know what came of it other than they were wholesaling around $2k for ST under 2". Someone correct or update me if this is misinformation please.

Here's the smallest IT I ever got while working in a LFS back in 2012.

 

[islandguy11]

Thanks for contributing Gage, wow he was tiny, "He's vicious" lol.

Not sure but I think the outfit you mention is called Siam Tigerfish Legend, and according to their FB page: "...last year 3 to 4 inch (ST) in the market retail around 2500 to 3000 usd."

 

[Gage Zamrzla]

For sure, and that number sounds a bit more realistic but no less crazy lol.

 

[FunWow!]

You should hit up that guy selling 100,000 baby indos that I posted on your other thread.... just think about the dead loss they must have too

 

[islandguy11]

You should hit up that guy selling 100,000 baby indos that I posted on your other thread.... just think about the dead loss they must have too

Yep FunWow! this is just a drop in the bucket compared to the harvesting going on in the video link you posted on that thread, that was bonkers.

To clarify though I'm really not any personal crusade here -- I grew up commercial fishing in Alaska for salmon & halibut; many were the times I stood in the back of a boat with dead and dying splendid big fish up to my waist. While of course we can all turn a new page (I haven't fished or hunted since those days), and I do care about related issues, I've never felt it appropriate for me to get up on a high horse about such things (and not to imply that you or anyone else here is, we're just sharing info to let others come to their own conclusions).