Wild Caught vs. Captive Bred

herper99 · #1 (**permalink**) 07-16-2008, 05:25 PM

I just thought I would get a feel for what people on the board think about getting wild caught darts vs. captive bred specimens. I know for most of us it is a goal to import as few specimens as possible so as to not deplete the natural populations. However, it seems that so many people are breeding darts now and there are not many original bloodlines in many of the species that are kept.
The reason I ask.......I have always purchased cb animals, but I continue to see wc specimens for sale on the board and other places. I have considered purchasing a pair or two to try my hand at wc darts.
What are your thoughts?

Mywebbedtoes · #2 (**permalink**) 07-16-2008, 05:34 PM

Here are my thoughts. Don't expect you to read it all, but there is some interesting stuff in there. My thoughts vary on it. With so many captive bred I don't see much of a point in it. But I think there are times when it can be done responsibly, and may even be needed from time to time to keep a secies healthy in the hobby. My biggest concern is the rush on new imports, that are not even properly named most of the time, I don't see why you would want those.

http://www.dendroboard.com/general-d...opic39618.html

Nubster · #3 (**permalink**) 07-16-2008, 05:56 PM

Ok, here is a newbie question...why do people care about bloodlines? What makes one better than another? Are frogs with a traceable bloodline better than one without?

tkromer · #4 (**permalink**) 07-16-2008, 06:33 PM

The bloodlines are mostly in the case where exact locale differences aren't known or where the frogs came from exactly is not verified. By keeping the bloodlines separate you make certain that you don't accidentally hybridize between two different variants. If two different imports are from the same (verified) locale and are of the exact same variant, it's not generally a problem to mix them.

herper99 · #5 (**permalink**) 07-16-2008, 06:37 PM

Wow, thanks "mywebbedtoes". That thread had a lot of info. It was interesting. I too will be joining TWI/ASN.

Nubster - It is not really about the line of who produces the frogs. It is more about the genetic diversity of the species in captivity. We are finding that many of the species that are commonly bred in captivity come from very few original imports. This leads to very limited genetic diversity (inbreeding). There are quite a few threads here on the board regarding the issue.

Nubster · #6 (**permalink**) 07-16-2008, 10:19 PM

Thanks for the info. Yeah, I tried to search as I have for various other topics but the search does not work for me. But I do understand better about the bloodlines so thanks for the info.