Galaxy rasbora under threat
Collectors have destroyed the habitat. Pics TKT
Just six months since its discovery, the soon-to-be-described Galaxy rasbora, is facing the threat of being wiped out by the aquarium trade, a distributor has warned.The brightly coloured cyprinid from Myanmar, which was first introduced into the hobby in September 2006, has been collected so heavily that catches of the species are down to just a few dozen fish per day.
An exporter announced on Petfrd.com that a recent trip to the species' habitat had revealed that the new species was already under threat.
"Alas, there is not much to celebrate concerning the Galaxy habitat", wrote the exporter.
"This past Monday I had the opportunity to visit the type locality. East of Inle Lake, it is in the highlands at 1045m elevation. It is a micro-habitat. The water source begins with a spring.
"This small pool is then diverted into an area for public use. After which it flows into a sort of wetland, formerly overgrown with grasses. Water is at most 2-3 feet deep.
"This whole flooded grassland/wetland is actually caused by a man-made weir for agricultural irrigation below the spring.
"Within these past couple of months the vegetation has all been trampled to non-existence. The catch is now at about 30-50 pieces a day. You know where I'm going."
The species was first bred by aquarists from the Bolton Museum Aquarium in the UK, and has subsequently been bred by a number of aquarists around the world.
Clearly, the pressure faced by the species means that it is now time for the aquarium trade to curb further damage and stop purchasing the species.
Any fishes purchased should be bought only by those who intend to breed them.
The species has recently been described by ichthyologist Tyson Roberts, who is due to publish his paper naming the species next month.
The fish is not a Microrasbora and will be placed in a new genus along with the fish currently known as Microrasbora erythromicron.
The species lives in cool, alkaline water of around 24C or less. It is found in sympatry with the undescribed Rosy loach, Yunnanilus sp., and Danio sondhii.
Pictures by Neil Hepworth and TKT.
This article may not be reproduced without permission.
Matt Clarke: 5.2.2007Views: Read 23,788 times
Comments feed
"Judging from the photos in Petfrd, providing the habitat is now left alone they vegetation will regrow and the galaxy will multiply.
The habitat is an artificial pool filled with water that is overflowing from a water supply point used by the locals, therefore it will be full of all sorts of added ingredients and the fish must be pretty tough to have survived in the pool ever.
My guess (and hope) is that once there are too few fish left for commercial extraction then everyone will lose interest, the vegetation will grow back and the few remaining fish will breed again.
Hopefully also the fish is elsewhere in other pools undisturbed which seems to me quite likely given that it was found in an artificial pool and likes to hide in heavy vegetation.
If it is not anywhere else it suggests to me that "microrasbora" can mutate a new species very quickly.
Anyway if you have or buy them breed them! they dont need a big tank so a species tank is feasible even in a small house!"
Date: Monday February 5th, 2007, 7:00 pm
"I was sorry to see the destroyed habitat but not (as I wrote in the petfrd thread) surprised. Luckily it is an easy fish to breed and I'm sure it will be farmed very soon. When that happens the wild fish will surely recover quickly."
Posted by: Graham Ramsay - 2 years, 9 months agoDate: Monday February 5th, 2007, 8:55 pm
"Obviously, no assessment has been made against IUCN criteria yet, but it seems probable to me that these will be classed as "critically endangered", going by the IUCN's lists for assessment. It certainly sounds from Kamphol's report that the population size has plummeted, and the fish may only exist in this single population.
Clearly, had this been known when the fish were first introduced, some caution could have been excercised. It's impossible to predict such things when new fish are introduced... Hopefully, the collectors will quit now and give the population a chance to recover, while the breeders can aim to make the fish commercially available as captive-bred stock. "
Date: Tuesday February 6th, 2007, 11:25 am
"Matt, I think an article on breeding these wonderful fish would be a good idea now in light of this news. I'm sure John Rundle already has all the necessary notes! If not him then somebody will.
P.S. Upon reading this article I went to my local pet store and bought up all of these they had, twelve in total. Some of you may see this as counterproductive, increased sales leading possibly to more being collected but I feel a responsibility on behalf of the hobby to attempt to breed these fish rather than having them possibly end up with an inexperienced fishkeeper who may place them in an unsuitable environment."
Date: Tuesday February 6th, 2007, 3:18 pm
"I don't think John Rundle's bred it, but one of our other contributors - Pete Liptrot - has. Along with colleague, Paul Dixon, he was the first in the world to spawn it and we photographed the fish above at the Bolton Museum a couple of weeks ago.
We'll have to see if we can get Pete to write something about how he spawned them. Best of luck with spawning them. "
Date: Tuesday February 6th, 2007, 3:29 pm
"Is there any way we as aquarists can do our part to help save this spieces? Just thinking out loud here, but would it e a good idea for a charity run to get people to donate back their fishes to be returned back to their habitat allow them to re-establish their population?
I am not sure of the pricing on your side of the planet, but prices here for them had slashed by more than half in a period of 3 months, I had the idea they were being bred in farms, now I know otherwise. "
Date: Thursday February 8th, 2007, 1:13 am
"I was hoping to set up a species only tank for a dozen of these little beauties, with the intention of breeding them. I am now having second thoughts after seeing what has happened to their habitat. There should be a limit to the amount of each species allowed to be fished, and those fished should be farm bred. This would allow the species to regain their numbers, undisturbed, in their natural habitat."
Posted by: Damian Newell - 2 years, 9 months agoDate: Friday February 9th, 2007, 10:26 am
"I had an in-depth chat with the manager of my local Maidenhead Aquatics shop on this subject today.
The upshot is that he will now only purchase from captive-bred stock and sell on to customers that intend to breed themselves. If only all aquatic outlet managers were as conscientious.
At least our local tapwater seems ideal as it is alkaline. Previous assumptions were that they originated from soft, warmer waters.
I may even try to breed some myself.
Do you have any tips for breeding these yet Matt?"
Date: Friday February 9th, 2007, 9:44 pm
"I'm not sure that collecting them and putting them back is such a good idea. After all, judging by the photos, the habitat is publically accessible and it would be very difficult to stop scooping and with the damage done to the vegetation I doubt the pool would be able to sustain a large influx of fish at the moment.
IMHO the only way to resolve this is to breed as many as possible, commercially and privately. This will lower the price and stop scooping being viable allowing the pool to recover.
I have my own now in a small fish-R-fun tank with 1/3 of it covered in java moss from bottom to top and two thirds of it having plastic "spawning grass". The result of this is that I hardly see them because they hide in the vegetation which is their natural behaviour.
The tank has 1/2 full with my local gypsum hard (ie suphate rich) water and 1/2 full with rainwater. I added a teaspoon of crushed chalk
When I do see them they look fine so fingers crossed they will be fruitful and multiply."
Date: Saturday February 10th, 2007, 1:20 pm
"argh i just bought 12 of these fantastic fish for the incredebly cheap price of 20 pounds stirling and now i feel so guilty ( why didnt i look on pfk web site first im usaly so good at doing my research).
I cant belive a fish that is already in danger could be so cheap,especialy such a small shoaling fish that fits in to anysize setup(bearing in mind the size of other tank mates).Well i had been planning to put them in my smallest tank 100litre Tetra tank (ph 6.5)
But now it looks like i need a harder ph species tank ho hum.guess i better set up another tank because my new little freinds need some help and its up to people like me who bought these not for breeding but for looks to do our bit an save such an interesting fish. Good job pfk bringing this to our attention."
Date: Sunday February 11th, 2007, 1:28 am
"It's so sad to know that the natural habitat of these little beauty are under threat. Let's hope that more people can successfully breed them and put the pressure off the wild population and let them regenerate.
I've not much luck in breeding them yet, but someone from Singapore has successfully bred them and the details has been published in this page: http://www.aquamoss.net/Arti...
I'm going to set up another small planted tank, following the above method, and see whether I can create more Galaxy. Wish me luck.
"
Date: Sunday February 11th, 2007, 4:57 pm
"Hi Matt
though I have posted this comment in the petfrd.com and iah.in website, i really do not know if there should be an article to conserve the fish in the wild in reference to the genetic makeup and pool..I mean lot of us do not seem to understand the importance to maintain the fish in the wild ...vis a vis conservation ..
So if pkf came up with an article on this it would be wonderful and highlited the dangers to pick up fish from the wild for commercial activity or otherwise with out thinking of conservation at all ......
"Hi all,
that is perhaps the good news as we can also breed them easily and that way preserve the fish, but the problem is that may be the original genetic pool may be lost if they are not conserved in the wild...ie if the fish becomes extinct.
while I have mentioned genetic pool let us understand the reason to conserve the species in the natural habitat :-
In captive interbreeding between close relatives, If practiced repeatedly, it often leads to a reduction in genetic diversity, and the increased expression of negative recessive traits, resulting in inbreeding depression. This may result in inbred individuals exhibiting reduced health and fitness and lower levels of fertility and reduced immune system.
Say for example we picked up six males and nine females from the wild of the same species and out of these say two of them pair up. Now if say one parent had a genetic defect or a lack of a certain character gene, some of the offspring will also lack that gene, now when these offspring will interbreed they will have the same defect so that way subsequent population will loose a particular gene trait..
This way in case if the subsequent generations do not have resistance to, a particular disease causing virus, extinction is always a possibility as they do not have the resistance gene trait. So selective interbreeding in captivity is very important and at the same time to have a balanced gene pool wild fishes of the same species should always be introduced to balance this gene defect.
The reduced genetic diversity that results from inbreeding may mean a species may not be able to adapt to changes in environmental conditions. Each individual will have similar immune systems, as immune systems are genetically based. Where a species becomes endangered, the population may fall below a minimum whereby the forced interbreeding between the remaining animals will result in extinction.
Now if the fishes are lost in the wild and only ones that survive are the ones we have breed then this may result in closed gene pool and subsequent defects. Alternatively we could (were the fish have become extinct in nature ) get fishes from totally different source of the same species and interbreed to get new stronger offspring.
in nature natural selection works to remove individuals who acquire the above types of traits from the gene pool, therefore many more, in the first generation of inbreeding, will never live to reproduce. In biology, the fittest are those who survive and breed.
it has also been observed that over sufficient number of generations, inbred populations can regain "normal" genetic diversity.
so that is why we should do selective captive breeding and also preserve the fish in the wild to ensure that we have the correct gene pool and healthy off springs.
Also it would be good for all the members to maintain contact number of each other who have this fish with in the same country as in case we loose this fish from the wild we can interbreed and introduce other strains from each others stocks to maintain the genetic pool and perhaps reintroduce them back in the wild. Also we need to make correct notes on the natural habitat of the fish including water parameters, aquatic plants, other plants, substrate, temperature range etc, this will help have an accurate data for the fish environment which will help us create environment for the fish to breed …
For members who are near the habitat, or members who have seen the habitat if a similar habitat can be created in their own fields or backyards or for members who have either own fish farm , if we could pledge to interbreed and to reintroduce 50% back into the nature and 50% to sell further it would be good, after all we are giving back to nature what we picked up from her....
I really do not know how much sense this makes but may be we can all contribute our way individually....."
Date: Monday February 12th, 2007, 2:39 pm
"I have just purchased some of these fish today, not knowing anything about them..until now! Tomorrow I am going to buy a small suitable tank and try to breed them. Once they settle I would be interested in swapping some of mine for some of someone elses to help stop a closed gene pool scenario...Working together and pulling resources could help save Galaxy Rasbora.
Allan."
Date: Friday February 16th, 2007, 10:24 pm
"It's terrible, but also surely no-one can be that surprised?
A very newly discovered fish, about which we know very little and know even less about it's distribution, wild numbers, etc, is immediately exported and advertised in magazines such as PFK.
This was done in complete realisation of how little was known about it.
It becomes excessively popular in a very short space of time, then we discover that it has very limited natural range or distribution, and that it has already been pushed to the edge of extinction by our activities as aquarists.
Will it be surprising when this happens with another fish - maybe a cory with limited distribution?"
Date: Wednesday February 21st, 2007, 3:13 pm
"I'm not optimistic about the future.
Fish in very small and threatened micro-habitats have an extremely poor chance of survival without help from conservation groups and national government. If you run through the list of fish species on the IUCN Red List, a lot of them are freshwater fish with very restricted natural ranges, such as he killifish Cyprinodon diabolis, with a range barely 3m x 6m.
The idea fish should be "sold with a view to breeding" is bogus, because it guarantees nothing. Almost all the egg-laying fish sold to aquarists aren't bred. The vast majority of aquarists never breed egg-laying fish (a shame, because they're missing out on a lot of fun). In fact, the vast majority of aquarists wouldn't know how to protect the eggs and rear the fry even if their galaxy rasboras started to breed (again, a shame).
The only place these fish will make up their numbers with a proper flow of genes between the population is in the wild. For that to happen, there has to be a total ban on export. By all means, let people breed the stock they already have and sell them to whoever. But we have to fact up to the fact that most people keeping them (or likely to buy them) aren't about to breed them so as far as the wild population goes, selling these people wild fish is as good as killing them outright.
Cheers, Neale"
Date: Friday February 23rd, 2007, 3:53 pm
"I am just returning to the hobby after a leangthy break. I used to breed killies, cichlids, various cats and "oddball" live-bearers. I broke my teeth with species like danios and I believe that this has now been classified as a danio. A beauty like this being so apparently easy to breed should be a dream. As it is now 2009 I presume that these fish are commercially bred somewhere so demand for wild cought fish should be virtually nil. It is unreasonable for us to sit here in relative comfort with the capital to spend money on luxuraries like fish and criticise someone for collecting fish to sell to us. It may be his only source of income. If a fish is found that generates such interest then we as a group should try to promote habitat protection and captive breeding in situ. After all how much is a pondliner....."
Posted by: Harry Venables - 8 months, 1 week agoDate: Saturday March 14th, 2009, 10:28 pm
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 | Editor-in-Chief, Matt Clarke, writes the regular Interesting Imports column on rare and unusual fish in the UK aquarium trade. He's kept fish for 30 years and holds a degree, two higher degrees and two diplomas in fish biology, taxonomy and computational biology. |
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"We have a small display tank of these at work and they are stunning little fish but after reading this I am rather dismayed that the fish have been over-fished so quickly. I can just hope that ours breed as I wouldnt want to get any more stock of these in knowing they are in such short supply.
Posted by: Ben Stinson - 2 years, 9 months agoBen"
Date: Monday February 5th, 2007, 4:46 pm