That is not exactly true unless you're going by the "Adam & Eve"
theory. The Labidochromis Caeruleus (Yellow Lab) tends to inhabit
deeper water and the location where these fish come from make them a
little tougher to collect but they still get imported now and then.
Wild-caught specimens are expensive and since Wal-Mart is selling
small tank-raised juveniles for $4-$5, importing these fish is far
less desirable. Some wild-caught Labs were just recently imported a
few weeks ago but the price was scary. I was told $100-$200 per pair
and the reason for the high price was the collector really did not
want to go through the trouble to collect them. I guess it makes
sense but WOW! That's a lot of $$$ for a Yellow Lab.


Mark
http://www.cichliddomain.com


Did you read that article? The idea is that most exported Labs were pond
raised in Burundi by Pierre Brichard from one pair (which was previously
exported to Sweden and then re-exported back to africa by Brichard...).
Stuart Grant decided to breed them, but it took them several months to catch
22 specimens(!!), but then earthquake ruined his plans... Maybe I should
have used phrase "vast majority" instead of "most if not all", but even
then, I think its quite interesting! And its also interesting to know that
one of the most common rift-lake cichlid in the hobby is quite rare in the
wild...

--
J.