Re: tubarosa revisited again!--cichlids
Cary Hostrawser (caryho at ix.netcom.com)
Sat, 20 Apr 1996 14:03:25 +0000 (GMT)
On Sat, 20 Apr 1996 17:24:36 +1000, Andrew Boyd wrote:
>At 09:01 PM 4/17/96 -0700, Peter Unmack wrote:
snip
>>We are talking about a commercially
>>available fish in the general aquarium trade. Many of the endangered
>>species that would be maintained by club members are not going to be very
>>commercial fish otherwise they would be bred commercially and they
>>would be more widely available. My case in point here is the rosy barb
>>(or is the cherry barb, I forget, it may even be another barb, someone
>>want to set me straight here?) Anyway, which ever barb it is, the fish
>>is extinct in the wild, yet remains quite abundant in the aquarium
>>trade. Does this mean that the fish should be maintained by club
>>fishkeepers because it is "endangered"? Of course we need to be diligent
>>with species that are maintained in this fashion, but again, if someone
>>else, or another group is "looking after" a species then I think
>>aquarists should concentrate on something else that isn't being "looked
>>after".
>
>This raises the possibility that one group will assume that a particular
>species is being maintained by another group... But then if we are talking
>about commercially available fishes the argument is moot.
The problem with leaving the responsibility to breed endangered fishes
to commercial hatcheries is what they often end up doing to the
fishes. Crossing to come up with some new variety is extremely common.
As is line breeding to get new varieties. Give them 20 years and the
fish they're producing will often bear little resemblance to the wild
specimen. They are in the business of selling fish that are
commercially viable not genetically pure. Go into any fish store and
look at some of the variants that are presently sold. The percentage
of wild type fishes are constantly decreasing in favor of enhanced
fins, color or shape. The general public with one tank doesn't care
what these fish originally looked like, they only care about what
looks pretty in their tank. These people are the commercial hatchery's
end market, not the dedicated aquarist. A friend of mine has been
looking for a wild type Colisa sota (Honey dwarf gourmand) for a
couple of years. He's found plenty of selectively breed variants but
no wild types. On a recent trip to Florida I visited a number fish
farms. Their pride while exhibiting their latest variants was very
plain to see. They are well aware that each new variant gives them an
edge on the competition and a better price for their fish. They have
absolutely no economic reason to keep fish pure to the wild type, but
have every reason to selectively breed or cross fish.
Cary Hostrawser
()
/||\ Rainbowfish Study Group
|||| <))))<< http://home.earthlink.net/~sbuckel/index.html
|||| <))))<<
|||| Minnesota Aquarium Society
/||||\ http://www.umn.edu/nlhome/m392/c-ames/maspage.htm