(chomp)
>Unfortunately, few aquarists ever venture into the field, and most are
>interested in fishes from outside the confines of their country.
I can vouch for this. The local fishes are rarely given the same priority as
the 'exotics'. It's like that old saw about the further an expert is from
his/her point of origin, the greater the respect they will get at a
lecture/trial/whatever. I don't know of anyone who is keeping our local
montane species, even if they are into Australian natives (which quite a few
people are 'round here). Does anyone have any suggestions to remedy this?
I think that it is a lot more efficient to concentrate on local species, as
the aforementioned "backyard ponds" are probably a suitable container for
them, unlike most non-locals - it gets pretty cold here in the winter. All
other fish (barring tough goldfish!) have to be kept inside the house.
Regards, Andrew Boyd
(andrew at pcug.org.au)