On Sun, 25 Aug 1996, Andrew Boyd wrote:
> Maybe we should adopt your last sentance as the Mailing List motto: "If no
> one keeps them, they'll die out!" or something to that effect. I think that
> there will always be "commercial" fish like G. incisus and M. boesemani that
> are instantly recognisable to most aquarists - they would have to be the
> most common NG 'bows - I suppose you could throw M. herbertaxelrodi and the
> "upstart" M. praecox in there too - but is it that they are easier to breed,
> or just more colourful, or maybe have a better PR team?
As one who works in the retail end of things, I'd have to say that the #1
criterion for commercial popularity is desirability. As 95% of the people
who buy fish are not interested in breeding them, ease of spawning is not
a real factor. What the public wants from a fish is:
1) Will it look good in my tank?
2) Will it be (relatively) easy to keep alive?
In that exact order.
Therefore, color/shape and general hardiness are the factors that lead to
the popularity of some species over others. In the case of rainbowfish,
they are all pretty easy to keep, given the right water parameters (which
are pretty broad actually -- they're relatively adaptable fish if all else
is done well), therefore hardiness is really not a big deciding factor as
to which bows are popular.
I don't know about other countries, but in the US most of the bows are
relatively expensive, at least compared to most of the livebearers,
tetras, and barbs. M. a. australis is the rare inexpensive one, and is
one many folks here start with. If a customer is gonna shell out the
big(ger) bucks for a fish -- let alone a school of them -- they'd better
darn well be pretty good looking. The boesman's, reds, lacustris, and (if
you can find them, they're not common in retail here) Herbies are *good*
looking fish, well worth a person's money in their opinions. Praecox, at
even HIGHER retail prices, are the same. One of my fav bows is G.
ramuensis. I, personally, think it's a gorgeous fish. Try to sell it
retail and you can hardly give it away. The average customer just doesn't
appreciate it's beauty. They want, POW!, color. That's why fancy guppies,
cardinals, and those yucky rift lake Afreakin's are so popular -- color.
Those bows that aren't as colorful will need dedicated hobbyists, such as
ourselves, to maintain decent stocks of them if we are to keep them
around.
Julie Zeppieri <><