> I am particularly concerned about
> "Poppondettas" being given the right conditions as they are in danger of
> dying out here (except in a very few hands).
I think there may be several reasons for this, one is they seem to
require good quality food which many people fail to provide. Most folks
start off with a pair which is very difficult to get them established
from unless you really work hard with them. I had asked Chris to share
his "secrets" to all on the list as to how he has such good success but I
guess he is ignoring me since I always pick on him. :-)
> in aquarium conditions similar to those of their natural range and as a
> principle I am keen to recommend that species selections for comunities be
> based first on water parameter preferences and then on behavioural
> compatibility with feeding factors running third.
Actually, I would go the complete opposite. :-) (Bet you'd never guess
that huh?) I do suspect we are talking at different scales though. I
usually mix species by their feeding specificity, speed (which relates
to food) and then by who won't eat who. In
my experience, gudgeons/gobies do not do well with rainbows. The
first are slow, the second quick. If you feed fish heavily then you can
get away with it, if you don't the slow fish miss out. I also tend to
feed gobies/gudgeons better quality food as they are more fussy and
important to me, any rainbows just get fed crap because that is all they
deserve unless I want eggs. Except for a few specific examples water
conditions don't matter by and large. They tend to vary considerably in
the wild.
> It is my firmly held conclusion that most fish species that are maintained
> in conditions well away from their natural ones are under some degree of
> metabolic stress and this will eventually be to the detriment of their
> health or behaviour.
That is true, I just think we under estimate the varyability of wild
conditions.
> Is there really much
> difference ( except in appearances) in selecting and fixing any trait
> whether it is a lyretail red-finned Peacock Gudgeon which is obvious or an
> "invisible" metabolic variant?
No, just that one is much more difficult to prove than they other. :-)
> I ask these questions in the true spirit of RML stirring ;-)
Things on this list need some stirring. I go away for three days and
come back to a bunch of drivel on the list. Roy gets a new internet
supplier because he is too incompetant to figure out how to use
compuserve. Chris is seeing double. Bruce tells an old joke about
tips. And, dude is a gender unspecific term in my opinion. :-)
Keep your anal fins clean
Peter Unmack