Re: [RML] bogus diet

Christopher Philip Benes (beneschr at pilot.msu.edu)
Mon, 17 Feb 1997 04:05:11 -0500 (EST)

>
> Nearly all my dealings with the commercial end of our hobby and
> especially when it comes to Rainbows, has been and continues to be
> negative. Case in point: I recently visited a large chain store in Toronto
> and found "M.marci" for sale. I expressed my views on crosses and the
> sale of crosses and they said flat out they didn't care. By the way the
> name of this fish also demonstrates the arrogance of some of these
> folks and in particular the developer of M.marci. I was told by someone
> that in Dutch, Marci roughly means " mother slept with many people"
> as did the mother of these "rainbowfish".
>
> Chris
>
> Chris Drew drews at webgate.net
>
What exactly is that marci thing anyways? I saw it once and it just looked
like a somewhat screwed up parkensoni. I'm not sure that you can outright
condemn retaliers for for not refusing to sell hybrids, though. I don't like
hybrids, I don't think that they should be made. I don't even like line-bred
fishes. However, in many cases of hybrids the hybrid product sells better or
for more money than the non-hybrid fish would. I would say that discus are a
prime example. Also, you can look at gouramies, livebearers, etc. A lot of
these fish are worth a lot more as hybrids because they generally look 'better'
than the original fish. Retaliers have to cater to the more generalized
hobbyiest because there are more of them, a lot more. These people don't
really care what kind of a fish it is, as long as it is 'pretty'. A retailer
who only went after experienced or professional aquarists certainly would gain
the respect of many people, but probably wouldn't stay in business very long.
Like I said, I think that hybrids are wrong, but I'm not sure that it is proper
to try and impose this viewpoint on other people. As long as we can recognize
a hybrid for what it is so that we don't pollute our stocks, then I don't see
any problem with other people keeping hybrids. The problem comes in when
hybrids are sold as true fish, so that people don't get what they think that
they are buying. Now, if aquarium fish were to be placed in situations where
they could escape back into the population, then my feeling on hybrids would be
very different. However, in the U.S. at least, a hybrid discus is not going to
find it's way back to the Amazon, or a hybrid gourami is not going to find it's
way back to tropical Asia (these should not be produced at fish farms in S.E.
Asia, though). Something that I think that we can all take issue with (even
the general or beginning aquarist) is the use of hormones to get fish to colour
up at a very early age, spawn earlier, or whatever. This produces fish that
are not going to be quality fish by anyone's standards. I have seen S. ahli
(a Malawi cichlid) that have had full adult colour at 3/4" (I guess a lot of
testosterone can work wonders!). I think that this is a bad practice that
should definitely be stopped. Hybrids, however, I think are more a matter of
personal preference. If you don't like 'em, steer clear of 'em, but many
people do like 'em, don't see why they're 'bad', and enjoy them just the same.
I'm not sure that these people should be attacked for keeping them. Granted,
it would be nice if retailers knew what they sold (many if not most don't, they
just price stuff straight from the vendor's list), and it would be nice if
vendors and producers would label stuff as what it was, but that's probably
never going to happen. Just my 2 cent's worth (well, as long as this turned
into, maybe a little more).

Later...

If you didn't see it, you missed it.

Chris Benes
beneschr at pilot.msu.edu
http://www.msu.edu/user/beneschr/

Rainbowfish Study Group http://home.earthlink.net/~sbuckel/
Michigan Cichlid Association http://www.ole.net/mca/