Bruce Hansen
ANGFA
email: bhansen at ozemail.com.au
Don't miss the ANGFA web pages at -
http://www.ozemail.com.au/~fisher/angfa.htm
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From: Christopher Philip Benes <beneschr at pilot.msu.edu>
To: rainbowfish at pcug.org.au
<<
Quite honestly, I used to think that it was better to get fish from
auctions,
but now I'm not so sure. I have seen so many fish sold at auctions that
should
have been culls that it disgusts me. Fish with missing gill plates, fish
with
deformed jaws, the list goes on and on. I've also seen fish that are just
hybrid messes sold too (and incident involving 'C. campsi' comes to mind).
Heck, I've even seen M. splendida inornata sold as C. campsi at an auction.
On
top of that, some fish that you see at an auction come to you this way:
ten
years ago somebody gets a pair of fish, he spawns them, keeps a pair,
spawns
them, keeps a pair, etc... As far as the quality of genetic makeup goes,
who
knows what you're getting. I've come to believe that the only way to make
sure
that you're getting 'good' fish is to either know the person you're getting
the
fish from or to get wild fish. Now I know why auction rules always say
'buyer
beware'. I would say that it is a misconception (or a dream) that all the
fish
that you see at an auction are quality fish. Granted, we usually think or
hope
that all the people in our aquarium clubs are responsible aquarists, but
the
basic fact is that a lot aren't, at least here.>>