<Unfortunately, we don't have anything at all at the moment so any step in
<that direction would be a start. I am concerned that as the number of
<species and varieties increases we will see more and more species start to
<disappear or become "threatened" in captivity. No one person can maintain
<all the species we now have. However, as I mentioned in an earlier post we
<have to find a rather simple way to do it, certainly at the beginning. If we
<can get a number of people involved then we can start adding extras. I have
<been involved in species maintainance with other fish species (cichlids) and
<we had the same problem trying to get other hobbyists interested.
<Perhaps we could publish a species list in club publications with a rating
<system based on the number of individual populations in captivity. (We could
<even make it an International rating system?) That way everyone would know
<what the current status of each species is. However, this would require
<information being passed on to a central point so that the list could be
<kept updated. However, I have found that some people don't like to tell
<others what species they are breeding or maintaining?
We just made a fish record where our members were asked to send informations
on the fish they keep and what they have, adults, singles, fry, etc. From this list
we could make another list of species kept often, less often, rarely or not. If
you're interested, I could send it to the server. It's not representative, as not all
people send their record, but gives a first impression.
<People who keep large collections also have to reduce the number of
<individuals per spawning because they take up a lot of space. When I spawn
<some species I only produce a small number basically for my own purpose. I
<think my collection of species (including Blue-eyes)is now around fifty and
<have a number of species that require spawning but they will just have to
<wait.
Patience is what fishkeepers anyway should have. So if you want some fish
from a breeder who has to spawn the fish especially for you just wait. It's better
than not knowing where to get the fish from.
<The problem is finding someone who's dedicated to the species. A good
<example is the Red-finned Blue-eye - How many people who had them still have
<them? another is the Honey Blue-eye - many thousands have been wild
<collected over the years but how many permanent populations are in
<captivity? These are just two examples, there are many more.
Norbert is one example, you remember? He's still doing well with the
species (but indeed it's an exception). Unfortunately you don't have this
problem just in rainbows, we also have it in livebearers (however, there
it worked in some species for at least 30 years until today!).
<We also need to settle this gentics issue as I think we are just stumbling
<around in the dark. Perhaps we (ANGFA,RSG,IRG) could get genetic
<"fingerprints" of some of the newer wild or F1 species and then somewhere
<down the track check captive stocks to see if there has been any changes. I
<think this will be the only way we know what happens. At least it would be
<something tangible! Otherwise we will just be argueing the pros and cons
<forever.
I don't think you're right. I just had a private discussion with Peter U on this
matter, maybe we should have done it over the list. I don't think you can
distinguish aqaurium populations and nature stocks genetically after a few
generations. You can't distinguish closely related species at all with this
method, if you're unlucky or chose the wrong genes, how should it be
possible to distinguish aquarium strains easily? Remember that in all
genetic studies only a few genes are examined, less than 0.1 %!!
<I'm all for a species maintainance program but we need more than a handful
<of participants.
Derek Lambert, England, started a SMP for livebearers and it's working well
in several countries now. I think it would be possible to make a SMP and we'll
surely find people to participate. We just have to make some settlements and
to keep in touch (this list is excellent for these purposes) and we will find
some peeople wanting to become involved. One of the species for the SMP
- except the red-finned blue-eye mentioned above - could be M. oktediensis??
Harro
Content-Type: application/octet-stream; name="absender.txt"
Content-Disposition: inline; filename="absender.txt"
Content-MD5: Xr2v7EkHhGStMkmpPff51w==
Attachment Converted: c:\eudora\attach\absender1.txt