BTW there are some places in PNG too where more than one species of PNG
rainbowfish co-exist and I am willing to bet that there will be virtually
no evidence of crossbreeding in the wild there too, even though we are
talking about those very dangerous and aggressive PNG Melanotaenids :-)
>
> Unfortunately, that is absolutely true based on the logical extension of
> this argument. Education is the best solution. But is anyone doing any?
You and I having this little Tete-a-tete on email is educating someone -
and like conservation, it starts in one's own backyard. ANGFA has an
ongoing commitment to aquatic conservation but it is hopefully not a
blinkered one and doesn't stop us from destroying our raison d'etre i,e,
keeping fish, especialy those from our own country and those of our nearest
neighbour.
>
> Doesn't matter who you blame. Once you are at the point of blaming
> someone it is too late.
Once white man set foot in this country it was too late. Not to mention his
animals, agricultural practices, "sporting fish" and familiar pets and
pests.
>
> In Queensland life is certainly more difficult. Whereas in Victoria most
> of these things are a complete non issue as very few if any tropical fish
> could survive, let alone breed.
I assume you are ignoring those Victorian icons of icthyological excellence
such as carp, trout, tench, redfin etc etc for reasons of being less
tropical temperature tolerant but not for reasons of less destructive to
native species. It seems a little tough to even think of PNG rainbowfish in
the same breath. But then they only eat the galaxids and the bottom end of
the food chain and in the case of carp, eat all the aquatic plants and
muddy up the water etc
They don't commit the heinous crime of possibly ( no evidence in the wild
mind you) of breeding with the native species. And if it happens at all it
is most likely that it will only be a temporary phenomenon. But where is
our evidence for this assertion. The scientists will only be convinced if
we do throw some into the wild and keep doing it until they establish and
then find fault with our methodology if it doesn;t work. Then they will
have the added satisfaction of being able to point to our efforts and say
how irresponsible we are for doing it in the first place.
>
> Set up some large scale natural experiments, toss in two or more species
> and lets see what happens. Spend time observing the fish and look for
> any evidence of hybridisation. If you've run the experiment
> appropriately (which you could argue over how to do for a long time) then
it
> should give a fair result.
Once it is an experiment it is no longer natural Peter ;-)
And my remarks above still echo in my ears.
>
> No, but I've never been anywhere where rainbows have been introduced.
No one has because it hasn't happened and is most unlikely to happen in the
future
And I guess you and I are closer to agreeing on many of these issues at the
moment than ever before - but i'm not sure whether it is a triumph for
education, reason or exhaustion ;-)
Cheers
Bruce