Last night, while-in-one of the major pet retailers, I noticed that only
males were available for most of the fancy guppy strains and for the dwarf
gouramies. When I asked an employee about females, I was shown a single tank
of cobra-like female guppies. If a customer wanted to breed guppies they
would have to mix strains (and by the genes of their F1s).
Why are only males being sold ?
A. Simple retailing strategy- most consumers only want a colorful fish and
have no interest in breeding
B. Advanced retailing strategy - unavailability of females means repeated
sales of an "unbreedable" fish
C. Sense of property - breeders do not want hobbyists tampering with their
creations (and possibly underselling them)
Try as I may - none of these seem to be realistic - but I have heard
hobbyists say similar things about the unavailability of female cichlids of
some species.
Does anyone know ?
Do small independent fish stores offer females of the same varieties/species
not offered in the larger chain outlets?
Don't most customers want to have male and female combinations when they buy
fish for their tanks ?
- Jan Hoover
Vicksburg, MS
/-----------------------------------------------------------------------
/ This is the discussion list of the North American Native Fishes
/ Association (NANFA). Comments made on this list do not necessarily
/ reflect the beliefs or goals of NANFA. For more information about NANFA,
/ visit http://www.nanfa.org Please make sure all posts to nanfa-l are
/ consistent with the guidelines as per
/ http://www.nanfa.org/guidelines.shtml To subscribe, unsubscribe, or get
/ help, visit the NANFA email list home page and archive at
/ http://www.nanfa.org/email.shtml