Tony
p.s. I wonder is the gaudy color of fish species are connected to the present of
clear water [at least sometime in the year] and lots of cover [rock, weed, grass,
tree, etc.] for retreat?
Robert Carillio wrote:
> Yeah! HA!... I have done my share of mixing too! I almost forgot to say that
> some people don't realize that mostly, only the colorful tropicals are
> collected for sale, from the wild, because they are eye catching. There are
> just as many "drab" tropicals as are there natives, here. I always thought
> that this left a distorted view on natives, however, in that the impression
> this creates is one of "All tropicals are colorful"... and "All natives are
> drab!!!" .... What do you think???
>
> >From: DasArm_at_aol.com
> >Reply-To: nanfa_at_aquaria.net
> >To: nanfa_at_aquaria.net
> >Subject: Re: NANFA-- Natives should get TV exposure
> >Date: Wed, 20 Sep 2000 00:07:03 EDT
> >
> >Whoops, accidentally hit the SEND button (this ain't my night). What I was
> >going to say in reply to your message Rob, is that you are correct in your
> >statement that a lot of the people from the tropical regions from which
> >these
> >pet store fishes come from regard many of these fishes as either worthless
> >(I
> >read an account of a NANFA member's trip to South America; not sure of who
> >it
> >was right now, that said customs inspectors upon finding out that he was
> >taking some of their native fishes said "Let them have them; they are
> >worthless" or were wondering what he'd want with them) or game fishes (like
> >the Oscar).
> >
> > As far as keeping fishes in the same tank which aren't found in the wild
> >together, I am guilty of that myself (got some goodeids from central Mexico
> >with some darters, a minnow, and a stickleback from Michigan. In biotope
> >terms this would be blasphemy, but I didn't have enough aquariums and I had
> >to move some fish around due to some aggression between some other fish;
> >this
> >was the best arrangement I could make. I also like to "mix and match" to a
> >certain degree too, not in the particular way I just described since that
> >was
> >not by choice, but I think that certain groups of fishes like Mexican
> >cichlids and sunfishes look good together. I do like biotope setups too
> >though; I would sometime when I get the room, like maybe a central Mexican
> >biotope, or Michigan creek and ditch tanks ( the 2 habitats my Michigan
> >fish
> >come from).
> >
> >Re: man-made selectively bred fishes' colors- This is something I've
> >thought
> >about for a long time too- a lot of the popular tropical fishes' colors
> >are
> >through selective breeding, like the Oscars and many others. The same color
> >schemes keep coming up all of the time; xanthic and albino fishes kind of
> >lose their appeal when every basic fish type in the pet store has those
> >color schemes. It starts to make all of the different types of fishes look
> >sort of uniform after a while, regardless of how different they are in
> >basic
> >body shape. The few albino and xanthic fishes you do see in the wild are
> >cool when you find them because you know they weren't some man-made inbred
> >strain; they were naturally occurring. Most of those same man-made strains
> >of
> >xanthic tropical fishes wouldn't look like that in the wild; they'd never
> >survive! And if more people knew about that, I think that tropicals would
> >lose a lot their seeming superiority in the eyes of most people. Especially
> >when they see that a lot of natives have fantastic colors in the wild.
> >
> >Native fish enthusiasts definitely aren't your typical fish keeper, and
> >have
> >a different perspective on what constitutes a "legitimate" fish to keep, as
> >well as where you can get it (i.e. collecting) and are generally more DYI
> >than most people. We certainly aren't mainstream, and the only way we will
> >be
> >is if we were to make native fish interests mainstream as a result of our
> >efforts.
> >
> >
> ><< I agree completely with that, and I also will add to it and say, that
> >many
> >people don't realize that the fish they get in a pet store are "native" to
> >some part of the world, and to the locals there, could be percieved in much
> >the same fashion that our local people percieve our local fish. Also, I
> >want
> >to add, and say that often the tropical aquarium is a "mish mosh" of fishes
> >that don't even live together in the wild. Many are also "man made" fish
> >produced through different breeding methods. I will bet that if many of the
> >tropical fish enthusiasts saw many of their beloved fish as they are "in
> >the
> >raw", "un-plugged" in their native environment, and if they knew where they
> >came from, that they probably would not have the same appeal as they do
> >when
> >presented in the store. This is where I believe native fish enthusiasts
> >have
> >a much deeper thought perception, and have "graduated" beyond the realm of
> >mainstream thinking!!!!.... HA! >>
/-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
/"Unless stated otherwise, comments made on this list do not necessarily
/ reflect the beliefs or goals of the North American Native Fishes
/ Association"
/ This is the discussion list of the North American Native Fishes Association
/ nanfa_at_aquaria.net. To subscribe, unsubscribe, or get help, send the word
/ subscribe, unsubscribe, or help in the body (not subject) of an email to
/ nanfa-request_at_aquaria.net. For a digest version, send the command to
/ nanfa-digest-request_at_aquaria.net instead.
/ For more information about NANFA, visit our web page, http://www.nanfa.org