Re: NANFA-L-- OT: Sales of Males

Joshua L. Wiegert (JLW-in-dune.net)
Sun, 11 Dec 2005 17:42:19 -0500

Yea, aquariums are now living peices of furniture, and the goal is to ahve
one thats as pretty as possible. Fish aren't pets, they're just displayed.
I think a big cause of this, unfortunately, has been the success of the
marine hobby. When I first got into marines, a decade ago, I was proud of
keeping Damsels alive, and rightly so! No one sold coral, or any of the
butterflies, angels, or any of that which has appeared now. Now, with the
advances in synthetic salt, filters, skimmers, good lighting, etc. etc.,
plus the lowering of costs, any joker can have a beautiful marine tank.
Most marine fish are terribly short lived in captivity (having worked in
marine retail, I would guess that 95% of fish that walk out the door are
dead in a month, and-in-least 75% of inverts. I think 6 months is the upper
limit for most people keeping /anything./ Some fish live years, but its
very, very rare). Those who can't afford the marine aquarium, or don't want
to, or won't invest the time and energy it requires go with freshwater for
the instant living room. Take a look-in-aquarium literature today. Every
issue has features about AQUASCAPING. No one used to write about that. It
is, in a way, unfortunately, and in a way fortunate -- more people are
getting involved in the hobby.

JW

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><,DARWIN,>
Joshua L. Wiegert
AIM UID: JoshuaWiegert                                                Yahoo: 
JLW_DUNE_NET
Feel free to contact me by any of the above means for any reason.
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----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Hoover, Jan J ERDC-EL-MS" <Jan.J.Hoover-in-erdc.usace.army.mil>
To: <nanfa-l-in-nanfa.org>
Sent: Sunday, December 11, 2005 5:33 PM
Subject: RE: NANFA-L-- OT: Sales of Males




> Todd wrote:
>>>>...98% focus of aquaria now is
> to set up the most colorful living curio cabinent with the least amount of
> money and effort. The species that are popular fire right up as males 
> only...
> So why fuss with loosing space in your curio cabinet as well?...OR why 
> keep a
> darter that's not going to come into color ever, or even if its
> a male, when it spawns or is-in-55 degrees with a high protein diet?  This
> comes into our territory too, when you want to understand why AC isn't 
> flying
> off the shelf-in-a retail store.<<<
>
> Fascinating!  So aquarium hobbyists in general have devolved from "doers"
> into "displayers."  That might explain why, in a time of easier aquarium
> technology and improving availability of native fish information, that so 
> few
> hobbyists keep native fishes.  Color is insufficient and greater effort is
> required.
>
> - Jan Hoover
>  Vicksburg, MS
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