> I believe that there are many things that keep native out of the pet
> trade. After breeding 10 sp. of darters and many native minnows and
Killi's
> I find that it takes at least one year to reach full size sometimes two.
> Most tropicals are marketable size in as little as 3 months. The flagfin
> shiners I spawned last summer are still only half grown. A good many
> natives have a spawning season while tropicals usually breed year round.
I
> have collected in Peru and the amount fish is unbelievable compared to
here.
> We often had 8 to 10 sp. of catfish in one net pull. People in South
> America that collect for the trade are paid a fraction of a penny per fish
> and that's if it something like a cardinal. If there was a heavy
collecting
> trade in North America fish it wouldn't pay enough and you would have to
> sort for the marketable fish. Many of our colorful fish in the south have
> very small ranges and heavy collecting might do them in. People always
> think that the grass is always greener fish from far off places are more
> interesting to them. Look at NANFA of all the people that keep fish in
this
> country and are members of aquarium clubs only about 400 belong to NANFA.
> Leo Long and myself have been giving talks on native to the Detroit area
> fish clubs for years. Two people have shown an interest. When we hosted
> the convention in Ann Arbor we sold the convention hard to the locals for
> over a year one attended, and these are people very interested in fish.
> Regardless of how great or interesting native are there will never be many
> interested in keeping them. The best I believe we can do is get as many
> people in the general public to know these great animals are here and what
> to make sure we don't lose them.
>
> Bob Muller
> ----
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