>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! >>
>
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/"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