> Are you guys serious? I guess engineering native fish could be good for the
> hobby. Maybe the average Joe's will get turned on by a flashy new
fish-start
> a cool water tank-go catch some of their own-get hooked,... but I just
don't
> see any valid reason to tamper with the creatures' natural characters....
> Never thought I would have to say this on THIS list though.
> I just want to express that there are reasons to NOT cross gene pools, and
I
> hope that anyone else considering this does some research first.. There is
> more to it than just making a purdier feesh.
> Mike
>
This list is big enough to encompass both people who only want to preserve
native fish as they are and people who would like to refine and enhance certain
characteristics that some fish have. personally i would like to see fish that
are too large to keep in a reasonable sized aquarium genetically engineered to
be small enough to keep in aquariums. I dream of batrays 4" across and
sturgeon 6" long. my idea of the prefect aquarium would a community tank of about
125 gallons with lots of big fish engineered to be small but otherwise identical
to the large fish they are based on. but that is my vision, others see things
differently. Any fish bred to preserve native fish should of course be kept
as close to the wild biotype as possible but fish meant for aquariums have a
little bit of leeway. Most of the tropicals many of us keep are nothing like the
wild fish they came from, this doesn't diminish the wild fish in any way as
long the modified fish are not released into the wild.
moon
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