Tom McLean
AKA NWK
NANFA
----- Original Message -----
From: "Mark" <nanfa_at_jonahsaquarium.com>
To: <nanfa_at_aquaria.net>
Sent: Monday, September 15, 2003 7:54 PM
Subject: NANFA-- Fish Non-Release Policy, welaka, better than welaka
> At 1:16 PM -0500 9/15/03, Hoover, Jan J ERDC-EL-MS wrote:
> >Like NANFA, Partners in Amphibian and Reptile Conservation (an
organization
> >for herp enthusiasts) also has a policy on not releasing captive animals.
> >You can access their brochure here:
> >http://www.parcplace.org/publications/index.htm#PARCanimalPolicy
> >Something like this should be included in any order of aquatic organisms
> >bought, sold, or traded by anyone.
>
>
> We inlcude this notice with all shipments:
>
> http://www.jonahsaquarium.com/noreleasenote.htm
>
> Help yourself if you or anyone wants to use it. That's what it's
> there for. Also, maybe we can do more to promote captive breeding.
> One successful breeder could produce enough welaka or whatever to
> supply all the native fish heads I know of who want them. (I think
> Steffen already said that!) Also, all this focus of attention on
> welaka, as though it were some Holy Grail of fishes, is likely to
> only intensify pressure on the species. I'll chime in now and say
> that Phoxinus oreas is the fish I've always considered the standard
> for beautiful color and form. If you can get hold of a copy of
> Freshwater Fishes of Virginia, there's a perfect one among the color
> plates in the back, it's also in the monster Axelrod tropical fish
> atlas; Plate 17 in American Aquarium Fishes by Robert J. Goldstein;
> and plate 67 in Freshwater Fishes of the Carolinas, Virginia,
> Maryland and Delaware. Here's a less than perfect shot:
>
> http://www.jonahsaquarium.com/picphoxoreas1.htm
>
> Six reasons not to catch Pteronotropis welaka for your aquarium:
>
> They are very fragile and drop dead if you look at them sideways.
>
> They are tiny, defenseless little fish that will be destroyed by any
> tankmate bigger than a baby Heterandria formosa.
>
> They likely only live for a year even under optimal circumstances.
>
> The males are the only ones that are colorful and they only have the
> color and long fins if they are in full breeding condition and happen
> to be a primary male, or whatever the term is, that happens to have
> the long finnage. Many mature males do not display this character.
>
> They are very difficult to collect, prefering waters that are deep,
> dark and unwadable. Their habitat in also prefered by alligators and
> water moccasins.
>
> There are _lots_ of fish that are easier to collect, easier to keep,
> easier to breed, _and_ more colorful! And which are not in trouble
> in the wild. If you need recommendations, let me know.
>
> There, I did my bit for welaka conservation. Maybe NANFA can write
> its own grant proposal and use some of the Conservation Grants monies
> to recruit a qualified researcher to do some hard field and
> literature work to find out what's really up with welaka and how it
> can be preserved. OK, stepping off soap box...
>
> --
> Mark
> Ohio
> USA
> <))><
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