>As an interested bystander from a country where these new species only
>arrive by "chance" it is a bit sad to see all this talk of
>commercial-but-abhorrent crossbreeds doing the rounds over there. I hope
>you guys get a chance to publish some kind of warning sheet for thge unwary
>- only trouble is it costs money to produce such a publication.Perhaps FAMA
>of TFH etc may be interested? Or perhaps not - they probably would be
>afraid of upsetting a commercial interest who then may withdraw some
>advertsing dollars :-(
Actually I doubt they'll loose any advertising dollars. The farms and
wholesalers selling these fish do not advertise with these magazines.
Maybe such an article accompanied by pictures would do much to
eliminate the market for false rainbows. Part of the problem is there
is a very large demand for rainbows but few sources of true rainbows.
And the methods of the fish farms quickly produces crosses even if
they want to maintain pure stock. Once their stock is compromised
they're certainly not going to throw them out if they can sell them.
Most of the farms operate on a rather slim margin. An article may go a
long way toward eliminating the market for poor quality rainbows. This
would put the farms in the position of doing things right or staying
out of the market.
Cary Hostrawser
*please note the rely to address has been modified to
prevent automated junk mail. Reply to caryho at ix.netcom.com
Minnesota Aquarium Society
http://www.mn-aquarium.org/
Rainbowfish Study Group of North America
http://home.earthlink.net/~sbuckel/index.html