[Killietalk] annualism

[CynoNotho at aol_com]

As a change of tempo of killitalk issues....
I've been involved, off and on, with a certain aspect of annualism. I 
discussed a thesis for JAKA with George Sluzczeck (sorry if misspelled), who was the 
JAKA editor at the time.
Yes, a long time ago. The parameters of the thesis was (and still is) that 
annualism involves delayed hatching throughout the rainy season in the wild; 
even a delayed hatching of some to the following season. This ensures the 
survival of the specie due to a false rainy season. The hatching of all the eggs 
during a premature storm and subsequent drying would doom that specie at that 
location. We in the hobby mimic this cycle by wetting, drying and rewetting peat 
several times until no more eggs hatch.
The thesis I presented to George was that hobbyists would not or should not 
rewet their annual spawns. By using only those eggs that hatch out at first 
wetting, hobbyists could develop the gene(s) annuals have to hatch in a shorter 
time frame and eliminate the longer cycle gene(s) from the domestic pool. 
Eventually, by only wetting peat the first time; essentially, all the annual eggs 
in a spawn would be utilized and a very short hatching cycle be genetically 
fixed.
While agreeing it was intuitively sound, George suggested an empirical 
approach to establish a data base to work with. I chose Notho. rachovii and (then) 
Cyno. whitei as the species to work with (using annuals from different 
continents). Over the years, I would record the data of species and first wetting for 
successive generations. Unfortunately, due to the "usual culprits", i.e. 
brownouts, water change shock (unknown water company additives), inordinate 
quantity of clorimides, skewered male/female ratio, system crashes, etc. many of the 
spawnings died out and I would have to restart with another group (thereby 
breaking the lineage).
Essentially, this is where everything has been for a number of years. My 
inquiry now is to see if others have done any work in this area or have any 
empirical data that would relate to this work. Any response, off or online would be 
appreciated. Another inquiry would be to see if others in the AKA would have a 
consensus of the possibility that the AKA could or should adopt a policy of 
encouraging members to only consider wetting their peat once.
Of course, the AKA can't make anyone do anything. It is only a policy 
decision and self enforced...much as the policy against killie hybrids in the hobby.
Michael Rosenthal  #03083

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