[Killietalk] Hobby & Conservation?; was Re: annualism

["Ken Combs" <KCombs at mergerx_net>]

On 24 Jan 2005 15:17:59, Joseph S wrote:

>If long incubation ticks people off(I admit that it can be a bit
>frustrating waiting for 5 months with a supposedly empty bag of
>eggs) they could stick with species with naturally) shorter 
>incubation.
>I don't see that as a reason to alter the natural "behavior" of the
>species.

Actually, I can "dig it"...(personally I understand the impetus behind
that snippet), but...

Joe, et all. After having killies on several occasions and now
thoroughly qualifying as a sick "addict", took me a while to get past
what I perceived as a "standard bearer" attitude that I observed as
somewhat pervasive in this specialized hobby segment ("standard bearer"
equating to a hobbyist defining a narrow range of "allowable"
tolerances/deviations for this particular hobby segment as a whole),
this is regardless of whether these "standards" are positive or
negative, the "enforcement therein is where the "fun meter" redlines...

All I'm saying here is a newbie/non-enthusiast may not fully understand
the gamut of the "things" that attract many of us to killies in the 1st
place. For many folks (or casual hobbyists), on the surface, it appears
to be the "pretty colors", but as the rest of us drill down past the
behavior/husbandry/breeding aspects and get into the
zoological/taxonomic/conservation aspects, we start venturing into that
"nether world" which broadens the scope of this hobby towards a range of
somewhat vague if not "loftier goals" (of perhaps saving the world "one
fish at a time")
...Shoot, good chance this "nether world" may be outside the
entertainment "value add" for many...

Short version: 
"The you should not have this fish unless...", "or you can't do that
if...", or the "perhaps you should do something else", or any of the
other numerous "narrowing" cliche's I've uncovered here on KT (and other
killie slanted venues) could be a lil "oversaturated" to the point of
negative impact (at least in so far as "aquarium" aspects of it are
concerned)...Heck, I can appreciate the plethora of "real world
situations", but are we not mixing "hobby with science" and
"conservation with hobby", and "domestic animals" with conservation"?
IMO, what good are "imprisoned fish" to the "bigger picture "if their
"old jobsite" is now a shopping mall? (or whatever) Just worth
considering....

KC



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