Re: [Killietalk] Commercial imports; what to label them?

["Nick Ternes" <woodland_gardens at gmail.com>]

>Commercial acceptability has little or nothing to do with fertility.
>Killies are mostly just too small to be attractive in most shops. They
>are also too mean. As fish from small waters, they often have different
>behavior than big water fish like Tetras,  Discus or Angels of the
>Amazon. They usually fight for territory and breeding rights, more like
>Bettas (also a puddle fish). Shops want good "community" fish, and few
>killies fit that niche. They are also a bit more difficult to raise in
>large numbers for the same reason. More dollars for smaller fish isn't
>good commerce.

I would disagree with this paragraph 100%.  Many Fp. make excellent
community fish.  Some of the Chromaphyosemions make good community fish.  I
would think some of the lampeyes could be good community fish.  Most of them
that make good community fish are the same size or bigger than many of the
tetras, barbs, guppies, etc so they certainly aren't too small for most
shops.  Most shops (at least around here) are excited to have some killies
in their tanks to satisfy the people looking for something different.  Those
sp. that make good community fish are easy to raise in large numbers.
Different methods are required than for tetras or livebearers, but they're
certainly not any harder to produce.

As far as why isn't anyone working with aquarium strains- some people are.
I think if it's done carefully, there is no reason not to try and strengthen
an existing aquarium strain.  I think in some cases it could be quite
beneficial.  If chromosome counts are available, use them.  Don't mix
different subspecies and certainly don't cross sp. aff. with a well defined
species.  Cross one population into the aquarium strain at a time, and keep
a control of the original aquarium strain breeding.  I would watch for
fertility issues for 3-5 generations before crossing another population into
it, and certainly 4-5 generations before distributing.

I would say what I just described is 3-5 years of breeding work just to add
one population into an aquarium strain.  Which I think is yet another reason
why most people aren't working on such a project.  It's a lot of work, and
this is a hobby.  Why work with an aquarium strain when we have to do much
less intensive breeding work with known locations?

Nick Ternes
Oostburg, WI
WAKO
AKA
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