Fwd: Various

["Ed Pon" <edpon@hotmail.com>]

>I look for better parents that care for their young".  Why do most of
>you have fish at all.  For me if I can't watch the parents (both of
>them) guard and herd their young, I do not want them.  If I had to
>artificially mess with the young, I just wouldn't do it.  I do not wish
>to play God. 
Some apistos have been so difficult to get in the past that the fry are 
precious enough (not dollar-wise) to attempt artificial incubation  so 
you have more fish to work with for the next generation.  I was down to 
my last pair of an apisto which is probably apistogramma sp. 
four-stripes.  I've got the fry before the parents died. The parents 
were getting old and were unlikely to have many more spawns.  I'm 
raising the fry to figure out what that apisto really was.  There are 
times when artificial incubation is prudent.

>Now if you are still reading I have another one that relates to what I
>have read today.  When I was young (long time ago) I remember a pet
>store of some fame in suburban Illinois called Black Angel Haven.  This
>guy was pretty inovative and did some breeding on his own.  Once he
>expanded and had much floor space.  He put a huge above ground swimming
>pool in the middle of his shop.  At least twenty feet across and four
>feet deep.  He put young Angels, sword tails, and some other fairly
>peaceful fish in it.  He kept it very lightly stocked and fed them
>well.  He also did huge water changes.  I went there at least once a
>week for ages.  Those fish grew like you would not believe.  Why?  From
>what I have read some of you think you know, but those were the largest
>fish of their types I have ever seen.  Even after he removed them to
>tanks and sold them they seemed healthier as well as bigger.  Any
>opinions?
>  
Could be anti-growth hormones or nitrates that were not allowed to 
accumulate. 

Good food for thought.  Keep it coming.

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