Re: Rams de-selection

["Steve Waldron" <swaldron@slip.net>]

Hi folks,
I haven't been following this thread too closely, but that never stops me
from butting in...
Parental care behavior in fish is an instinctive trait, fry do not learn to
become parents from being parented themselves. Those that think this is the
case (i.e. parental care is learned) are projecting their human experience
onto their fish. Parental fish eat spawns when they feel the brood is
doomed- perhaps too much activity around the tank or within the tank has
convinced them a predator is omnipresent. Some fish are poor parents, some
taxa are notorious for eating spawns (notably Crenicara, Laetecara,
Microgeophagous)- these all spawn out in the open and perhaps are naturally
more prone to egg predation and that much more prone to eating their eggs
when they feel threatened. In any case, a fish raised away from its parents
has just as much likelihood of becoming a good parent. One option, if you
want to have your fish raised by fish parents- consider using another fish
(e.g. maternal Apisto. w/fry) as a foster parent. I have done this on
numerous occasions and it generally always works (kinda cool too!) if the
fry are roughly the same size as the female's own progeny. Best
- Steve
----------
>From: Alysoun McLaughlin <alysoun@patriot.net>
>To: apisto@majordomo.pobox.com
>Subject: Re: Rams de-selection
>Date: Thu, Nov 5, 1998, 5:07 AM
>

>Dave, I think we've established that you don't buy apistos who've been
>yanked from their parents, at least not if you intend to breed them. 
>That's your prerogative.  And I think we all realize there are benefits
>to letting parents rear their fry.  
>
>On the other hand, no number of flames on this list is ever going to
>convince the rest of the apisto-breeding world (represented on the list
>or not) to stop breeding fish who eat their eggs.  No increase in your
>blood pressure will convince the rest of us to sacrifice all the fry of
>failed parents.  No critical mass of exclamation marks will ever
>convince the rest of the apisto-breeding world to carefully
>differentiate among parentally-raised vs. non-parentally-raised fry.  
>
>If you know and trust the source of your fish, what difference does it
>make what everyone else does?  You can trace the lineage of a particular
>fish back as far as you'd like, and make your own decision.  
>
>If you don't know and trust your source, you're already taking all sorts
>of chances in buying the fish, probably the least of which is whether
>they were parentally-raised.  
>
>If you're just generally opposed to screwing around with natural
>selection, quit breeding fish in an aquarium, period.
>
>
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