Re: Artificially hatching Ram Eggs

[MICHAEL SERPA <mserpa@bayweb.net>]

joel and angie wasdyke wrote:
> 
> As a result of this recent discussion, I would like to see a list of
> qualifications to become a "serious" aquarist.  Because after 10 years,
> spawning 50+ species and currently keeping 30 tanks, I apparently don't
> qualify because I artificially rear rams.  Quite a lot of them by the way.
> I probably have several hundred golds and german blues swimming around as
> well as a few spawns in the process of hatching.  (to address another note,
> I have been reliably informed that these "damaged" offspring do raise their
> own young).
> 
> The other apparent no no for a "serious" aquarist is sully themselves by
> doing anything that borders on commercial.  Now, for a number of years I
> spawned a lot of fish that I liked that had no, or very limited, commercial
> value.  So, I decided it would be nice to finally make this "hobby" at least
> earn it's keep.  I thought about angels and discus and some other fish.
> But, I noticed a great lack of people in the States raising rams and all
> that seemed to be available was the crap coming out of Asia.  As a result, I
> will probably ship out 100 this month, maybe 150 next and then over 200 a
> month after that and up from there.
> 
> As far as this question of serious goes, it seems to me that it takes a fair
> amount of seriousness to maintain bloodlines, acceptable breeding
> conditions, water quality and everything else that goes with longterm
> maintenance of a species of fish.  I have never really been impressed with
> the ability to get a species to spawn one time.  One time is luck, more than
> one time is skill.  By that I mean that a species may spawn and the keeper
> have no good idea what the environmental conditions needed to be other than
> that they were somehow right at the correct moment.  And for a discussion
> about being a "serious" aquarist, go sit down and have a talk about
> bloodlines and genetics with a commercial angel breeder.
> 
> It will always amaze me how anal aquarist get about "their" fish.  It was
> like that when I raised CA cichlids and it was like that when I raised
> African cichlids.
> 
> Joel WasDyke

	Thanks Joel, you said this with more control than I could
	have.

	And *Doc* if you're really serious about playing this self
	riecheous(sp) *everything should be done naturally and no one
	should profit* game, then maybe you should stop,artificialy,
	controling the lives of these fish and take them back and dump
	them in the river.

	Sorry to the rest of the list, but this really pisses me off!

	Michael, whose Rams survive however neccessary!

-- 
Michael Serpa * Bay Island Orchids
2311 Pacific Avenue * Alameda, CA 94501
Tel: (510) 521-8245 *  Fax: (510) 865-1787
http://www.bayislandorchids.com


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