Always Something New.

[Bedlamer]

I went to browse around Fish Gallery yesterday. I saw quite a number of things I had never seen in the flesh before. My camera battery was dead—sorry no pictures. They had a lovely black tang for about $800. They had Electric Green Tetras, bought to you by the same people that came up with Glo-Fish derived from the White Skirt Tetra. This maybe the thing that gets me into setting up an obnoxious as possible, lurid, glowing, disco tank from space. Hmmmm, a bunch of the tetras with a bunch of the danios an assortment of laser corys, and multi-colored neon gravel with a disco ball. Do they make an aquarium safe disco ball?

I saw a plant so uniformly bright red, that at first I thought it was a plastic plant. Sorry I forgot the name. I’m sure the lights I have wouldn’t support it. Their 5000 gallon SW main display tank is supposed to be coming soon. I saw the random lighting storm mode display go off on one of their SW tanks. At first I thought they were having a malfunction. After watching it for awhile close up and feeling like I was going to have a seizure—I determined this nifty advanced feature might not be for me. They had a SW puffer I had never seen before—a Guineafowl Puffer. Really pretty.

Finally I saw the thing that really made me think to myself maybe the Mayans were right about 2012. I’m not against breeding hybrids in ornamental fish. I keep goldfish and bettas—some sources believe they are at this point hybrids. It’s very common in the plant world. I looked into one of the last tanks at the back near the exit. I thought man, that looks like a cross between a parrot cichlid and a Flowerhorn. I asked one of the staff. It was.

[Totenkampf]

i personally dont mind selective breeding as is done for koi and betta, but have a real problem with lab fish, like glofish and parrots, or dyed animals.

[aquabee]

They had a SW puffer I had never seen before—a Guineafowl Puffer. Really pretty.

I saw that guineafowl puffer... it was just stunning!

[eklikewhoa]

FG has always had the customers/clientele to bring those kind of fish in, what disappoints me is when I go there and there isn't something that is outside the "bread & butter".

[Bedlamer]

i personally dont mind selective breeding as is done for koi and betta, but have a real problem with lab fish, like glofish and parrots, or dyed animals.

Although I like a lot of fancy goldfish which have grossly malformed anatomy compared to your run of the mill common goldfish--there is something about the appearance of parrot cichlids that creeps me out. Just a personal thing--if someone reading this fancies them, all the more power to ya. I would not purchase or own dyed fish or tattooed fish--and I stick needles in people for a living (with their consent half the time). Beyond the debate if it’s cruel to the fish (I've hooked fish fishing--and marine collectors routinely aspirate the swim bladders of deep water specimens with needles)--from what I've read there is a high mortality for dyed and tattooed fish--and if you bring a dyed fish home and it lives, the dye wears off after awhile anyways. I don't have a problem with them splicing the "glo" gene into the fish--essentially creating a chimera. They intentionally sterilize all of the fish at their facility before shipping them out (98% effective if I recall correctly) if you find the rare fertile couple it’s illegal to sell the offspring. If the fish escaped to or were released into the wild--I'm thinking their vivid coloration would lead them to be gobbled up in short order. I guess there is an argument for the slippery slope--if they do this what next? Ultimately I think the market will determine if this kind of designer animal will remain or fade away (except for California were the choice was made for you by the state government). Whacky goldfish have remained popular over many years and people are used to seeing them—maybe fish with foreign genes spliced in won’t raise eyebrows in a hundred years? Now, who wants a dog with tentacles? I bet you could train it to throw the ball back to you!

[Sea-agg09]

Now, who wants a dog with tentacles? I bet you could train it to throw the ball back to you!

Well a flowerhorn parrot is is a cross between two fish, and a flower horn is a disfigured fish in its own. How is that any different from a labridoodle, which is now getting accreditation as a registered breed, or toy breeds, which are nothing more than disfigured variants of other breeds? In fact most registered dog breeds are either crosses or selective breeding of something else. I guess we could all be purists and own wolves.

[rice1029]

frankenfish

I think they also had a green terror parrot. And seaagg, aren't all dogs just variants of the same species? Crossing species gets really weird. Especially parrotfish. Creeps me out.

[rice1029]

frankenfish

Correction, they were balloon green terrors.

[Bedlamer]

Howdy Sea-agg09, I think maybe my attempt at a humorous quip at the end of my second post has muddled what I was saying. Sorry about that. To clarify I have no problem with selective breeding within a species as you illustrated with your example of toy dogs having been breed from wolves. Yes, mankind has been doing it since we were hunter gatherers. All domesticated animals are selectively bred (that I can think of anyways). From my first post in the thread I stated "I’m not against breeding hybrids in ornamental fish." So you are preaching to the choir. I just found the parrot cichlid/flowerhorn to be outlandish and remarkable. I'm sure one of your customers will fall in love with the critter and be their new favorite fish. How much is that fish priced at? Is that the first one you've seen or are they old news?

A better example for a pro-hybridization in animals arguement would be mules and hinnies. The hybrid of horse and donkey parrents. They have hybrid vigour, and are more suitable for some tasks than either of their parents. Wiki tells me they have been around since at least 480 BC. Nobody is hating on them (except maybe the occasional flustrated ol' timer prospector).

If someone does start breeding Squidoodles I will be the first one in line to get one. I will call him Henney and he shall be mine. I guess I would have to put a serious lock on the fish room door though. :biggrin: