L777
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Many thanks again. I ran an analytical lab in a chemistry department for a dozen years or so, so know something about water chemistry — you’re right, in a tank setting there are many inter-related variables!
Good idea letting the water set — equilibrates to atmospheric CO2 for one thing. I’ll do that for a better indication of my tap pH. Thanks also for the reminder about kH, and assurances about limited potential for pH crashes.
Could you give me a quick primer, or good pointer to one, about the EI? I haven’t heard about it before (not really a hard core planted tank guy yet, mostly just like how much my fish appreciate having them in their tanks). Looks like I’m dragging myself into actually getting serious about planted tanks!
Thanks for the great advice, Maximumbob. Do you find it necessary to buffer against the pH change — dolomite/limestone/etc? My tap water comes out of the spigot around 8.0, but it doesn’t seem to be buffered. It drops to about 6.0 or so after a few days in the heavily stocked tanks. (I don’t have a CO2 generator set up yet, so I expect this pH drop is mostly fish-ammonia related, together with lots of live plants pulling potential buffer cations out of the water.)
I’d like to set up a CO2 generator to improve my plants — and to halt a BBA infestation. I can run daily pH tests to monitor, then run constant water changes like mad, but if adding bubbles will sink the pH off the bottom of the test chart quickly, not sure if I want to risk it.
Any suggestions/thoughts?
If fish are being bred to accomplish survival in the wild, I couldn’t agree more — major threat to ecology to move tank-exposed fish back out into existing populations, what with the potential foreign diseases they’ve been exposed to, the existing social structures and territories they’d be tossed into, the social cues and behavioral interactions they missed out on growing up in the bizarre environment of a tank, and a host of other good reasons. This holds true whether the body plan has changed through the generations or not. On the other hand, I rather like the fancy guppies in my tanks, which bear little resemblance to their wild genetic forebears that they’ll never have to survive alongside.
Just to clarify, though, I’m personally very interested in maintaining my breeding lines as close as possible to the wild populations. This is why I was interested in earlier threads in hearing how much variation people had noted in their wild-caught fish, in hearing if anyone had experience maintaining carefully documented outbreeding programs, and my interest in swapping stock with others to keep the diversity as high as possible. I’m excited that there are so many of us working together and able to swap so we can keep the bloodlines as “true” as possible.
And after all, a breeder can’t make any real claim to “producing” a mutation or new variant that suddenly appears in their tank through normal, nature-al, evolutionary processes anyhow, eh? (Other than giving the adults a comfy home to do their thing, and then playing a hand in the selection process. Transgenics aside perhaps.) The arrogance is rather in the claim to having “created”, not in our participation in the creative activity. If it is arrogant for humans to shape, using selection, the physical appearance of a new fish variation, then it must also be arrogant for humans to “breed” (better said as “provide suitable conditions for breeding”) the natural forms — to follow this argument, what right do we have to interfere with these natural processes at all?.
Humans still are part of nature and the natural ecology, despite our destructive habits, and despite our tendency to think we are not. By definition then, our actions are natural actions, even if they seem contrary to strange misconceptions about a supposed “peaceable animal kingdom.” The living web co-evolved together, with each species necessarily shaped by the species around them, and we are simply a recent member added to that interplay. The only really new difference now that humans are here is the apparent inability of the rest of the ecology to moderate our (far too often negative) interactions with it. Our role in the ongoing evolution of the creatures around us is not something apart from nature or natural processes, it is in fact simply part of it. Our role in the present mass extinction, on the other hand, is I think unconscionable.
Very much so, and much appreciated. From the rates I’ve seen on aquabid auctions, the shipping you mention sounds too good to be true, but maybe those sellers are just erring on the safe side, always going with next day guaranteed? Is Priority half-way across the country a two day or three day job these days? What’s your experience with DOAs using USPS Priority?
Have to admit I was leaning toward the natural selection process, for the health of the strain.
Does my loss rate seem high to any who have bred lots of clutches (CPDs or other)?
I know this post is a bit old, but just saw it. I believe the inter-species chimeras that Yorktown Tech created are actually patented, which explains their insistence on nobody else creating them. While I’m not as opposed to the company’s ‘creative’ efforts as Steve is, he is definitely on the right scent re: their incentive. Because the glofish (which have a stunning brilliant color in normal lighting, not just under UV) are viable, their combined genetic composition breeds true, but here’s the catch: breeding them (not to mention selling the young) constitutes *patent infringement*. More than one reason to avoid buying them, not the least of which it is illegal for a regular Joe to breed them in a home aquarium.
I’ve also read that leopards are just a color morph that kicks out at low probability, but haven’t bred them myself to see it happen.
As for the long-fins (and other mutations!), we’re all keeping our eyes peeled for remarkable variants that appear in our broods!! Maybe someone from our group will be able to win that breeders’ race?
Fishman,
I’ve never shipped fish (out) before, so any tips on keeping the expense reasonable would be greatly appreciated, especially between our northern states late in the year. I’d be up for swapping some by mail with you if not too expensive. I have a batch of 50 or so between about 7 and 5 weeks old by now. Fin color is just starting to show, more yellowish than red so far, but they’re probably big enough to survive shipment anytime.You’re right — I saw “Hampshire” and stopped reading! :oops:
Manage to get ahold of any CPDs yet?
Fishman,
we’ve had some small discussion about it here, but I don’t recall anyone coming to any specific conclusions, other than it is a recognized need. Do you have experience in keeping track of bloodlines, registered out-breeding programs, etc.? Any help would be great! There are a number of you there in the UK, and a cluster in New Jersey here in the states, but also a number of us “CPD islands” who will have minor shipping issues unless we can find more locals to trade with near us.
