Why haven't Coldwater species have been popularized yet?

[jaws7777]

Dive not knocking cutteri cichlids but they really arent a cichlid i would choose in representing the species and again dude your assuming people havent researched natives. No doubt your sunny may have personality but your comparing it to a cutteri.....not a pearsei or an oscar

What you prefer to keep is your opinion. Op started the thread asking why....we are.just giving our opinions....which is though some natives are very good looking...there is way way way more variety in tropicals...

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[Leo1234]

I have 5 native aquariums (The only ones I have that include non natives are plecos). yes most are not colorful, but they have a lot more personality. I actually switched over from having a 13" oriental bichir to having a longear sunfish then to all natives. I have to say the majority of tropicals have color while the majority of natives have personality. I go for personality. I love how my bluegills swim up to me all the time and my black crappie tries to swim through the glass to me. I actually would have got my black crappie to hand feed the second day I had him if it was not for me being startled when he bit my hand thinking I had bloodworms in my hand. Even my rainbow darters swim up to the top of the aquarium to beg for food.

 

[divemaster99]

Comparing the colors of US natives to cichlids(old world and new world) is like comparing fresh water fish to saltwater. There's just no comparison in terms of colors, as much as you want to argue this.

While I find your interest and dedication in natives admirable, you are simply trying too hard to convince people, whose been in the hobby for decades, that they've overlooked..............and ignorant? Really?

This is the reason why young, gung-ho hobbyist like you get blasted and flamed. Tread carefully or you'll end up in the hall of infamy like "Pole" and "Furious Fish"

Well, that's just your opinion, but I'll respect it. There just isn't enough people keeping native fish and many people just think of drab fathead minnows and Largemouth Bass when you mention keeping native fish to them. Maybe in the future people will realize the amazing fish that are so close to them, but that's just a hope. I'm done, don't want to stir up any more people.

 

[jaws7777]

Again you are comparing to fish that arent known for personality, this is why making general statemts with such a small sample size isnt a good idea. Go out and get an oscar or pearsei then you can state with confidence who has more personality. ...cutteri cichlids and birchirs really arent a great example

I use pearsei and oscars as examples because i have kept them and can attest to how they act.

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[xraycer]

Well, that's just your opinion, but I'll respect it. There just isn't enough people keeping native fish and many people just think of drab fathead minnows and Largemouth Bass when you mention keeping native fish to them. Maybe in the future people will realize the amazing fish that are so close to them, but that's just a hope. I'm done, don't want to stir up any more people.

Of course its all about opinions and preferences, but you seem to be the only one on this post that can't seem to handle that. Its one thing to try and encourage people, and another to shove the info down their throat, which is what you're doing. I have a few natives myself but I'm not out there calling people ignorant because they don't prefer natives.

 

[divemaster99]

As much as I love talking about how much I love natives, this thread really needs to be locked soon as several people (admittedly, including myself) are taking their personal thoughts to the extreme and I don't think this simple thread is worth this much arguement over.

 

[Aquanero]

This is just a good conversation IMO. No one is getting nasty so it's all good. I've kept Pickerel (chain), Rock Bass, Bullheads, LMB. Sunnys (various) all collected locally. I like natives and might keep them again. No heat required and definitely cheaper (free is always good). I've even seen them pop up on on line vendor sites but if there not local to your area their no longer native. To me native means they live where you live. Hell if I lived on the Rio Negro my Altums would be natives. North American species and native shouldn't be used interchangeably is my point. So I don't want to mix apples and oranges.

 

[Leo1234]

I have a friend who had an oscar and it had less personality than my rainbow darters.... I don't think people should say it is 100% true that one fish is the best since every fish, person, and experience is different. It's my personal opinion that people should try to keep at least one native and then choose what they like.

 

[jaws7777]

No need to lock at all
...this is what the op started the thread for....a discussion.

Nothing wrong with loving your fish but ya gotta understand others opinions. I still want a dollar sunfish but chose a paradise for my daughter instead. Your actually doing to tropicals what you say most people do to natives. Your cutteris had no personality which isnt surprising now you feel natives have more personality than cichlids...

i have an argentea that has 0 personality, is mean and absolutly beautiful....differemt degrees of what attracts people to different fish.

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[Belly up]

We should not limit the conversation to native v tropical fish. There are a lot of fish from China and Siberia that would be tremendous fish to own. I also don`t think it is either or. I love my tropicals and have no plans of ditching them. What I have is a desire to have the coolest fish on the planet, IMO. There are things that attract me to a fish and things that bore me. My all time favorite are Jack Dempsies and that will likely never change. To me they have every thing a fish should have, color, personality,etc. They are also one of the first fish I ever owned. That being said it does`nt mean they are the be all, end all.

If we want to see more people keeping temperate water fish posting more pics like those of the sun fish, shiners and darter will help, a lot. Just beautiful.