shamrock;2112617; said:
Only beef I got against hybrids is when you see FH's labeled as Trimacs,
That's really the only viable beef I see to their existence. They certainly won't be the ruination of the hobby. The problem is when someone distributes a hybrid without labeling it as such...or when a hobbyist gets a fish they think is a pure species, breeds and disseminates...an so on.
The issue with the ACA is simply that there is no "why"...and then, what if they were "accepted in the club"? What does that mean? That the club recognizes they are "out there"? Well, duh...of course they are. That the club lets them in their shows? How would THAT work. Right now cichlid shows are judged against the norrm for the species being judged. Meaning a judge looking at a Citrinellum says to themselves, "how does this fish compare to the Citrinellum in the wild?" With a FH there's nothing to judge it against. And even with judging the way it is now...there's a certain amount of subjective input on where the individual scores may be. Can you imagine if you had to judge a FH against what??...two species? Which one? LOL
And what about line breeding? If the club is against the "mam made" tampering of the species to create FH, where do we stand on the specialized breeding that gives us many of the unusual angelfish and color intense variants of standard cichlids? And what about Discus? According to a well known scientist..."The fact of the matter is that some of them MIGHT be hybrids, because we lack the scientific tools and knowledge at this time to resolve a complex evolutionary history". So what's the official word on this? We don't have one...yet (more on this later). And what about the line breeding to create some of the unusual colors of Discus? You don't find the bright reds or yellows swimming in the Amazon. All line bred. That's OK?
Here's my main point...and I REALLY appreciate not only the polling, but also the sophisticated and well mannered responses to peoples personal feelings. Thank You. The folks that have known me for years...and seen my posts should by this time KNOW my personal feelings about hybrid fish (think blackened with a side of salsa) And maybe my stance on this hits some folks from left field...it looks like I'm supporting many of the arguments that have been out there...many directed toward me and my personal stance. My main problem is that as a member of the Board of Trustees for the ACA I feel it's our duty to once and for all state clearly our position on Hybrid cichlids, Line Breeding, Discus, etc....and (here's the nut of it)...WHY. To this end we are forming a comittee to formulate a position.
I'm a realist. Flowerhorns aren't going anywhere anytime soon. Many of the folks out there...primarily the younger folks..are getting into cichlids by buying a flowerhorn. That doesn't mean that they won't buy a nice A. citrinellum or P. managuensis...nor does it mean they should. One of the primary functions of the club is to educate on the topic of cichlid fishes. We are a club full of like minded aquarists that do a great deal for cichlid conservation and research. At the end of the day the very best I would hope to accomplish is the ability to state clearly our position on this topic.
For the record there were 47 people who voted on the ACA's site. 39 said "no" to the question..."8" said yes. It's almost 50/50 here. If you consider the volume of traffic here to that of the club's site you can see that it's pretty much 50/50 in the general populace as opposed to the internal club poll.
More as it becomes available. Questions are always welcome. Thanks again for the civil conversation on what is most definitely a hot topic.
