Gruff Master;3742987; said:
Man, I know that I'm asking for trouble posting on this thread but I'll do it anyway. MFK is an awesome site with abundant knowledge for fish collectors and enthusiast. We just have to remember the human element of the human/fish relationship. There are so many places in this world to find insults,taunts, and anger. Let's not turn this into one of them. We can't forget that there are people raising these fish. Having sympathy and compassion for the fish and not for their owners is wrong. I hope everyone can be humble enough to learn from the mistakes and failures of others without resorting to arguments and insults. Keep MFK a place for learning and sharing the hobby. Leave all that negativity and anger for the rest of the web. I'm sure someone will disregard this and rip me to shreds. In response, I will set an example and not respond.
I doubt anyone can rip you apart for this response, as it does speak volumes.
Right now, the real concern is the future of the hobby itself. Speak with any breeder or true LFS owner, and they'll tell you that right now the greatest fear of all is a massive decline in hobbyists altogether. They are afraid the hobby in and of itself is a dying breed.
With the modern age going all computerized with gaming, tweets and greater sources of technology, there is no longer many people interested in taking the time to really get into the hobby of collecting and keeping fish in home aquariums. As we all know, a lot of work goes into proper care and maintenance of housing fish, and today's generation is probably the laziest of all time.
I certainly don't want our hobby dying out, and experienced hobbyists should be doing whatever they can to encounrage new hobbyists into the field. It seems to me that most are more concerned with their territorial rules, pure blood lines and showing others their wealth of knowledge--not realizing that being overly defensive in such a way is running off many potential hobbyists early on.
Such actions from these hobbyists won't seem to hit home until they see their breeders going out of business due to lack of demand, and watch as the hobby itself dies altogether. Then, these new animal rights bills will start hitting the table and there won't be enough hobbyist support to stop them from outlawing the keeping of fish in our homes.
Once that gets banned, the few which remain will be paying $250+ to find something as once common as an Oscar to keep hidden in their basement. Aquatic supplies will bottom out for awhile, and then soar in price thereafter due to downsized manufacturing.
You folks that want to argue about minute and petty things should wake up and look at the big picture, and realize that our hobby itself is in immediate danger, and the last thing we need is hobbyists squabbling. We need people promoting this avenue, and working to keep the industry alive--so that if a decline does take place, at least it's not within our time period.
Hopefully, if we do our job right, we'll make sure our future generation loves and respects the hobby the way we all have these past 30-40 years, and times before us.
So far, my 10 yr old son can walk into the local fish store and tell a random customer the differences between the temperament of a Boulengerochromis microlepis from Lake Tanganyika, and a Tilapia buttikoferi from West Africa--and he actually knows what he's talking about.
I've tried my best to pass on the hobby knowledge and instill it into him and my daughter. If anything should be focused on right now, for the sake of the future of our hobby, it should be the preservation of our hobby in general. What good would it do to argue over what is pureblood or hybrid if you can find neither within 15 years from now?
Anyhow, that is my perspective of the matters at hand. Take it for what it's worth--my opinion.
