Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Congratulation and welcome David from Shanghai. Welcome to the Parosphromenus Project. Do you have any of the Parosphromenus species or are just interested in these beautiful little fish?
Your 2-Amino-5-nitrothiazole is not on the recommended list for treating any of the fish on the farms. They utilize chelated copper sulfate for the treatment of velvet. They use Flubendazole also. The farms have to be very careful with the water. All the ponds drain into a holding area and then pumped back into the ground. They watch closely to insure we don’t have some of this residual stuff come back up in our ddrinking water. Hope this helps…
Jacob – there is limited information in you comments concerning the product in question, but from what I understand you are looking at this medicine as a cure for velvet?
2-Amino-5-nitrothiazole is a synthetic veterinary antiprotozoal agent used since 1950 to treat farm fowl and pigeons for the most part. It is also used as an intermediate in the manufacture of a group of dyes known as disperse azo dyes. It is not known to occur as a natural product. People may be exposed to 2-amino-5-nitrothiazole thorough contact with birds treated with the drug, releases from poultry farms, and occupational exposures in the dye industry.There was some concern that this compound could have some carcinogenic issues based upon a preliminary toxicological evaluation. Follow up epidemiology studies did not identify any additional negative results.
There are numerous ytopical fish farms here in the Tampa Bay area and the University of Florida maintains a laboratory to assist the farmers. I have asked the question about this medicine and if it is being utilized on the farms. I have also asked about the possibilites of obtaining the medicine. It may well be that it is only available under the supervision of a Vet. I’ll let you know what I find out.
BillPeter — I would take minor exception with your comments in the last sentence of your post. Yes, you have 100 members involved with the Paro species in Germany, but you also have a well-established organization that has been in existence for years and tends to provide base to promote the species. I believe the development of the ALFA will provide an avenue to band North American hobbyists together in the same manner. However I also believe these hobbyists are out there in significant numbers already but are unidentified. For example, if we were able to trace individuals that purchased Paros from the importers already in our small group I think we would see hobbyist not included in our group of 10. Additionally, I believe if we were to contact many of the clubs around the country we would find individuals in those clubs maintaining and breeding Paros. Some of those individuals would also not be included on our list. Indeed I would suggest that the large club auctions conducted once or twice a year by these clubs would be another undocumented source of Paros. My P. linkei came from one such auction. The original breeder has a nice colony established, but again is not involved with our efforts. What I am saying is we have more of an effort going here than meets the eye and perhaps with the expansion of an organization like ALFA these individuals will be identified eventually.
Lisbeth – great set of photos of the Parosphromenus spec. Sintang / sentang. Thank you for sharing with us. You have had more than one pair spawn and have fry? Do the parents keep the fry seperate from the others? At what point do they become free swimming and on their own and no longer protected by their parents?
Over the past weekend I was thinking of how to expand the Paro population here in North America. I attempted to make a comparison to the introduction of the African Cichlids to the states in the late 60’s and early 70’s. For the most part they were introduced through several of the importers. You had the introduction of the ACA which provided a way for serious breeders to communicate with each other and to share fry and breeding techniques. Eventually the fish farms, particularly here in Florida, started mass breeding programs of many of the species. This effort eventually provided the opportunity for normal everyday hobbyists who minimal experience and perhaps a single aquarium to keep these beautiful in their living room . Within a few years the industry had numerous generations of these fish reproduced in the breeding facilities the issues of stringent water quality and live food requirements became much less demanding. Eventually these fish, which were very difficult to maintain in the beginning, were able to be maintained in most household aquariums.
So the question becomes why hasn’t the Paro species taken off in the eyes of the American fish keepers? They have been successful in Europe at least with experienced aquarists, but not here. I think there are a number of issues that contribute to this set of circumstances.
To begin with we have not seen the importers bring these species into the country for whatever reason. The American public became infatuated with the Betta Splendens and we had the IBC develop which mirrored the development of the ACA and the African cichlid population. There are at least two other large factors which weigh on this issue. The retail fish industry has markedly changed in the U.S. in the past several decades. We have, for the most part, moved from the local “Mom & Pop” local stores to the “big Box” operations. With these large store operations rarely do you come across an individual that knows much of anything about fish in general to say nothing about something like the Licorice Gourami. It has been said by a number of my friends that are familiar with the large store operations, if the fish doesn’t have a SKU ( a part number if you will ) you will not see it in the store tanks. Beyond that, if a particularly fish needs special care the large store operations are not equipped to handle these fish which ultimately results in excessive mortality and the refusal to bring these fish in on a reoccurring basis.
So the question becomes is there hope for these species in North America? My assessment is somewhat reserved. I believe we will see an increased but limited interest in these fish. This increased presence will be fostered by the likes of several people in this small group we have that will hopefully continue to import and distribute the wonderful shy little fish. I think this process will be driven by individual who will be more interested in conservation and preservation of the species rather than just wanted to have something different in their fish collections. I would like this group to work at developing a list of individuals that are keeping and breeding these species. Even if they choose not to participate in the Project but at least be willing to be identified as an individual how keeps “Paros” or has an interest in them. One last word – I believe there is one area which could be of immense assistance to this whole project and that is the large (or not so large) fish clubs throughout North America. If we could encourage these groups to become involved we could see significant improvement of these species in the hobby.
As I complete my thoughts I have just seen where Mark has proposed the establishment of the American Labyrinth Fish Association. All right maybe we can get this ball moving!In these things I think small steps are best. The completing of the location and gender information would be a good start. Then the option for a short “introduce yourself” option would be the next step perhaps. As we grow and get to know each other better, then we could suggest the introduction of direct email. Other sites often refer to this as “offline” or PM (private messaging).
I would like to thank you, Peter and a number of others that have worked very hard to put this site together in a very short period of time. The ability to have the English translation is particularly helpful to those of us that are unable to communicate in German. I. for one, appreciate all your hard work.
Bill
