Flirting with mother nature.

I been keeping aquarium fish for over 40 years, gold fish, betas in bowl, brackish, planted, marine and reef. At one time I had about 40 tanks in my basement and I breed all kinds of breeds of tropical fishes. In some point I began to notice a change and not exactly what I would call a good change. Inner breeding, selective breeding, injected chemicals and dyes have disfigured, changed the appearance, colors and patterns of many fishes I loved.


1 example is my favorite the German Blue Ram, I seen it go from a gorgeous little fish to a crushed hideous Dr Frankenstein looking thing, they elongated it fins and actually looks like with those long floppy fins has lost some of its control to swim proper.
This done now to many species of fish and IMO I think it’s disgusting and wrong.


Now it seems the Clown fish is getting hit really hard with the Dr Frankenstein syndrome. Their losing their stripes, making solid colors and I am sure as soon as they figure it out we will see long fin clowns and crushed clowns, ETC.


I know beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder, but this in my eyes is a sore.
I sure hope that this never happens to us, that some advance being from another planted comes here and tries to change our appearance to their liking, but then again that’s what our race is, all about change, everything has to change, but do we need to do it to animals that have no say? I bet if you asked a clown fish if it was OK to remove its stripes it more than likely wouldn’t like it all. If mother nature didn’t want stripes or an all white clown fish, that’s how she would have created them. I know that sounds silly, but it makes a point.


So I would like other to weigh in with their opinions about these Dr Frankenstein experiments on mother natures little creatures.

 

Here are 3 pictures, picture 1, the way mother nature created the little guy, pics 2 and 3 are results of Dr Frankenstein experiments. Is the fish in Pic 1 so ugly that we felt we needed to change its appearance? I don't think so.

 

the platinum clownfish are ugly as sin.

... there is demand because people pay insane prices for them...

 

What's old is new and what's new is old.

Personally I really like the designer clowns and I am confident that if I really want the original clown look prior to mans interventions I could find one. I do have a feeling though that the designers prices will come down and the quest for pure breeds of clowns will go up.

With that said I do find it frustrating when any animal is breed to the point where it looses some of it basic physical functions such as mobility, ability to reproduce...... once a fish (goldfish) can no longer swim because it's fins have been manipulated to the point that they are no longer preform the function nature designed them to.

 

Never did like the breeder clownfish. I always try to get the "perfect" ambassador to the species. Natures way!

 

Is this the future the Clown fish has to look forward to?

 

You mean like this guy, I agree! ugly as sin!

 

Why does man feel a need to try to perfect perfection? my maaama maa maa maamaa mama always said, " If it ain't broke, don't fix it " ohh wait! my dad said that.

 

Yup.

However, I think that most of the ORA Snowflake clowns are amazing looking...

 

Here in Minnesota, some people view beauty as a pristine lake surrounded with luxurious resorts and million dollar summer homes all over the place. I liked them the way nature created them. Their was absolutely nothing wrong with the fish to begin with. You can't improve on perfection and anything else is a down grade, sometimes it's best to just leave it be. IMO