- Joined
- Jan 22, 2004
- Messages
- 3,019
I hope so. Mostly I would worry about the people who just glance at the magazine and get the idea that keeping a ceph is cool now. IME, for every person who reads an article about any animal in the aquarium hobby, there are 10 that glance at it and take away impressions, and 100 who more who don't even know there are places to read articles.
I do think that it is important to realize that going more 'mainstream' with ceph keeping will have both good and bad effects.
Some people will read the articles and get more educated, and some wont.
As Greg says, we are already seeing a bump in ceph interest, and 'exotic' cephs will be brought in because some stores will think 'if people want the ugly ones, they will really want the pretty ones'. Even having more of the 'plain' cephs collected will result in more moralities - its the nature of the industry.
Seahorses are a good parallel to cephs. There is great info easily available about them, and more captive bred ones available than ever before, however there is still a booming trade in both 'plain' and 'exotic' wild caught ponies. I suspect the same will be true of cephs.
Thats how an industry based on volume sales of live animals works, and will continue to work until there are tons of cheap, beautiful, captive bread animals always available (or until the industry is shut down).
Is it something we should be concerned about? Perhaps...I do think it is something to keep in mind.
I do think that it is important to realize that going more 'mainstream' with ceph keeping will have both good and bad effects.
Some people will read the articles and get more educated, and some wont.
As Greg says, we are already seeing a bump in ceph interest, and 'exotic' cephs will be brought in because some stores will think 'if people want the ugly ones, they will really want the pretty ones'. Even having more of the 'plain' cephs collected will result in more moralities - its the nature of the industry.
Seahorses are a good parallel to cephs. There is great info easily available about them, and more captive bred ones available than ever before, however there is still a booming trade in both 'plain' and 'exotic' wild caught ponies. I suspect the same will be true of cephs.
Thats how an industry based on volume sales of live animals works, and will continue to work until there are tons of cheap, beautiful, captive bread animals always available (or until the industry is shut down).
Is it something we should be concerned about? Perhaps...I do think it is something to keep in mind.