[Adora]

Looked like this board was about to get nasty! I for one have PLENTY to add to this topic...I have been a freshwater fish keeper for several years now, and even work in a fish store. This kind of discussion is an example of what I go through with customers every day. I have a 37 gallon tank, two ten gallon tanks, a three gallon tank (holds my trio of guppies and the crab that hides in the filter), and five male bettas, all kept seperate from my other fish. Not seperate because they HAVE to be, mind you, that's just how I prefer to keep them. I tell my customers that you can keep MOST bettas with other peaceful community fish...provided that the other fish don't have long fins that look like another betta, like male guppies. Yes, you will find some onery guys every once in a while who just prefer to be by themselves, but "most" of the time they'll be okay in a community.

Now, back on the topic of painted/mutated fish. PLEASE DEAR SWEET JESUS don't include them in this software! I fight with every breath in my body to end this practice...these painted fish are always the weakest and first to die, even in perfect water conditions, especially the painted glass fish (which is a misnomer, the dye is actually injected after their protective slime coating is eaten away with a chemical bath). And about the parrot fish...in addition to being an artificially colored fish (also called a jelly bean parrot fish), the fish is genetic mutation between two species who would never breed in the first place (some say its a combination of a convict cichlid X severum). As a result, many of these fish are born with deformities, such as deformed swim bladders (what enables the fish to maintain its position in the water) and spinal curvature, misaligned mouths that the fish either can't close or can't eat with properly, and others.

Please, please Jim...take a stand against these cruel practices that just give these dishonest marketers an extra buck!!

-L