NEWS107
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Transparent Fringetail
childrenwho catch theyoung.This isoften
the firstandmost importantencounterthat
youngpeoplehavewith fishes,ahands-on
experiencewith livingcreatureswhoseedu-
cational valuecannotbevalued toohighly.
TheGoldfish isnotanornament
Goldfisheswill even survive "maintenance"
ina so-calledgoldfishbowl for awhile.But
becauseof their shape thesecontainersare
unsuitable for themaintenanceof fishes,as
insuchglobesthewater'ssurface,viawhich
gas exchange takes place in the aquarium
(oxygen istakenupbythewater,andcarbon
dioxide resulting from fish respiration is
givenoff), is far too small in relation to the
watervolume.Thisnotonlyresults inashor-
tage of oxygen for the fishes, which have
constantly to battle against suffocation in
goldfishbowls,butthere isalsotoo littleoxy-
gen for thebacteria essential for an aqua-
rium to functionproperly.The result is that
fishes ingoldfishbowls suffer slowpoiso-
ningasharmfulmetabolicwastesaren'tbro-
kendownbybacteria.Inadditiontheround
shapeof thegoldfishbowl doesn't permit
installationof themodernaquariumequip-
ment thatcanbeused tosolvemanyof the
problemsdescribedabove.Soplease steer
clear of goldfish bowls, even though they
haveanostalgicattractiveness.Loveof ani-
mals cannever substitute for doing things
properly!
Cultivated forms
The fancy varieties of theGoldfish, suchas
theVeiltail,Telescope-Eye,Celestial,Pearls-
cale,Oranda,Fantail,etc,havedividedaqua-
rists since theaquariumhobbybegan.Ever
since the1880s,whenPaulMatteof Berlin
first started importing such forms from
Japan and himself bred specimens of a
beautyno longerseentoday,thehobbyma-
gazineshavebeen full of controversial arti-
cles.Thereare theopponentsof such fishes,
whodespisethemasdeformedandunfitto
live, aswell as representing cruelty to ani-
mals,invariablypontificating loudlywithout
actuallyhaving anyexperienceof keeping
suchfishes,whileenthusiastsseriously invol-
ved intheirmaintenanceandbreedinghave
acompletelydifferentpointofview.Froma
purely legal viewpointnocruelty is recogni-
zed in breeding such fishes. Tolerance of
thosewithdifferent opinions is one of the
fundamental tenetsof ademocratic society.
As, in the final analysis,nobody isbeing for-
ced to keep fancyGoldfishes and, from an
objectiveviewpoint,thesefishesdoverywell,
nobodyhas the right to impose regulations
on theGoldfishenthusiasts.
Majorexhibitions
Oneoftheworld'soldestorganizations inthe
aquariumand terrariumhobbies,theHotto-
nia inDarmstadt,Germany staged amajor
exhibitiononthetopicofGoldfishoverWhit-
sun2013.Tothepresentday interest inGold-
fishes continues uninterrupted, even if this
isn'ttoeveryone's liking.Anaquariumhobby
withoutGoldfishes is totallyunthinkable.
BlackRanchu
