Hi Kev
I'm afraid the policy of the PCS and the Committee disagrees with your opinion on hybrids Kev.
The PCS has a policy strictly enforced by the committee of a complete banning of hybrids similar to most other cichlid societies around the world because it is a common belief amongst proffesionals and hobbiests that hybrids damage the hobby and pose a threat to the natural forms of fish in the hobby and in the wild.
This discussion is not about a battle of moral high ground, nor is it about "allowable imports" which is a serperate topic to this discussion and should you have a "real" concern regarding this topic I suggest you raise a seperate discussion and present your concern with the focus and attention it deserves.
The purpose of this discussion which I think you have missed is to create an understanding amongst members of how we manage Discus in order to gauge wether we as a club are promoting responsible keeping of these fish.
Your arguement is exactly the situation we are trying to impove, some examples:
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People getting into discus are not normally beginners and are aware of the whole picture
I think you need to rethink this over, statements from Discus keepers, sellers, PCS & forum members and the PCS Committee showed most where completely unaware the fish they are promoting, selling and keeping are hybrids and also unaware there is more than one species of Symphysodon(aka the Discus). Education is desperately needed and is the reason why we are having this discussion.
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wild caughts are often available and are very expensive because of the obvious expenses involved in attaining and transporting them and survival rates.
When a new fish becomes popular, the aquaticulture industry farms and produces it and it becomes cheaper, if fish clubs supported the natural discus forms in order to help to increase their popularity and the demand for them then they would eventually become cheaper. Currently we have the opposite situation, this discussion is about wether we should to help turn this around?
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The holywood varieties are often a good stepping stone for people to try discus as they can be a lot hardier and are one hell of a lot cheaper and many of these people will move on to the wild varieties in time
According to other cichlid specialists this is not true, many wild discus are just as easy if not easier to keep as Hybrid provided the wild discus reach the destination in good condition, and this would be also reduce one farms begin to produce F1 & F2s etc.
In fact many hybrid discus lose natural behavours regarding to breeding and raising fry, therefore most farms must artificailly raise the fry. We are not just losing species but their natural behaviours as well.
Regarding the man made discus plauge we are facing I think the situation speaks for itself, and if you have a good read of the discussion and information available you will see why the majority of forum members beleive and agree that discus hybrids should be classed the same as and treated like all other hybrids and the current double standard should end.
Cheers
Den