Baloon Rams?!

[star4]

With all the excitement and settling Chops in I completely forgot till now about the weird little baloon rams I saw in the shop today, not seen them before, not sure I really liked them either, anyone else seen them before?

 

[mattlee]

i had 2 pairs a year or so ago. short dumpy rams but still attractive. my local maidenhead had them in all the time, they also have electric blues in at the minue too. im not convinced that they are worth £16 each though

 

[Carlovel1]

Yes these are just modified rams, but these are so much cuter. I've only seen them a couple of times for around £10-£15

 

[mattlee]

Yes these are just modified rams, but these are so much cuter. I've only seen them a couple of times for around £10-£15

which ones, the blues or balloon? my balloons were about £5 each

 

[shroob]

Balloon rams are normal rams that have been bred with a deformed spine.

 

[AstonN24vantage]

yeah at one of my lfs's. theyre awesome!

 

[hamfist]

Balloon rams are normal rams that have been bred with a deformed spine.

Yup, deformed, less able to swim and manouvre swiftly, less sturdy etc etc.

Not what we, as a hobby, should be producing or supporting. Just my opinion.

 

[star4]

Balloon rams are normal rams that have been bred with a deformed spine.

Yup, deformed, less able to swim and manouvre swiftly, less sturdy etc etc.

Not what we, as a hobby, should be producing or supporting. Just my opinion.

I agree with you on that, Hamfist, they looked like they were struggling to swim

 

[ChilliPepper]

Why anyone would knowingly buy a fish with a deformed spine is beyond me. The normal Rams look so much better anyway.

 

[Wills]

It is a pretty ethical choice for people to make but it happens in most animal hobbies but I reckon fish are one of the most exploited in this way. I remember seeing some insanley line bred balloon mollies once they had a special name something to do with a dragon I cant remember but they were hideous I actually wanted to put them out of their missery they could not swim, they either bottom sat or just floated. The thing was though they were not ill or diseased they look calm and like fin perfect they were by all means disabled just unaware that how they were living is not natural for them.

The other thing I just dont understand is why do people line breed and genetically modify the most unsuitable of species. Its like as if Blue/Gold rams are not delicate fish already they need to give them a deformation. Its like the new glowing convicts why convicts! I mean this GM could be applied to any fish (again ethical choice but since its not harming the fish and these fish are in a none predatory environment mmmm its iffy for me but not as horrific as some line breeding or tattoos) but yeah why convicts all its going to do is take a huge chunk out of 12 year olds guppies and neons populations once they hit petsmart and pets@home.

I mean it is a bit like what do you choose but the obvious ones for the glows would be stuff like platies. I just wish the people that control our hobbies supply actually googled tropical fish once in a while all the good forums come up first because of the mass amount of posts done on forums.

As a design/marketing person it does just seem to be a logical step to follow the hardcore hobbiests a lot of other hobby markets do the same like mountain biking for example a lot of the choices come from the top riders and also through following trends in users not just uneducated people buying what they think is cool... Off the top of my head a corporate sponsored fish auction where they import specific rare species advertise on the top ranking 5 forums and get the hobby together sell a ton of merchandise release new products, make a fishless cycling kit and sell them for profit. There are more ways to make money in fish keeping than selling goldfish and guppies to kids that die over and over yet this industry is so far behind its just cruel on the large side for the animals involved compared to how advanced some hobby industries are by comparison.

Wow that was quite a rant lol Sorry for hijack star

Wills

 

[star4]

Its not a hijack Wills, opinions on "balloon fish" is really what the thread is about, I had seen baloon molly's before, just not rams and I couldnt understand why rams either! I have to agree with the glowing convicts too totally unsuitable. Tatoo'd fish is also barbaric, kissing gourami with hearts on

I had to cull some of my rotkiels with deformed spines from the last batch, obviously the female had "over spawned" for want of a better phrase so I didnt raise any more. 4 have grown up that I missed, 2 have gone to a lovely person who is as bonkers about fish as I am and the other 2 will stay with me as I dont want them used for irrisponsible breeding of short severums!