Akysten said:
Actually, the one is quite bright... .. the camera doesn't do them justice... and considering that they're less than 2 inches long, I think the color on the one is excellent. I'm sure it will intensify as they get older.
I picked the "faded" one because i thought it was a female. I have since added a female. I don't know if that's the reason, but the Sparring is less frequent.
I wasn't trying to bash your Boes, really, wasn't my intent. I came across the wrong way and I apologize for that. Been a long day and I wasn't thinking.
I was trying to explain why a the majority of the LFS Boes have washed out colors.
I have to give this one LFS credit.
The guy drives up somewhere to some regrional sale in the mid atlantic.. I don't know where, but it's usually on tuesdays. He hand picks what fish he wants to put in his store. This explains why his shop has some great looking fish compared to others that "order" and get pot lock selections.
That does sound like a decent LFS. Where are you located?
One other question.. you mentioned Tanner.. he only seems to sell 6 at a time. Would you say that the quality of his fish are "outstanding?". I'm hesitant... I feel if I actually see the fish, I know what I'm getting.
Hrm, "outstanding" would be an understatement
Tanner West gets his fish from a gentleman by the name of Kent Webster. Kent breeds only "pure" strains of bows, in fact he's the man responsible for bringing back several new species from Irian Jaya in 2002. Meaning he flew to Irian Jaya (in New Guinea) got several natives lead a safari with him out to a previously unknown lake, caught the fish himself, and flew them back to the United States.
You can read about his sojourn to Irian Jaya and his bringing back of the Goo obo Gudgeon in the January and February issues of Tropical Fish Hobbyist.
Anyhow, this is what Kent does: he breeds rainbowfish and all his fish are from prime "domestic" stock or directly from the wild fish he has brought back. He's careful and selective about his breeding practices, how the bows are raised, what they are feed, and so on and so forth. He doesn't breed massive amounts of bows, he breeds quality bows.
The first Boesemani I ever bought were LFS bows. I still have them and they are beautiful. I wouldn't trade them for the world. I do have five that I bought from Tanner as well. I *can* see a difference between the two types. The lateral striping on the two males I have is much darker about the eye -- an extreme dark blue, the head is far more pronounced, and the colors are deeper. They almost look "wicked" when they are sparring.
So far I feel I've found 1 each excellent male Bosemani, Turquoise and Red... they really stand out, even for their small size. I'm either going to add to this with a Tanner order(and split the 3 Boesemani with a friend.. I already have 3), or wait until I see a very good speciman.
You most likely won't get six Boes from Tanner. Rainbowfish don't ship very well and Tanner usually sends 8-9 with every auction. Most people end up with all of the bows, but occasionally one or two will not make it through shipping. You will get at least six, though.
You also have to remember that unless the LFS person you were referring to knows rainbowfish extremely well, he will not know a hybrid from a true strain. That's okay if you don't care or if you don't intend to breed them, but I just want to point that out. Hybrid bows are all over the place and I have a local LFS who *used* to carry quality bows but now has a lot of crossed stuff in his tanks. It's kinda sad to me because the true rainbowfish are gorgeous enough and it's unnecessary to try to make "new" ones.
Roan
