Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!usc!henry.jpl.nasa.gov!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!gryphon!oleg
From: oleg@gryphon.COM (Oleg Kiselev)
Newsgroups: news.groups
Subject: Re: ****   Call for Discussion  --  Creation of Sci.Aquaria   ****
Message-ID: <20802@gryphon.COM>
Date: 10 Oct 89 07:44:28 GMT
References: <20503@gryphon.COM> <146@ark1.nswc.navy.mil> <35218@apple.Apple.COM <165@pallas.UUCP>
Reply-To: oleg@gryphon.COM (Oleg Kiselev)
Organization: HASA
Lines: 48

In article <165@pallas.UUCP> wally@pallas.UUCP (Wally Hartshorn) doubts his
ability to follow "SCI.AQUARIA" discussions.

What makes you think that a highly technical discussion of a subject will
necessarily go so far over your head that you will never find any use for the
info?  EVERYONE who thinks about setting up an aquarium will benefit from
discussions of nitrogen cycles, filtration mechanisms, food culturing,
breeding, rearing, wild specimens collection, etc.  Every little bit of data
helps.

>If you are looking for info about keeping aquariums, you would look in the 
>bookstores in the "pets" or "hobbies" section, not under "science".

I would (and DO) go to "Natural Sciences" and, in better stores, "Ichtiology"
and "Botany" shelves.  "Aquaculture" and "Fish farming" are also good subjects
to look for, usually under Agriculture.  

There are also some gems that can be found under "Sewage treatmen" (where do
you think the idea of trickle filters came from).

Just because a whole bunch of illiterates think of fish as pets means very
little.  Some people think of Creationism and Astrology as sciences.

>You 
>would go to a "pet store" (assuming your town wasn't large enough to have a 
>specialist dealer). 

I would mail order.  The store I go to in LA is "Jim's Exotic Fish".  No
pets.  Just fish. 
 
>Now, if a few months go by and it becomes obvious that there are those who 
>are hobbyists and those who take the hobby a bit more seriously than that, 
>then perhaps a separate group called "sci.aquaria" could be created.  By 
>then perhaps those of us who cut our teeth in rec.pets.aquaria would be 
>ready to join in some high-brow discussions with the gods of the water 
>world.

This is silly.  The level of discussion in ALT.AQUARIA should be sufficient
to pass the criteria in the 1st sentence.  And the second one is simply silly
when you think about the fact that there are always new people joining the
NET and that getting bad advice from people who know less than you is likely
to help you kill all your fish and sell your aquarium at the next garage
sale.
-- 
			"No regrets, no apologies"   Ronald Reagan

Oleg Kiselev            ARPA: lcc.oleg@seas.ucla.edu, oleg@gryphon.COM
(213)337-5230           UUCP: [world]!{ucla-se|gryphon}!lcc!oleg