Down but not out!

Heh, just for kicks you should keep that fursona, but I know what you mean. I should read up on goldfish then. I've always found them unremarkable and underwhelming as fish.

*That last thing about the foxes...oh dear...*

Goldfish used to be bigger, stronger carps hundreds of years ago. Then due to a natural mutation, one had an unusual orange color, and so some monks considered it holy and gave it its own pond. But then breeding and inbreeding happened of course, their shapes changed from oval to ball-like and they got smaller, but that's the least problem. Now there are terrible breeds like "celestial eye goldfish" which can only look up and nowhere else, or "bubble eye goldfish" which have constantly blown up cheeks that can explode on a sharp impact and leave serious injuries. There are also "ranchu goldfish" which look like they constantly have a head tumor, though I read it's a lot of extra fat... but that can pop too.

What upset me the most, actually, is how goldfish experts talk about the fish as if they are merely objects and not living creatures. I read sentences like "Watch out that the bubble eye goldfish doesn't lose a cheek on a sharp object, or else the fish will lose its value." Like wtf... value?! Everything is money.

Sorry for ranting. I just think all this breeding for show and money is wrong.

I read a lot about goldfish because I plan to have fish for pets when I'm financially stable, and was informed that goldfish are good for beginners. Except I plan to get the "regular" ones, not the horrible health issue breeds. x)

Goldfish are very good for beginners. My brother had a few. He also had an oscar which was an asshole. Seriously, everytime I was near to the tank he'd splash water on me. He eventually jumped out of the tank while no one was in the house.

No worries for the rant. I have similar feelings about dogs. If I ever get a dog again it'll be a mutt....easier to take care of too.

Oh no, so sad. :( Sorry about your brother's fish.

rest well... and i hope your art will be rejuvenated.

Thank you! :)

*plays Caramelldansen with multi-coloured strobe lights*

*dies*

While there are of course genetic problems with selective breeding, such as pugs, you have to think of the positives too. We're able to live peacefully with animals we never had the possibility to before, and have them as loving companions. Or grow bigger and better crops and such to feed more people.

I don't necessarily defend it, just playing devil's advocate

I fully understand the loving of animals. I always get excited over meeting dogs and other domesticated animals myself, and wish to have dogs or cats as soon as I can cure my allergy. I get along with most animals much better than with most people.

But I still think that all the breeding just for having lap pets is... selfish. Would it be morally right if wild animals stole OUR babies and made them a retarded race because it makes them feel happy and loved? What would a pug human look like? Not that I wish our pets any harm.

All I'm saying is, we need to ask ourselves where to put a limit to all the breeding and inbreeding. We already have about 200 dog breeds, about 70 cat breeds, and many other animal breeds like goats, sheep, cattle, horses, donkeys, etc.
But are we happy enough? Apparently not, because we want to keep on breeding more and more. We won't be happy enough with domesticated foxes, we won't be happy enough with domesticated bears, and we probably won't be happy enough if we domesticated every single animal on this planet.

In Japan they're already mixing genetics of pigs and humans, to breed organs to donate to people. So we are literally breeding organs now. But breeding organs won't be enough either, people will want to breed more.

Just saying people like Hitler already tried to breed the perfect human race by simply mass-murdering those he considered unworthy to live and breed, and he wasn't the first nor last to try. That's how you domesticate dogs too, you kill those dogs that bite back and make the friendly ones breed so you only have those that obey. You domesticate both the body and the spirit of an animal.

Also yes, we can grow bigger and better crops, yet there is still a HUGE food waste issue like never before in history. One side is poor management and the other side is simply greed of economy where the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.
Once I worked in a food factory, and every day we had actual BARRELS full of wasted food. All that wasted barrel food did not go to hungry poor people, it was sent to pig stables because that's profit. That's economy. And if you try to do something about it to balance things out and help the poor, you get assassinted by those that run the economy. Because you tried to bite back.

I don't disagree with anything you've said, but perhaps it's not the right lense to look through all the time.

Yes, puppy mills are bad, but look at all the rescue programs we're creating to try and give every animal a home. Both of my dogs are rescues.

I wouldn't say number of breeds is really the problem with wanting more, as inbreeding certain ones to maintain purebred status is, but even so, I would say that we have lots of conservation projects opening up too to try and preserve their habitats and not just manifest destiny all over them for the rest of time.

I think breeding organs is only a plus, really, though that's my opinion and I understand it isn't universal. If you could save a child, or a mother or father or brother or sister, and not deprive those that love them of their kin... well. Maybe I'm selfish to think that way, but I don't like the thought of losing people.

Sure there have been terrible people, but honestly I think the vast majority of all of humanity is filled with good people. It's really hard to work and deal with an asshole customer and have them kind of ruin your day, but should that equate to the hundreds of friendly people I interacted with? The one thief who tries to run with their spoils to the dozens who point out items I might have missed to make sure they pay for them?

I recently had worked for Amazon Fresh, and the food waste there was truly truly heartbreaking, and one of the biggest reasons I quit. Holy shit that place was a nightmare in so many ways though. But we're still trying to run soup kitchens and loaves and fishes and other things to get through it. Yes upper class greed dictates a lot more than it should, but that doesn't make me stop wanting to try and help those that are struggling at my level. And in the end that's all we can do.

Just trying to paint a lighter picture. Hope you have a good day. <3

I'm glad you can discuss all this like an adult. :) Sometimes I get blocked when I have conversations like this, lol.

I guess I've gotten so pessimistic from seeing all the things I've witnessed and learned, I have a lot of trouble seeing the light these days. Though I do respect people like you that can stay positive after all that is happening and will be happening. I just can't help but wonder if we're really making progress for the better, or whether we are ultimately only slowing down a bad ending of our story. For example, I almost firmly believe we'll eventually destroy our planet and then move on to the next, like a space virus. Maybe leaving robots behind as the only "life forms" on our planet that survive the horrible circumstances we created. Probably from atomic wars and shit.

Yes, the organ breeding is definitely invented to save humans. It just kinda seems like a Mad Max move for the pig-human hybrids, lol. "Sorry, you're only here so we can kill you and use your organs as soon as one of us needs it, other than that you're worthless to us." idk

Meanwhile, scientists don't really bother as hard to figure out ways to save our pets with new organs because they're not our species. For example, dog kidney transplants are still experimental. But transplanting a human heart has become almost common. That's what I mean by selfish. We claim to love animals, yet animals never get same level of science/health support from us as we give ourselves after thousands of years.

I remember my horse riding teacher told me how animal organ donation/transplantation itself is not really a thing for horses sadly. And she did lose some of her (middle-aged) horses to organ failure that could have been saved if they were human. It's super heartbreaking to watch an animal die knowing that.

During my firefighter recruit training (which I had to quit because of my fear for heights), their rule of rescuing was also "all humans first, all animals second". Why not save anyone first who's physically closer to you when you enter a burning building? Am I really not allowed to rescue a dog on the first floor when there's a human on the third floor?

Morays are AWESOME! Eels overall are so amazing and mysterious, we actually don't know how eels breed in the wild!

I LOVE THEM! I also learned how they sometimes hunt together with grouper fish in an intelligent teamwork. The grouper fish goes to an eel and shakes its head to signal "let's go hunt", and the eel will follow the fish until it points where prey is hiding. Grouper fish are good at swimming in the open, moorey eels are good inside tunnels and hideouts. And so when they go hunt together, their prey basically has no way to escape.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=giNH6oHPGmw

And yeah I've only seen very few things about mating, as morey eels have themselves for rivals/mortal enemies most of the time. They only get along with different kinds of same-sized eels as neighbors for some reason.

that's so cool I didn't know that! groupers are also amazingly smart fish! :D!!!!

Hope you can get through your art block.

And wow that is interesting to read. Kinda sad though

Thank you! :)

The gods of art block are wicked entities

You can't die now! There is so much to do!!

*dies of stress and pressure*

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In 3 decades we'll have mini horse pugs and chairdogs for the bourgeois .

Ok you got me 😂

I am naught but a fish in an aquarium, a feeling no different from an icecream product on the shelf of a freezer in a supermarket or a cake to a cookie in the selection of a bakery. Behind glass or behind plastic, its all a transparent barrier to me. While others, waiting to be sold and at worse thrown out when no-one is interested.

Is this from you, or a quote from somewhere?

Made it off the top of my head since I tend to joke being a fish in an aquarium.

The analogies came by after thinking about food in stores.

Well, I thought to be a shapeshifting Tanuki. I refer to them as "The Omni-animal."