Unethical practices like cutting off the tailbone of fishes to make them look beautiful and throwing away fishes that become too large for an aquarium into the nearest pond were among the topics of discussion at the first workshop on fish-keeping in Calcutta on Sunday morning.

Members of the Kolkata Aquarium Club, who conducted the workshop, highlighted how producing species like Parrot Fish through cross-breeding in laboratories lead to deformities. Many breeders are known to inject colours into the transparent Indian Glass Fish to make them look more beautiful.

"The jaws of the Parrot Fish don't close properly because of genetic mutation, making them extremely violent, especially when food is sprinkled in an aquarium. They chase and scare off other fish because they need more time to swallow the food," said Abhirup Dasgupta, a member of the aquarium club.

The motto of the club, which has been in existence since 2007, is to spread awareness about unethical practices among fish-keepers rather than sellers. The rationale behind the focus on fish-keepers is that when demand for altered species ends, supply would automatically die down.

"Pleco is a very common fish that many people keep in their aquariums. When this fish grows large, people take it out of the aquarium and release it in ponds. The competition between Pleco and other smaller fishes in the pond becomes uneven and the larger ones eat up the smaller fishes. This can be disastrous for the ecosystem of a pond," said Avik De, a member of the online group.

Farmers in Taki need to routinely scour their bheris (fisheries) for Plecos that end up there through water flowing down the canals. "If they allow the Pleco fish to remain in the pond, it will be bad for their business as the large fish will eat up the others," said Abhirup.

So what can someone with a Pleco do when it gets too large for the aquarium? "Even if someone releases a fish from an aquarium, the ethical thing to do is to first study the ecosystem of the pond."

At last count, the Kolkata Aquarium Club had more than 1,200 members, most of them young fish-keeping hobbyists. Anyone can register with www.kolkata-aquarium.com, which has tips on everything about fish-keeping.

A member hosted the workshop in his Dhakuria home.

Flier scheme

Air India has come up with a scheme for economy class travel to select sectors of the North-east. Available for single users the scheme is available in two variants - a 4-coupon booklet of Rs 16,000 value and an 8-coupon booklet of Rs 30,000 value. The booklet fare is inclusive of all surcharges, levies and fees. The validity of both coupon booklets is 180 days.