Will N. helianthus and N. brichardi cross breed?

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dbcb314

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Apr 12, 2003
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Greetings,

I went to the LFS to pick up a N. brichardi but I am pretty sure I ended up with a N. helianthus instead, which I am fine with as I think they look better anyway, which is why I told the worker to get that fish. I thought it was just a really healthy N. brichardi not a different species.

Anyway, out of curiosity, will the two species cross breed due to being so similar?
 
SubRosa

SubRosa

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Helianthus are very easy to distinguish from brichardi as the fins are not nearly as long on helianthus. Also helianthus have nice yellow coloration to the body. Without seeing I could be wrong, but it's more likely that you got a Daffodil than a helianthus. First pic is the helianthus.

sm_helio-01.jpg ae3e83321a415e44826e0b99986246b8.jpg
 
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dbcb314

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I know it is a helianthus. It colored up big time when I got home and I looked it up to confirm. I didn't know the species existed when I bought the fish. The tank on the outside said bichardi so I wanted the healthiest looking one and it just happened to be a helianthus. Haven't been into Africans in over 10 years so my "knowledge" is still catching up.

My question is whether the "bichardi-like" (for lack of a better term) will cross breed or not.
 
efors

efors

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Yes, there is an extremely high possibility they will crossbreed if you put them together. Both are members of the so called "brichardi complex", which also includes daffodils and a few other very similar species.
 
SubRosa

SubRosa

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Although superficially similar in appearance, in my experience with breeding brichardi, helianthus and Daffodils one glaring difference was immediately apparent. Unlike the Daffs, and brichardis, my helianthus never formed a colony like brichardi do. At a certain point the young were driven off like in most substrate spawners. I suppose an interspecific pair could form, but another thing I noticed was that helianthus were just plain meaner than either of the other species. Personally I wouldn't mix such similar species in the same tank for other reasons besides potential hybridization anyway.
 
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dbcb314

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I honestly just don't want the helianthus breeding at all. I have no interest in breeding and I don't want the attitude change that comes along with it.

I like the look are "regular" brichardi's as well hence the question. I will just keep the single helianthus and go from there. It has enough attitude as is lol.

Thanks for the responses guys.
 
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