culling matters

[wataugachicken]

i know i'm totally being a hypocrite in this thread. i feed my (boyfriend's) guppies to my oscar, mostly because i don't really care for guppies. i tell people to breed their own feeders from livebearers or convicts all the time. have i fed any hrp fry to my oscar? well. . . . no. . . they're cute.

it's just that now i've SEEN these particular firemouths and i love them. i think they're absolutely wonderful (probably because i'm no expert on them). i can generally accept death and culling and so on, but not when i've already seen how cute the doomed ones look. . . . .

 

[Easydoesit]

glad to see it took me 9 replies to realize..?
umm, k guy.

 

[Rbishop]

And often fish that are not culled reach all the box stores and most everyone complains about the poor quality and genetics....get real folks....

 

[Easydoesit]

well doesnt a lot of that happen because of inbreeding

 

[Rbishop]

There would be no way to discern that and not much difference, IMO. Either they were in-bred and you got poor quality...or I didn't cull and sold poor quality...

 

[Easydoesit]

which is the breeders fault? you know, you guys are always giving advice about how to have a healthy tank for your fish because its not fair if they are living in crap conditions... yet some of you breeders dont even think for a second that culling bc of looks is wrong.
i dont get why people think its alright to bring some fish into the world with the intention of killing them if theyre not pretty enough... especially people who own fish as "pets". you dont think fish are worth it if theyre not very pretty?
kind of sick if you ask me.
and it's not a necessity, if you were really a good breeder, you would have top quality fish that werent inbred and you would have healthy, potentially very pretty little fish. the fact that they werent inbred would reduce having to cull bc of deformities or excessive health issues, and the fact that they were top quality "pretty" fish would reduce or eliminate culling for looks. especially when potential customers see pics of the parents, which mostly breeders would really care to check out. they see the fish has good genetics and whabam, they take the fish.. even if its markings arent 100% perfect. yeah, maybe youll have 1 or 2 with deformities, but thats all you would have to kill.
and when i said my opinion didnt matter bc im not culling fish, i meant that it doesnt make me feel horrible bc im not the one doing it. its still lame though, especially because it can be avoided.

 

[Easydoesit]

yeah well rb, were not talking poor health quality.. the OP culled all the other fish because they werent as pretty as the prettiest 2. he never said anything about culling them bc they are unhealthy.
"the others will have great color when they mature but i assure these will be much better"
noone is going to change their opinion, including me. just cus its easier to get some parent fish with okay genetics and breed them and kill most of the babies doesnt mean its right.

 

[Rbishop]

I cull for looks and shape all the time...fact of life. There is a completely different focus on breeding for show/quality and breeding to support pet stores.

Kind of like not bashing all LFS because of a bad experience or conditions at one. Not slamming all LFS employees because you may have had a bad experience with one.

I can appreciate a fish that shows the best traits of its species...the ones that don't get culled or sold for less money. The odds are that if they don't show excellent color and shape, they won't produce ones that do.

Within a given species there are good and bad. I don't cull bland looking shellies because they are not as colorful as my discus.

In many fish spawns, the cull ratio can easily be 60-90% of the group, when you are breeding to improve the line. If you are breeding to stock the LFS...if it wiggles and floats, you ship it.

 

[Easydoesit]

well, people culling fish for looks and shape really isnt a fact of life. you can appreciate a pretty fish because it is appealing to your human eyeballs.
man, atleast use your $5.00 gas money and give your 'ugly' fish that you knew were going to happen a chance at a LFS.

 

[Rbishop]

It is definitely a fact of life to the diehard purist hobbyist. The local LFS isn't going to take the several thousand fry I generate this month. Multiply that by the several hundred pure breeders I am aware of in 100 miles of me. They will want what the typical everyday fishie newbie will buy.