Destroy the deformed fry. No sense letting it grow up with a problem you can't correct. Feed it to another fish so he can live through it. 
Deformed fry...why?
- Thread starter LadyBarbara001
- Start date
Yes, that was told to me by Greg Steeves. That all the collection of this fish came in at one time, in one shipment.
Interestingly, also only imported once were Xystichromis sp. Dayglow and Xystichromis phytophagus (Christmas fulu). So pretty much all of these fish are also inter-related.
Interestingly, also only imported once were Xystichromis sp. Dayglow and Xystichromis phytophagus (Christmas fulu). So pretty much all of these fish are also inter-related.
Even if they're all related, a brother-sister cross will create more problems than crosses from distant cousins. Keep the fish you'll house as your own, but... you've talked with other breeders and you've looked at the conditions and food. If you're still getting such a high percentage of deformed fry, then you know now it's got to be a real bad genetic trait in one or both of the parents. If you go on breeding them and selling the offspring that don't show an obvious deformity, the genes are still there and you are very likely doing a disservice to anyone else who breeds from those fish.. perpetuating even more problems for this species down the line.
That is exactly my fear. You've hit on exactly what my concerns are.
I'm getting another group this weekend. I'll likely set up 2 breeding colonies, and switch some fish around. Then I'll see the quality of fry that I get, and make some decisions at that time.
I have a few people in the area that really want fry from this species. I don't think I can distribute any from these two spawns in good conscience. I may keep them myself, and see what happens, spawn them with some fry I get in the future from the new group. See how they reproduce, what their fry look like.
Would be so much easier if I picked species I could just run to the LFS and get an unrelated male. I'll keep looking for more of these, and the correct varient. Not an easy one to come by.
you may have already stated this but what type of fish are they and do you have any pictures of the parents and the deformed fry i am somewhat interested in seeing them.
My camera is broken, I need to replace it. Also, while I might be able to get pictures of the parents, the fry will be just tiny fish at this point. I won't be able to capture the problems with them at this size. I can barely see what the problem is myself, much less show it in a picture.
