Hybridization in progress...UGH!!
- Thread starter RyJ
- Start date
Cons and texas spawn quite a readily, the offspring look like dull texas cichlids with faint stripes.Its up to you, maybe use the fry as feeders and keep a couple to see how they turn out.
I have a Pink Con(F) and Sajicia(M) with wrigglers just now and I'm going to keep them and see how they turn out.I do like hybrids though but none of my fry will ever be given away.
*edit*
Heres a pic of a Texas x Con (under the jag).
http://community.webshots.com/photo/83305157/83309444VnYGkE
I have a Pink Con(F) and Sajicia(M) with wrigglers just now and I'm going to keep them and see how they turn out.I do like hybrids though but none of my fry will ever be given away.
*edit*
Heres a pic of a Texas x Con (under the jag).
http://community.webshots.com/photo/83305157/83309444VnYGkE
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RyJ said:
Actually thats not 100% true I have heard quite a few time of fish hybridising even though there is a perfectally good mate of thier own species in the tank and some species of fish DO cross naturally in the wild.In any river near me that has roach, rudd and bream theres a quite a high chance you will catch a hybrid of either species.
Haggisman said:
Well...it'll be interesting to see what my fry turn out to look like since #1 - it's a RIO GRANDE (not a Texas)...and #2 - a pink convict (with a lot of red, since it's female), not a zebra.
Haggisman said:
Well it's nice that you 'heard' that from other people talking...but I tend to go on information that I read from studies and from school.
Ive had hybrid pairs of cichlids in my tanks a few times before...and have successfully prevented them from spawning...just by adding another fish which was the same species as one of the fish in the hybrid pair.
Yes, it is well known that some fish do hybridize in the wild (ex: some Africans)...but I do believe I was talking about 'Central American Cichlids', not the fish in rivers that are close to you...
*re-reads*
Yup, that's what I put.
I'm actually interested in this topic from a scientific as well as a hobbyist point of view (I thought about doing graduate work on cichlids before I decided on pollination ecology... you never know, I may go back). You say that you get your information about the lack of Central American cichlid hybrids from things you've read or learned in school. Do you have some sources I can check out? I don't mean to put you on the spot.
There are so many factors that could influence the hybridization rates of species, and I'd be interested to see any surveys, particularly those involving genetics, performed in Central and South America. It makes sense that hybridization rates would be lower in nature. You never know, though, what happens in one pond or river is probably different than what happens in another pond or river.... there may be places in Central America where hybrids show up like "...fish in rivers that are close to you," especially in these days of large-scale exotic introductions and habitat disturbance.
If you try it, I'd like to hear if you were able to break the pair bond by introducing another member of one of the species like you did before. It's all interesting from a behavioral standpoint.
There are so many factors that could influence the hybridization rates of species, and I'd be interested to see any surveys, particularly those involving genetics, performed in Central and South America. It makes sense that hybridization rates would be lower in nature. You never know, though, what happens in one pond or river is probably different than what happens in another pond or river.... there may be places in Central America where hybrids show up like "...fish in rivers that are close to you," especially in these days of large-scale exotic introductions and habitat disturbance.
If you try it, I'd like to hear if you were able to break the pair bond by introducing another member of one of the species like you did before. It's all interesting from a behavioral standpoint.
RyJ said:
Herichthys cyanoguttatum (aka the true texas cichlid) yes?And the fish in the pic I posted was a cross of these two not the green texas cichlid(Herichthys carpinte).The fact that the female convict is pink shouldnt really make a difference as the texas cichlid does not carry the cons pink genes although you never know(my BP x Pink cons turned out mostly like striped cons with a greenish base colouration).As for central americans breeding in the wild, it probably doesnt happen often, if it does the unfertile fish wouldnt last too long anyway.
At the moment I actually have a female pink con with fry and the father is a sajica so I'm interested to see how the mix will look like.
If you are keeping any Ryj keep us updated!!!
Again about the fish in nature crossing this is quite true. I am an avid fisherman and there has been a lot of talk lately about the a new hybrid in Lake Champlain in Vermont. It is a cross between a Nothern Pike and a Chain Pickeral. The pics I have seen are quite intresting. The Vermont DEM is studying these fish now to see if they can determine why they are hybridzing but it does happen in nature natrualy.
I'm staunchly against the 'trade' of hybrids.
Just try to find a true Trimac with all the flowerhorn crap out there, without paying top dollar to a breeder/importer.
The same thing is starting to happen to alot of Tetras and others fish too and then sold to the ignorant masses.
But, hybrids do occur in nature if rarely and quite commonly in captive aquaria, if the breeder is responsible enough to keep his hybrid charges in check (off the market, out of the wild and out of the increasingly endangered gene pools of true species.) then I don't have a problem with the breeder keeping a few for their own tanks.
Other than that they need to be either aborted, culled or the adults not allowed to breed at all.
Just try to find a true Trimac with all the flowerhorn crap out there, without paying top dollar to a breeder/importer.
The same thing is starting to happen to alot of Tetras and others fish too and then sold to the ignorant masses.
But, hybrids do occur in nature if rarely and quite commonly in captive aquaria, if the breeder is responsible enough to keep his hybrid charges in check (off the market, out of the wild and out of the increasingly endangered gene pools of true species.) then I don't have a problem with the breeder keeping a few for their own tanks.
Other than that they need to be either aborted, culled or the adults not allowed to breed at all.
