A Breeding Ethics Question.

[guidedbyechoes]

Ok I have two rusty cichlids, I did have three but the male managed to kill one when I was at my grueling job of snow removal. Well any way the larger one is a sprengerae and the other is the average kind. Is there any issue with mating two fish of the same species but from different parts of the lake?

 

[VaegaVic]

The only ethics I consider when making hybrids is what to do with the fry.
If you sell them on, you risk polluting the already watered down gene-pool and this makes some "purists" very mad I can assure you.
If you keep them, you'll need some more tanks as the fry will obviously interbreed as they get older.

It can either get very expensive, or border on the line of damaging the aquaria trade.
Your choice.

I breed hybrids simply because I get fed up with all the fancy varieties on the market which have been weakened by inbreeding, I keep all my hybrids and any I can't look after go to people in my club, or the surrounding area with the expressed condition that they must not release them into the aquatics trade.

 

[guidedbyechoes]

The only ethics I consider when making hybrids is what to do with the fry.
If you sell them on, you risk polluting the already watered down gene-pool and this makes some "purists" very mad I can assure you.
If you keep them, you'll need some more tanks as the fry will obviously interbreed as they get older.

It can either get very expensive, or border on the line of damaging the aquaria trade.
Your choice.

I breed hybrids simply because I get fed up with all the fancy varieties on the market which have been weakened by inbreeding, I keep all my hybrids and any I can't look after go to people in my club, or the surrounding area with the expressed condition that they must not release them into the aquatics trade.

I already have 2 extra tanks. I was just making sure if they would be considered hybrids or not.

 

[VaegaVic]

The only ethics I consider when making hybrids is what to do with the fry.
If you sell them on, you risk polluting the already watered down gene-pool and this makes some "purists" very mad I can assure you.
If you keep them, you'll need some more tanks as the fry will obviously interbreed as they get older.

It can either get very expensive, or border on the line of damaging the aquaria trade.
Your choice.

I breed hybrids simply because I get fed up with all the fancy varieties on the market which have been weakened by inbreeding, I keep all my hybrids and any I can't look after go to people in my club, or the surrounding area with the expressed condition that they must not release them into the aquatics trade.

I already have 2 extra tanks. I was just making sure if they would be considered hybrids or not.

Derfine: Hybrid
(genetics) an organism that is the offspring of genetically dissimilar parents or stock; especially offspring produced by breeding plants or animals of different varieties or breeds or species; "a mule is a cross between a horse and a donkey"
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[font="arial]So I would assume so.[/font]

 

[guidedbyechoes]

The only ethics I consider when making hybrids is what to do with the fry.
If you sell them on, you risk polluting the already watered down gene-pool and this makes some "purists" very mad I can assure you.
If you keep them, you'll need some more tanks as the fry will obviously interbreed as they get older.

It can either get very expensive, or border on the line of damaging the aquaria trade.
Your choice.

I breed hybrids simply because I get fed up with all the fancy varieties on the market which have been weakened by inbreeding, I keep all my hybrids and any I can't look after go to people in my club, or the surrounding area with the expressed condition that they must not release them into the aquatics trade.

I already have 2 extra tanks. I was just making sure if they would be considered hybrids or not.

Derfine: Hybrid
(genetics) an organism that is the offspring of genetically dissimilar parents or stock; especially offspring produced by breeding plants or animals of different varieties or breeds or species; "a mule is a cross between a horse and a donkey"
[font="arial]
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[font="arial]So I would assume so.[/font]

But they are the same species. Just one of them is from a different area of the lake.

One looks like

and the other looks like

Unless I am wrong they are the same species.

 

[AstonN24vantage]

a bit off topic but i used to have a rusty. it was a big, vicious and mean fish. it chewed on my angel with his little teeth to nearly the point of death. (now i know better than to keep an angel with other cichlids) he also tore apart my convict, oscar, and my krib. only my jack dempsey could stand up to him. ( i know i was little at the time and stupid with the whole tank setup)

 

[guidedbyechoes]

a bit off topic but i used to have a rusty. it was a big, vicious and mean fish. it chewed on my angel with his little teeth to nearly the point of death. (now i know better than to keep an angel with other cichlids) he also tore apart my convict, oscar, and my krib. only my jack dempsey could stand up to him. ( i know i was little at the time and stupid with the whole tank setup)

The profile said they aren't extremely aggressive but, he tries to fight my afra on a daily basis. The slowly afra is realizing the sad reality that he isn't the biggest meanest fish in the tank anymore. But he won't give up with out a fight though. Too bad his first realization was when a female socolofi took a few scales off when he ventured to close to her children.

 

[Realtree]

My first question is are these fish wild caught ??

 

[noxious_nasties]

Correct me if I'm wrong but are rusties and sprengerae not the same fish? The scientific name
for them is Iodotropheus Sprengerae and I'm yet to hear of a variant coming from different areas...

 

[guidedbyechoes]

My first question is are these fish wild caught ??

no.

Correct me if I'm wrong but are rusties and sprengerae not the same fish? The scientific name
for them is Iodotropheus Sprengerae and I'm yet to hear of a variant coming from different areas...

http/www.thetropicaltank.co.uk/Fishindx/sprenger.htm


I'm only going on what the fish store told me. The larger one was labeled springeri which was supposed to be a lighter colored one from a different part of the lake. Which he is more purple and gold looking then rust colored.

 

[noxious_nasties]

I still think that these are the same fish. Different variants occur with some
species of cichlids such as frontosa - ikola, zaire etc. But Your fish was still
called sprengerae according to how it was labelled (maybe just different spelling).

I wouldn't worry about breeding them... even if they look alittle different thats
were genes come in and why wildcaughts can look quite different to captive ones
as they have been inbred so many times...

 

[Realtree]

I have researched this question on a few lake malawi forums for you.
Technically you would be creating hybrids by letting them breed - for example I have in my tank some polit "lions cove" if i let them breed with polit from another location in the lake then I would be creating a hybrid.
In the case of yellow labs this would be almost impossible to spot but in many other cases the fish although same species look totally differant from each other in differing locations, so a variant would occur.
Having said that if you in your case had no desire to sell or pass on the young from your fish and were going to keep them for your pleasure there is no harm done.

 

[noxious_nasties]

Realtree, that would be true if he actually had variants but as far as I know sprengerae
is not a location for cichlids to be caught in the wild, it is apart of the rusties
scientific name... this means that they are the same fish and no such hybridisation would
occur.